Does anyone know about Prosper lending and savings?

Question

I am looking into a place for savings and I came across prosper. It seems very interesting but maybe a little too good ha ha. Has anyone used it or know anything. Thanks

Answer 1

I am a small lender on Prosper.

While the interest that you can make can be really good, there is one bad thing you may encounter with Prosper that you won't see with mutual funds or savings accounts: Default Risk. While many people offer very high rates of interest (20-30%), they generally have bad credit for a reason. They don't pay their bills!

I have been involved in 20 different loans on Prosper. Of those 20, 6 or 7 have defaulted. This means Prosper writes the loan off as uncollectable and you lose the balance of the principal.

My advice: Give Prosper a try as lender with a small amount ($1000 or so) but stick to the better credits.

Answer 2

I am a small lender with Prosper. I just won my sixth bid on a loan with someone who lives in Oregon. I lived in Illinois. I have been receiving monthly payments (part of my principal and interest) since June of this year. Borrowers have up to three years to pay their loans. Borrowers determined the interest that they are willing to pay and lenders like me bid down the interest so our funds get included in the loan. Prosper does all of the work. They have all of the paperwork for every state, they verified information, and have collection agencies on contract. I bid approximately $125 per loan and I try to get at least 15% interest. Yes Prosper is real. It has been featured on national TV news casts and published in several magazines such as Newsweek. Last March, I read about Prosper in Money magazine. After I checked them out, I joined in April, and won three loan bids in May. Prosper is known as the EBay for money. This is where people lend money to other people. Check it out for yourself.

http://www.prosper.com/join/heyhobbs