Last night we made another update to the Prosper site. We’ve focused on making the site easier to use (particularly for first-time members), and have changed the way delinquent loans are displayed.

Family and Friend Lenders can bid via PayPal or Credit Card

In this release, borrowers will find it easier to request (and receive) bids from friends and family. After clicking on a friend’s email invitation, new lenders may fund their first bid using PayPal or a credit card. The new process is smooth and easy, and only takes a few minutes. These changes should further empower the Prosper community to help each other get funded.

Engaging their network of friends and family is the easiest way for borrowers to show that they are trusted, and lenders are eager to reward their effort - listings with bids from family and friends have a higher likelihood of being funded. If you’re an existing lender, you can use the advanced search tool to find borrowers who have bids from their friends. Happy bidding!

Marketplace Performance Page Changes

We are changing the way we display seriously delinquent loans on the marketplace performance page, renaming “Defaults” as “Charge-offs”, and moving the “4+ months late” loans into the “Charge-offs” category. We want to have transparency in the reporting of our marketplace’s default rate, and this change should help lenders take a more direct measure of the market’s charge-off rate. This change is the first step in a larger change we will be making in the way delinquent loans are displayed in lender portfolios.

Instant Transfer Changes

We are happy to announce the expansion of our instant transfer program in this month’s update. In the past, lenders could only execute an instant transfer that amounted to 20% of their active loan value (50% for lenders with the Facebook application installed).

Now, lenders with at least one active loan will be able to transfer as little as $500 ($50 with the Facebook app installed) and as much as $20,000 instantly. We hope this change will make it easier for new lenders to get funds deployed quickly and easily. Learn more about instant transfer.

Check out our Licenses

We added scanned copies of our state lending licenses to the Legal Compliance page. If you click on the name of the license, you’ll get to see the license in full glory. Our license for Illinois, the Prairie State, is at right.

Faster Listings for Qualified Borrowers

In an effort to get higher-quality borrowers through the Prosper loan application process more quickly, we’re testing a streamlined listing process where some borrowers post listings without adding a title, picture, or description. You’ll start seeing these listings on the marketplace, with titles like “My personal loan for [category]“.

We hope you find these changes helpful, and look forward to your feedback. If you have any requests for the next release, please leave a comment.