Loans in the era of
sharing economy

What is the sharing economy

With the sharing economy we define the economic model in which private subjects take advantage of their personal resources, sharing them with other private individuals for an advantage.

The sharing economy in practice

Some very well-known cases of sharing economy are:

• House sharing, where a private can share, by renting it, his/her own house or part of it for a price such as in the cases of Aibnb, Couchsurfing and others.
• Sharing of the car during a trip as in the cases of Uber and Blablacar etc.
• Sharing of money to achieve a goal as in crowdfunding by Kickstarter, Envestio, etc.
• Sharing money for peer-to-peer loans as for Mintos, Lenndy, etc. 

The advantages of the sharing economy for those sharing

The user of the service will have a fundamental advantage: he will pay the service less than he would have paid for it by contacting the official supply channels.

For example, it will pay for accommodation in an Airbnb less than a hotel; He will pay a ride with Blablacar less than a bus or Uber less than a taxi; He will also pay less interest by using a p2p loan platform than by turning to a bank.

The advantages of the sharing economy for those who use the resource

The user of the service will have a fundamental advantage: he will pay the service less than he would have paid for it by contacting the official supply channels.

For example, it will pay for accommodation in an Airbnb less than a hotel; He will pay a ride with Blablacar less than a bus or Uber less than a taxi; He will also pay less interest by using a p2p loan platform than by turning to a bank.

The advantages of the sharing economy for everyone

There is another kind of advantage of this kind of economic model, namely that the goods are fully exploited rather than partially and the production of additional goods is not needed to satisfy the demand.

For example, my second home will no longer be used only for two weeks a year but constantly, when I will have to make a long trip, instead of doing it alone I will load 3 other passengers who will not pollute by moving with their car and when I will lend money on a platform will help someone make a project.

The p2p loans in the context of the sharing economy

The model of the sharing economy applied to loans is truly exceptional because it grants the majority of the benefits (ie interest) to the owners of the money that is lent by retaining only a part of it for itself. Typically the percentages that can be obtained are around 12% as you can see in the page that compares the rates of the various lenders.

The banks, on the other hand, in addition to often having to pay a fee to manage our money, lend it interest and give us in exchange, when it goes well, some small interest. In fact, I have not seen interest on deposits exceeding 1% for years, except as a promotional offer.