Groupon-Style Lending: The Future of Business Loans?

With the emergence of peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding in recent years, the next evolution of social funding might be Groupon-style lending. Emerging companies like Croovy might be a model for future small business loans.

Although Croovy is geared towards the mortgage space, the idea could easily be applied to those seeking business financing across the country.

There is more to group deals than discounted spa treatments or $5 restaurant coupons. When you buy together, you can save. Typically the larger the purchase, the more you save. You could save thousands on a new car without having to negotiate; save tens of thousands over the life of your home loan, or potentially save thousands of dollars in interest payments on business loans.

The basic idea behind this potential new lending/borrowing space would be:

• Join a deal.
• Share the group with other business owners, friends, colleagues.
• The more people who join, the more group buying power you wield.
• After enough people have joined, the group will remain open and bidding can begin from lenders.
• Or on the other hand, a pre-approached lender can be asked to issue a discounted loan product if a quota of borrowers are presented to them.
• Bidders compete.
• Lenders can view the group members’ loan requests, but not their contact information.
• Each lender submits a bid, which consists of interest rates, closing costs, appraisal fees and title fees for each individual loan.

With this, everyone wins. Members reap the rewards of their group deal, getting lower rates than the national average and reduced costs at every turn in their loan.

Your Turn

What do you think? Any chance this will be another alternative option for those seeking business loans?