Microlending.ca - Canadian P2P Lending News

Peer to Peer Social Lending in Canada is Here!

The Toronto Star today has an article about the actual live launch of a Canadian P2P Lending Service: IOU Central.

From the article:

IOU Central, which operates www.ioucentral.ca, announced yesterday it has become the latest entrant to Canada's online social lending industry.

"Person-to-person lending has obviously been going on for centuries," said CEO and founder Phil Marleau. "We've used the Internet to facilitate this with today's technology."

Prospective clients must provide IOU Central with their bank account information and social insurance number. The company derives borrowers' credit scores through TransUnion Canada. Applicants with high credit ratings generally enjoy lower interest rates, Marleau said.

IOU Central follows the online auction platform popularized by Prosper.com and other American websites.

First Thoughts on Online Microlender IOU Central

I haven't looked through the site too much, but it does look like they've put quite a bit of work into it. I'll post a more thorough review over the next couple of days. But I must say, it is definitely sweet to see a company actually go live with a product in the Canadian Peer-To-Peer Lending Market. Who knows, maybe Canada will have even more companies than the US does in this field, with Prosper being the primary company, and Zopa just trying to get things off the ground.

Hopefully the competition for this type of microlending will really heat up, and the news will generate enough of a buzz for there to be a lot of users both lending and borrowing.

I'll make another post on the state of the entire Canadian P2P Borrowing/Lending companies shortly, since CommunityLend looks like they'll be soon to launch as well.

I'll definitely bid on a loan or two just to see what the process involves, and I'll keep everyone posted.

My very first observation of their website is that the interest rates do seem a bit low (from an investor's point of view), which is great if you're looking to borrow money. As well, there are actually bids on the loans, so if you're looking to borrow, take a look at it all yourself.