Need cash? Bypass the banks entirely and find your lender on a social website - Spend & Save , Money - The Independent

Need cash? Bypass the banks entirely and find your lender on a social website - Spend & Save , Money - The Independent

Unfortunately for many Britons, it's impossible to do Christmas properly without a little borrowing. Credit cards are the usual weapon of choice for Christmas shoppers, followed closely by overdrafts. Some consumers, ignoring the punishing rates of interest, choose to load up the store cards, perhaps hoping that the new year pay packet will bring relief from the debt. But there is an alternative to the usual Christmas debt suspects that can work for both spenders and savers alike – the burgeoning world of social lending websites, or peer-to-peer lending as it's known.