Prosper: The future of finance?
Prosper is “The online marketplace for people-to-people lending”. It allows individuals to individually lend money to individual borrowers. The website facilities the borrowing/ lending market. All payments are also facilitated by Prosper.
Prosper Groups
Sound risky for the lenders? They have an interesting way to reduce risk. They allow you to do what the pros do: lend to groups. Individual borrowers can be members of groups, so that obligations/ risks can be spread across multiple borrowers. See the graphic below.
The internet is great for creating free markets of individuals, complete with transparency, and negotiated terms.
Prosper also allows rates to be bid on in a free-market fashion. Payments are tracked by the site to allow borrowers to build a good reputation, and earn the right to ask for lower rates.
