View full post on All Stories

photo credit: mikebaird

If you do not have outrageously generous, rich relatives, you might think that, when it comes time to get a loan to buy or renovate a home, that your bank and credit union are your sole sources of major capital. However, the Internet has revolutionized the way we do business and, now, how we can get loans. While it has been accused of separating people from person-to-person interaction, the Internet has actually started to bring people back together in business.

Prosper.com is currently the United States’ largest person-to-person (P2P) lending company on the Internet. It functions as sort of a loan E-bay, allowing people to bid on loans they wish to invest in, and buyers to get whatever amount of money they want, for the price they are willing to pay. Prosper allows people to invest as little as $50 per loan they wish to finance. This enables people to spread their money around a wide area, providing for a wider variety of investment.

One of the most unique and compelling aspects of the private lending scene is the ability for borrowers to tell their story. The lending company has no way of knowing whether someone’s request for $10,000 to pay off their sick kid’s medical bills is true. You might be helping sent Little Johnny off to college or remodel the bathroom; then again, you may just be funding someone’s drug habit.

Private lending companies have tried to make fraud a minimal part of the private lending experience. All borrowers and lenders go through a full credit check and the lending company will send the account to collections for borrowers who default. This may not mean that you will get a return on your investment; some people will sail off with money, never to be seen again, only to return to lending companies with another sob story.

If a P2P lending company collects the funds that you invested, you still may not see a return. The costs of collection agencies can easily take 50% of the debt that the borrower owes you, even if they manage to collect. This issue is starting to be addressed with lending companies, like Zopa.com, are offering investor insurance. They will cover up to $100,000 in investor funds.

For borrowers, private lending can be an excellent way of gaining funds for projects, school, or expenses. In return for lower rates than most credit cards, people can gain thousands of dollars for whatever purpose they want it for. Most P2P sites don’t encourage people with a bad FICO score to apply for a loan until they’ve improved their score.

Many people with less-than-stellar credit can take advantage of the opportunities of P2P lending with less problems than many have at conventional institutions. One thing that helps is the ability to tell a story – whether it’s to explain that you need to build an extra bedroom for your ailing mother or to pay debts left over from a hospital stay.

P2P lending is a newcomer on the scene, owing its inception to the Internet. It has brought back lending as a personal experience, as lenders can choose borrowers based on their credit score… or based on their stories. If you are a borrower, looking for a way to escape outrageously high credit card interest, you might try looking at one of these companies.

For local, personal attention to your Las Vegas real estate needs, visit eHome Realty, your professionals in the Las Vegas Valley. You’ll find information about Canyon Gate Las Vegas real estate and more at eHomeLV.com

photo credit: erephas

Credit score is an important criterion that lenders keep in mind before extending loans, but you can get the loan if your credit history has been good, besides the present credit problem. Several banks and universities offer private loans to students or their parents, making it easy for them to seek fast and easy private student loans for bad credit.

Drawbacks Of A Bad Credit Report: If you want to avail a student loan on bad credit, you may have to pay a higher interest rate, compared to other private student loan options. Lenders could refuse to approve your loan due to your bad credit history. However, there are many borrowing options that can help you get fast and easy private student loans for bad credit to complete your education.

Funding options:

The funding options for students who seek fast and easy private student loans for bad credit are:

Credit repair: You can opt for a credit repair if you are facing problems in getting a student loan. A lot of student loan providers give credit counseling to students. It is like a non-profit business for them. If you have been denied a student loan from a loan provider, you can go through credit counseling, so that it is possible for you to get fast and easy private student loans for bad credit.

Subsidized and un-subsidized student loans: Many schools and universities offer subsidized as well as unsubsidized student loans. Subsidized loans are given based on the economic needs of a particular student. While, unsubsidized loans are offered to students irrespective of their economic needs. These loans do not require any form of credit checking.

The government pays the interest on the subsidized loans, until the borrower becomes a graduate, and is capable of repaying the loan. On the other hand, students are responsible for the interest payment of unsubsidized loans. There are some loans which are a combination of government funds and funds from the college which the student is applying to.

Consolidation: These loans are ideal for students who want to make their loan repayments easy and affordable. Parents can also look for private education loans for flexible repayment options. This allows them to defer the repayment of the loan until their child graduates.

