Prosper.com or how to get money easily

Prosper.com is a website proposing great rates and help to fellow americans.
There are lenders and borrowers.
The aim is simple : if you need money, you go to the borrow section and say how much you want to borrow and set your maximum interest rate.
Then lenders can choose you and give you the money!
It's a great alternative to banks : you can have your money very quickly and the motto of Prosper is "borrowing money from people is fast, safe, and easy".

Look at the picture, it explains how it works.

Of course the main question is : how can you trust online users you don't know? Especially when you are a lender? How can you be sure to have your money back and with good interests?

First of all users can see at the bottom of the webpage that Prosper uses VeriSign services. It secures your private information using a VeriSign SSL Certificate and it confirms the identity of the website. The user can also read that ProsperMarket Place, Inc. is a valid business.

Prosper uses also the services of the website Truste. This website protects your privat information. The users have access to all the personal information they submitted at any time and can make changes if necessary... Truste has a lot in common with the french CNIL.

Users can also give rates for each Prosper user. It's like eBay or other websites. Ratings can give you information about the lender or the borrower : does he pay at time? is he a good lender? and so on...

I think that kind of webservice will develop because it's a real and good alternative to banks. The problem is the following : will that kind of website get still more people into debt? It is a known fact that the average american has more loans going than the average french person.

I think this service is great for people who needs money to buy a car or someting like that. Personnally I would probably never use this sort of webservices...but never say never!