Microdebt investment

I have spent a little bit of time looking at some micro debt sites.

There are a couple although only seem to be available in the US and UK.

One was http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/ this is based in the UK and looks like a spin off from the same people who brought US the Egg card.

The other was http://www.prosper.com based out of the US.

Both are interesting, from an investment point of view. I mean it is something that I understand and certainly cuts out the middle man from the lending cycle.
I did read somewhere that there was going to be an international version for anywhere in the world. I will have to take a look again. Would be a good way to help businesses in countries without more extensive financial infrastructure gain access to capital.

All of this is good however there were a couple of thoughts.
The increasing regulation seems to mean that the activity is limited to only one country at a time. What fun is that from an investment point of view.
The other thought is whether this is just further evidence that the consumer credit bubble is starting to creak (and eventually will pop).

..........
This is a
business week article on Prosper, looks like Zoho is entering the US market too.