There are several U.S. companies that specialize in peer to peer lending.  Some of the most popular ones are Lending Club, Pertuity Direct, Prosper, Loanio and Kiva.  These companies allow an investor to start the lending process with a very small amount of money invested in several loans.  So, it doesn’t take a lot of money to get started in a P2P program.  P2P companies do assign credit ratings to potential borrowers and the investor can evaluate the risk associated with each one.  The risk associated with each peer loan is about the same as the risk assumed by banks when they lend money.  And, an investor has the potential of earning quite a bit of money, depending on the risk involved, the loans purchased and other contributing factors.  P2P loan companies do whatever they can to put investors on a profitable path which in turn helps them assure return business.  They don’t guarantee anything however, and they are not FDIC insured.  No matter what, these companies do want to issue peer loans and are more than happy to get the ball rolling!