P2P-Banking.com

The borrower who receives the 10,000th loan from Zopa UK will be lucky - it will be an interest free loan.

Furthermore Zopa has a referral promotion in July. Zopa pays 100 GBP (approx. 165 US$) to members that refer a borrower who successfully gets a loan in July.

Giles Andrews on building Zopa, it’s brand and differentiating from banks.

Zopa has run a member competition, asking members to explain how Zopa works for a borrower or a lender.

I watched several of the created videos. My favourite is the video below by Glenmation.

The Kiva API allows anyone to develop applications that use the data from Kiva loans. Below are screenshots from two Kiva loan apps.

Kiva loans by country of borrower - source Kivadata.org (more…)

I am blogging this live while listening to the Kiva conference call. Kiva plans a loan matching program, where lenders and institutions can opt to automatically match loans made by other lenders.

Some statements/explanations from the conference call:

• Today 6 or 7 people out of 100 that visit the Kiva website actually make a loan (conversion rate)
• Lenders can select to match any loan, or select loans by criteria
• Lenders can opt to match immediately or only if they have periods of inactivity
• Minimum account balance allows to reserve some money in the account (only balance over this minimum is used for matching)
• Donations to the Kiva organisation are mandatory(!) when using the matching feature

Kiva says the new feature allows to automate the lending process and hopes that it inspires others to lend more.

The matching program will probably be launched in summer 2009.

On terms of automation there are similarities to the autobid feature MYC4 has.

See the following presentation for more details on the plans.

P2P Lending service Pertuity Direct has launched an affiliate program. The new referral marketing campaign of Pertuity Direct pays:

• 35 US$ for each referred completed and approved borrower application for a loan
• 50 US$ for each completed investor application
• performance incentives for websites that generate at least 5 leads per month

The campaign runs at affiliate network CJ, where Lending Club does administrate it’s affiliate program, too. Lending Club pays 35 US$ commission for each loan application and 60 US$ per lender registration plus performance incentives.

See earlier posts about p2p lending services using affiliate marketing.

Virgin Money announced that it will support the Uncrunch campaign.

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Kiva has just added the first video to one of the borrower’s profiles. A video conveys much more information about the business of the borrower. And by posting the videos on Youtube, Kiva achives viral marketing effects.

I do wonder why they did post such a short video (5 seconds) as example - bandwidth considerations?

(Source: Kiva announcement)

It has been said before - there might have been no better time to establish p2p lending. With the established system shaken and many consumers not getting loans as easily as before the market environment is good for peer-to-peer lending.

P2P lending gets good media attention. The Uncrunch.org initiative (in which Lending Club takes part) in the Change.org vote for new ideas finished in the Top 15.

On the demand site all p2p lending companies benefit from the crisis. On the supply site, in my opinion the effect is mostly positive too, but  some lenders are hesitant to invest their money in a new, innovative model and rather seek a save haven for it.

P2P lending sites that have demonstrated low default rates over a longer time and therefore low risk fared best - especially at Zopa UK supply rose strongly lately.

Bonmot from Spanish Comunitae:

Pues no sabemos si la crisis es buena para Comunitae, pero de lo que no cabe duda es de que Comunitae es buena para la crisis.

Translates to: “Well, we do not know if the crisis is good for Comunitae, but what is certain is that Comunitae is good for the crisis.”

A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball.

The video was made by Kiva fellow (volunteer) Kieran Ball, who worked for Kiva in Cambodia. It explains the transfer of the money for a Kiva loan from a lender in London to a borrower in Cambodia.

This is a great example how many people can be reached over the internet with a well made video in a short time. Online since only 8 days the video has been watched over 32,000 times and was embedded in many websites (at least 50).