brvheart 1,752 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 prosper.comThis site is amazing if you need to borrow money or if you want to make money off people that need it.This is the description of the site from the 'Harvard' Group...What is Prosper.com? Prosper.com is an online marketplace (like eBay) for people to borrow and lend directly from each other. By cutting the bank or credit card company out of the process - borrowers get lower interest rates on their loans and lenders get better interest rates than saving money with their bank. How does it work? The way it works is borrowers create listings with the type of loan they want - dollar amount and desired interest rate. Then lenders can bid to fulfill all or a portion of the loan. Usually many lenders bid for portions of the loan to make up the whole loan. Once your loan request is fully subscribed to, you're a click away from having the money in your bank account. (Click on the "Borrow" tab for suggested interest rates.)What is this group about? One unique feature of Prosper.com is that borrowers can affiliate themselves with a group, and lenders can choose to give preferred rates to that group. This group is for current students and alumni of Harvard University only - inclusive of Harvard College and all Harvard graduate schools. All applicants to this group will be checked against the Harvard Directory for validation that they are a current student or alumnus of Harvard University. Our objective is to build a group with a strong reputation to help benefit the whole Harvard community. What do group members borrow for? Members of this group have requested loans for a variety of reasons: (1) consolidating high interest credit card debt, (2) refinancing or consolidating student loans, (3) financing high value purchases, (4) start-up capital, and (5) lending back on Prosper.com. All loans on Prosper.com have a fixed interest rate and are paid back over three years in equal monthly installments. There is no pre-payment penalty and no tricks that credit card companies use to change the interest rate. Your starting interest rate is the rate for the entire period of the loan. *Important*: Members of this group are getting better rates from lenders due to the reliability of our group members in paying back their loans and the Harvard reputation. Your reliability in paying back your loan impacts the reputation of this group and the Harvard name. Our goal is to have a group with no defaults or late payments on any loans. If you doubt your ability to pay back your loan in any way, for the benefit of the broader Harvard community, please do not request to join this group. How do I join? To be included in the group, click on the "Join This Group" button at the upper right of this page. Please send your name, year of graduation, school affiliation, and your harvard alumni or student email. We will not accept any members who we cannot confirm through a harvard.edu email address. Please include enough detail that your affiliation as a Harvard alumnus/ae can be confirmed through the Harvard online directory. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop the group leader a question. Welcome to Prosper.com and the Harvard University Alumni & Students Group!There are hundreds of groups you can join to get better interests rates, but you don't even need to join a group... you can just 'go it alone' and people will lend you money like crazy. Need a bigger bankroll?oh... and spam. Link to post Share on other sites
mikeysong 0 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 INTERESTINGAND YOUR AVATAR IS GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSbut in all seriousness, when i have a bigger br, I'd def. be interested in stuff like this Link to post Share on other sites
BWToth 0 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Has anyone tried this?Seems, logically that this wouldn't work. Couldn't you just get a loan from someone at 8% and then lend money at 12% and keep the 4%? seems like it's creating an even worse 'middle man' than a bank.Well, I'm signing up for fun regardless. Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda 1 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Looks like just another form of gambling.Loan $100, get back $115 over 12-36 months (hopefully).You need 7 successes (full paybacks) out of 8 to break slightly above even at this rate. And that's if you are loaning to B-C creditors at 15%. You need a lot better if you go to the A credit and get 8-10% (which you can legitimately expect investing in mutual funds anyway). Link to post Share on other sites
BWToth 0 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Well I posted a 'borrow' request for $3000 to see what happens. Also joined a group from an area where I'm from. I think I'm treating this to much like a game instead of something real. I mean, there are a bunch of fees and stuff involved that go to the site. Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 Has anyone tried this?Seems, logically that this wouldn't work. Couldn't you just get a loan from someone at 8% and then lend money at 12% and keep the 4%? seems like it's creating an even worse 'middle man' than a bank.Well, I'm signing up for fun regardless.I have... but only as a lender... I haven't tried to borrow yet. I wouldn't pimp this site if I didn't think it would benefit the community. There are plenty of college kids that could use an UNSECURED loan. And there are plenty of 20 and 30 somethings that want to make 29% over a 3 year period by lending small amounts to a person with AA credit. I will link you some people that even say in the loan description that they are borrowing money EXCLUSIVELY to lend it to other people at a higher rate. If you join a group you get even better rates. There are groups for everything... ranging from people from a certain school, like Harvard, to a certain state, or even certain areas... like the Chicago group.158 people borrow small amounts to this person with an A credit rating. And they will all get 21% on their money over 3 years. http://prosper.com/public/lend/listing.aspx?listingID=115053This site is gold... literally. Link to post Share on other sites
speedz99 145 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 There's a guy on NWP that does this all the time (lending)...apparently he does really well with it. Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda 1 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Well I posted a 'borrow' request for $3000 to see what happens. Also joined a group from an area where I'm from. I think I'm treating this to much like a game instead of something real. I mean, there are a bunch of fees and stuff involved that go to the site.Umm, do you really need $3000? It's sort of not a game lol Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 Well I posted a 'borrow' request for $3000 to see what happens. Also joined a group from an area where I'm from. I think I'm treating this to much like a game instead of something real. I mean, there are a bunch of fees and stuff involved that go to the site.Actually there are groups that charge no fees. Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 There's a guy on NWP that does this all the time (lending)...apparently he does really well with it. 2nd. Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda 1 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hmmm an A-credit at 21%, that's another story. I didn't see any like that on my quick glance. Did that shit fill up in 1 day? Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hmmm an A-credit at 21%, that's another story. I didn't see any like that on my quick glance. Did that shit fill up in 1 day?Just so you know, a 'B' credit score is a 660 to 700, so it's not like these people are slacks... Anything B or higher I bid on. You can find tons of people desperate for short term loans that would never be late... it's amazing. Link to post Share on other sites
