Prosper "Marketplace" is available to CA Residents

[Jason]

Hello SCP,

We have all been waiting patiently for Proser to resume operations and they have, but not without limitations.

After updating the website over the weekend, residents of California can "invest" again. There are some changes to the semantics and deposit amounts, but overall it looks fairly similar to before the quiet period. The word "investing" has been used to replace "lending." My guess is they are trying to ensure everyone understands the risk involved and the fact we are not direct lenders. We basically purchase "notes" not "loans" from an existing FDIC insured bank. Almost like the dreaded credit default swaps. The banks loan the money and we invest the money they lend to the banks for our share of the investment returns. Currently, the minimum deposit amounts have risen to $500 instead of $50. I suspect this is done to attract the more financially stable and savvy investors. The limit has been decreased to $20,000 to most likely reduced overall risk.

One thing that I thought was a valuable tool was the Community posts, but they seemed to have done away with it. Honestly, they never really were efficient in moderating the forum in a timely manner so that may have been a part of the decision to eliminate it. We still have our forum so please utilize it as you see fit.

In order to help Prosper get approval in your state please go to http://www.fixthecreditcrisis.org/ and submit your opinion of Proser directly to your local government officials and see if we can aid in the approval process.

The day we all can invest in each other again depends on our voices being heard.

- Jason

[go4reward]

Yes, we need to do our parts in order to speed up the process for our states. Speak of that issues I just sent my message to all representatives for Maryland. Good luck to us all.

[deskguy]

 just fyi to maryland residents, be advised that wayne gilchrest (r)  is no longer the congressman from the first district. don't know who succeeded him because i don't live there but believe it was a democrat. so i'd check the other names as well because you'll just look stupid sending a request to someone no longer in office.

 deskguy

[Investar]

... the minimum deposit amounts have risen to $500 instead of $50. I suspect this is done to attract the more financially stable and savvy investors. The limit has been decreased to $20,000 to most likely reduced overall risk ...
- Jason

I believe the amounts $500 and $20,000 Jason talks about apply to "instant transfers" only. Unless you are eligible for instant funds transfers, it takes four business days to complete a normal funds transfer which (I expect) can be as little as $50 as in the past.

Requirements for instant transfer:
-- Transfer amount must be between $500 and $20,000
-- Sum of pending transfers cannot exceed $20,000
-- Your active loan value must be greater than $0

(reference Prosper Help--> Investing --> Funding your Prosper account)

[foofiter]

I looked at a couple listings and they have $50 bids on them. I am not sure about the transfer issue since I do not live in CA.

Foo

[FinDoc]

They probably discontinued the community post board because of anti-trust reasons.  Imagine all banks or investors in a market conferring on what everybody should and should not invest in - very anti-competitive.  It's not of the same magnitude here, of course, but the idea is the same.

[go4reward]

Yes, I would suggest borrowers to post their loan request on our forum, so we can interact with each other to see if lenders should bid on those loans.
Open communication is the bridge for success.