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LendingClub, the peer-to-peer lending service that took off on Facebook and recently announced its plans to expand, is doing so with partnerships with 10 alumni associations across the country.

This is set up in a similar manner to how the Facebook app worked, enabling alumni to lend and borrow money from each other. In establishing these new lending tools, LendingClub has set up co-branded communities with several alumni associations including Georgia Tech, Kansas Sate and my own alma mater, University of Michigan.

This is a unique method of expansion for LendingClub, which announced a round of funding for $10.26 million in August. What it’s doing is offering custom communities for existing organizations, which automatically harbors a level of trust tat would otherwise be absent.

Just like visiting the classifieds site set up for your college, you know that you’re more likely to deal with people that are trustworthy than going to a third-party classifieds site. Dealing with these LendingClub communities isn’t exactly like the classifieds example, because after college we all have a tendency to disperse, so it’s not as if you can drive across campus to pick up the new futon you bought from a Senior. But you get the point.

This route for expansion plays nicely with its initial tactic on Facebook. Growth in the peer- and micro-lending spaces has continued even in the past week, with eBay’s MicroPlace and Zopa’s new Listings section.

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