Through crowdfunding, you can raise money online for a dream project, emergency fund, debt refinancing, or to secure a business loan.
Increasingly, more individuals have been using debt crowdfunding or peer-to-peer financing platforms like Prosper (and these) to secure a personal loan to help grow their business or pay personal expenses.
Prosper allows borrowers to apply for loans between $2,000 and $35,000 at as little as 5.99% APR for their best borrowers. Loans are granted for a variety of expenses, including home improvement, business, vacation, medical/dental, and more.
To help shed light on this new area of crowdfunding, we decided to interview Jordan M. Mackey, the owner of real estate business Rnt2KC and a Prosper member since 2007.
1. How many loans have you taken out with Prosper?
Currently I’ve taken out three separate loans with Prosper. One of them has been paid off, while two are still current.
2. How would you describe the sign-up process?
Honestly it’s been ages since I’ve initially signed up. So I’m not entirely certain how the current process works. I’ve referred quite a few people their way, so I believe it’s pretty straight forward and simple to my understanding.
3. What is the average amount of time it takes to fund a loan on Prosper from your experience?
Prosper has become more corporate, which is a bit saddening, however I understand in order to grow, you must evolve with the times. Initially when I acquired my first loan, it was more of a community and you could ask questions and chat with each other.
The balance of focus has swayed back towards the lenders side, with respect to the borrow receiving more instant attention if your numbers work. In my experience, the first loan is the most difficult, because you don’t have any followers or notoriety in the system.
But, Prosper’s move to a proprietary scoring model based of their own research and numbers, means that the borrower is given much more grace in funding a second loan.
My third loan for $15,000 was funded in 7 HOURS!
4. Is there anything you dislike about the platform?
The community aspect was taken away, which was the initial reason why I signed up for the program. I loved the original capitalist nature of allowing borrowers to have their loan rates literally bid down by potential lenders. However, to handle their increased volume of loans, I believe they had to streamline the process and that feature ended up on the chopping block.
As mentioned above, I didn’t get my third loans rate bid down. However, I did have it funded in 7 hours which in the residential banking world NEVER HAPPENS!
5. If you’ve interacted with staff from Prosper, how was their customer service?
Excellent, I’ve never had a single problem or issue with Prosper. On that same note any concern or questions I’ve had were answered in a very timely and professional manner!
6. Would you still recommend Prosper to someone who is looking for an alternative to traditional loans?
I’m a very loyal and loving fan of Prosper and their grassroots model. They have integrated a platform to put more power in the hands of small mom and pop businesses, as well as individual investors.
It’s a very rare sight to see a company that can bring together a small-town Midwestern boy like myself and a multimillion dollar hedge fund together on the same platform.
Conclusion
This interview gives us an interesting look on how new fundraising platforms change and adapt over the years. Although Prosper has since done away with its community features, they have still helped over 250,000 people borrow over $4 million since they launched in 2006!
Prosper is a great platform for someone who is looking for a loan but doesn’t want to go through a traditional bank.
The set-up is easy and borrowers with good credit can benefit from lower interest rates, giving startups access to the funds they need to grow their brand or getting you the loan you need to finance that new car without any ‘middlemen’ making the process more complicated.
If you’d like to learn more about peer to peer lending, check out our P2P Lending 101 post here.
