Harvard Business Review Recognizes Peer to Peer Lending

Harvard Business Review (HBR) recently recognized peer to peer lending as a Breakthrough Ideas for 2009.

They note that rates for borrowers are better, and that it's easier and easier to spread your lending net widely with social networks. Peer to peer lending is not new, but if HBR is sanctifying it then it's probably here to stay for a while. 2008 was a difficult year for P2P lenders, as the credit crunch led to increased losses and increased regulation brought firms to a halt.

If you need a loan, you should at least check into peer to peer lending. It's basically the same thing the banks do, but without the large banks. You can even structure loans among friends and family so that everybody's on the same page and you can document everything. [via Bargaineering]

Further reading:

• How Peer to Peer Lending Works