Archive for June, 2008

Welcome to the longest day of the year… OK so it was actually the 21st, but close enough… I hope are enjoying the sunshine in your neck of the woods. Our thoughts and prayers are with flood victims in the Midwest.

Here are some of our favorites posts from around the blogosphere…  I will be covering the usual suspects but also over the coming weeks try to introduce you to a few new blogs that are from a variety of various topics…  Hopefully you find this interesting and helpful…

Personal Finance

Lazy Man and Money asks Should You Have an Emergency Charity Fund? 

Rich Credit Debt Loan offers 3 Reasons Why Paying With Cash Hurts You in the Long Term

Blogging Away Debt does algebra in Double Payment + Cancelled Health Insurance + Missing Income = Thank Goodness for Emergency Fund

brip blap examines how America grew rich, fat and unhappy

Cash Money Life says Think Twice Before Canceling Credit Cards

Generantion X Finance has a cage match in ETFs vs. Mutual Funds: Which One is Right for You?

The Digerati Life asks rhetorically When Should You Buy Into The Stock Market? Like Yesterday.

Handy Man Fix Home Repair straddles the line between personal finance and DIY home repair in How to Make Old Appliances Look New

Health and Fitness

Weight Loss Journal explores how to Ramp Up Your Metabolism Naturally

Get Fit Slowly says It’s Hard To Be Healthy With Kids

Journal for Healthy Living has an Idea: Going Vegetarian For One Week

Lazy man and Health tries to Lose Weight with Sports

Fat Man Unleashed attempts to convince us that Golf Can Be A Dangerous Sport

While No Calories Needed is Combining Walking And Practicing Golf

Photo Credit: 1

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RateLadder is a Prosper lender and has been since July, 2006.  He has a passion for p2p lending.  He owns RateLadder — My Prosper.com Journey and other P2P Lending Adventures, P2P No Bank the P2P Blog Aggregate, and ProProsper — Professional Tools for Prosper Lenders featuring SQL access to Prosper data. 

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” - Nelson Mandela 

For the last 12 years, average college costs have risen faster than inflation, yet federal grant aid has not kept pace. We have all heard the stats: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the tuition component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 8% per year, on average, from 1979 to 2001.  For many, a college education is becoming less and less accessible.

There is no question that education is an investment in our future and the stakes just keep getting higher. The earnings gap between those with higher education and those without it is widening.  Today, men and women aged 25-34 with bachelor’s degrees earn 60% - 70% more than those with high school diplomas. In 1985, that gap was 37% - 47%.   Parents should expect to pay at least half to two-thirds of their children’s college costs through a combination of savings, current income, and loans. Gift aid from the government, the colleges and universities, and private scholarships accounts for only about a third of total college costs according to www.finaid.org

And just this month we read that some of the country’s biggest banks including Citi, JPMorganchase, PNC and SunTrust have stopped lending to students attending community colleges - arguably the students who most need to be given funding to enter the competitive arena better educated.  

I went to one of the best schools in the world-The London School of Economics & Political Science. It cost me nothing.  I was raised in England, a country that believes giving everyone access to a higher education is better for everyone.  Kids don’t have to work several jobs to get through school, nor do they come out of college with enormous debt.  Since the Thatcher administration things have changed somewhat, but kids still go to college for far less than a state university education in the U.S.

Education is the passport to choice, freedom and opportunity-not to mention expanded social experience, relationship building, personal development, and character development.  I’ve never thought these opportunities should be unavailable to those who simply don’t have enough money. That’s why I’m especially fond of coming across Prosper stories like the one (Prosper Listing 347314: Paying For My Senior Year Of College), recently shared with us her story.

I am pleased to have been a part of helping Prosper members with funding of over $800,000 in loans for student needs since January 2008.  But parents should still always think about other savings vehicles like a 529’s, Coverdell ESA’s, and loyalty programs like Upromise, a brand loyalty network that rewards customers with college funding. There are also good resources such as

• SavingForCollege.com
• Finaid.org
• StudentAid.ed.gov

Leave no stone unturned, tap them all.

To post your listing for a personal loan for students on Prosper, click on Prosper Loans

To bid on a Prosper personal loan for students, click on Lending at Prosper

Photo Credit: 1
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Catherine Muriel is the Chief Marketing Officer of Prosper.

Here’s hoping that you and yours had a great Father’s Day.  Mine was fantastic… My wife surprised me by flying my dad in for a visit from another part of the country and I enjoyed it very much… 

Around the Prosper, p2p lending, and personal finance blogosphere….

BankRate coveres Peer-to-peer online lending grows in tight economy

“Home equity used to be the cash management tool for the credit-worthy borrower, and that has really, really dried up,” says Chris Larsen, CEO at Prosper. “In many ways, Prosper’s three-year, $25,000 loan is a pretty good proxy for what people were using home equity for — improving their home, starting a sole proprietorship, college costs and certainly for replacing credit card debt.

“On the return side, people that are getting 3 percent if they’re lucky (can find) it’s pretty easy to get returns that might range from 5 percent to 11 percent (on Prosper).”

