You can use services like Kiva, but the general problem is that it is expensive to pick winners and diligence opportunities. It's hard with debt financing (clea

You can use services like Kiva, but the general problem is that it is expensive to pick winners and diligence opportunities. It's hard with debt financing (clearly because people still give out bad loans), even harder with equity financing. Also, equity financing provides no clear way for investors to get their money back. There is far less of an incentive structure here. Only debt creates that obligation which compels people to honor their obligation. The challenge is, is that investors have a lot of places to put their money and an asset class needs to be compelling from a risk-adjusted returns perspective. Usury laws can protect predictors rates, but there are fundamental limits on what constitutes a profitable interest rate because of higher default rates with sub-prime lending.