Adios mi Amigos!

Lately I’ve been at a loss for words on the peer lending industry and it’s overall behavior/attitude towards it’s clients. From Prosper.com’s complete ignorance to Lending Club’s quiet period (which still make little sense to me) I feel so anxious, frustrated and annoyed with all of the things I see and hope for not connecting [...]

Continue reading → Adios mi Amigos!

Introducing… MacBook!

I’m going to deviate from P2P for a moment… One of the items we desperately wanted to replace whether we were going to be moving or not were our computers. Both hark back to an age of pure computer lunacy and inflexibility as far as upgrades and speed were concerned (around 4 years in age [...]

Continue reading → Introducing… MacBook!

House of Cards?

OPINION PIECE… Caution is advised as these are my own thoughts and observations!
Lately I’ve been thinking about Lending Club and wishing it were back up and running. Since my start with the LC back in November I have had four loans pay off and one default (I believe it was doomed from the start, but [...]

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Kiva Thoughts

As some of you may know, I am a Kiva.org lender and have been since March 2007. Recently I noticed a huge increase in the number of loans that need funding, actually, I darn call it a flood of loans. Some 622 as of this post still need help. This is a major switch from [...]

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Move Cancelled!

Well we are actually okay with this after much back and forth and give and take we decided to remove the offers from the table as we could never get firm intel on how to proceed with the move. I personally have deep peace about this as I have several other things I wanted to [...]

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Continue reading → Move Cancelled!

And We…

Lenders came through on the loan request! 246 bids later we dropped from a monthly repayment of $313.44 down to $267.21 which is a savings of $46.23 per month (not too shabby)! The original interest rate dropped from 28.79% down to 16.95% for a savings of 11.84%! Now we can pack and move with great [...]

Continue reading → And We…

Borrower Safety!

Yesterday we had a huge incident with Prosper.com in the form of a rather ugly email from Doug Fuller that requested documentation. Nothing wrong with that request when looked upon at face value. However, normally ALL emails from Prosper.com that aren’t advertisements for loans, etc are followed up with an internal Prosper.com message. This email [...]

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Ummm… Still doesn’t prove it Doug!

‘Doug Fuller’ emailed back and still won’t post a flag on the account indicating the obvious need for verification of bank account information per the usual protocals Prosper has used on the past… Sorry ‘Doug’ you just aren’t ‘Doug’ without the ability to be bulletproof. Your phone # cannot be cross referenced on Prosper.com and [...]

Continue reading → Ummm… Still doesn’t prove it Doug!

Prosper… We have a problem?

Today my wife received an email from’ Doug Fuller’. However, it was for verification of a bank account, which is ALWAYS done through the Prosper.com messaging system with a CC and Overview page flash. So we have ignored ‘Doug Fuller’ as the emailer and I emailed ‘Doug’ to let him know that the email he [...]

Continue reading → Prosper… We have a problem?

My Bids on Wife’s Listing

I thought I would advise everyone of why I have placed (so far) $650 into my wife’s loan listing. Firstly, 80% of our income is pooled separately and we share expenses in the middle such as rent, car expenses, etc. The Prosper.com lending account is 100% mine since she has chosen not to lend at [...]

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Yeehaw! Listing Is Up!

Wife’s listing is live! Texas move is scheduled for the first week of August. 95% of all the items we currently own will be donated to Goodwill, etc or sold off so we can make the journey from here to Texas with only one carload worth of stuff. Most of what we own is hand-me-downs [...]

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Continue reading → Yeehaw! Listing Is Up!

Rolling The Dice

With the latest news about Prosper.com being sued by lenders I thought I would play the contrarian and bid on some loans today. There are some pretty good loans in the offing at the moment if you take the time to look, so I transferred (thanks to the instant transfer via the Facebook.com app) $407.73 [...]

Continue reading → Rolling The Dice

Prosper Legal Action!

