Tuesday 18 February 2020

Peer To Peer Lending For Business Financing

There are many ways to raise capital for staring businesses. A couple of the best ways include taking a bank loan or business line of credit. Other ways to finance a start-up consist of using savings or small business credit cards.

Then there’s something called peer to peer lending.

Peer to peer lending is a form of lending between individuals under a signed agreement. This strategy for raising money for business has mushroomed as a result of hard economic times which have seen banks shy away from lending money to startups and or unfamiliar individuals. However, this form of lending is best suited for people starting small businesses because the money raised is usually too little for starting large operations.

Peer to Peer lenders offer their services to individuals who are starting their own businesses, but the money is advanced to them as personal loans. This then reflects on that individuals credit report. It is a form of financing that is often used by micro-businesses and small business start ups. Even when the loans are used for business purposes, they are still considered as personal debts by the borrower from the peers.


There are quite a number of peer to peer lending websites online which start up entrepreneurs can use to get money. The amount borrowed will however depend on your business model and the amount of money available for borrowing.

The way the peer to peer lending works is when an individual visits a peer to peer lending website, they create an account and after reading the guidelines of the website which vary from one to another, the amount of money needed is entered at the site, and the highest rate of interest they’re willing to pay. The best peer to peer lending sites operate similar to online auction sites. The loan is auctioned for seven working days and during this time the interest rate might go down significantly. The applicants have a right to stop the auction at any particular time they may wish to do so.

An individual seeking peer to peer money to start their new business will need to have a good personal credit score — usually 640 or above to qualify for the loans.

Peer to peer lending usually has no prepayment fees and the interest rates are fixed with a one-time closing fee included in the agreement. Since the peer to peer loan is unsecured, there is no collateral needed by the financiers at all to give the money. The applicant upon agreeing to commit to the loan, will need to provide directions to his or her bank, as monthly payments are deducted automatically. Peer to peer lending is usually a short term loan, with  the maximum term of the loan being three years or less.

If you’re in need of some capital to start a business venture and you don’t want to go the traditional route such as banks, credit unions and such, then peer to peer lending may be a good option for you. Just be sure you read all the fine print at the website where you obtain your loan.

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