Old-timer Prosper.com members may remember John Witchel (former CTO) blogging briefly (or is that briefly blogging?) at prospers.org. The melt-down started when he used an analogy of couches ina bus station. Things never were the same after that.Today …
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August 29th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
The Arrow And The Song
August 29th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I shot an arrow into the air,It fell to earth,I knew not where;For so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight.I breathed a song into the air,It fell to earth,I knew not where;For, who has sight so keen and strongThat it can follow t…
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August 26th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
“When every page has been read and the book put down, is the story over?” -Larry Niven
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May 6th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
For a period of introspection. I apologize for the interruption of regular programming and the removal of numerous posts. I have to ask myself if those posts were achieving what I intended them to achieve.
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May 5th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
For the longest of time now, Prosper has acknowledged that it is working on a secondary market that would allow lenders to trade loans that they own. This will bring much needed liquidity to the market and provide Prosper with an alternative source of …
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May 5th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Just when I get in the mindset to post something significant, Prosper does something that’s so boneheaded that I get completely distracted. This morning’s blog post by Catherine Muriel is in that category.On their forums, in borrower listings and all-a…
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May 5th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Prosper is making a great deal of “social capital” - the interaction between borrowers and lenders that’s supposed to improve the overall performance of the platform. Prosper Andrew even made a great blog post about it. In his PD08 Keynote Address, Chr…
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May 5th, 2008 — , Lender Risk, Prosper, Risk in P2P lending, fraud from Old Stump @ Money Walks
When you go to a casino to gamble, the reality of the matter is that you are likely to leave the casino with lighter pockets than when you arrived. Sure, some people will break even, some people will win a little and very few people will win a lot. But…
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This I have to share
May 5th, 2008 — , Humor from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I just came across Myrtle McNeedle - website designer extraordinaire. She designed the website for WiFi Speed Spray and also for Party Tent City. I think her boyfriend Todd designed his own website - it lacks that certain touch that Myrtle brings to al…
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May 4th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I realized I’ve discussed some of the loans I have that are late, but I’ve not yet mentioned those loans I have that were either repurchased by Prosper (Thanks, Prosper!) or that defaulted.Well, this morning in the mail, I got a little card from Prospe…
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May 3rd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Guess what happens if you annoy a bunch of people for an extended period of time?They will become irrational in their desire to extract retribution.Who was it that said “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer?”Tick-tock, tick-tock.
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May 3rd, 2008 — , Fynanz from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I got a little excitement when reviewing the status of one of my bids over at Fynanz. I was looking at the screen with bids and noted that while the rates for most bidders were hidden, the rate for the Fynanz bids were shown. This is the gem of a great…
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May 3rd, 2008 — , Bad debt, Prosper, debt defaults, debt delinquency from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Regarding any blogger that blogs about Prosper, there is an elephant in the room that will have to be talked about at some point in time. Regardless of how complex the issue is.For Prosper this is their legal agreement with lenders and how, according t…
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May 3rd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I really, really want to write something about Doug Fuller’s announcement that the Prosper debt sale has been postponed, but it is a very complex multi-faceted issue and then I run across this listing by a Prosper employee. Now my head is spinning - in…
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May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
My blog used to enjoy a sizable audience at Prosper.com. In fact, San Francisco was the city with the highest number of hits on my blog, and within that the Prosper IP range contributed a substantial amount. Below is the screenshot of IP addresses from…
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May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
In this spoof ad from Lenovo, the Macbook Air gets its comeuppance. I should have posted this a week or so ago when I first came across it, but I forgot. Have fun!
What goes around, comes around
May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Remember the old adage? Remember Lifelock? The company whose CEO spread his social security number far and wide on the Internet and in radio and TV adverts to prove how efficient his company’s identity theft protection is?Well, read more about him at T…
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May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Sometimes one has to take things with a grain of salt - a rather large grain. This morning I did my usual morning-troll of the stuff I follow on the web through my iGoogle homepage. Natuarally, I’m subscribed to several feeds for weird news. I was quit…
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May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Last night (or actuallt very early this morning) I blogged about the bureaucratic delays at getting a question regarding the whereabouts of my promissory notes answered at LendingClub.”Anonymous” posted the following comment:I’ve requested that someone…
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May 2nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
‘D.C. Madam’ Is Found Dead, Apparently in a Suicide. Don’t tell me there aren’t a few (powerful) men breathing a little easier tonight. Any theories on whether her “little black book” has been found?
