As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

Posts tagged as:

lending

9 comments

Email this article Email this article
Print this article Print this article

$50 Bonus for New Prosper Lenders

by Flexo on October 30, 2009

in Investing

Peer-to-peer lending institution Prosper is offering a $50 bonus for new lenders who sign up for for the service and bid on two loans. Peer-to-peer lending is an interesting way for people to qualify for loans and to lend money to others. In an economy where savings account interest rates are under 3% or 2%, it’s tempting to put cash to better use through these direct loans. There is a possibility to earn much more than you would by putting cash in a savings account as long as loans are chosen carefully and you’re willing to accept risk.

There is something appealing about working outside the banking system. Peer-to-peer lending takes a specific power of the financial industry and puts in the hands of individuals.

I tried Prosper a few years ago. A friend of mine was looking to consolidate his credit card balances, but was looking for a better option that putting several thousand dollars onto one high-interest card. His plan was to apply for a loan on Prosper and use the funds to pay off his credit cards. He would then only need to worry about one payment each month with a lower total payment and a lower interest rate than what he would likely get with a credit card.

A Great New Investment OpportunityWhen he asked me about Propser, I offered to help him out by bidding to provide a portion of the funding for the loan. The idea of being an investor appealed to me, but unfortunately, the state of Texas prevented him from participating on Prosper at that time. It is my understanding that he would qualify only for an interest rate higher than allowed by the state.

My adventures with Prosper ended before they began. And I won’t be able to get started. As I began to research investing in a portfolio of loans at Prosper and bidding on individual loans, I was greeted by this message:

Unfortunately, at this time lenders in New Jersey are not able to bid or transfer money to Prosper. If you have portfolio plans, they have been paused. You may transfer money out of your Prosper account as they become available from loan payments.

If you reside in a state where Prosper is allowed to do business, consider signing up for an account and qualifying for the $50 bonus. What is your experience with Prosper?

{ 9 comments }



6 comments

Email this article Email this article
Print this article Print this article

Local Libraries Still Innovating

by Smithee on January 28, 2009

in Frugality

During previous economic downturns, publications have often done stories about saving money by borrowing books, music and movies from the library. This is true not only in recessions, but every time you want to save some money. Libraries aren’t just for research; they have plenty of entertaining material as well.

But of course, they suffered from a problem that many bookstores didn’t: if a book was popular, you’d have a hard time finding a copy. It’s the 21st century now, most things have been digitized, so a perfect copy of anything shouldn’t be hard to find.

Well, with actual books printed on paper, you might still have to wait to get a copy of a popular title, but we recently found that our local library system is partnered with a service that enables it to offer digital downloads to anybody with a library card.

What’s more, it looks like this service, called “Overdrive”, has partnered with many many libraries throughout the world. Search their site to see if your library is offering this sort of thing. And if necessary, pick up a library card. They’re not expensive, I promise.

{ 6 comments }

8 comments

Email this article Email this article
Print this article Print this article

Publicly Shame a Deadbeat

by Flexo on December 24, 2008

in Debt Reduction

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

That’s a well-known quotation from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Polonius was perhaps concerned about, among other things, the public shame that could come from being a deadbeat borrower. As he proferred this and other advice to his son, Polonius may have been thinking about the possibility of seeing Laërtes’ name listed on uradeadbeat.com (read: you are a deadbeat dot com).

Uradeadbeat.com lets anyone post messages and stories about a company or person who owes money. In addition to the public listing on the website, uradeadbeat.com provides a direct service. They will email the deadbeat to inform them of the listing. If you provide an address, the website will also send a postcard.

All deadbeats have a chance to respond to the accusation. According to the site owner, some deadbeats were inspired to pay back their debts as a result of this public shaming.

It’s free to post a complaint, but in the future it will not be a free service.

This probably isn’t the best way to get someone who owes you money to pay up, but it might be a good option as a last resort.

{ 8 comments }