P2P

Peer to peer or P2P file sharing is the sharing of media through online technologies. This has become most commonly associated with BitTorrent and illegally downloading music, movies, TV shows, and other forms of entertainment media. On a brighter note, P2P has been used in a variety of ways that has done much more than just break laws. In the article "Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other" by Wendy Kaufman, she discusses the innovative way Lending Club has used P2P transfers. Lending Club acts as an online marketplace that connects investors and borrowers and according to them, they have made credit more affordable and investing more rewarding. A borrower discussed in the article, Chanda Lugere, points out that the loan she applied for using Lending Club was much more of a deal than any she could get at a bank. The reason for this is that when investors put up money to fund loans they participate in an online marketplace. They get to invest in hundreds to thousands of loans within the marketplace where the rates will adjust accordingly for each loan and can then produce rates that are more appealing to borrowers. According to the company, this means that the investors can still make a profit with borrowers getting lower rates because of how the P2P marketplace works.