My funds arrived to Prosper Marketplace a few days ago. I planned to jump into Prosper and start carefully selecting loans for funding. I browsed a few loans, but I have cold feet.

So I opened my blog to reflect…. Why am I nervous about bidding? I had no problem lending on Lending Club for a total of about $1,000 to date. So why is Prosper Marketplace different?

My trouble in starting to bid seems to come down to the openness of the market. That same openness is great for transparency. As I have read on other blogs, browsing P2P lending is voyeurism. I think it is a bit of Voyeurism and Exhibitionism.

Peer-to-Peer lending feels voyeuristic for several reasons:

• Many loans provide interesting, entertaining, or just odd stories.
• After browsing loans, you cannot help but to feel more secure in your own financial future because you had to read so many poor quality loans.
• It can be fun to pass judgment on others occasionally and with Prosper or Lending Club, you can decide who receives funding and who does not.
• Peer-to-Peer lending allows you to feel superior to others who are not as financially savvy. That is why most of them need the money.

Peer-to-Peer lending is great fun to view the financial lives of others. I like that part of the openness.

So what about the exhibitionism? [Read more...]