The new way to borrow money: People-to-people lending!

that's right, Prosper.com, a website unlike any other on the Web (2.0), offers borrowing and lending for anyone that signs up! you can either make a listing for money, where other people can bid on your listing (and pick an interest rate they think is fair) or you can lend money and bid on listings you think deserve your hard earned moolah! (and are safe!) it's free to sign up, and you can borrow up to $25,000.

fees apply for using the service, and they are as follows:

• borrower fees: 1%-2% closing fee (depending on your credit grade)
  
• lender fees: 0.5%-1% annual loan servicing fee (depending on your credit grade)

for more information on their fees, (which seemed to be pretty hard to find... :-P) click here.

if you have good credit, it's a great website to use to consolidate your debt... but with students like me who have little or no credit history, it may or may not be something we're looking for. check it out anyway, although i'd recommend not borrowing money from there until you have done your loan research! it seems pretty safe to use, but i'd be careful!! websites like this make it too easy to borrow money...

if you absolutely need to get a personal loan, compare local rates here.

don't know what a personal loan is or entails? find out and learn what to look out for when shopping for one.