Last week consumer advocacy group Consumer Action released a special report about the borrowing side of p2p lending. Titled simply the Peer to Peer Lending Survey it provided detailed information for borrowers about the p2p lending process and what to expect when applying for a loan at one of the major p2p lenders. It included information about Lending Club, Prosper, as well as Peerform.
I started reading this survey thinking there might be a few errors but the authors did an excellent job. As I read through the report it was clear that they had spent quite some time researching this topic. They talk about the loan eligibility requirements, the loan listing process, the interest rates, origination fees and much more. There is a helpful table that gives a quick snapshot of each of the three p2p lenders. For interest rates the authors looked at the available rates on April 30, 2012.
Peerform should be delighted to be included in this survey. They are currently only available for borrowers in 13 states and this survey treats them as an equal to Lending Club and Prosper. I don’t include much information about Peerform on the blog here because they are still only available for accredited investors and they have a high minimum investment requirement. They also do not make their loan volume information public so I do not include them in my end of month volume numbers.
For any borrower considering taking out a p2p loan this special report (link to the PDF is here) can certainly save time and money. The entire report can be read in under half an hour or you can just focus on the comparison table which summarizes the most useful information.