Today I am featuring my first Guest Post on PFI! Dawn from Fighting Foreclosure has been kind enough to write a post about her perspective on Prosper.com. I am always intrigued and interested in other blogger’s opinions about Prosper and P2P lending in general. I am both a lender and borrower on Prosper since January 2008 and have had success thus far. If you have not had a chance to visit Dawn’s blog, I suggest you check it out. It is on my blogroll and one of the sites that I read daily.
Here is what Dawn has to say about Prosper -
Passive Family Income asked me to write a little about my experience with Prosper.com. I am a fairly new recruit to the site, having just started working with it in June, but so far I have been really happy with it. For anyone unfamiliar with the web site, the concept is fairly simple: people who need loans apply and other people with money bid on the loans. While I suppose if you had enough money you could bid to fund an entire loan, the usual way is that a lot of people come together to fund one loan.
I am currently a lender on two loans and am in the process of transferring money over so I can bid on a third. Outside of the returns, which are important, (but not guaranteed,) there are several things I like about the website:
I like that it works for me.
I have a very restricted budget right now, but at the same time, I am looking towards my future. It is important to me to find investments and ways I can build up passive income streams. The minimum amount to bid on a Prosper loan is $50. Even I can come up with that! Plus I got a $25 bonus for signing up, which is what helped fund my second loan. The third loan is being funded with a referral bonus combined with my own money. This means the dollar amounts here aren’t scary - I don’t have so much out there in one place that I fear losing it, should the worst happen and someone defaults.
Prosper also has a fairly easy to understand website. They make it simple - something more websites could benefit from! I used their portfolio plans to indicate my risk tolerance and they did the rest. However, after reading a few of Passive Family Income’s articles, I think the next time I may search and choose a loan on my own.
I like that it works for others.
One of the best things about Prosper is learning about the people you are lending to. They aren’t some meaningless number - the requests for loans come with photos, family stories, and details on what they plan on doing with the loan. Knowing who my money is going to has meaning for me. I guess it is the humanitarian side of investing - my Prosper loans make me feel like I am helping someone out by helping them consolidate their credit card debt or pay off their wedding. That is a lot more personal then, well, most every kind of investment I know! There were times in my life where I certainly could have used this assistance myself, had it been available. And who knows? I still might.
I am a big believer that people can do far more working together than they would ever dream. The grassroots feel of Prosper is part of what appeals to me - a group of people coming together to lend money to an individual who needs it, and on top of it getting a great return for their investment? Sounds perfect.
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