http://www.omidyar.net/group/foo dchain/ws/tmfi___tiered_micro_fi nancing_investment/?searchterm=s ociety%20tech%20money

This seems very interesting, its a tiered microfinancing project that will operate much like the Grammeen system except there is no central bank, but individuals who are willing to loan out small amounts with the promise of interest revenue in the future when they are repaid.

Their main idea is to market to countries where interest rates are ridiculously high so that those people would rather borrow from an individual who charges perhaps only 5%-7% interest versus the 20%-30% the borrower might face from their own commercial bank.

The idea seems very straightforward as it aims to have just normal everyday people participating but I do have questions regarding how will they guarantee repayment and enforcement issues if the borrower can be continents away from the lender.