What is Peer-to-Peer Lending?

You may have heard about peer-to-peer lending as an alternative way to invest or borrow money outside of traditional banks. But what exactly is peer-to-peer lending and how does it work? Here’s a brief overview of the peer-to-peer lending concept, options for participating, and risks to consider.

Peer-to-Peer Lending Overview

In a nutshell, peer-to-peer lending cuts out the middleman of banks and allows individuals to directly invest in personal loans or borrow money from individual investors. Through an online peer-to-peer lending platform, you are connected with people looking to borrow money or other investors looking to earn interest. The platforms provide the infrastructure, credit checks, and payment processing for facilitating these person-to-person transactions.

It provides an opportunity for you to put your money to work earning potentially higher returns than traditional fixed-income investments like bonds or CDs. And borrowers can potentially access lower interest rate loans than they might through a traditional bank.

Options for Peer-to-Peer Lending

There are a few different ways you can participate in peer-to-peer lending. Traditional peer-to-peer lending platforms allow you to invest in fractions of personal installment loans and earn interest based on the borrowers’ credit risk and loan terms. Some of the top platforms include LendingClub, Prosper, and Upstart. Cryptocurrency lending platforms like Constant and Celsius Network allow crypto investors to earn interest by lending their tokens to margin traders and borrowers. Look for competitive rates from online lending platforms. These carry different risks than installment loans.Real estate platforms like Groundfloor and PeerStreet enable you to invest in loans backed by real estate. This ties your returns to the property value rather than unsecured consumer credit.

When evaluating your options, think about the different risk levels and your goals as an investor or borrower. The traditional lending platforms tend to have the most regulatory oversight.

The Risks of Peer-to-Peer Lending

While peer-to-peer lending opens up opportunities outside traditional finance, you need to be aware of the potential downsides:

• Higher risk – The borrowers often don’t qualify for bank loans, so there is more default risk as an investor. And interest rates can be higher for riskier borrowers.
• Volatility – Returns and default rates can fluctuate significantly with economic cycles. Investors with exposure during a recession can see major losses.
• Liquidity challenges – These types of loans generally cannot be sold quickly, like stocks or bonds. You commit your capital for many years in some cases.
• Minimal regulatory protections – Oversight has increased, but there are fewer investor and borrower protections than offered by banks and credit unions.

Make sure to do your research and fully understand the risk-return tradeoff for any peer-to-peer lending platform you consider. Spreading money across multiple loans can help mitigate default risk. But no diversification strategy can avoid broader economic impacts.

Peer-to-peer lending platforms provide opportunities for investing in consumer credit or accessing loans outside traditional banking. Just know there are unique risks like higher defaults and liquidity challenges. Evaluate your risk tolerance, options across crypto lending, real estate and installment loans, and spread investments over time to tap the upside while minimizing volatility.