We may loana commissions on purchases made from our chosen links. Peer-to-peer lending is a multi-billion dollar industry — but is it the right place for you to be borrowing from or investing your money? Before deciding to borrow from a peer-to-peer lender, consider your financial goals. How much money do you need? What will you be using the money for? If you are going to be using the loan to pay off debt, what is your current interest rate on that debt? If you do the research and find a loan that is offering a substantially lower interest rate than what you are currently paying, you still need to do a bit of digging. Is there a penalty for repaying the loan early? Is the interest rate fixed or variable? When it comes to investing, it pays to do your research.