Baby needs a new pair of shoes..
Prosper is a marketplace for credit that enables people to lend money to other people in a safe, efficient manner. Prosper is a leap back to a time when people formed credit communities to help themselves live better lives and earn a fair return on their money. Prospers founding principle is that people from close communities act more responsibly towards each other. Prosper leverages this powerful concept of group responsibility and applies it to person-to-person lending—resulting in better interest rates for people that borrow and lend.
Prosper enables people to create groups, which borrowers join to request loans up to $25,000 by posting listings indicating the maximum interest rate they wish to pay. Lenders search for and select these listings based on the borrowers credit, debt profile, and group affiliation. Lenders bid on listings by indicating a minimum rate they are willing to accept. When a loan is matched between borrower and lender, Prosper handles all of the tasks needed for payment and collection of the loan.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
It’s an interesting concept Jeff. Thanks for reviewing it for us. However, one concern that I would have is that people no longer know each other as personally as they did in the days when people formed credit communities.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:22 am
One other concern is people taking advantage of the system. I am not sure how good the controls are. For example, what if someone refuses to pay back the loan?
Another thought is that most of the loans requested are to pay off bills and credit cards. How do I know that they will not get themselves into debt again? I think there should be some training or classes of some sort to go along with the loan.