P2P Lending

About Group Loans…

March 7th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Roma Jhaveri @ Kiva.org

Towards the end of last year, Kiva decided to allow partners to post loans for groups of borrowers in addition to individual borrowers. The main reason we decided to move forward with this is that it represents a truer picture of what’s happening on …

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Continue reading → About Group Loans…

The Cost of Packaged Foods

March 6th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Lazy Man at Prosper @ Lazy Man and Money

Have you noticed how your grocery store is designed? If it’s like most stores, the are raw ingredients (dairy, meat, vegetables) are around the perimeter. If you want a frozen dinner, some cake mix, or a bag of Fritos, you have to venture the aisles. It’s the food in the aisles that I want to [...]

Nau in NYC

March 5th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Matt Flannery @ Kiva Chronicles

Shop for Kiva! Nau Warehouse Sale this week in NYC
Mar 3, 2008

NAU WAREHOUSE SALE in NYC this week: 3/6-9

Nau is a new apparel company that integrates beauty, performance and sustainability while challenging conventional notions of what outdoor clothing can be. Even better, Nau is…

[...]

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Shop for Kiva! Nau Warehouse Sale this week in NYC

March 3rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

NAU WAREHOUSE SALE in NYC this week: 3/6-9Nau is a new apparel company that integrates beauty, performance and sustainability while challenging conventional notions of what outdoor clothing can be. Even better, Nau is holding a 40-75% off shopping eve…

Kiva / GOOD Magazine Event in NYC

March 2nd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

Kiva / GOOD event 3/4 in NYCCome support Kiva in NYC on Tuesday, March 4 from 7-10pm @ Felissimo Townhouse 10 West 56 Street New York, NY 10019 RSVP and more info at www.goodmagazine.com/events/kiva With support from Design 21 and Etsy - Cocktails …

Escheat me

March 1st, 2008 — P2P Lending from Matt Flannery @ Kiva Chronicles

I’m on my way home from DC to SFO. The window seat right behind the exit row. You know the seat without any seat in front of it? Nice.

This blog entry is about stored value — yours and ours. Kiva is an example of a "stored value system." By that, I mean that we are storing value on others’ behalf. More specifically, we are holding funds for you. Other examples of stored value systems are Western Union, PayPal, Itunes, the New York Subway system and more. There are pluses and minuses involved in running such a system.

Just recently, Kiva formed an LLC subsidiary. A "for-profit", if you will. Let’s let that sit in. Ahh.

I’m sure the euphemistically named KivaFriends community loves this idea. (I’m just playing around KF, you are not euphemistically named. You really are friends, right?)

The name of the LLC is "Kiva User Funds, LLC". It’s a shell company that we now use to house every penny that belongs to our users. It has no employees and all revenue it generates is donated to the nonprofit "Kiva Microfunds" which owns the LLC. It has one revenue stream, the interest accrued off the funds stored in the savings account used to house the user’s money. (some people call this "float")

Why did we form this entity? Not for profit’s sake. We will accrue no additional revenue, only additional cost, because of this move. Kiva Microfunds previously housed our users’ funds in a savings account of its own. This posed a risk, our accountant advised. By housing user funds in the same entity, their fate was intimately tied to the fate of our nonprofit. If our nonprofit ever encountered financial difficulty, the funds would be less protected. For instance, if an angry ex-employee sued us (victoriously) for millions, the funds could be seized. Creating a separate LLC was a preventative move in case something crazy like this ever happened.

Why do we have user funds to be housed at all? First, there is an up-to-30-day lag between when a user makes a loan and the funds are sent overseas. Second, alhough our users don’t get their money back until the end of a loan (usually 10-12 months), Kiva is collecting repayments from our Field Partners quarterly. Third, often users leave money in the still in the system after it is repaid. When this happens, the funds stay stagnant in the US savings account.

