Prosper.com

[Georgia Poker]

I'm back to (re)building my affiliate portfolio after (foolishly) leaving the business earlier this year and selling out my stakes and positions on several sites.

So now I'm back and I'm working on building a quality, diversified, affiliate portfolio. I'm only going to do one poker site and I've got that tee'd up

However, I ran across this one and I'm actually doing a few things here:

1. I'm acting as a lender to lend to other folks and I get paid back the interest. I'm leaning towards higher risk borrowers so that I get 20%+ interest.
2. They have an affiliate program that pays up to $125.00 per borrower and $25.00 per lender. Not sure if they're going to run it beyond 2007 but it's truly innovative and to my knowledge, I've never heard anyone here talk about it.

This is my shameless plug/affiliate link if you're interested

Plenty of strong press and lots of traffic.

Any thoughts on this?

[GregK]

Hey Georgia just getting going again myself.

Good to see ya back!

Have to take a look at your link, my daughter is in lending.

cheers

[ClarkePromotions]

Good to see you back Todd. I tried to sign up through your link but when I tried to verify my identity I noticed they only accept Americans

[Georgia Poker]

Originally Posted by ClarkePromotions

Good to see you back Todd. I tried to sign up through your link but when I tried to verify my identity I noticed they only accept Americans

That sucks

I guess due to lending laws and their ability to enforce the loan terms play a role. I tell you what though, the more I read this the more interested I become. This is truly breaking the mold among modern day lending sites.

Maybe someone should launch a Euro version of this?

[absentx]

damn...pretty awesome concept/idea..

[ResIpsa]

Prosper.com is a great concept and I have been watching the site with some interest for a while; I'm really curious to whether it will be able to expand into the mainstream. I think there are a lot of trust issues; but they are doing a good job managing them for now.

If you are interested in micro-lending as a charitable concept instead, check out kiva.org. It's similar to propser.com in that people join together to provide microloans, but these loans are interest free to help 3rd world aspiring entrepreneurs - its crazy looking at the things people are looking to get money for, you can help someone buy a goat to start their business
Anyway, it's kind of cool spin on charitable giving. For now, it appears that people do seem to be getting paid back, so it is working. I think most people treat their contribution as a charitable gift and tend to just reinvest their loan proceeds in other microloans, but you do have the option of taking the money back out once you have been repaid.

I know, I know, I'm way off topic here as this isn't even about making any money...

[absentx]

Yeah trust seems to be a big thing...

Whats to say someone just wont rip off the lenders? I take it this site pulls a credit report to generate the credit rating correct?

What system is in place to make sure people dont get ripped off other than the possible return of high interest? I know they pull straight from the borrowers bank account, but what if they never put any money in that account?

In turn I would assume "prosper" then reports to the borrowers credit report?

[Georgia Poker]

Originally Posted by absentx

Yeah trust seems to be a big thing...

Whats to say someone just wont rip off the lenders? I take it this site pulls a credit report to generate the credit rating correct?

What system is in place to make sure people dont get ripped off other than the possible return of high interest? I know they pull straight from the borrowers bank account, but what if they never put any money in that account?

In turn I would assume "prosper" then reports to the borrowers credit report?

They do report your credit and you can also assign a collection agency in case of a default. Your best bet is to mitigate risk by spreading out $50 and $100 loans, which is what I'm doing.

[edmc]

A bit like stock trading

http://www.prosper.com/lend/listing....stingID=216530

Can I bid $100 @ 20% to keep her there?