What I Intend with CommunityLend

Do you like the rhyming titles? Anyway, I was quite excited when I first discovered P2P (peer-to-peer) borrowing and lending. The emergence of these new innovative internet businesses are worth taking a look at because you can be helping others. Zopa is for the UK, Prosper is for the USA, and now CommunityLend is coming to Canada. CommunityLend is a good name because we care for our communities. CommunityLend is an online marketplace for loaning and borrowing money. For example, someone is in need of capital to start a new business, so they log onto CommunityLend and ask for the money. People who wish to loan will be able to set an interest rate and choose an amount to loan. Later, the money is returned with interest on top; however, there is always a chance of defaulting. I mentioned earlier that you can be helping others. By lending money, you are helping because you are fulfilling the requesters’ needs while (usually) providing lower interest rates than what large financial institutions can offer. CommunityLend’s website says that a preview is coming soon and I’m looking forward to that. In the mean time, I will continue to research P2P lending strategies, such as diversifying loans. Why should you care?

Other than the fact that you will be helping others or asking for financial help, you can be earning money from interest. Currently, online high interest savings accounts can only go up to a certain maximum, but with P2P lending, I’m sure you’ll earn more with higher returns. And who knows, you might be funding the next Bill Gates. It’s a win win situation for both the borrower and the lender. Yes, Canadians are a stable bunch and want to play it safe all the time, but there are strategies that when employed will make lending safer. I’ll be saving that for some other time though. For now, just try to shake off the excitement of this new financial opportunity. When CommunityLend opens, that’s when the real excitement begins!

Will you be borrowing or loaning? What do you think of P2P banking? Are you going to participate? Leave a comment and let me know!

Link: http://www.communitylend.com
Photo: Patrick T Power