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Person-to-person loans finally come to Canada with the first online lending marketplace: IOU Central(Canada Newswire English Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Attention News Editors MONTREAL, Feb. 12 /CNW Telbec/ - IOU Central, the first person-to-person online lending marketplace in Canada, officially launched its website today, February 12, 2008 (www.ioucentral.ca). IOU Central is an Internet-based market that enables people to borrow and lend money directly from and to other people in a safe, convenient, and highly reliable environment. "At its core, IOU Central empowers individuals to be their own banker by giving them a platform to lend money to whomever they want. It's no longer just your local bank that can earn interest on your deposited money!" said Phil Marleau, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of IOU Central. "It also gives borrowers an alternative source of funds at competitive rates with no lengthy procedures to go through as are currently required at many traditional financial institutions." The website is very easy to use for both borrowers and lenders. Someone who needs a small loan posts his/her loan request on the loan listings board. The loan request includes his/her credit score, the amount he/she wishes to borrow, the term of the loan, and the maximum rate he/she is willing to pay. The borrower can also provide additional information (such as his/her income and housing expenses) which IOU Central can use to derive his/her debt payment to income ratio and housing expenses to income ratio. This can increase the borrower's chance of getting a lower interest rate. Lenders, who are people with extra funds to invest, then bid on the loan request by stating the amount they are willing to lend and the rate they are willing to accept. When the listing ends, the bids with the lowest rates are combined together into a single loan and IOU Central securely transfers money from all of the lenders accounts into the borrower's account. Every month, IOU Central withdraws funds from the borrower's account and deposits them into the accounts of the lenders until the loan is fully repaid. Using IOU Central, a borrower can apply for a personal loan in the amount of $1,000 to $25,000 and for a term of up to 3 years. The lender on the other hand can bid on a loan in amounts ranging from $25 to $25,000. IOU Central facilitates risk diversification by allowing lenders to bid small amounts on many different loans. IOU Central adheres to strict privacy policies and uses the highest levels of online security to protect each users account. IOU Central is TRUSTe-certified to have industry-leading privacy protection and uses bank-level data security and SSL 128-bit encryption, one of the best commercial methods available today. Phil Marleau, President & CEO, IOU Central Inc., (514) 789-0694 ext. 225, [email protected]; www.ioucentral.ca Copyright ? 2008 Canada Newswire Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |