I just received an interesting proposal: Try out Lending Club and get $100 for one of my readers! The only condition is that I try that site out (they’ll give me $50 to put in my account), and the write about my experience.
I’ve toyed with the idea of microfinance through such organizations as Kiva.org. Now that I’ve connected with Lending Club, I’m excited to be entering the world of P2P lending, and sharing my thoughts.
I don’t have all the details worked out, but when I do, I will post contest rules. Stay tuned, you may be the one to get …read more

As jobs are lost, the idea of going back to school to finish a degree, get a higher level degree or get some sort of professional certification becomes more attractive.

Last month, I interviewed Akash Agarwal about his new company, GreenNote. GreenNote is a microfinance Web site that you can visit to get help paying for college. Today it officially launches (although it has found some success in testing). Here is some information from a press release GreenNote sent me:
Students with active loan drives through GreenNote choose whether they wish to participate with the GreenNote Network of lenders. Unlike private bank loans or other traditional loans, GreenNote does not require students to have a credit report, co-signer or show proof of citizenship. The rate is fixed at 6.8 percent compared …read more

“Today, the cost of college is skyrocketing,” Akash Agarwal tells me. “It is growing faster than inflation and faster than the median income. Federal student aid is shrinking. This leads to a college funding gap for many students.”
Agarwal is the CEO of GreenNote, a new college loan provider (launching next month) that aims at using microfinance to close that college funding gap. “Up until now, students had to turn to expensive private loans to meet their needs,” he says.
The idea is that everyone has a social network. Students can take advantage of that by asking friends and relatives (and even …read more

One of the trends hitting the investment world is microfinance. For most people, this is a way to make money by offering small loans to the poverty stricken to help them start business ventures. Microfinance isn’t new, but the growing focus on it is. Even eBay is now getting in on microfinance.
Another way to make money from microfinance is to join person-to-person lending communities like Prosper. Prosper has been around for a while, and it exists by helping people connect with other individuals. Lenders make money on interest and fees (usually higher than what is made on micro loans to …read more