Lending options for a particular class

Crowd funding loans changing the world.

By Nicole Hamer |

13:26 03 May 2013

The financial smog may appear to be clearing for those near the top of the financial high rise but for those closer to the proverbial “ground working class,” it is thicker than old fashioned lentil soup. And despite what the major financial institutions and government claim, little lending is occurring or trickling down to the middle class or small businesses. In walk some innovative individuals and groups with ideas that are changing the face of lending thru peer to peer (P2P) and crowd funding loans.

 

Crowd funding groups are a combination of social media and micro investment lenders group meeting under the common ground of passing it forward to its member’s financial investments for worthwhile projects worldwide. With the over £1.9gbn in lending power annually, funding not only business ventures and entrepreneurs but social causes and some personal financial situations maybe covered. Considering crowd funding loans:

 

• Thoroughly investigate any all P2P or crowd funding groups to prevent being scammed. Although having been in existence for a number of years, many financial institutions and regulatory agencies still don’t recognize P2P and crowd funding groups and crowd funding loans as legitimate and viable lending resources. A few bad apples haven’t helped those perceptions.

 

• Have a written plan as to what you are looking to do. Research the idea for any similar existing concepts to get an adequate picture of what it will take to accomplish it. Getting estimates of material and labour costs; marketing and promotional requirements; overall operating cost for the first few months and years in operation; personal involvement in the project; and how long it should take before the project becomes self sustaining and earning money. Basically, a business plan.

 

• Provide personal history or background of how you came up with the concept, came to this particular point and your expected outcome. Think of this as getting a loan from a bank, crowd funding loans is a loan with expected return on the investment in this case, to the members of the crowd funding group. This is particularly important if you are looking to get assistance for personal situations such as medical concerns.

 

• Creating a presentation that gives brief summary with some pictures or a videohighlighting of all the points is posted.

 

Remember crowd fund loans are dealing with crowds. There might be lots of responses or none. In that case, reworking the presentation maybe in order or not targeting the right group. It is also expected that at some point, you pass it forward to other deserving people.