A thread in the borrower's forum on .com was just pointed out on IRC.
Unfortunately, with the separation of borrowers and lenders on the official forums, there isn't a way for lenders to communicate what we know to borrowers, except by email, but with Prosper being so quick to label such communications "spam" and the user's account about to be suspended any day (Isn't that still the policy for defaulted borrowers?), Prosper's web site is the worst place to try to communicate anything meaningful.
So, does Prosper have any interest in finding a way for the borrower to pay?
Since "default" in Prosper's terminology means the loan has been sold to a JDB, neither Prosper nor "lenders" have any interest in this loan. Any effort Prosper puts into this loan at this time will have zero benefit to Prosper, zero benefit to Prosper's "lenders", and I doubt that Prosper would be any more informative to the borrowers about contact information on who now holds the debt than they are on letting us "lenders" know who the JDBs are.
Are the JDB people having more luck getting payments than Prosper's own collection agencies?
You mean like having experience? Like pursuing the legal remedies? Actually putting "In collections" on
all three credit reports?
Seriously, though, I don't know the numbers.
A clueless newb on the .com forums said she should contact her GL but most here know that HiMax isn't going to be much help. Any other thoughts?
Way back when Hi_Max turned off emails from lenders, I checked his listing and he was, well, let's say his credit grade did not inspire confidence. Of course group leaders really don't have that much influence in helping borrowers through Customer Support.
At this point, the borrower basically needs contact information for the JDB, which might come from Prosper (though I really doubt they would disclose that information), from a credit report when the JDB reports, or from someone at the JDB. If the borrower then pays in full, it will be marked in the credit report as "Paid In Collections", which, for scoring purposes, is as bad as not paying, but a number of lenders (not just us on Prosper, but also mortgage companies) would rather see the collections as paid instead of unpaid.
ETA: If the borrower does pay, the borrower should keep copies of the paperwork at least as long as the statute of limitations because, at least occasionally, collection agencies have gone after people after they had already paid a former collection agency on that debt. Having proper paperwork (e.g., a statement of amount owed and a subsequent cancelled check for that amount) can help in such situations.
