Prosper Discontinues Group Payment Rewards

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I never placed much stock in Groups.  Decoupling Groups from money turns them into what they should be… social networking.

Here is the announcement email which I received because I am the group leader of Group RateLadder

Dear Kevin,

At Prosper, we have been listening to your feedback regarding groups and group leader rewards.

The original philosophy behind Prosper Groups was to enable borrowers in close-knit communities to leverage the reputation and peer pressure of their group to attract more bids from lenders, resulting in potentially lower interest rates for borrowers, and lower default rates for lenders. We have found, after nearly two years of experience, that the strongest groups are comprised of close networks of friends and associates, where compensation is not the dominant motivation for the group leader’s services.

As a result, we are making changes to Prosper Groups. In the next month, Prosper will discontinue payment rewards on new loans for group leaders. Group leaders will continue to earn payment rewards on all eligible loans originating before the change. Group leaders can also receive referral rewards for referring borrowers or lenders to Prosper under our Referral Program.

We hope this change will encourage group leaders to grow their groups by inviting new members from their pre-existing social networks, turning Prosper Groups into a more powerful community development tool and making Prosper simpler for both borrowers and lenders.

For more details on these changes, please visit our Group Changes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Thank you for helping us become the Internet’s leading community lending site.

Sincerely,
Prosper

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4 comments ↓
#1 Mike on 09.06.07 at 5:59 am

Was that an e-mail that went out to Group Leaders?

#2 Kevin on 09.06.07 at 6:06 am

It must have been… I have a group of 13 people not including myself (but we are all lenders and have never had a listing)…
Group RateLadder

#3 Lend2 on 09.07.07 at 10:20 am

I didn’t receive the e-mail announcing the group changes. I also didn’t receive the invite to the Larsen M&G. I guess I’m on Prosper’s “naughty” list now.

#4 Kevin on 09.07.07 at 10:27 am

OR Maybe you have opted out of marketing emails or clicked the vertical response email excluded in an email in the past…

As much as a pain as all those Overlooked listings emails were, I forced myself to just delete so that I would continue to get emails…

I like being informed, even it means I get a little bit more email that I actually care to read.

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