Have you wondered , that the banks will take money from you and only give an interest rate of 2-5% and at the same time they charge you in the range of 8-20% when you get a loan.The difference is obviously kept by the bank as that is the way they make money. Ever thought about sharing the pie in the lending market with the banks.
Till now there was no way you could do it, but there are p2p lending sites popping up everywhere.The idea is very simple that is you got to these websites and either buy loans or borrow money and you bid on the interest rate just like on ebay. The various sites which facilitate p2p lending are Prosper,Zopa,GlobeFunder,Lending Club,Virgin Money
The idea of P2P lending is game changing and very good but I have chosen to not use it for a while as I feel that the timing is just not right for me at this time.Here are my reasons why
If a person with a nice credit is going to foreclosure and then while his credit is good goes to prosper.com and gets a 25k loan(25k is max at prosper.com) and then goes into foreclosure, he has 25k and obviously someone who is going to foreclosure does not have to care for credit score and considering that prosper.com loans are unsecured(i.e. no collateral) , don't know how much collection agency can get the money back.
This thought has kept me at bay from P2P lending.But in future I definitely going to consider lending or borrowing via P2P.

posted at: 16:36 | category: /personalfinance | permanent link to this entry

Recently I came across a few online websites like Redfin,Buysideinc,Ziprealty
It is a very interesting concept where in you as the home buyer does all the legwork in searching for the house, visit open houses, search for listings online and on their website and find a house which you like.
In todays world with internet as it is we all do all this research ourself, so why not make some money out of it.
The reward for doing this homework is a stunning 2% rebate(non-taxable, because it is a rebare :-) ).So think about it that on a house of 700k , you will get about $14000 back.

posted at: 03:35 | category: /homebuying | permanent link to this entry

Ever wondered how would emergency officials contact your kin in case of an emergency.Now there are traditional methods like drivers license and other form of identifications in your wallet which can help emergency professionals to contact your kin to find out of any active medication, or allergies etc, a new initiative has started around the world.It is a very simple initiative called ICE--In case of emergency.
So all you have to do is add a prefix ICE-- to your contacts in your cell phone address book so that emergency professionals can contact your designated emergency contact person.So for example it could be ICE--Mum, or ICE--Dad etc. The idea is very very simple and yet very powerful and it has picked up lot of momentum especially in the UK(where the initiative was started).
You can read more about it on the following websites.
'ICE' Cell Phone Plan Would Help Rescuers
Put 'ICE' On Your Cell Phone
In case of emergency, put 'ICE' on cell phone

posted at: 13:01 | category: /pleaforaction | permanent link to this entry