Wow. I hope Prosper.com takes off. I think it will depend on the ability of the groups to enforce repayment and keep delinquencies down.
For more on microcredit, which is essentially what Prosper.com is, check out Wikipedia and this article by The Economist on Microcredit and Disasters.
I wonder what banks think of this? Via mnot.
While Prosper.com caters mainly to the US market, there’s another site called GlobeFunder.com which caters to the global crowd, especially those living in the third world.
Yes, and I’ve also heard good things about Kiva. What Prosper offers that both GlobeFunder and Kiva don’t (currently) is the chance to earn interest on your loan.