The first point is relatively non-controversial, so I’m not going to elaborate. Point two is possibly controversial though, so I’m going to elaborate. The system was designed this way to reduce the number of bank wires between Kiva and Field Partner. Bank wires often cost around $40. So we decided to bill quarterly. However, we wanted our users to hear about entrepreneur repayments in real time. Thus, we we let our Field Partners post repayments at any frequency they chose. However, we bill them quarterly. The lag between recorded entrepreneur repayments and the funds arriving in our USA account means that we can’t pay our users back at the moment a repayment is recorded on the site. We could conceivably have designed it so we paid out quarterly, but that seemed overwhelmingly complex for my burdened 2005 brain. I’m feeling a little lighter lately and we have many more brains behind us. Thus, later this year we will release a system that pays out monthly to our users. This will unleash an exciting amount of liquidity to the marketplace.

The third point is growing in importance. Our users are leaving their money in the system too much. Too much for what? Too much for the good of the entrepreneurs we are trying to serve. Last time I checked, approximately 40% of all repaid monies were unused and remained in our bank account — in the form of "Kiva Credit". 50% has been relent and 10% withdrawn. That means that a sizeable amount of users have money that needs to be used. They could lend it to help someone who needs it, or they could at least withdraw it and buy a meal. Either would be better than the present reality of stagnant funds.

We have no expiration policy for this kind of stagnant Kiva Credit. In the last year, as an amateur lawyer, I’ve waded into the area of law we know as "escheatment" (pronounced uh-sheet-mint). escheatment has to do with what you do with other people’s money when they don’t claim it. For instance, what should a landlord do with a renters’ deposit if the renter leaves without claiming it? In some cases, the landlord might need to "escheat" it to the government. It all depends and the laws vary state by state. Right now, we escheat your money to nowhere. It just sits there…for all eternity, and we remind you to use it. Once I get our General Counsel hired, we might fix this. We might figure out how to escheat it to someplace much more useful.

And now a final point. Hey you, reader of this blog. You have a lot of value — stored value. And it doesn’t accrue interest. So just do something with it. OK?

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Random experiences in Ghana

February 27th, 2008 — Dan Strack, Ghana, P2P Lending from danstrack @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

I’ve been in Ghana now for one month and I realized I’ve been slacking in keeping up my journal, so I’m posting several random experiences I’ve had so far.
On most days I go out with a loan officer to take pictures of clients who are requesting loans for their businesses or have already taken a [...]

Prosper didn’t catch fraudster using its services, but CEO takes credit for conviction

February 25th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor

Two years in a row, Prosper CEO Chris Larsen has used his keynote address at Prosper Days to announce progress in Prosper’s fight against fraud. In 2007, he announced the first arrest of a suspected fraudster, and, this year, the first conviction. Acc…

If you do nothing else at Prosper Days …

February 24th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor

… please do this:Grab the most prominent member of the news media you can find with one hand (gently, of course), and the highest-ranking Prosper employee you can find with the other (ditto), sit them down in front of a computer, and invite the Prosp…

Prosper announces new features in advance of Prosper Days

February 23rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor
& P2P Lending Report

Last night, Prosper announced several new features in advance of Prosper Days 2008. Since the Pre-Prosper Days Release included only relatively minor changes, I expect that additional announcements will be made during the event itself.Here’s the prel…

What new features will be announced at Prosper Days 2008?

February 22nd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor & P2P Lending Report

Last year, at Prosper Days 2007, CEO Chris Larsen announced several major changes in the Prosper platform. Lenders and bloggers have been speculating about the changes and new features which will be announced next week at Prosper Days 2008.In January, …

UPDATE: Prosper responds to MNH Report #4, and I respond to Prosper

February 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor & P2P Lending Report

In MNH Report #4, I described my attempt to purchase a Prosper loan (Loan No. 4018) which was 4+ months late and eligible for sale to a debt buyer.On November 7, 2007, I wrote to Doug Fuller, Prosper Marketplace Inc.’s Vice President of Operations, a…

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Continue reading → UPDATE: Prosper responds to MNH Report #4, and I respond to Prosper

Banks to loose 10% market share to social lending by 2010?

February 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from wiseclerk @ P2P-Banking.com

Consultancy Gartner predicts that: "By 2010, social-banking platforms will have captured 10% of the available market for retail lending and financial planning". Not surprisingly Zopa is happy about that forecast. I think this is an over-optimistic outlook but James Gardner of BankerVision (working at Lloyds TSB bank) who also thinks it is aggressive points to the [...]

