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What Is Social Lending?
Social lending online is a fairly new way for people to go about safely loaning and borrowing money online for often better interest rates than they would be able to get by otherwise using ordinary high street banks and savings accounts. The reason for the best interest rates is simple enough - namely that a banking website doesnt have any of the massive overheads of most high street banks and well, frankly - most online lending social networking sites were set up as a kind of backlash against 'greedy' banks in an attempt to give the people back some comtrol over their own lives and money.
It remains to be seen if social banking and lending just becomes another means for the same city bankers to squeeze their customers dry by simply buying up these Internet sites that started with noble intentions - just as the ealiest banks did themselves.
Social lending is a relatively new form of finance. Basically you can borrow from other individuals via a social lending website.
In a nutshell, social lending in its modern incarnation is a lending system where people who need funding can bypass banks and connect instead with peers (usually strangers) willing to grant them a loan. It’s primarily conducted over the Internet via one of the growing number of lending companies.
Whenever you make a loan, there's always an inherent risk. Defaults are an unfortunate reality of social lending that the overwhelming majority will encounter sooner or later. Beyond wholesale losses due to defaults, other prominent risks to consider include complications related to the financial health of the lending company you are working with, as well as regulatory or legal developments that could impact your investment prospects going forward.
