November 16th, 2009 — Site Review
SpendonLife.com is an easy to navigate website offering your credit report and credit score instantly online. Through the website, you can access your credit information from the 3 major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. But more than just helping you get this information, the website helps with credit monitoring, and highly informative articles about what the reports mean and why the information should matter to you.
SpendonLife is broken down into sections that are clearly marked in a navigation bar near the top. There are sections on debt, identity theft, credit reports, loans and a link to their blog where informative posts go up regularly with more information about current credit-related news and statistics. Occasionally, services are recommended in the blog that they think might be of interest to their website visitors.
Not only can you get your credit information, but you can find out just about everything you could possibly want to know about your credit report. Dozens of articles help visitors do everything from reading their credit report to preventing a child’s identity theft.
A website with this much information could be dense and hard to get through, but this one isn’t. The articles are balanced with helpful illustrations and images of things like example credit reports. In addition, the articles are reader-friendly. They don’t read like technical instruction manuals but rather as clear, friendly advice and tips on how to get your financial life in order.
You’ll find advice on important financial and credit matters including:
- How to get your debt under control
- How to keep medical bills from destroying your credit
- What to do if you become a victim of identity theft
- What to do to protect yourself from phishing, and what to do if you’re a victim
- What to do if your credit cards are stolen
- How to know which debts are better than others
- How to establish a good credit history
- How to know whether credit card charge-offs are a good debt-reducing option
- How to know if you should deal with a credit repair specialist or agency
- How to know if you’re overpaying on your mortgage
- How to handle tax time
Those are just a few of the informative articles at SpendonLife.com, but there are dozens more as well as the blog posts which keep the information fresh and current.
You’ll be immediately aware that the website offers you a free credit report as well as other credit services, but there’s such a wealth of information on the site it’s far more valuable than just the free credit information it offers.
The credit monitoring service offered at the site allows you to keep tabs on your credit score so you’ll be alerted if anything changes that could signal errors or identity theft. And with all the up-to-date information on the website, you’ll know what to do if this happens. The website is a helpful credit resource that encourages you to get your finances in order so you can spend more on your life instead of on your debt.
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July 16th, 2009 — News, P2P Lending, Prosper.com
If you used the Prosper peer-to-peer lending service in the past, you’ll be happy to know that they’ve significantly enhanced many features of the service and are now accepting new borrowers and lenders. Using Prosper is now safer and more convenient than it’s ever been, making it an even better source of alternative investment opportunities.
Improved Security
Some of the most significant improvements to the Prosper service include better security, which means lenders can feel more secure about their investments. For instance, borrowers will now be provided a range from which to choose their rate, thus lowering the odds that they are not pricing their listing properly. With this new method lenders will find prices that are commensurate with risk. Also, for borrowers seeking their first loans, they must have a credit score of at least 640. This new listings system ultimately results in better returns to lenders, since they are of generally better quality.
Specialized Auction-Like Bidding System
Prosper uses an auction-like system to match borrowers with lenders. Using such a system, lenders can exercise enhanced control over their yield. Lenders have the ability to carefully specify their bidding choices thanks to a highly active auction market and detailed credit information. The auction system now also has a solid minimum bid per listing, which keeps the possibility of a lender mispricing to a minimum.
Prosper Ratings: A Better System for Risk Rating
Prosper was instituted a new rating system called Prosper Ratings. This new and in-depth system gives them the ability to make consistent ratings of listings and provides a proportional link between the estimated loss rate and the rating. Every listing that shares a Prosper Rating will also share the same range of potential loss rates. Looking at the records shows that with a Prosper Rating between AA and B had average returns of 7.13%. These strong returns go to show that direct person-to-person lending is a feasible type of asset for investment.
Improvements to the Portfolio Plan
Browsing through the complete index of listings can be arduous work that takes up a lot of time. Fortunately, Prosper provides a way to help those who lack to time to spend hours browsing listings. Building a portfolio plan allows you to set certain conditions under which the system will automatically bid on a listing. You can construct this plan on your own, or use one of Prosper’s pre-set plans. Both types are simple to set up. Portfolio plans are powerful tools to build your portfolio and find listings that match your preferences without having to pick through them one by one.
Trading of Current Loans
There are more great new features. Thanks to the new Note Trader system, you now are able to purchase, sell or swap notes. Prosper has partnered with Folio Investing to power this new change. This gives lenders the power to liquidate their investments before the 3-year term is up. Also, notes can be bought that are linked to loans you didn’t get a chance to get in on when they were first presented. Any note that was given out after July 13, 2009 is available for trading with the Note Trader system.
