The First Entry into the P2P lending space in Canada is Grouplend out of Vancouver. In October 2014 Grouplend became the first company that has jumped through all the regulatory hoops so as to be able to offer peer-to-peer lending in all provinces except Nova Scotia and Quebec.
And quickly following behind Grouplend is Borrowell, a Toronto peer-to-peer lending firm. The company is headed by Andrew Graham who led the insurance business at PC Financial. They received significant seed funding last year and plan to launch in Spring of this year. Both lenders seem to target people with good credit. This makes perfect sense for a business model that relies on steady pool of investor money. If the investors start loosing money, the pool of money dries up quickly.
The loan amount through Grouplend is $1000 to $30,000. Borrowell has yet to make their loan details public.
This is truly an exciting time in lending. Are these new online platforms going to change the way we borrow? Will the banks feel the pressure and lower their rates? Only time will tell. But competition always benefits the consumer. Good luck to them all!
Alternative lending.ca help people with difficult situations get financing and people in good financial situations get better financing through non-bank lenders. We operate out of Vancouver, BC, but can assist people in all of BC and selected locations in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.