Welcome to the Sixth installment of the Carnival of Peer to Peer Lending! Peer to Peer Lending, or P2PLending, is a rapidly growing industry in the US, and rightly so. It is revolutionizing the lending and borrowing process between individuals.

Anyone with as little as $25 has the chance to play the role of the banker and make assume the same risks and rewards banks assume when they make unsecured loans to individuals. The potential reward is greater than investing your money in a CD or savings account, but the risk is having the loan default and getting no return. If you aren’t familiar with P2P lending, here is a great primer - What is Peer to Peer Lending? Feel free to read it and come on back. Don’t worry, I’ll wait…

OK, now that you know what P2P lending is all about, here is a collection of great articles to give you some more insight into the P2P lending process, the industry, the pros and cons of P2P investing, and more! Fasten your seatbelt, and get ready for the ride!

11 Perspectives on Peer 2 Peer Lending

Tom, from the Prosper Lending Review, received a reader question concerning P2P loans as investments and whether it was a good option for a large portion of the reader’s portfolio. Eleven perspectives on P2P lending is a collection of responses from different bloggers, and this is a highly recommended read if you are thinking about investing in P2P lending. (it would have been 12 perspecives if I wasn’t too busy last week to chime in!)

Pros and Cons of P2P Lending

Is P2P lending good or bad? Is it just another financial tool, or a scourge to our financial system? Two personal finance bloggers tackle this topic with well thought out articles.

Is P2P lending bad? Glblguy from Gather Little By Little thinks so, and he tells why in his article, Why I think P2P lending is a bad idea. Mostly he believes it enables debt and is risky.

Is P2P lending good? Pinyo, from Moolanomy, responds to the previous article in a point by point article titled, Peer-to-Peer Lending and Bloggers Ethic. His main observation is that Peer to Peer lending is a tool and is neither good nor bad, but as effective as the person using the tool.

Peer to Peer Lending

Can you use Peer to Peer Lending to hedge your investments? Rocketc balances his credit card arbitrage with some P2P lending in order to hedge his investments and hopefully achieve higher returns. Read about it in Hedging with Lending Club II, part of his series on person to person lending.

Is the economy affecting who borrows from P2P lending companies? Rate Ladder writes that Prime Borrowing on Prosper Hits Record Levels — Febuary Marketplace Survey. Prosper reported that the number of prime borrowers (720+ credit scores) creating listings and obtaining loans continued to hit record levels.This could be a direct result of the economy, as people are faced with difficult decisions.

Peer to Peer Borrowing

How do you get your Prosper loan 100% funded? Mike from Prosperous Land shares a Simple Receipe For 100% Funded Prosper Loan. This is also great info to keep in mind if you participate in portfolio loans - you have less control than if you hand select each loan.

Prosper Blog

I would also like to let everyone know I have taken on a paid writing position for the Prosper Blog. My articles will be featured about twice per month, but as an introduction, 3 of my articles were published this week:

Three Chords and the Truth - and Some Operating Funds…. Rock & Roll is all about the music and the attitude. But it also takes a little cash (or credit) to record that killer album! Bonus: There’s a little trivia in there about some great Rock bands!

Why YOU Need Credit. Everyone needs credit - to borrow money, get good interest rates, pass an employer’s screening… or even to purchase a cell phone.

Why You Need a Credit Card. Establish credit, purchase things on-line, rent a car, itemize purchases… the list goes on. Just be sure to pay your bill in full monthly, and there won’t be any problems!

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Try Peer to Peer Lending for little to no risk on your part: If P2P lending intrigues you, now is a great time to try it out with little to no risk on your end.

Lending Club $25 sign up bonus. Referral program temporarily suspended. Gotta move quickly on these!

Prosper $25 to sign up bonus (after funding a loan).

For more details, read Free Bonus Money with P2P Lending.

Photo credit: penywise.

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