Grants and scholarships: Many states offer special grants and scholarships for students who are eligible for them. You can check the state government’s education fund for such provisions. These grants or scholarships are given without any credit check.

A credit worthy co-signer: Lenders can extend you loan if you find a credit worthy co-signer. Students can ask their parents to become the co-signer. If the co-signer has a good credit report, there are chances that a loan with low interest rates will be granted. It is important for a student and the co-signer to be known with each other.

Non-credit based loans: These loans can also be helpful in getting fast and easy private student loans for bad credit. For instance, if you are pursuing studies in health science, there are loans designed particularly for such courses. The loan is granted to the students who are considered eligible.

With the cost of education going up each year, it is often difficult for students to fund their education, especially when they have bad credit. You can take advantage of these options to ensure a good education.

However, the fastest and easiest way to seek a private student loan is to maintain a clean credit report, to avoid putting your career at stake.

When it’s time to learn to get more student loan information or you need to know the considerations when filling out a student loan application click on over to Mike Herman’a site http://www.StudentsAndCredit.com where you will also find help with student credit cards as well as student loan consolidations after you’re done with school.

photo credit: The artist (formerly) known as Gene

If you want a personal loan, but you don’t want to put down any security, then an unsecured personal loan may be a good option for you. An unsecured personal loan is defined simply as a loan in which you as a borrower are not required to give any form of security, like a house or a car, as is required for other types of loans. Your personal credit history is analyzed through a credit check and then a decision is made as to whether or not you should be offered an unsecured personal loan.

With an unsecured personal loan you are allowed to choose a term from one to ten years. In order to figure what your monthly payment amount would be, try using a loan calculator tool that is available from most lenders. Knowing how much you can pay each month will help you determine what the term of your loan should be.

Once you have completed the application documents, you can opt for express service. By doing this, you can expedite the process, and the money will be credited to your bank account on the same day that you’re approved. Usually, unsecured loans are paid out in one lump sum if you agree to repay the amount with interest in regular intervals through automatic payment from your bank account. Generally, the payment schedule remains the same during the term of an unsecured private loan, but like flexible loans, payments can occasionally be more or less than the agreed upon amount.

To get a good deal on an unsecured loan, you need to sift through a lot of different offers from lenders. Unsecured loan lending is a competitive market, so many lenders will offer you bonuses and benefits to attract you to their product.

The application process for an unsecured private loan is often very quick. Because you are not offering anything as security, you lender will not need to perform a home valuation. This saves you both time and money as there is usually a valuation fee associated with having a surveyor come out to take a look at your property.

The disadvantage of taking out an unsecured private loan is that they are fairly difficult to get approved for. Lenders need to be certain that their borrowers are credit worthy since they have no security if the loan payments are not made. If you default on your unsecured loan payments, your lender will take legal action against you to reclaim the money they are owed.

http://www.simplyfinance.co.uk

photo credit: Mcikey.

Overview of Peer to Peer Lending

With the cost of college tuition rising every year, the government can no longer provide enough support to cover all college expenses. In addition with the ongoing credit crisis, funding for student loans given by banks and other private institutions has nearly dried up or become inaccessible. In the instances where students can obtain private funding, interest rates can be as high as 20%. Consequently, students are desperately looking for other sources of funding for their education.

A relatively new alternative to government and banking loans is peer-to-peer lending (aka p2p lending, social lending). With peer-to-peer lending, borrowers can get loans directly from a pool of private lenders. For students, peer-to-peer lending offers the promise of lower interest rates in comparison to traditional bank loans. The concept of peer to peer lending has been around for some time. It was initially used for funding micro loans for entrepreneurs in developing nations to start businesses. With almost perfect timing, peer-to-peer lending companies have emerged to offer help to those in need of funding, whether for debt consolidation, starting a small business, or going to college.

Currently, there are two peer-to-peer lending companies focusing primarily on student loans: Fynanz and GreenNote.

Fynanz offers repayment plans over five, seven, or ten years depending on the dollar amount of the loan. Like a normal student loan, students receive a grace period while in school and can delay principal payments for up to 2 years after graduating. With Fynanz, students can expect to receive a higher interest rate since lenders are guaranteed 50% to 100% of the principal if the borrower defaults.

