Hey this is pretty cool: So I asked 3 VCs privately where they keep their own money - direct stocks? mutual funds? angel investing? You know what 3 for 3 said all in private? ...
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Hey this is pretty cool:
So I asked 3 VCs privately where they keep their own money - direct stocks? mutual funds? angel investing? You know what 3 for 3 said all in private? http://www.prosper.com/
This is a very cool site where what they do is they make loans to people for up to $25k over 36 monthly payments, and where the site itself pre-sells the loan to a syndicate of regaulr people and so the moment the loan is fully subscribed the fund the loan and transfer your bids to themselves to cover the loan they just made.
So Prosper itself never has any risk and in turn makes just about 1.5% off the loan - so instead of earning 5% at your local bank who in turn rents it out at CC interest rates from 15% to 28% making 10 to 23% for the bank, instead that spread is basically yours as the lender to pickup with the borrower typically in turn paying about 5% less.
This is a great way for people with a bunch of crappy CCs at say 24% to pay them all off with a syndicated Prosper.com loan at say 18% - paid to the lender.
I love all these new online games!
-Erik
PS: While I was at it I dumped my 20-year old BoA checking account and went for an eTrade checking account at the same time. <div
Originally posted on LiveJournal
anonymous — February 29 2008, 12:58:18 UTC
Don't Worry, Be Happy! =)
anonymous — February 26 2008, 13:08:55 UTC
National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged they had funded a project with the US auto makers for the past five years.
anonymous — August 29 2007, 18:15:17 UTC
I was lucky enough to meet one of the bus dev people from Prosper on our Silicon Valley Leadership lobbying trip to congress. Great business.James H
erikbethke — August 30 2007, 11:09:34 UTC
Did you put any in J?-Erik
anonymous — August 23 2007, 14:51:10 UTC
There's some coverage of Prosper on Techcrunch -early adopters report high default rates and an overall rate of return roughly on par with CDs.
erikbethke — August 30 2007, 11:10:30 UTC
I think the above article is right, people are probably blowing their expected return rate by chasing the C, D, E loans?-Erik
anonymous — August 23 2007, 04:07:19 UTC
Were any of those VC's ones that have put $40 million worth of venture captial into Prosper? :)You're right - lending on Prosper is pretty fun. Like any investment, it is good to do a lot of reading before you dump your money in though. I recommend this to start:http://prosperlending.blogspot.com/2007/06/prosper-hands-on-education-on-risk.html
erikbethke — August 30 2007, 11:08:02 UTC
That is a great article, and yes you have to diversify - I think it is a great lesson. Overall I think Propser.com would be a great tool to teach teens how to handle money by being on the lending side...-Erik
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Published: August 23, 2007 2:08 AM
Last updated: February 20, 2026 5:03 AM
Post ID: e49b3f19-2148-4707-8a66-9d6088eda928