16 January 2008
Innovative lending website Zopa has predicted the entry of peer-to-peer loans into the mainstream this year.
Due to the credit crunch making personal loans harder to secure on the high street, the site said yesterday that people would turn to the web instead.
The recent turmoil in the world's financial markets, also triggered by the crunch, has led to investors looking for alternative ways to grow their money such as lending to others at a set interest rate through the internet.
Managing Director at Zopa UK Giles Andrews commented: "These developments all serve to put the real and growing consumer benefits of peer-to-peer lending in a brighter and brighter spotlight.
"As soon as the real benefits of Zopa are seen and recognised for what they are by the wider population, peer-to-peer finance will take off and market conditions this year will help towards this no end."
Zopa and other, similar, lending sites work by putting users who want to lend or borrow money in touch with each other.
The two users meet, set a loan amount and arrange repayments through the site.