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April 28th, 2009 — Prosper.com
I will be attending Finovate Startup today (where Prosper is scheduled to speak). I will be live Twittering at http://twitter.com/BlogTrafficExch
Just in my email Prosper:
Dear Kevin,
Prosper is back with even more ways for you to earn a great return.
To activate your portfolio plans and to start investing right now, sign in and review our new
Lender Registration Agreement.
Introducing New Ways to Invest on Prosper
While speaking about Prosper, Preston DuFauchard, the Commissioner of the California Department of Corporations, said recently, New ideas and approaches are needed to increase access to consumer and small business credit, especially in todays environment.
We couldnt agree more.
At Prosper, our aim is to provide you with more than just investments. We feel its time to take back the system and provide the financial stewardship our country needs – one based on Americans helping Americans. To help bring this about, weve worked hard for the past six months to offer you new ways to invest and grow.
Invest on Our Open Market
In response to our nations credit crisis, you will now be able to invest in loans made by other financial institutions through our new Open Market initiative. Open Market listings describe existing loans made or owned by lending companies offered for sale on Prosper (such as a car loan).
And because Prosper can offer you a one-to-one relationship between the investment and the underlying asset, these loans are inherently transparent and less complex than traditional debt securitization and other traditional bank lending methods.*
Sound good? Theres more.
Improved Risk Rating System
Weve been working diligently at revamping our risk rating system, too. Our new robust system allows us to maintain consistency when rating listingsregardless of the loan seller, type of credit score used or type of loan being offered for sale.
We do this in part by combining our proprietary Prosper score with one pulled from Experians Scorex Plus. This allows you to better analyze a listings level of risk since the final rating represents an estimated average annualized loss rate rangemaking it easier for you to decide which listings may be your best investments. While we cannot guarantee performance, now youll have even more financial information on potential borrowers, along with the assurance that the new Prosper minimum credit score is 640 for individual marketplace listings. At Prosper, we constantly strive to provide you with all of the financial assurance and tools you need to make it easier to invest through us.
Coming SoonTrade Existing Loans
In other exciting news, you will soon have the option to be able to buy, sell and trade Notes on our new Trading Platform. Please be aware that trade investing through Prosper is not available at this time, as it is subject to regulatory approval.
At Prosper, were excited to welcome you back with these new ways to investall built upon the financial transparency, vigilance and openness you deserve.
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August 4th, 2008 — P2P Lending, Site Review
CommunityLend.com is still in their beta phase, and has yet to fully launch yet, but they do have some interesting features that are already obvious. Like most p2p lending sites, they are striving to create an alternative to traditional bank loans, but they are also trying to take that to the next level by developing actual online communities both for borrowers and lenders.
The premise of CommunityLend is that the more competition there is for your loan, the less interest you’ll have to pay. This should really appeal to those who are trying to save money on their loans, or have been turned away by traditional lenders. While there information is not yet complete, it does appear that the site will be catering heavily to borrowers.
Lenders however will still be taken care of. We appreciated the fact that they pointed out that only a select few are allowed to take advantage of the benefits of lending in the traditional standard. By creating this type of site, they hope to open up the billion dollar lending industry to smaller investors and groups that are looking for a solid way to make money.
While it is not yet clear if there will be any restrictions for borrowers, such as a minimum credit score, the site does appear to be trying to link up borrowers with very affordable loans. The main focus appears to be on small, unsecured loans for things like paying off a wedding or managing debt, but it could conceivably be used for cars, student loans and other financial needs.
The online community feature is quite interesting and appears to be centered around the goal of bringing charitable and local organizations together online, where they will be able to reach out to those in need. Once communities are created, they are free to get new members to join, and there will be features for discussion, learning and more.
The company has already arranged for multi-million dollar funding and their About Page reads like a veritable who’s who in banking and interest business. We found their roster to be very impressive and it looks as though the company is going to be in very good hands. Even the best concepts can falter with a lack of leadership, and it appears as though CommunityLend should be able to avoid that issue.
There are no set launch dates yet, but the company has moved quickly since receiving their financing in December of 2007. Borrowers, lenders and communities can sign up for more information and news on when the official launch will take place. Given that they have built a very strong foundation so far, they should not have any problems succeeding in this market place.
We liked the ideals behind CommunityLend and wish them well on their journey to becoming a p2p lending destination. We’ll be watching with interest to see how they develop and carve out their niche in this competitive industry. It will definitely be interesting to see how they progress.
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