Click here for money. Seriously.
Prosper, America’s first people-to-people lending marketplace has launched to make consumer lending more financially and socially rewarding for everyone!
Think of it as a more intuitive and much cooler combination of Facebook, Ebay and your local bank.com. Instead of listing and bidding on items, people list and bid on loans using the online auction platform.
People who want to lend set the minimum interest rate they are willing to earn and bid in increments of $50 to $25,000 on loan listings they select. People who lend can easily diversify using “standing orders”, which automatically make many small loans to different borrowers.
Borrowers create loan listings for up to $25,000 and set the maximum rate they are willing to pay a lender. Then the auction begins as people who lend bid down the interest rate. Once the auction ends, Prosper takes the bids with the lowest rates and combines them into one simple loan. Prosper handles all on-going loan administration tasks including loan repayment and collections on behalf of the matched borrower and lenders.
Prosper makes several claims insisting they don’t sell, rent, or share members’ personal information with third party marketers. Their security and identity verification systems are state of the art and reportedly consistent with those used by banks, brokerages and institutional creditors.
Hmmmm. When it comes to a loan, would you rather chillout at Citibank or surf your social graph?
Click Send. Get Cash. I like the sound of that much better.
