The borrower isn't online often, so it took a while to get ahold of additional info from her...
(This loan is in the 4+ month late category, and there's no "In collections" indication on it.)
She said she talked to DF about a year ago trying to work out a new payment plan - like stretch out the loan or lower the interest rate. She said she did this because that was the advice of debt counselors. But she said DF wasn't nice and wouldn't agree to any new plan.
She said her account was turned over to a collection agency who called every day which was "quite harassing", and then they messed up her credit. (I'm resisting the urge to input my own remarks here.)
She then got ahold of Tim Bright who said he'd check with DF. He came back and said that DF said if she paid "$361 before 120 days, that would keep me away from the Collection Agency". (Her usual monthly payment is $387.) She got confirmation of this agreement in a short PM from Tim Bright (which she forwarded to me without me asking for it). She said she paid on the 120th day. (I think that must have been 5/27/08.) And she said she been making "small payments" since then. (I see payments which seem to cover only interest and fees on 7/18/08, 8/4/08, and 8/18/08.) Tim Bright also mentioned to her (over the phone, I think) that Prosper was looking into perhaps being able to stretch out loans. So a while back, but after some time had passed, the borrower tried to contact Tim Bright again to see if there's any update on the loan-stretching thing - because she's still interested in doing this. But he's been unresponsive for a good month or more. She made it a point to explain to me that she's been most earnest in trying to work out something with Prosper.
She went on to tell me that she's been trying for a long time to get out of a car lease using swapalease.com. (I've never heard of swapalease.com) To be honest, I sorta glossed over this part of her message. Borrower, if you're reading this - sorry.
I explained to the borrower that her listing was funded by a large group of people who agreed to X% for 3 years, and that I thought changing the terms that all these people agreed to (including herself) just isn't the way Prosper is set up to work. I think she "gets" the complexity of the issue now.
So anyway, today I called Cameron - the first time for me. My experience with him today was consistent with what's been reported by others - congenial, genuinely listened, and seemed to "get" everything I had to say.
He said that Tim Bright *is* still at Prosper, and that he (Cameron) will see what he can do to get somebody in touch with the borrower. As to the question of why all of those Emails and VMs to Tim Bright went unanswered all this time, I gathered Cameron didn't know. Meanwhile, he said he's rather confident that this stretching-out-the-loan isn't in the near future - if it even happens at all. I got the impression that this was an idea that floated about, but nothing has come of it.
IMHO: as a lender, I don't like the idea of reworking the loans. But I think this is more and more a reality in the lending marketplace in this time of sub-prime meltdowns. So begrudgingly, I'd like to see Prosper find a way to do rework loans too - altho' I wouldn't dare pretend to comprehend the magnitude of the changes that would need to be made.
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Topic: Need suggestions - DQ borrower looking for Prosper contact (Read 21041 times)