P2P lending articles

February 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from wiseclerk @ P2P-Banking.com

Today another selection of interesting articles on p2p lending was compiled. A highlight is Dough Roller's comparison between Prosper and Lending Club explaining the differences in determining interest rates for loans.

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Post-Conflict Education in Uganda

February 20th, 2008 — Drew Kinder, P2P Lending, Share an Opportunity Microfinance Ltd., Uganda from Drew Kinder @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

Kampala, Uganda “Poverty reduction is a three legged stool balanced on income generation, savings, and education” according to Mr. Knondoker Ariful Islam, BRAC Uganda Country Manager. “Take one leg away and the stool tips over.”
While Kiva social lenders are focused on the income generating leg of poverty reduction, this discussion pertains to the education leg; [...]

Lender ROI on Prosper Select loans declines for sixth consecutive month

February 20th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor & P2P Lending Report

MNH Report #6Since August 2007, Prosper management has tried to deflect criticism of high default rates and low return-on-investment by calculating what it calls the Prosper Select Index, and publishing that index in a monthly People-to-People Lending …

UPDATE: Prosper responds to MNH Reports #1 and #5

February 19th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor & P2P Lending Report

Two MNH Reports have gotten results.On January 5, Prosper Marketplace Inc. promised to make restitution, with interest, to lenders and group leaders affected by the contractual violations outlined in MNH Reports #1 and #5. MNH Report #1, originally po…

A few suggested topics for discussion at Prosper Days 2008

February 19th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Trav @ Prosper Marketplace Monitor & P2P Lending Report

Okay, I confess. I’ve been a very naughty blogger, with no new posts since December 26.This week, I’ll try to make up for that dereliction of duty with a few updates on previous posts, and some new information about Prosper.com’s compliance issue…

“Double Bottom Line” Loans

February 15th, 2008 — Drew Kinder, P2P Lending, Share an Opportunity Microfinance Ltd., Uganda from Drew Kinder @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

Kampala, Uganda A loan funded by Kiva social lenders benefits the Microfinance Institution (MFI), the lender, as well as the poor borrower. The MFI potentially earns gross profit from the loan to sustain its business and, in the case of a MFI structured as a for-profit company, to generate a financial return for the owners.
Where [...]

My Credit Card, KFC, the Meaning of Haste, Not the Meaning of Haste, and Dietary WMD.

February 14th, 2008 — P2P Lending from janko85 @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

In the United States, to have one’s credit card account put “on hold” would be grounds for getting slightly upset, peeved even. Fortunately, I am here in Cambodia, and when my dad emailed me to tell me that he received a letter from my credit card company saying that my account had been put [...]

Listing for Down Payment to Purchase Home @ 30% AF

February 7th, 2008 — P2P Lending from j9359 @ j9359 (my prosper experience)

Here is an interesting loan listing that turned up with one of my standard searches. Borrower wants $17,500 for a down payment on a house and is willing to pay 30% (auto fund). States that it is for a short term because it will be paid off by a tax r…

Gone again

February 6th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Matt Flannery @ Kiva Chronicles

I leave in 3 hours to go on another trip. This time to Brussels via Washington DC and Amsterdam. It seems the only time I think to write on this blog is when I step away from the daily reality of being in this mad office.

Last time I wrote, I promised from Vegas to elaborate on our company’s strategy in the coming weeks. My Vegas promise fell empty, since it’s been six. I’ve been falling short in so many ways.

Tomorrow, I’ll be at the National Prayer breakfast in DC. That’s where Jess and I met at the turn of the millennium. I was in my final months as a student in philosophy at Stanford. Jess was student body president at Bucknell. She was invited, I snuck in via my sister Brooke who was running the event. Tomorrow, things will come full circle as I sit in awe as I watch Jess address the Breakfast as speaker.

Then, I’m off to Europe…gonna visit Amsterdam and a cluster of foundations associated with the Dutch lottery. In Holland, the lottery gives half of its profits to charity. Kiva was a lucky beneficiary of Dutch lotto funds this Spring, when the Doen foundation took a risk on Kiva at a time when we needed it most. I’ll be forever grateful to Doen for helping us grow into a more mature institution from the fledgling startup we were at the time. After that, I’m off to visit Laurent in Brussels, who single handedly has put computers and cameras in the hands of our partners in Africa. Equipment like this has been a big barrier standing between our lenders and borrowers. I’m excited to put a face behind that legend that has become Laurent.

