This is one of the coolest things ive seen on the internet in a long time.. this might even beat out ebay for coolness factor.

I doubt this will last long.. no doubt all the banks in the united states will do everything they can to get it shut down:

prosper.com

Prosper, America's first people-to-people lending marketplace, was created to make consumer lending more financially and socially rewarding for everyone.

The way Prosper works is intuitive to people who have used eBay. Instead of listing and bidding on items, people list and bid on loans using Prosper's online auction platform.

People who want to lend set the minimum interest rate they are willing to earn and bid in increments of $50 to $25,000 on loan listings they select. People who lend can easily diversify using "standing orders", which automatically make many small loans to different borrowers.

Basicially it's just allowing anyone to create any rate they want and offer a loan. How spectacular!!@()#* i really hope it does last, but no doubt government regulation will find some way to strike it down.