Book Review: Person-to-Person Lending

The recession has created an interest in P2P lending. Indeed, borrowers are looking for lenders who are a little more lenient, and ordinary people are thinking to try and enjoy annualized returns not seen in the stock market right now. (My Lending Club account has 8% annualized returns — mainly because I only lend to people with good credit. Others have higher returns to go along with higher risk.)

If you are interested in P2P lending, you might consider reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Person-to-Person Lending by Curtis E. Arnold and Beverly Blair Harzog. This book is easy to read, and organized in a way that makes sense. And it provides great information on the P2P lending industry, federal rules and regulations regarding lending and P2P finance, tax matters and managing a portfolio that includes P2P lending.

I especially liked the chapters that reviewed the main players in the P2P lending world. Arnold and Harzog addressed Prosper, Lending Club, Kiva, VirginMoney, Fynanz and GlobeFunder, as well as other P2P lending sites. It made it easy to see who benefits from these programs, and whether you are likely to be a target market. The book provides insight on how to borrow money through P2P lending, helping you learn how to attract lenders with your listing to get the funding you need.

Overall, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Person-to-Person Lending is a valuable resource, and one that can help you learn a little bit more about this up and coming way to either borrow money, or lend money to others as an investment.