My work has taken on a schizophrenic tone in the last few months. Fundraising requires big dreams and an ability to absorb tons of feedback. Running an organization is been an exercise in structure, saying no, and avoiding distractions. Balancing both mentalities within the confines of a single day has been challenging. I have no cause to complain. Most of all, life has been a surreal dream for the past few years.

I was right, in December 2005. This project has definitely taken on a life of its own.

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Thanks to Microsoft Office Online

February 5th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

Microsoft Office Online has generously featured Kiva in its Finance Guide and throughout the Office Online site. We are grateful for this relationship - Microsoft has supported Kiva from the beginning. Check out more about this partnership on our Kiv…

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Continue reading → Thanks to Microsoft Office Online

Thanks to 111 Minna Gallery and arthead sf - Silent Art Auction Fundraiser for Kiva - TONIGHT 2/5!

February 5th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

Many thanks to arthead sf and 111 Minna Gallery for holding a Silent Art Auction Fundraiser tonight to benefit Kiva!The arthead SF contributing artists will auction off artwork to raise money for kiva.org.Participating artists include: Beth Bojarski, J…

Social lending timeline

February 5th, 2008 — P2P Lending from wiseclerk @ P2P-Banking.com

Created by Jean-Christope Capelli
(Source)

Continue reading → Social lending timeline

Clients, Loans & Stickers

February 4th, 2008 — Megan Berwick, P2P Lending from meganberwick @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

On Friday everyone shows up at the office dressed up. Mostly for religious reasons, but it’s a refreshing reversal of casual Friday. It’s our all-hands day, where everyone from the different parts of Abidjan meets here at 4pm. I saved the chocolates I brought for this day, and shared with everyone. I really enjoy meeting [...]

SuperBowl XLII prediction

February 3rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jeff & Heather @ My Microfinance

I know I’m going to get crap for this… My SuperBowl prediction for today…
NE Patriots- 24
NY Giants- 27
Why? Brady is not 100%, Randy Moss dissed Glendale as a gracius host for his dumb-ass and the name ‘Manning’ could break a dynasty BECAUSE he is underestimated. So there it is. Enjoy the show!
[...]

Kiva Friends Donate $4,430 to Mirembe Youth Development Projects

January 30th, 2008 — Drew Kinder, P2P Lending, Share an Opportunity Microfinance Ltd., Uganda from Drew Kinder @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

Kampala, Uganda. On Saturday, January 26, 2008 I had the honor and pleasure of presenting a check in the amount of $7,389,750 Uganda Shillings (US $4,430) from Kiva Friends to Florence Kaluuba and the Mirembe Youth Development Projects.

The purpose of this blog is to report back to the generous donors at http://www.kivafriends.org/ who contributed [...]

The Wicked French Lady, My Stinging Shin, and “Looking Good.”

January 29th, 2008 — P2P Lending from janko85 @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

Today was my first day at my MFI, AMK. Paul, the CEO, is a wonderfully nice guy (the nicest ex-pat I’ve ever met here, in fact). He is from the southern suburbs of Chicago. The utter mention of the words south and Chicago in the same sentence immediately frightened me, as if a sudden and [...]

On Typos

January 25th, 2008 — P2P Lending from janko85 @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

This will be short, as it concerns my last blog entry. First and foremost, I should reiterate the importance of editing, which, no longer being recquired to do so at work, has meant that I have become what is called “fastidious.” Fastidiousness has its consequences, namely that, in my encounter with Anchor butter, I said [...]

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P2P Lending: Everyone is Watching

January 24th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

My funds arrived to Prosper Marketplace a few days ago. I planned to jump into Prosper and start carefully selecting loans for funding. I browsed a few loans, but I have cold feet.

So I opened my blog to reflect…. Why am I nervous about bidding? I had …

On Butter, Beer, and Life so far

January 23rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from janko85 @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

On Butter, Beer, and Life so far.