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Subliminal message from LendingClub
May 1st, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Readers may recall that on April 23rd I asked LendingClub if they could produce the promissory notes on the loans I bought on their site. Some time went by before they answered that they would open a support case. Well, I sent them a follow-up note and…
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April 30th, 2008 — , Prosper, prosper lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Let’s have a quick walk down memory lane to see some of the Prosper ads that have aired over time. I guess this was the earliest ad:Then there was this one, that at least had some footnotes explaining some of the calculations:The footnotes read:[1] Rat…
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April 30th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
We all know what alchemy is - that age-old goal of transforming material of lesser value into material of greater value. It is an attempt to defy the laws of physics, of getting something for less than it is worth.Bear in mind the age-old adage” “When …
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April 29th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
If you don’t know (like, for instance you just arrived on this planet), see this video:
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Continue reading → What happens when you mix Mentos and Coke?
Prosper’s ranking in the “most valuable startup” list
April 29th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Silicon Alley Insider (SIA) has created a list of what it considers the 25 most valuable web startups in the world (or in North America?). Such Internet luminaries as Facebook, Wikipedia and Craigslist feature right at the top. Somewhere further down t…
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Continue reading → Prosper’s ranking in the “most valuable startup” list
This thing about Social Security numbers
April 28th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Yesterday I blogged about the incongruity that Prosper enforces a social security number to be associated with an account. In the final moments of the Town Hall Meeting video, John Withcel spoke about that and essentially reinforced the concept, saying…
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April 28th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’m still watching the Prosper Town Hall video (what can I say? I’ve been busy). I just got to the point where Bob Kagle interjected on the merits of “doing good while doing well” and he mentions that his Prosper ROI is a smidgen over 13% (13.06% he cl…
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April 28th, 2008 — , Prosper Days 2008 from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Quote from Chris Larsen in the Town Hall video:In some ways what you’ve seen out there is maybe buyers and sellers too far apart [talking about the current credit crisis - Ed.]. …So I think what Prosper brings to the table, well really kind of macro,…
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April 28th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
After I calculated my Prosper IRR, I was curious about how I’m doing in the other major lending site I’m invested in. I just spent 5 minutes calculating my LendingClub IRR. It’s considerably simpler than Prosper, since I’ve only transferred in $500 and…
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April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
When watching the Managing Large Portfolios video, I noticed the ill-fitting and frankly weird Prosper.com shirt that Kirk Inglis was wearing. But I thought nothing much of it. Now I’m watching the Town Hall meeting, and John Witchel is wearing a simil…
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April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
One of the discussions hosted at Prosper Days 2008 was the Managing Large Portfolios panel. Kirk Inglis, CFO of Prosper introduced the panelists, Adam Weyeneth from Fair Deal Credit and Dave Surette(?) from Optalytic.Adam was the main speaker and a lot…
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Roundup of P2P lending worldwide
April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Checking my visitor logs today, a lone entry piqued my interest. Great was my surprise when I followed it back to it’s origin and found lenen.start.be, Clearly just a launchpad, it has a great number of links to lending sites worldwide - the biggest co…
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April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I know the good folks at Prospers.org relish a good trademark infringement lawsuit by large companies against individuals. So I guess they’ll love to support the artist Nadia Plesner in her copyright/trademark infringement lawsuit against Louis Vuitton…
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April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
OK, so it’s old news that Bill Gates has stepped down at Microsoft. I just found this video mildly appealing.Let me stuff this post by adding this video of a man on a mission - even if the “mission” is to change his legal name to “Microsoft Zune”. The…
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Continue reading → Bill Gates is looking for a job - any openings at Prosper?
Powerpoint Best Practices
April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I know, I shouldn’t have been so hyper-critical of Loanchimp’s presentation at the Prosper Days 2008 High ROI panel. Truth be told, if LC didn’t make his presentation, the session would have been a waste. And it is only because I hung out at the old Pr…
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April 27th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
You might recall that some time back I mentioned that Jason Kolb is upset (as am I). It had to do with Congress using taxpayers’ money to bail out financial institutions and individuals that were ensnared in the mortgage crisis.Well, we’re not alone. T…
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April 26th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I spent most of the day (apart from the time working in the garden (under duress!), cycling with my daughter, and having a leaf burning that turned into a campfire) calculating my cashflow in and out of Prosper and my projected IRR using Excel’s XIRR f…
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April 26th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Yes, this is still Money Walks. I’m experimenting with a few different layouts (I want more relative space for blog entries (perhaps a wider layout). Please bear with me while I experiment.Oh yea, and a special shout out for my old buddies on IRC. I ho…
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April 25th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
You may recall that I’ve asked LendingClub a question about where to find my Promissory notes or other legal documents for the loans I’ve made on their site.They promised to respond within 24 business hours.Well, I’ve got an answer - sort of. Today the…
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April 25th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
In all honesty, I don’t expect this listing to survive scrutiny by Prosper. It is, however truly bizarre (image will open in new window).
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April 24th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Can co-signed loans be far behind?
The High ROI video is out!
