Forbes – Are the pros pushing the peers out of peer to peer lending? These hot marketplaces that let people act like banks, lending extra cash to people who need it, have been growing in popularity over the last few years.
Take Lending Club , the country’s largest peer to peer platform saw loans jump from $800 million in 2012 to $2 billion last year (it transacted $790 million in loans last quarter alone.) And grow it should. In the current low-rate environment, the company offers a win-win for borrowers and investors. The online-only marketplace lets customers borrow for less (say 9% vs. the 19% interest credit cards charge) and pays investors fat yields of about 10% while savings accounts–and treasury bonds–offer almost nothing. In the current market, peer to peer lending looks like a great deal–such a great deal that there are concerns that the peers are getting pushed out by finance industry biggies.
