INDIANAPOLIS Nearly three years in the making, half a dozen U.S. credit unions teamed up Monday with a British firm, Zopa Ltd, to sign up members for a specialized person-to-person “social lending” network.

“This has taken a while to get off the ground but it will be worth it as a positive way to reach out to young people and the next generation,” said Doug True, a senior vice president at Forum CU, one of the early supporters of the so-called peer-to-peer internet venture.

Just how many CUs or members might eventually make use of the Zopa website for social lending was uncertain, but the idea of making such a vehicle available by connecting potential borrowers with lenders and using insured CDs was being roundly applauded by the participating CUs.

“We first started discussing Zopa about three years ago among a group of i3ers at Filene,” said True, referring to the i3 research group at Filene Research Institute which welcomed presentations by executives of the London firm eager to link up with U.S. financial institutions. CUs, as it turned out, were preferred over banks because of their structure and philosophy, Zopa officials have said.

Zopa maintains U.S. operations out of San Francisco and expects to lay out its CU expansion program later this week.