April 24th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Catherine Muriel has been true to her word. The high ROI panel video is out and available from the Prosper site.LoanChimp gives a good presentation, if a tad tedious, but that’s what you can expect from a chimp. :)I didn’t catch on the first pass the …
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April 24th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’ve been a lender on LendingClub since August of 2007. Overall I’m pretty happy with the site, although I had a few early quibbles with their accounting and I don’t think the site navigates as easily as Prosper.com does. Also I have difficulty finding…
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Continue reading → LendingCLub - have you seen your promissory notes?
LendingClub - their February SEC filing
April 24th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Some bloggers (I don’t have links to hand right now) speculated that LendingClub might have filed with the SEC to become exempt from loan registration. That is not the case.Their most recent filing (in February) was a form 506 D to raise more capital. …
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April 23rd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Over at the Prosper blog, Prosper Andrew, one of the nicest folks over at Prosper, just blogged about “Social Capital” and how to put it to work for you as a Prosper borrower. It highlights the concept of “Social Capital”, where you utilize the trust a…
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April 23rd, 2008 — , Fynanz, Risk in P2P lending from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Fynanz is a highly targeted P2P lending site. It only lends to students for student loans.As a lender that has somewhat soured on the concept of P2P lending in general (see my “Loans that disappoint” post), I’ve learned that I cannot really trust what…
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April 22nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
This is the full link that Wiseclerk posted in a comment on a previous post. I’ve not been to Wiseclerk’s blog in a long time and a visit was well overdue. Good stuff there. Also the links to Thicken My Wallet and Four Pillars were useful. I’m always a…
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April 22nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Catherine Muriel, Prosper’s CMO, just posted a comment on my blog post about Chris Larsen posting his video on the Prosper Blog. She said, amongst other things:”Regarding Chris posting his own video - that would be just fine. We all pitch in at Prosper…
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April 22nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’m waiting for some repair technicians, so I can’t get away to do the chores I have to do. Browsing my Prosper loan portfolio, I came across the following 3-month delinquent loans.Dragonfly87 came to Prosper in December of 2006 for money to expand her…
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April 22nd, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’m not too sure I got this story straight, my source on this was a tad hesitant and gave me the information via a number of links to other websites, including Wikipedia.It seems that if one deals in “virtual assets” that represent stuff (such as a loa…
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Continue reading → LendingClub - is this why they went quiet?
You have to hand it to those on-the-ball folks at Prosper
April 21st, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
You have to hand it to Prosper.Tom, over at Prosper Lending Review, blogged about the Prosper Days 2008 videos being available on April the 18th. I picked it up and wrote about those videos, mainly the Opening Keynote by Chris Larsen, yesterday. Today,…
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Fynanz
April 21st, 2008 — , Fynanz from Old Stump @ Money Walks
My one and only bid on Fynanz seems to be about to turn into a loan. I bid $50 on this listing, just to see how the process works. In the early stages, when I had some issues with my account, the Fynanz Customer service guys seemed right on the ball. T…
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April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
About 39 minutes into his keynote speech at Prosper Days 2008, Chris Larsen displayed this very interesting slide. This has so many implications, some of which I have alluded to previously on both the old Prosper forums, prospers.org and even in past b…
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April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
This is my best effort attempt at a verbatim transcript of Chris Larsen’s comments on the demise of the original Prosper forums. You can find these comments about 32 minutes into the video.”Some of the changes we make also come from the fact that we’re…
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Oh, this is too funny
April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Click on this link to load the Prosper days 2008 keynote speech by Chris Larsen. See the video details area I’ve highlighted in the top right corner.Here’s an enlargement of that area. Isn’t that funny? they misspelled the URL as Prospser.com. If yo…
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April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’m mid-way through watching the Chris Larsen Opening Keynote for Prosper Days 2008 in San Francisco when this struck me.Just as earlier today, I reviewed a few of my disappointing loans and a few success loans last month, Chris was reviewing success s…
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April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Tom, over on Prosper Lending Review has posted the videos from Prosper Days 2008, the Prosper town hall meeting held during February in San Francisco.That’s cool, I’ve been waiting to have a look at those videos for a while now. One of the videos I was…
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April 20th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Way back in March, I blogged about the loans that paid. Those are the people who I lent money to, manually by interacting with them on the old, now defunct Prosper forums or via standing order. In the former case, it is truly P2P lending as I believe t…
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April 19th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
Take two hours and watch this video. Take the time to surf around and read up on the side references of what this guy is talking about.If you must know what it is, it’s Professor Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture”, which has persisted as one of the most-sha…
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April 17th, 2008 — from Old Stump @ Money Walks
I’ve been watching with dread as my bookmarks file have started growing again.In the late ’90s (and perhaps into 2003), I had completely unamanageble bookmark files. Whenever I migrated from one computer to another (or from one browser to another), I s…
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