Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Peer2Peer Money Lending?

You're a modern, digitally integrated student; your phone is web enabled, you regularly use three or four social networks, and you understand terms like Twitter, Plurk, Poke and Tag. Unfortunately times are hard and you need a loan. Who do you go to? Your bank? A building society?

Of course not! In this day in age you turn to..... a social network?

As strange as it sounds, this is what the modern student will do. Sites like Prosper.com and Lending Club, offer students a low-interest way to get student loans through peer to peer communities.

Certainly this take social networking to a new level. These sites are exactly what social networking was created for, but was as yet unrealised. The social networking platform is finally being used as it was meant to be: to connect people in need. It’s not just a way to communicate, get viral, and spread content.

Having said all this, and while I commend both companies for attempting to break the mould, I think both will end up in failure. Financial institutions won't let the business go, and surely some computer smart college student will find a way to cheat the system!

1 comment:

Paul Dervan said...

hi Christian, thanks for the link on the your site. Looking forward to reading your posts, just subscribing now.