BWToth 0 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Umm, do you really need $3000? It's sort of not a game lolDon't need it, but could use it. If worse comes to worse i'll try to loan it back out at a better rate. my rating is an A so i'm getting at like 9.5% right now....2% 'bid' on..aka 50 bucks haha. Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 28, 2007 Author Share Posted March 28, 2007 Toth, I'm out of money in my account and my new deposit won't be processed until Friday, but I will throw some money your way when it available. How many days did you list it?Also, some more reading material for any skeptics....Washington PostTime magazine, Prosper is the #1 site of 2006USA TodaySmall Business ResourceMoney magazineReader's DigestPC MagazineInc. magazineNewsweekWall Street JournalBusiness WeekEntrepreneur MagazineDowJonesBusiness Week againNew York Times Link to post Share on other sites
Napa_Don 688 Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 This thread made me want to know my what my credit score is as I've been trying to build it by using my credit cards and then paying them back immediatley (only using them if I currently have the money to pay for the item) and I try to keep my balance below $250 (no interest on my credit card under this) in case I have an unexpected expense come up. Turns out it's paying off as I have an excellent credit score. Go me. Link to post Share on other sites
eYank 0 Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 wat forces someone to pay this back other then like they are honestWith a bank you sign a contract and everything so they can take your house ect, how do they protect the lender here Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted March 29, 2007 Author Share Posted March 29, 2007 wat forces someone to pay this back other then like they are honestWith a bank you sign a contract and everything so they can take your house ect, how do they protect the lender hereLike with any loan, no one forces anyone to actually write the check, but any borrower is signing a contract and must provide proof of income by way of last years tax return and a current pay stub. Everything is tracked by social security #, so if people don't pay it will greatly effect their credit score, AND they will be banned for life from prosper.com... which would be terrible. Also when you pay late, it sends an email to everyone in your group, and they will usually have your phone number, etc etc... it's a pretty close knit community. But there are ways you can cut your risk...As a lender you can cut your risk by lending small amounts to a greater number of people. Let's say for instance that you want to invest $10,000 at 15% or more. Well if you loan 40 different people $250 and constantly reinvest any profits in more loans, depending on your age, you could easily be a multimillionaire by the time you retire, and only from an original 10,000 investment. Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda 1 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Like with any loan, no one forces anyone to actually write the check, but any borrower is signing a contract and must provide proof of income by way of last years tax return and a current pay stub. Everything is tracked by social security #, so if people don't pay it will greatly effect their credit score, AND they will be banned for life from prosper.com... which would be terrible. Also when you pay late, it sends an email to everyone in your group, and they will usually have your phone number, etc etc... it's a pretty close knit community. But there are ways you can cut your risk...As a lender you can cut your risk by lending small amounts to a greater number of people. Let's say for instance that you want to invest $10,000 at 15% or more. Well if you loan 40 different people $250 and constantly reinvest any profits in more loans, depending on your age, you could easily be a multimillionaire by the time you retire, and only from an original 10,000 investment. I'm pretty sure that's not true. You look at those 401K charts that get you from $10000 to 1,000,000 at retirement and they assume an additional investment of $200/mo or so every single month until you retire. Granted they usually only assume 8 to 10% growth at most, but that is with adding more money in every month in addition to automatically reinvesting all your dividends/capital gains. Eventually make some decent money if you get lucky with defaults and start with $10K and never reinvest, yes. Multimillionaire... not so much.Edit: Additionally - (and since I didn't do all the math involved in this because I don't feel like it) Lets say 20 years down the road you are up over 100K. You would literally have to have all 100K in loans out to keep growing at that rate/pace. Are you really going to have out 100K in loans? Or 300K? Or 500K? This can make some good money but I'd be very surprised to see it make a millionaire. Link to post Share on other sites
eYank 0 Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I'm pretty sure that's not true. You look at those 401K charts that get you from $10000 to 1,000,000 at retirement and they assume an additional investment of $200/mo or so every single month until you retire. Granted they usually only assume 8 to 10% growth at most, but that is with adding more money in every month in addition to automatically reinvesting all your dividends/capital gains. Eventually make some decent money if you get lucky with defaults and start with $10K and never reinvest, yes. Multimillionaire... not so much.Edit: Additionally - (and since I didn't do all the math involved in this because I don't feel like it) Lets say 20 years down the road you are up over 100K. You would literally have to have all 100K in loans out to keep growing at that rate/pace. Are you really going to have out 100K in loans? Or 300K? Or 500K? This can make some good money but I'd be very surprised to see it make a millionaire.technically w/ compunding interest (keep reinvesting) its possible its something like an exponential growth curve but it may take longer then you think Link to post Share on other sites
brvheart 1,752 Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 Well I posted a 'borrow' request for $3000 to see what happens. Also joined a group from an area where I'm from. I think I'm treating this to much like a game instead of something real. I mean, there are a bunch of fees and stuff involved that go to the site.Good job on getting your loan funded Toth. Remember 100 bucks of that is mine. No Hookers & Blow. Link to post Share on other sites
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