Finally… Lenders may sleep a little easier knowing lawyers have been sprung. As a lender myself, I have ceased all lending activity as of the past 30 days as I experienced a huge and unforgivable influx of new late loans. Prosper’s lack of response is deafening silence. Personally, I can’t wait for the secondary market, [...]

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Goodbye George

Thanks for all the laughs… Now knock ‘em deader up there!

Continue reading → Goodbye George

Payoff Pending

The payoff of my wife’s loan is underway (two part process). So once this is complete, we will apply for another loan under her name and credit (should be an A or B range on the credit) to do the moving loan. Cost of the move, since one of you asked, is going to be [...]

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Oh Snap! We ARE Moving!

It would figure that the moment I get the funding for the furniture loan the plans are finalized for an agreement to move to North Carolina for work! Excitement abounds, but now I have to find a plan B for the moving funds. Oh well… Thanks to all of the lenders who helped with the [...]

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Continue reading → Oh Snap! We ARE Moving!

Lending Club Update!

SEC filing is complete… Wait is hopefully nearing an end?
“Lending Club Files Registration Statement with the SEC

SUNNYVALE, CA - June 20, 2008 – Lending Club announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933 relating to its social lending platform.

The registration statement seeks [...]

Online Stores Related Websites
  • Prosper in Quiet Period? I though Prosper had already done this: http://www.rateladder.com/2007/10/30/prosper-files-s1-with-sec/ From Prosper This morning:  http://blog.prosper.com/2008/10/15/prosper-filing-registration-statement-enters-quiet-period/ Prosper has started a process to register, with the appropriate securities authorities, promissory notes that may be offered and sold to lenders through our site in the future.The registration filing is a necessary step toward making the......
  • The Lending Club Offers New Alternative for Consumer Credit Following $600 Million SEC Registration Back in April of this year, the Lending Club announced that it would be going into a quiet period due to the beginning of a registration process involving the SEC, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Now the Lending Club is pleased to announce that the process has been......

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Surprise!

Before the listing for the furniture is to naturally end (no NewHorizon, I’m not canceling it ), I will be pressing the ‘Fund Loan Now’ button at some time long before. So, if you want a great loan at a great rate, you had best get over to my listing ASAP as it may [...]

Continue reading → Surprise!

Furniture!

Well, I may as well take advantage of Prosper.com for a new urgent need. Thanks to the whole moving scenario being scrapped, we are without furniture (thanks to our fire sale techniques and Craigslist.org ‘free’ page use). So we would like to obtain a loan to purchase the following items back that we sold/gave away…
Couches- [...]

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Continue reading → Furniture!

Delay of Game

So we come to find that the move date has been postponed… This is all ‘pending’ now. Sooo irritated right now with the whole process of corporate restructuring and promises. The really unfortunate side is that most of our furniture has been sold off/given away. My apologies to the lenders who’s time and money were [...]

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Silent Humor Award

And the award goes to… The LendingClub.com Mimes! Seriously though, good job on the Webby guys!

Continue reading → Silent Humor Award

Itemized Moving Expenses…

I had two questions on the listing yesterday about this, so I thought I would also give a thorough breakdown here of the expenses involved for the move. I believe I’ve thought of most everything, but wiggle room is essential in any moving situation.
Breaking apartment Lease on ‘good terms’- $2,200
Travel expenses from AZ to NC [...]

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Continue reading → Itemized Moving Expenses…

What the… Zopa?

So today I was denied a loan through Zopa.com. I’m guessing it has to do more with the supposed ‘credit crunch’ more than anything else as I would have easily been approved in January/February with the same credit profile as my wife was for a higher amount to consolidate debts and her credit/income was lower [...]

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Zopa Processing Nicely…

The Zopa crew gets major ups on the smooth-sailing of the relocation loan. So far I have been asked for two paystubs, of which I was proactive and sent my W-2 since I had it out (thanks Prosper) just in case they needed it as my salary has been winding down the last couple of [...]

