New site matches borrowers and lenders
Saw this in the NY Times… prosper.com is a relatively new site which matches lenders and borrowers in an online format.
I don’t currently carry any debt outside of our mortgage so I won’t be likely to use it for borrowing myself but I do plan on spreading some of my risk portfolio into these loans. The idea of being able to help people in need out just fits with where I am in life right now. My plan is to spread my loans out among many borrowers with a mix of good and bad credit profiles (and lower or higher interest rates). This should help alleviate risk and provide a better return than a savings account.
I’ve also started a group there called “PFBloggers”. It’s currently waiting for approval. Belonging to a group allows you to share in a payment reward system of up to 5%. This could lower your effective interest rate on the loan.
So, if you can’t get in on the 0% offers we often talk about and are carrying some high-interest credit card debt check it out. I’ll be giving preferential treatment to those who are in my group with the money I have to loan.
Tags: Financial News, Investing, Saving Money