What is your experience in P2P lending?
I discovered prosper in 2007. I was fascinated by the concept. I read a bunch about it on some blogs and eventually the original .com forums. I started lending very cautiously July 2007 after all the problems more experienced lenders had. Their information was invaluable.
As of today, I have 40 something loans, with about $2300 loaned. My loans are relatively new so its too soon too see how things will turn out (average age 62 days). Prosper is a great concept so I hope it works. However, I've been appalled by their recent actions with all the censoring and deletion of forums. The best thing for Prosper in the long run is well educated lenders and borrowers so all parties can increase their likelihood of doing well. Their recent moves go against this and are concerning. While I continue to lend for now, I'm not sure how much longer I will if this continues. Call me hopelessly optimistic.
How did you end up at Prospers.org?
I moved here after prosper killed the whole spirit of their forums with the 'upgrade'. I mostly lurk but if I ever have something useful to contribute I will.
Where to do you live?
In a mid-west city about 5 minutes from work.
What do you do?
I'm a physician trained in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and work at an academic center. I just finished residency over the summer. In the same vane, I'm considering staring a group to help some of the residents I know get out of credit card debt. After recently suggesting Prosper to a few of them, many have expressed strong interest. I think they'd be great borrowers from a lenders perspective but I'm worried about recent events with prosper (see above).
Other Hobbies?
IT type stuff. guitar. Many other things.