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Listing Withdrawn

After sleeping on it, I decided to remove the Prosper listing. The driver’s license issue is just too lame to overlook as the CSR was more interested in the picture vs. checking the information (wrong address, weight, picture is way out of date, etc). And, as this is my third loan from Prosper, it’s never [...]

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Fire Hoops at Prosper!

Okay, I’m getting pretty close to pulling the plug on the whole notion of getting a loan from Prosper.com to cover our moving expenses due to the fact I just drove home to get the required documents, then drove back to work to fax them over to them; Then came home only to find that [...]

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I like to move it move it…

Listing at Prosper.com is now active. I appreciate all the lender assistance in getting it funded and lowered to, ideally $200/month in payment. It would still offer the lenders a very satisfying 12.25% (starts at 17.5%) on a twice excellent borrower’s listing. You can’t get much better with less risk! Invest in our future and [...]

Continue reading → I like to move it move it…

Credit… Heal Thy Self!

I was poking around the listing creator at Prosper.com to look into a loan to cover our relocation costs (the items not covered by the company sponsoring our move to the area) and found out that my once ‘horrid’ credit has improved without much notice from me. In the Prosper scheme of things my credit [...]

Continue reading → Credit… Heal Thy Self!

Joined A Group!

After much research I have joined a Prosper.com group! I selected Research Triangle Park which is located in North Carolina. Why? Well, it’s not super common knowledge yet, but we are going to be moving to North Carolina from Arizona within the next two to six months for a job transfer (if anyone is hiring [...]

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Continue reading → Joined A Group!

Fynanz…zzzz! Anybody home?

I spent some time roaming the latest entry into P2P called Fynanz, which specializes in student loans. Not much going on there at the moment. I saw two loan listings, one of which was a ‘faker’ for testing purposes. Loans are done off of current LIBOR rates and adjusted accordingly. Info found here. One big [...]

Continue reading → Fynanz…zzzz! Anybody home?

Is there a group for this?!

Okay, I broke down today and placed a bid on a Prosper.com loan… WTF is wrong with me?! Didn’t I just tell myself ‘NO!’ a few days ago? Apparently I have a problem, an addiction of sorts, when it comes to Prosper. Maybe it’s the internal drive to get to $10,000 in active loans or [...]

Continue reading → Is there a group for this?!

My wife’s two cents…

This morning my wife expressed her desire to see the Prosper.com money that will be flowing outbound go towards Kiva.org instead of our HSBC savings account. She has enjoyed helping others in countries of need and figures the P2P aspect with Kiva.org is worth any lost interest we would otherwise gain in HSBC or using [...]

Continue reading → My wife’s two cents…

Pausing Prosper

A little bit of reality has settled upon me and the Prosper.com account this evening. See the below image of our loan status snapsnot…

Of the above… 6 are ‘bankruptcy’ and the other 7 are ready to sell to a debt collection house practically. The above 5 <15DS loans aren’t comforting either. So I’ve decided to [...]

Continue reading → Pausing Prosper

Zopa.. Zone of Profitable Awesome-ness!

As you can see on the right-hand side of this post there is an ad for Zopa for our loan we used to consolidate some other debt at a lower rate (average of 13% dropped to 9.99%<). Zopa is currently the only P2P offering in the states to offer FDIC backing of lender investments in [...]

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  • Prosper.com Lenders Unite: Where is our Interest? First of all, I love Prosper.com.  It is a great idea (person-to-person lending, breaking the loan apart into smaller chucks to diversify, credit checks, etc.)...  BUT, that fact that a lenders money doesn't earn interest is ridiculous. Once money (it takes 4 business days) is in Prosper.com account interest is not earned. ......
  • Zopa Shuts Down US Branch Zopa, the UK based peer to peer lending company, is shutting down their US branch due as a result of toughening conditions that are currently being experienced by the US economy. Zopa provides loan services in the UK, as well as in Italy and Japan through a pure P2P style......

Continue reading → Zopa.. Zone of Profitable Awesome-ness!

