The slumping economy has sent the banking system into panic mode, making it tough for even people with the best credit rating to get a good interest rate. So a rising number of folks looking to consolidate debt, buy an engagement ring, finance their small business or pay off a mortgage are using the Internet to ask for help from a friend or, more often, a stranger.
The nascent peer-to-peer (P2P) loan industry, in which regular people exchange cash with the help of an online facilitator, had about $650 million in outstanding debt in 2007. Prosper, the first such matchmaker in...
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