Lending Crowd soft launches

The lender, backed by Finance Direct, is offering secured loans from 7.9 per cent.

Founder Wayne Croad said Lending Crowd wanted to drive down the cost of borrowing money. Its highest rates are just under 20 per cent, which is about half what the market’s first entrant, Harmoney, charges.

Investors are given the opportunity to diversify their investments into $50 segments to spread their risk.

Lending Crowd joins three other operators: Harmoney, Squirrel Money and LendMe. Crowdfunder PledgeMe has also indicated that it wants to begin offering peer-to-peer lending services for companies wanting to raise capital.