Peer to Peer Small Business Loans

I am looking forward to the launching of Zopa http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/ in the US, the UK site that matches up borrowers and lenders in a peer-to-peer online lending service.

Zopa is changing the way people are borrowing money across the pond — allowing people who can never get a bank loan a chance to find lenders willing to provide them with money. Based on credit profiles and creditworthiness, the service matches consumers who need money with consumers who want to lend it.

A person can join the site as a lender or as a borrower. To minimize the risks for lenders, Zopa will not lend a lender’s proferred funds to a single borrower, but will group members based on creditworthiness and lend to this pool of borrowers.

Lending rate averages at 7%, which is still lower than credit card rates or even bank rates. Business 2.0 reports that only “0.05 percent of Zopa’s loans have turned into uncollectible debts.”

This service can have massive implications to the small and home-based entrepreneurs who are in need of capital to start or run their business. Those who cannot get a bank loan can now have a place to go to find the money they need.

Watch out for the launching of Zopa!