It was bound to happen…

Just got back from a week-long work trip and arrived home to find my first LendingClub.com default. One thing that upsets me… Zero notification on the matter (instance loss should equal instant email). I also have several loans showing late in various stages in the account which is a very new occurrence to me.
Stiff, sore [...]

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Continue reading → It was bound to happen…

No! No! No!

Prosper.com has really screwed up on this one this morning! Now, no matter where I go to on the Prosper site it seems that there is sh!t all over the screen in the form of useless ‘Featured Listings’ which neither match my criteria or the criteria of sensible lenders. I scrolled through some of them [...]

Continue reading → No! No! No!

In The Interest of Interest

I’ve been contemplating this for a while now, but the one serious flaw with Kiva.org that keep us for going full steam ahead is the lack of any sort of return on the investment (other than human capital). So as of today, we are stopping Kiva.org lending and switching instead to MicroPlace.com for our global [...]

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  • MicroPlace, an Ebay Company Launches MicroPlace, an Ebay company just launched.  It is kinda like kiva.org, except that you invest in securities which pay interest (1%-3%) and the companies offering the notes handle the individual investments.  So you are purchasing a pool of investments were the actual investments are made companies on the ground. The......

Continue reading → In The Interest of Interest

Weekend workout

Injecting some levity… Hope you are all having a good weekend!

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Kiva Loans (5/18/2008)

Thy Phlang Village Bank Group
Popeal Khaer Village, Cambodia
Mrs. Thy Phlang is the Village Bank President in Popeal Khaer Village, Kandal Province. There are 33 members in her group.
She is 34-years-old and has two children, both of whom are too young to work or study. Mrs. Thy Phlang’s second child has malaria and takes frequent trips [...]

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Prosper Loans (5/17/2008)

Purchase new bedroom set and cater son’s wedding

Credit Grade- AA
DTI- 30%
$50 @ 9.75%
Purpose of loan:
Consolidation last 2 credit cards and cater sons wedding
My financial situation:
I currently make over 66,000.00 a year, plus with my husband our annual income is over 90,000.00. The monthly payments are no problem. I am a low risk . I have [...]

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  • Blogger Wants a Prosper Listing Review A blogger (The Property Pundit) emailed me and asked for a listing review and so I ask my readers. Please review this listing. Would you bid? Why or Why Not? How can the listing be improved? A credit grade and clean extended credit. $25 Bonus For New Lenders How to......
  • Rateladder Referral Listing: Debt Consolidation Update: This listing has been withdrawn and relisted as an autofund  at 24.25% and is still missing a picture...  I think the 1st listing was better, but this one is still worth a bid. Active Listing: Debt Consolidation Original Listing: Debt Consolidation I have bid (only bid if you want......

Continue reading → Prosper Loans (5/17/2008)

Prosper Loan (5/16/2008)

Credit Grade- B
DTI (Debt to Income)- 16%
$50.00 @ 13.95%
Purpose of loan:
This loan will be used to consolidate existing high interest student loans and credit cards
My financial situation:
I am a good candidate for this loan because I have a stable employment record; I have been with my current employer for close to two years and before that I worked for [...]

Online Stores Related Websites
  • Rateladder Referral Listing: Debt Consolidation Update: This listing has been withdrawn and relisted as an autofund  at 24.25% and is still missing a picture...  I think the 1st listing was better, but this one is still worth a bid. Active Listing: Debt Consolidation Original Listing: Debt Consolidation I have bid (only bid if you want......
  • Is Consolidation Always the Answer? One of the most important things that you can come to understand regarding your debt and the concept of debt consolidation is this: You absolutely cannot borrow your way out of debt, in order to solve all of your problems. More than 80 percent of all individuals that managed to......

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A little formal protest never hurt!

So, as you can tell, the page as a new title and theme… This is now My Prosper Club! I’m back on board with Prosper.com since I have no place to lend that offers individual listings and good returns on investment (Zopa.com has fallen down with interest rates). This morning I pushed over $500 over [...]

Continue reading → A little formal protest never hurt!