GreenNote loans have a fixed interest rate that is equivalent to the current Federal Unsubsidized Stafford interest rate at 6.8%, which is a much lower interest rate than private or bank loans. They give students a grace period of six months after graduation, and repayment is made monthly over a ten-year period. No credit approval or credit score is needed since agreements are made between the students and people they know.

Virgin Money USA is another option for receiving loans if the student has a network of friends or family willing to lend money. Virgin Money simply acts as an intermediary by making the loan official and removing the emotional aspect of lending money to friends or family. Since the loan is between friends or family, the loan terms are completely flexible. The student and lender decide upon the interest rate and payments, not Virgin Money. Expect to pay $199 to $299 to setup the loan, and an additional $9 per month service fee.

Risk for Student Borrowers

For students, there are no real risks with peer to peer lending. Either the students receive funding or they are denied funding, like any other bank or federal loan they might apply for. A student’s loan will be funded if enough investors choose to fund it and the money is received up front. Lenders choose to fund loans based on the attractiveness of the student’s profile. Naturally, if the student has a high GPA, attends a prestigious school, and is majoring in a lucrative field, lenders will be fiercely competing to fund the loan. Students without stellar profiles can try soliciting funding from friends, family, or colleagues. Allowing Virgin Money USA or GreenNote to manage the loan will make the process official and thus be a more attractive investment to the student’s friends and family.

What’s the verdict?

Peer to peer lending is an excellent option for students in need of money. Overall, peer to peer lending offers an alternative but secure method for obtaining funding for college expenses beyond what federal loans, grants, or scholarships can cover.

Stephen Ott is the co-webmaster of an informational website dedicated to peer-to-peer lending. To learn more about student loans from Fynanz and GreenNote, please visit Peer-to-Peer Lending Info.

photo credit: XirannisX en Off

Social lending or peer to peer lending begins with the idea that people are willing to lend other people money. If you have not heard of it before you are not alone, but it is a growing trend. The most basic definitions are individual investors loan money to individual borrowers. Revolutionary idea right? Well, actually it isn’t and here is why.

Banks have been doing this for hundreds of years. They take depositors money and make loans and mortgages with it. They pay a low interest rate to the depositor of the money and collect a higher interest rate from the borrower. So in a way people have been lending to people indirectly for a long time.

Peer to peer lending is what happens when there is less bank involvement. The bank in some sense becomes a financial intermediary that connects lenders to borrowers. The transaction are underwritten and facilitated by this intermediary but in exchange for less involvement they ask for a small return. Often this takes the form of fees for doing the loan and a small piece of the interest rate charged to the borrower. Since the money is coming directly from individual, the risk in some ways transferred directly to the individual lenders. Moreover, since there is a transfer in risk, the return must be higher for the individual lender.

Now, are you already thinking that this is for you or no way? Well, you might already come to the conclusion that if you are a saver, you want no part. This is understandable and there are very specific reasons as to why. First, why are you putting you money in the bank anyway? The answer more than likely is that is safe. The banks do not expose you to any of the risk on the loans they give. In return you get a low interest rate. Second, the money you have is liquid. You can get it at any time and regardless of the bank lent your money previously they must honor your withdrawal. If you lend your money in peer to peer lending, your loan pays over time and it is impossible to truly get your money out without selling your right to the loan.

We have only talked about risk, but there are the returns. If you this has sparked your interest, you could be an investor. The returns listed by lending club.com are anywhere from 6.69% to 19.37%. This is a far improvement over what banks are paying in savings accounts. Furthermore, every loan is underwritten by the financial intermediary, checking borrower’s income, credit statement, credit rating and background. They handle as a normal loan by a bank and borrowers that don’t meet quality standards are declined. The default rate listed also by lending club is 2% in last 120 days. Lastly, there is potential of diversification with peer to peer loans. You don’t have to fund just one loan but several. This spreads you money out between several different loans and loan grades further hedging your ability to avoid default by borrowers.

Now, savers are not investors and vice-versa. It depends on what you are actually looking to do with your money. You always need to weigh your options or seek professional advice, but peer to peer lending could provide one way for a saver to become an investor.

If you are thinking about learning more about peer to peer loans visit Kyle’s website. There you will find excellent information about peer to peer lending.