I thought I would report back about my university debt situation and my Prosper experience.
Debt first...I negotiated with the school to suppress all but about $700 of the service charges, so I ended up with a $4000 balance (instead of $7600.) My Dad had offered $2000 for my wedding (like he did with my sister) and after finding out about this issue, he offered it up early to help.
I listed my loan on Prosper, but even though my EX score is decent (666 FICO last I checked and probably a bit higher when they pulled) their version (Scorex PLUS) rated me MUCH lower, putting me in the D category. I determined that current delinquencies weigh VERY heavily in their rating, because as far as I could tell that was the only difference between me and some other borrowers that were getting funded automatically. (Lenders can choose portfolios with different criteria for which loans to automatically fund...different levels of risk.)
The other thing I had going against me is that OK has a state maximum interest rate of 17.78%, which is a low starting rate. Basically Prosper said there was a low chance of me getting funded. The only thing I had control over was what I wrote in my listing. I tried to be as detailed and honest as possible and explain the one collection on my account. (Cable equipment was not returned by my former boyfriend and I didn't know about it for almost two years.) I asked friends and family to write endorsements and six of them did. I don't know how heavily that weighs into lenders' decisions.
I listed for 10 days. The first 8 were really slow. I only got to about 30%. Then the last two days, it just took off. Today, about 15 hours before my listing expired, I hit 100%! Now the lenders are outbidding each other to lower the interest rate...totally cool! In a way, it's cool that I didn't get any automatic bids, because it means that everyone who bid on my listing actually went in and read my listing and took a chance on me personally.
At the same time, my Dad offered to loan me the other $2000 if my Prosper loan didn't come through, so no matter what, I was covered. That's a great feeling!
From the research that I've done, it appears that the Prosper loan will report as an installment loan, but only to EX. If anyone knows differently, I'd love to know. EX is my highest score and having an installment loan will help that even more in the long run. After a few more inquiries drop off my EX report in July, I will research whether it would be smart to apply for the Amex Delta Skymiles card again.
If anyone has any questions about my experiences so far with Prosper, feel free to ask. So far, it has been awesome! Thanks for suggesting it!