I will begin where I left off, my trip and arrival back in Cambodia. Ahem, rather, I will start with memories of my first time here. As is one of my customs when traveling, I feel it is necessary to sample the various local brewers’ specialties. In Cambodia, this [...]

my trip and arrival

January 23rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from janko85 @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

entry 1, trip and arrival

Since the last 40 odd hours have involved sitting at a gate or in coach, it would seem odd that there exists the potential to write anything, but as I am still in a state of exhaustion, I’ll simply disagree with myself and write something anyway.
Leaving San Fran was really quite simple, [...]

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Lending Club Posts Rejected Loan Profile Statistics

January 23rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Recently I noticed that Lending Club is denying most loans. Since that time, Lending Club has started posting the rejected loan profiles on the statistics page. Scroll to the bottom of that page. The data is missing several fields that you would use to evaluate a loan, but it …

My Prosper Portfolio Performance (CY 2007) - Ugh!

January 22nd, 2008 — P2P Lending from P2P-Loans.com @ P2P-Loans.com

Well, my first year of Prosper lending has come to a close (actually, I began lending in on March 27, 2007, but year end is a good time to reflect). After many countless hours spent building up P2P-Loans.com and investing over $16,000 in Prosper, here…

P2P lending articles

January 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from wiseclerk @ P2P-Banking.com

Prosper.com recently changed it's portofolio plan segment criteria and the bidding guidance. A longtime lender speculates in an analysis that the changes were necessary due to rising default rates.
Yesterday a collection of interesting articles was compiled at BripBlap:

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P2P Lending is Naked Finance and Everyone is Watching

January 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

My funds arrived to Prosper Marketplace a few days ago. I planned to jump into Prosper and start carefully selecting loans for funding. I browsed a few loans, but I have cold feet.

So I opened my blog to reflect…. Why am I nervous about bidding? I had …

One Day in the Life of a Microfinance Branch Manager

January 21st, 2008 — P2P Lending from Drew Kinder @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

Nabwire Carolyn, Manager of BRAC Uganda’s Kalerwe Branch, awakens at 5:30 each work day. A devoutly religious person, she spends the first half hour of each day in prayer. Next she prepares her two children for the day. Joshua, age 4, attends pre-school and Ester, age 2, goes to day care. Carolyn prepares breakfast for [...]

P2P Lending is Naked Finance: Everyone is Watching

January 20th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

My funds arrived to Prosper Marketplace a few days ago. I planned to jump into Prosper and start carefully selecting loans for funding. I browsed a few loans, but I have cold feet.

So I opened my blog to reflect…. Why am I nervous about bidding? I had …

Second Peer to Peer Lending Carnival

January 20th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

I participated in the second peer to peer lending carnival which is hosted at Brip Blap. There were too many good submissions to decide on a favorite post in this carnival, but I will post links and comments below to a few favorites. I submitted my article on Lending …

Vote for Kiva for MySpace Impact Awards

January 18th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

We’re thrilled to announce that MySpace has named Kiva a Finalist for this month’s MySpace Impact Awards, in the category of Poverty Relief.In the upcoming weeks, MySpace users will select a winner from among the three nominees.Vote for Kiva today!

My First Lending Club Payments All on Time

January 17th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

I checked my initial Lending Club portfolio and all the first payments have arrived on time. It is a minor milestone considering that each borrower must make 35 more payments to allow me to achieve my expected return on the portfolio.

My first Lending Club portfolio consisted of 10 loans …

Panadol, Anyone?

January 17th, 2008 — Dana, Dana Lunberry, P2P Lending, Tanzania, Tujijenge Tanzania Ltd from dlunberry @ Kiva Blogs from the Field

It would seem that time with Kiva is flying by when I think about my remaining 4½ months left here in East Africa. Almost 4 down, almost 4 more to go. I have been receiving updates from friends in Chicago about their frigid weather and feel grateful even for Tanzania’s thick humidity. I prefer sweating [...]

