America's big banks are still deeply hesitant to lend money to most ordinary folks. But in the year's since the financial crisis knocked the legs out from under us, an alternative borrowing option has been gaining ground: peer-to-peer lending.
The Atlantic Ocean is wide, but maybe not wide enough. On Thursday, markets had a mixed reaction to the deepening economic crisis in Europe. Some sources reported that the European Central Bank would step in. But in the U.S., small business owners are growing nervous.
LDK Solar has long depended on demand driven by government subsidies from countries such as Germany, Spain and Italy, which makes it vulnerable in this period of European austerity. Trefis has revised its estimates for LDK Solar down -- but still meaningfully above the market price.
With the fears of a European sovereign debt crisis growing worse, the Spanish government said Wednesday that it's taking several measures to stop the fiscal contagion from reaching its shores, including selling a 30% stake in its national lottery business, Bloomberg reported.
Many aspects of the financial crisis are still with us. But when it comes to one of the most profound economic impacts of the 2008 meltdown -- the downright seizure of credit markets -- things could hardly be more different now than during the height of the crisis.
Millions of Americans are seeing their credit scores plunge. According to FICO, 25.5% of consumers -- roughly 43.4 million people -- have a credit score below 600, making them a poor risk for lenders, and making it hard for those consumers to get credit cards, auto loans and mortgages.
