Prosper Update

A lot of Prosper borrowers tell you all the reasons they are good people and why you can trust them.

Frankly, I don’t give a crap about those things right now. I’m looking at the numbers and statistics. The reason I’m feeling cold about Prosper today is that I have my first seriously late loan. I do feel bad for the guy since he’s going through a divorce and stuff and the first time he was late, I asked if everything was alright and he replied that it’s tough going. But he did send in his payment right after.

So the question is, do I pop him another email to tell him that he’s late again? I’m sure he knows he is. Is it better for me to act as the collector vs an actual collection agency? Is a gentle nudge the way to go? What to do?

As it is, I’m not 100% sure I’ll be putting more money into Prosper right now. My first loan is in the process of being paid off right now which is great for the borrower I think. Kudos to them for early repayment! I’ll soon have another $50 to make another loan, hopefully to make up for Mr. Default. That’s about $270 total I have sunk in as an initial investment (IIRC) with a decent rate of return overall. But I’m still feeling dicey about the whole matter. But the rates for grade A loans are more attractive than a traditional bank CD so I could just stuff the money into 8%, relatively safe loans. (We’re still talking less than $500 here, money that would otherwise be languishing, i.e. not used to pay down credit cards.)