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I’m not the only one that can’t get a Zopa loan

January 16th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks

Newsflash.Over on prospers.org we have an active IRC (Internet Relay Chat) community. One of the mainstays (and a big source of headaches for forum moderators on bot the old .com and prospers.org forums) is bamalucky. A happy-go lucky Prosper lender wi…

Good customer service at Zopa

January 15th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks

One of my main complaints aboutProsper.com is their crappy customer service. I think you have to work at it to get a bunch of useless replies such as the canned replies that Prosper sends its lenders. You never get the idea that anyone is actually read…

Borrowing at Zopa

January 14th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks

I’m bored, checking out the Zopa site and the “borrow” tag catches my eye. I click on it and read these enticing words: I wonder how much I’ll qualify for? After all, I have pretty decent credit, or so the guy who sold me our new car in July told me. H…

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Lending at Zopa

January 14th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks

I thought I’d check out Zopa lending. It doesn’t seem appealing to me, but I wanted to experience the process. Ponying up $500 for a one-year CD at 5.1% isn’t the worst entry price to check out something new.Sometime last week I started the process. Pa…

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PLR Interviews Fynanz CEO Chirag Chaman

January 14th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Tom interviewed Chirag Chaman who is the CEO of the soon to be released new P2P lending site Fynanz which will focus on student loans. It seems like a small niche since there are already governemnt backed loans in this category and the rates are rather reasonable at banks. …

First Two Months Blogging P2P Lending

January 14th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Thank you for reading my first two months of blogging P2P lending. During this time, I have written 37 articles on P2P lending as I have shared my experience and learnings about peer-to-peer lending.

I would like to thank all the bloggers who have linked to my posts and added me …

Homeowners Resorting to Arson due to Foreclosure

January 11th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

I heard last year about SUV owners who were upside down in their car loans resorting to arson due to high gasoline prices. Out of desperation, car owners torch (or pay $300 to a professional arsonist for the service) to collect the insurance money. There is a great quote …

Lending Club Statistics: Denying Most Loans

January 11th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

I went to review the statistics at Lending Club and I scrolled down past the table towards the CSV file of data. There I noticed an amazing figure — Loans Not Approved for Listing. 5,137 loans for $44.9 million dollars have been denied for listing on Lending Club. …

Kenyan Kiva borrower identified in Reuters news story

January 10th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Fiona Ramsey @ Kiva.org

Reuters recently picked up a story published by IRIN, titled “UGANDA: More Kenyan displaced arriving at refugee centres.”A man by the name of Danson Ng’ang’a was interviewed in the story. A past Kiva Fellow noticed the interview in the article, and su…

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Continue reading → Kenyan Kiva borrower identified in Reuters news story

Don’t you think Kiva is going to make the world a better place?

January 7th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Fiona Ramsey @ Kiva.org

Kiva has been nominated for “Most likely to make the world a better place” in the 2007 Crunchies, a collaboration project between GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat and TechCrunch which recognizes the most compelling startups, internet and technology i…

First Peer-to-Peer Lending Carnival

January 6th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Lazy Man and Money posted the first P2P Lending Blog Carnival. I am excited that he mentioned my post on Lending Advice for New Lenders as his favorite. Despite my article being Lazy Man’s favorite, it did not make the list on the Official Prosper Blog coverage of …

Investment in Prosper Loans - My Next $500

January 6th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Personal Loan Portfolio @ Personal Loan Portfolio

I started peer-to-peer lending with Lending Club for several reasons, but I will invest my next $500 with Prosper Marketplace loans lat this week due to several factors including increasing interest rates and improving collection efforts.

The recent response to the poll of where to invest my next $500 was great …

Kenya’s humanitarian crisis

January 4th, 2008 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

The situation unfolding in Kenya has received a lot of press attention lately, and for good reason (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7172103.stm).We have reached out to our local microfinance (MFI) partners in Kenya (see http://www.kiva.org/about/part…

Thoughts on Perú

January 3rd, 2008 — P2P Lending from Ramon @ Ramon's Kiva Blog

Sorry for my non-activity on the blog for such a long time. Work has been grueling…. Anyways, recently I have been talking to a friend on Facebook, who is a financial trader. He has been reading up on Kiva, and looks at it with his “financial” glasse…

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Zopa Italy

December 31st, 2007 — P2P Lending from Jessica Jackley Flannery @ Kiva.org

As many readers will know, Zopa Uk is a thriving p2p lending marketplace that’s pioneering social lending in the UK. Zopa Italy (a franchisee of Zopa Uk) opened on November 14th, 2007. Today marks the midpoint of a generous campaign that Zopa Italy …

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Aggregating P2P Lending Blogs

P2P Lending