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Should You Invest In P2P Loans?

So what is a P2P loan? This is short for peer to peer loans and they provide an interesting investment opportunity. Marc Prosser wrote about this today at Frobes.com.

First of all these provide a good opportunity for both investors and borrowers. From an investors point of view you can earn double digit returns annually. Borrowers are attracted to these type of loans because they are cheaper then borrowing using a credit card.

Think of a P2P loan like a mortgage loan. These are amortized so the borrower makes a monthly payment of principal and interest. Borrowers use the money to pay off high interest credit card balances, medical expenses, or in some cases doing a home improvement.

These are easy for investors to get started investing in. You can invest in increments as low as $25. Prosper and Lending Club are the 2 main players for these loans and they suggest investors diversify among several hundred loans. Marc Prosser says he is invested in 816 loans.

One thing you may be worried about is what about late payments and defaults. In Marc's case only 10 out of 816 were late on their payments. A default happens when a payment is over 120 days late. This is usually a low percent of loans of around 1.25% in Marc's case.

Why invest in peer to peer loans? They pay a very high yield because of the risk of default. Marc said "The loans that I invest in pay an average interest rate of around 16%, or about 15% more than a Certificate of Deposit (CD)."

Investors do not like risk and uncertainty. The P2P loans do have that. To compensate for that peer-to-peer loans have much higher expected return than safer investments.

Should you invest in a P2P loan? It certainly is worth looking closer at.

Is Your Student Loan A Nightmare?

A student loan can be the best thing that happens to you as a scholar looking to make it in the world. It can also be your worst nightmare. Students today are struggling with debts that could have been easily paid off with better research and better perks.

Institutions are fooling many with beautiful ads about education packages that are a trap that could fleece you of money in the long run. Many students have come to realize later after borrowing money from traditional lenders that the same lenders had lower interest loans that could have slashed their payments by thousands of dollars.

Looking for the best lender is worth the time and the legwork. The enthusiasm to get into an institution should never blind you on the financial implications that education would have on your parents, guardians and you if you are paying through school working.

Federal student's loans now allow students to borrow loans with rates that are as low as 4.5% and also offer some chances of some debts being slashed off. Those that are in need of more than what the federal state is offering can apply in private institutions for more money and still enjoy great rates as long as they have a good credit record.

The private lenders are now advised to explain to the students the importance of starting with federal loans and compared to the private loans. The Stafford Federal program will give to students today without the need of a guarantee from a working parent or guardian.

The interest and the amount of money that the lenders are giving today for students loans are dependent on the age, year in school, income and the college the student is in. The applications are simple and free to make with the private institutions being advised to channels all the federal loan applications through the government.