Has anyone tried lending on prosper?

[Corey Demuth]

Has anyone tried lending on prosper . com? Good/Bad experiences? Does anyone know what happens if the borrowers don't pay ie what steps do they take, or do you have to take, to attempt to sue or place a judgment against the borrowers, or whatever needs to be done to try to reclaim your lent principal?

[Chris Martin]

Originally posted by J Scott:

I've done some Prosper lending, and basically broke even over two years of making loans (I don't do it anymore).

This is typical of the prosper.com lender experience. See also http://www.prospers.org/wiki/Main_Page and the forums there for way too much to read.

I was a prosper.com lender until the NC DOJ instituted a cease and desist order that mirrored the federal order (see http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2008/33-8984.pdf) They now meet SEC requirements, but the NC order is still in place. I have not been able to lend for a long time. Don't know if I will again. One data point: all your lending activity is public data via the SEC. See http://www.ericscc.com/search and enter your screen name to see how you rank. Historically, first year lenders have better performance... then the defaults catch up. That's the historical trend. Also: http://www.lendstats.com/... middle of screen under Performance Summary for ROI. Click on any of the links (e.g. "Since 07/09") to get statistics for virtually any loan by about any parameter you want.

See also http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/69/topics/57917-short-term-micro-loans.