Need cash for your business?

Online lending sites that facilitate loans between friends and family aren't immune to the economic meltdown, but they do offer an option to those in need of fast cash. And you don't have to go to the bank. Read more on Fortune.com.

Kiva: Person-to-Person Microlending

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website. Using this site, you can directly to entrepreneurs in developing countries. This is an interesting model to let individual lenders select the person to whom they want to make a loan. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need. Here's the link: http://www.kiva.org/. Thanks to Scott Ireland for finding this site.

Read a blog posting from a Kiva Fellow in Indonesia.

Inc Magazine - The eBay of Lending

A new website called Prosper allows registered users to post proposals that solicit loans from other users on the site--up to $25,000, at a wide range of interest rates. Prosper, which was launched in February by Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-Loan, handles credit checks and payment collections. Read more on Inc Magazine.