RateLadder gives 8 Listing Strategies to get Best Prosper Loan Rate, an update of the Vintage Curves, and hosted the 9th Edition of the Carnival of P2P Lending.  The Prosper Blog was represented by Doug Fuller and Debt Sale Update. Other Posts of Note:

• Why Borrowers With Bad Credit Pay A Higher Interest Rates
• P2P Lending Grows in Popularity as Banks Slow Lending (Are Individual Lenders Suckers or Savvy?)

Lazy Man says Dear iPhone: I Love You and Your New Great Price, but…

Blogging Away Debt tells how A Walmart Cashier Saved [her] From an Impulse Buy.

brip blap asks Does Innovation require desperation? 

Cash Money Life explains how to Freeze Your Air Conditioning Costs.

GenX Finance offers 5 Quick Homeowners Insurance Tips That Can Save You Money and Your Home.

Me vs Debt wonders about The Cost of Comfort.

The Digierati Life tells how to Increase the Value of Your Home With a Few Simple, Affordable Changes.

And finally… it is with sad hearts that we wish Mike @ ProsperousLand good luck with his new job and wish him a speedy recovery towards continuing p2p blogging… (read his exit post in I Surrender)

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RateLadder is a Prosper lender and has been since July, 2006.  He has a passion for p2p lending.  He owns RateLadder — My Prosper.com Journey and other P2P Lending Adventures, P2P No Bank the P2P Blog Aggregate, and ProProsper — Professional Tools for Prosper Lenders featuring SQL access to Prosper data. 

Individuals with good credit have a variety of alternatives when they need to borrow money.  Traditional banks have spent untold millions of dollars on brand advertising reinforcing the notion that borrowing from a bank somehow bestows prestige on quality borrowers.  But, does membership really have its privileges?  Smart borrowers know there are two things they should consider when borrowing money, the price and the terms.  Using these two criteria, Prosper’s marketplace is the best place for most borrowers with excellent credit to borrow. 

The better your credit rating the more you benefit from an underwriting process that takes into account your individual characteristics.  Traditional lenders segment borrowers into groups so they can centrally set pricing and terms.  This approach shortchanges the best borrowers in any segment because they are given an offer designed for the average customer.  On Prosper borrower rates are arrived at independently for every borrower.  Quality borrowers are rewarded for their individual credit characteristics and get the best price the market has to offer.  In many (if not most) cases these rates are lower than the rates quality borrowers pay to banks for a similar loan product.

Another way Prosper differs from traditional lenders is loan terms.  Because traditional lenders profit from borrowers paying higher rates, the terms of many traditional lending products are designed to attract borrowers with low rates, and increase rates over time to increase profits.  This is not a practice limited to lower quality borrowers.  Teaser rates, penalty pricing, no grace periods, and prepayment penalties are some of the tools traditional lenders use to increase portfolio profits for all their customers, including the ones with excellent credit.   Prosper has fair terms so borrowers know what they will be paying over the life of the loan.   Prosper loans have fixed rates that never change over the life of the loan.  Often banks label rates as fixed when they don’t float to market rates, but still reserve the right to change the rates based on their discretion at any time.  Prosper loans have a payment grace period before which a late fee is charged, and have no prepayment penalties.  Prosper believes that all borrowers should know for certain what they will be paying to borrow money, and should benefit from a low rate for the life the loan, not just at the beginning.

Maybe membership does have its privileges, if you join the right club.

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Kirk Inglis is the CFO of Prosper.

When you’re a student, life can get pretty expensive and unless you have a steady income coming in, it can be difficult to take care of your every day needs. Many students decide that the best way to handle looming expenses and continue their education without worrying is through a low rate personal loan. However, there are a few problems that these students may face when applying for an unsecured loan with a bank.

Many banks throughout the United States have announced that they will no longer be offering loans for student expenses. Whether its for tuition or other needs, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a loan in this climate. The banks that are still providing this service are charging premium rates and for many students, the amount of money it takes to get a personal loan is just too much.

However, there is another way to get financing for student expenses. Instead of going with the traditional type of loan or having to wait for a federal assistance loan, p2p lending may be the right choice for you. Prosper has helped many people get the loans they need for student expenses and at incredible rates. As more lending institutions stop offering these loans, p2p lending may become the wave of the future for students.

When a student needs to get a fast online loan, they can simply create a loan request on Prosper. This service is well suited for students that may not have a lot of track record when it comes to their credit. Lenders will see the loan request and will be able to submit bids in order to complete the loan. Students set how high they are willing to go when it comes to interest rates.

The latest figures have shown that many students will have to forgo their educations unless they can secure financing for their student expenses. Instead of giving up on your future, consider getting a personal loan on Prosper for your student needs. This can make all the difference and you’ll have the freedom of selecting a loan that will fit your criteria.

If you have not been able to get a direct personal loan from your school or a lender, Prosper offers a viable alternative towards continuing your education. This is especially true if your deadline for enrollment is nearing and you have not yet been able to secure financing. Traditional lending can take months to close and this can mean that a student may have to delay starting their education.

Instead of worrying about this, a student can get a very quick decision on Prosper. In many cases, they may be able to get full financing for student expenses in a matter of a few days or weeks, instead of months. If you need to act quickly, this is a great solution.