As of today, have participated in 259 loans, committing around $15,000. In a few weak moments, I transferred in significantly larger sums, but, thanks to the long delays in transferring funds, common sense caught up with me before I had a chance to lend it out.
11 of my loans have defaulted - and at least 15 more are getting ready to default.
I was one of the most prolific posters on the old COM forum - and was one of the 10 people banned on Black Friday.
I was also responsible for "bribing" Prosper with a basket of cookies to get a link created from the Standing Orders page to show the performance stats associated with the current settings for the SO. I also discovered a very helpful "bug" in the early Standing Orders, which allowed lenders to adjust bid amounts and interest rates for existing bids (a feature which I dubbed "Urbing the SO." I also attended the inaugural Prosper Days event in February 2007.
For now, I am actually beating CD rates with my investment on Prosper. I am not unhappy with my performance. The reason why I am currently transferring money away from the Prosper platform is mostly related to Prosper's incompetent and, in my opinion, ethically dicey management.
One of the key reasons why I have been able to secure a relatively decent ROI (by Prosper standards) is that fact that have spent thousands of hours on the platform, starting in February 2006 - and the fact that I was able to interact freely with borrowers and my fellow lenders. I have learned the hard way that we should not trust the numbers and claims presented by Prosper's marketing department.
I would like nothing more than to be able to continue believing in - and supporting - Prosper. If I had known then what I now know, I don't think I would have bothered with Prosper. It requires too much work and too much risk - for a mediocre return.
