Prosper.com - Borrow Money the Web 2.0 Way

Forget Citibank, Chase and Co., borrow money from people like you and me.  Or lend money to people and earn a decent return.  All this and more is promised by Prosper.com, the online market place for people to people lending.  They claim they have 90,000 members and
$18 million in loans to date.  If you go through the listings, you can see a number of business owners trying to borrow startup funds.

Comments

[Oscar]

Not responding to comments is a good way to get more people to read your blog. Way to Go! keep up the good work. :)
-- and have a nice day.

[Oscar]

Thanks for your post on this. I've joined the prosper bandwagon as a lender and I think its all fine and dandy. However recently, someone told me --I'd like to believe they know what they're talking about, because of their background and resume-- that the idea of prosper is great, however it is not legal. Despite of what the company (prosper.com) says. Here's this person's take on it, I was wondering what yours is?

"Neither the loans, the investments, the servicing or the account structure are legal and would not stand even modest legal scrutiny irrespective of the company's claims. At the very least, the fact that it is lending across state lines without a federal charter invalidates the whole thing"

[Alex]

Uuumm, this kind of system seems to me like the well-known "piramidal systems", in which the new members maintain the older. A very fragile system, exposed to sudden falls/bankrupts.

If a I were about to start a new small bussiness, I will prefer the traditional finance system in order to obtain the money for the star-up.

But that´s only my opinion ;-)

See you.

[jimdwalton]

Your blog is very well done and something I will aspire toward. Thank you for all of the good stuff, I would love to have you posy on,blackinbusiness.org