Trend: People-to-People Lending

How it works? People who need money request it, with a listing of why they need the money, and some numbers describing their credit rating. Other people then bid for the privilege of lending money to them. The lower the interest rate offered by the lender, the more likely he is to win the bid.



http://www.prosper.com/ in USA
Prosper.com facilitates, in return for a one-time 1% fee from borrowers, and a 0.5% annual loan servicing fee from lenders. Prosper is backed by Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, Fidelity Ventures, and Omidyar Network, Prosper has raised approximately $20 million. Prosper's marketplace platform is patent pending.


http://www.zopa.com/ in UK
Zopa was started by a small cluster of very experienced money people including several members of the original Egg plc management team.