Lazy Man & Money comment…

This morning I left a comment concerning the ‘death’ of LendingClub.com… I can’t help but feel violated and lacking of trust that LendingClub will come back in the same way once the SEC filings, etc are completed. The lack of news or even confidence that any funds inside the system will remain there is very [...]

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Feeling better!

I just got off the phone with my buddy Rob at LendingClub.com and we had a private chat about LendingClub’s rather sudden closure to new lenders and lending in general. All I can say is I feel better about this whole situation after the conversation and secondly, I feel LendingClub will be a much better [...]

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Where to from here…

So I’ve had half of the day to think about my response to LendingClub.com’s rather abrupt move to go into a ‘quiet time’ mode without any advance warning. Some thoughts and obvious concerns… First, completely blind-sided by this event and I’m sure others felt a stomach ache forming from the news that they won’t be [...]

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What the….?!

I’m still trying to make sense of this notice and the overwhelming surprise that comes from it… Any other lenders out there have comments or status reports I’ve yet to see as a followup on this? Borrowers are unaffected however… Supply/demand at it’s finest or is this just to do a little crowd control?
Email from [...]

Related Websites
  • Prosper in Quiet Period? I though Prosper had already done this: http://www.rateladder.com/2007/10/30/prosper-files-s1-with-sec/ From Prosper This morning:  http://blog.prosper.com/2008/10/15/prosper-filing-registration-statement-enters-quiet-period/ Prosper has started a process to register, with the appropriate securities authorities, promissory notes that may be offered and sold to lenders through our site in the future.The registration filing is a necessary step toward making the......
  • Big Lending Club News -- Quiet Period Underway for Secondary Market UPDATE:  After a second reading I think my assumption about the secondary market is incorrect...  (My own hopes for such a market might have clouded my vision.)  It looks like LC is just registering for a license that they think they need to continue working with "lenders": http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/08/lending-club-puts-moratorium-on-lending-activity/ I am leaving......

Continue reading → What the….?!

Listing Update!

Today has been one of those days you wish wouldn’t come around again for a longggg time. Today, LendingClub.com, by accident (?, I really don’t want to know as it may taint my opinion), removed my wife’s listing, which put us in a bit of a pickle with timing on the tax payment, which is, [...]

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What would you like to see?

By a show of comments (lurkers, comment already)…
What features, improvements or changes would you make to LendingClub.com based upon your experience of the site thus far? What features do you like? Dislikes? What would you modify completely or leave alone? I have a conference call with Rob Garcia on Friday and wanted to gather up [...]

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A listing worth looking at…

My wife, Heather, has posted a listing to help us take care of our 2007 tax bill (close to $3,000) thanks to some investment income and un-taxed personal income from last year. We had attempted to get another listing through Prosper.com, however, they were being difficult with bank account verification… Verification on an account they’ve [...]

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  • Prosper Loans: Auto Funding vs Non Auto Funding During Verification All completed listing go through a verification process.   This step is when Prosper vets the information given in the listing in regards to employment and debt to income ratio.  When a listing is cancelled due to some discrepancy it is great (thank you Prosper!), but yet it can be painful. ......
  • Prosper Borrower Income On Prosper the borrower's income matters, even if it is only stated income...  Prosperous Land did a very interesting analysis on borrower income: It's All About the Income... His conclusion (only being able to use 6 months of data as that is all that exists), when income is not stated or......

Continue reading → A listing worth looking at…

Then it happens…

Today I logged into my account and behold, one of the late loans has flipped back into current status leaving only one out of 168 in the red, which is acceptable given the credit grade behind it! Way to go Lending Club!
Oh, if you’re wondering… I have 14 late loans at Prosper.com with only 103 [...]

Continue reading → Then it happens…

Four Month Review

It is hard to believe it’s been over four months since I joined Lending Club! We now have 168 loans totaling $4,070.57, earning 12.28% or a monthly repayment rate of $139.23. The interesting thing of note from the time we’ve been with Lending Club is that we have 168 and only two loans are late [...]

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