Cash Clique

So, ya heard about Prosper.com? It's the new touchy-feely person to person lending that is supposed to revolutionize the world of lending by allowing people to lend directly to one another at competitive rates. It's simple enough to get started: enter some personal info, they pull your credit and assign you a credit grade and off you go to beg -er- borrow money.

Well, madhubby and I decided to give it a try as we're in a tight financial spot and aren't too keen on borrowing against our house just yet. Our posting has been up for about four days and we haven't received even half the amount we asked to borrow. I think it may be because we aren't part of a group.

Groups are basically cash cliques. Being part of a group means you have a better chance of getting all the cash you need from fellow group members. The catch is that you have to know someone in the group (preferably the leader) because that person approves your membership. We don't know anyone so we're not part of a cash clique and, consequently, our loan hasn't been funded but the guy who wants to buy a camera....yeah, he got some love.

I saw a headline about this site: "Will Your Neighbor Fund Your Next Home Project" or something like that. It's nice to imagine the elderly couple down the block leaving three G under my doormat. But, really. I think Prosper.com might be a bigger racket than that. It's brought the loanshark right into my living room but instead of a baseball bat, he's got an attorney! Guess it's not a problem unless you plan on defaulting. But, really, how financially sound is it to lend money to complete strangers? Only time will tell....

For this blogger the jury is still out on Prosper.com. It could be a revolution or it could be a total bust.