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"Zopa, the UK-based peer lending site, has launched a new aspect of its service, called Zopa Listings.  This takes a bit of the Lending Tree approach and lets individuals post their loan requests, and lenders can find the individual they'd like to give a loan to.  \nWhat you'll see on the main Listings page is a list of those seeking loans, along with their requested amount, rate, the reason for the requested loan, and the number of offers they've already received.  Lenders are essentially bidding on a loan, where they can indicate the amount they'll extend, along with their interest rate.  These bid will go on until the listing closes, and if the full loan amount has been achieved, the loan will go ahead at the aggregate interest rate of all the offers, which can be accepted or denied by the borrower.  \nWhat this does is bring a far more personal face to the act of peer lending.  I find that the result of this new approach is a heart-string tugging effect, which may or may not be the best way to go.  It really lets lenders get more involved with the stories behind the individuals, but the result of doing so is the necessity to present attention-grabbing images, stories and titles.  \nThe great thing about Zopa Listings is that it also lets those seeking loans better position themselves for achieving their goals.  It's amazing what you get if you just ask for it, and the new Zopa Listings lends itself as a perfect example.  Zopa Listings is currently in beta, but will probably be rolled out as a fully integrated section of Zopa in the coming months.  In addition, Zopa has indicated that borrowers will soon be able to add videos in addition to their photographs within their requests for loans.  \nIn other news, eBay has entered into the micro-lending service, with the recent launching of MicroPlace.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2007/10/29/zopa-listings/>