11 Reasons my Prosper Experiment is on Hold: Withdrawing Cash

August 21, 2008 By 6 Comments
Pulling the Plug on My Prosper Investment

Pulling the Plug on My Prosper Investment

Question: What is the difference between my Prosper Marketplace remaining cash and a wide-angle lens for my DSLR camera?

Answer: In a week, they will be one in the same so there will be no difference.

I had $250 in cash in my Prosper account waiting to be loaned out to borrowers, but today I initiated a transfer of my cash back into my checking account. I decided that the only thing guaranteed to be around three years from now – and thus my best overall investment – is a new camera lens. I’ll need to add a little more cash to buy a good lens, but it will be much more useful and enjoyable than watching P2P loans.

Why am I pulling the plug on my Prosper Investment by removing my remaining cash?

Several reasons: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Prosper, Risk Tagged With:

Another Late Lending Club P2P Loan

August 19, 2008 By 14 Comments

I mentioned earlier that I had one Lending Club loan fall behind, but the loan recovered in less than 30 days. I now have one Lending Club loan more than 30 days late.

I had my doubts when I bid on it because the person sounded too desperate to get out of town. However, the loan was only for $800 with a monthly payment of just over $27, so I figured that they could handle the payment regardless of moving cities. If a person does not have intentions of paying a loan back, they would certainly ask for more than $800.

The loan details: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lending Club Tagged With:

Donald Trump Saves Ed Mcmahon’s Mansion

August 18, 2008 By 1 Comment

For some time now, I have been warning about the mortgage crisis and its impact on P2P loans. The fact that Ed Mcmahon, Johnny Carson’s former sidekick, is in default on his home mortgage shows just how screwed up some Americans were in their thinking about debt, the housing market, and personal finances. Ed Mcmahon went on Larry King live to describe his debt problems.

Fame helps because Donald Trump [Read more...]

Filed Under: The Economy Tagged With: ,

Prosper Marketplace Update Targeted at “Lazy Man and Money”?

August 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I received a Prosper Marketplace update via email. There were several interesting items, but it the last item stood out:

Legal Agreement Revisions
A minor change has been made to the following legal agreements, to clarify that selling or buying a recommendation or endorsement is not allowed. Please refer to the links below to view these changes.
Borrower Registration Agreement [PDF]
Lender Registration Agreement [PDF]
Group Leader Registration Agreement [PDF]

This portion of the update seems to directly target [Read more...]

Filed Under: Prosper Tagged With: , ,

Kiva: Micro Foundations for Micro Loans?

August 14, 2008 By 3 Comments

I have been fascinated with Kiva.org for sometime but have not jumped into lending on the concept yet. Part of my hesitancy is that I feel awkward about earning a return on these micro-loans for international development. I do not see them fitting with my goal of trying to offer a higher return, but as a former Peace Corps volunteer I am excited about the concept of micro-finance and would like to participate.

Therefore, I am sending the following note to Kiva.org: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Kiva Tagged With:

Top Ten Referrers and Posts for the First Half of 2008

August 7, 2008 By 5 Comments

Thank you to the blogs and forums that sent me the most traffic in the first half of the year. Also, I’d like to take a look back on the most popular posts of my p2p lending blog for the first half of the year.

Top Referrers:

  • OK so we reached ten, but I noticed that number 11 was [Read more...]
    • Filed Under: roundup

    Lending Club Quiet Period Burn Rate Update

    July 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
    Cash on Fire

    Cash on Fire

    According to NetBanker, Lending Club has a $500,000 per month burn rate. That is lower than my earlier estimation my estimate of the monthly cash burn rate delta due to the quiet period. As some of the commentators on my site mentioned, it seems to have been reasonably easy for Lending Club to find other lending institutions to extend the loans to cover the gap during the quiet period. The error in my estimation was further compounded by the Lending Club loan volume significantly dropping during the Quiet Period despite the fact that Lending Club offered to keep funding all loans meeting the requirements.

    Since I do not want to read through the entire filing, I will defer to NetBanker… Per NetBanker’s analysis of the S-1, the S-1 filed includes among other things the following interesting pieces of information:

    $6.4 million of the loans made through the platform [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Lending Club Tagged With:

    Carnival of Peer-to-Peer Lending #10

    June 30, 2008 By 4 Comments
    Carnival Tickets and Rides by StuSeeger

    Carnival Tickets and Rides by StuSeegerWelcome to the 10th peer-to-peer lending blog carnival. There were some good submissions of a new market niche, a bonus program, two guides for borrowers, and a few P2P lending summary articles. I hope that you enjoy the articles.

    Thanks to everyone who participated in the 10th P2P Lending Carnival.

    The previous carnival, number nine, was hosted at Rate Ladder and the post that started it all was at Lazy Man and Money.

    If you want to participate in p2p lending carnival number 11, go to the submission form. Hosts are also needed, please contact Lazy Man Money to host.

    Filed Under: Prosper, roundup Tagged With:

    Lending Club’s SEC S-1 Risks

    June 30, 2008 By 2 Comments
    P2P Lending is not all roses

    P2P Lending is not all rosesIn Lending Club’s S-1 filing in relation to the quiet period, Lending Club listed many risks. (See the S-1). The risks listed are similar, but not exactly like the financial risks Lending Club earlier posted on their website.

    The following risk list [Read more...]

    Filed Under: Lending Club Tagged With:

    Submit for the next P2P Lending Carnival

    June 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

    The next p2p lending carnival will be hosted here at Personal Loan Portfolio. There are not a large number of submissions that have been received to date, so you have a great chance of being prominently featured in the carnival. If you have recently written about Lending Club, Prosper Marketplace, Fynanz, or other P2P lending services, consider submitting your article.

    To submit an article, go to [Read more...]

    Filed Under: P2P Lending News Tagged With: ,
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