Prosper Loan

Obtaining a Prosper loan is a simple process if you follow a few easy steps. Here are details on how to get your loan funded through the Prosper® website.

Step One – Sign Up For Prosper:
The first step is to sign up at the Prosper® website. This includes a identity verification and a credit screening to determine your Prosper Score. Do this right away, it will take about 5 minutes, and will provide the details you need to perform the next steps. Also will provide access to the site so you can reference some of the pages listed below.

Step Two – Determine Prosper Loan Amount:
Prosper loans generally range from a few thousand dollars to $25,000. The smaller the loan amount the more likely the loan is to get funded. Use the loan payment calculator to determine what your monthly payments are going to be so that you can include these payments in your budget. Assuming you have been able to include these payments in your budget and feel comfortable that you can repay the loan you are ready to write your loan listing and profile.

Step Three – Write Your Loan Profile:
This step is fairly simple. You will want to include a picture although it does not have to be of you. If can be anything that is meaningful to you, can be your child, dog, house, etc. Next fill in the description section this is your chance to explain a little about yourself so the lenders can get to know you and gain confidence that you are a good investment for their money. Do not go overboard, limit this to about 5-10 sentences.

Step Four – Write Your Loan Listing:
This is the most important part, but do not worry with the little guidance you will have an excellent loan listing in no time at all. Here is a detailed breakdown of how to assemble your loan listing. Separate each section with a blank line. Since Prosper has a time limit for entering data before you will need to log in again and you will want to spend a little time getting this correct, we recommend doing this in a word processor program and then, once you have it the way you want it, move it to Prosper in the next step.

A few sentences with your reason for requesting the loan. Limit this to less than five sentences.

A few sentences with details on how you are able to repay the loan. Avoid general items such as that you are a good person. Although you are good person, that does not imply that you will have the finances to repay your loan. Point out things like job stability if you have been at your job a long time or no late payments if you have a good credit history. If you just received a raise or promotion. Whatever you do, do not state things that contradict other items on your loan listing, for example, do not state you always pay your bills on time if you have current or past delinquencies or late payments.

Your monthly income. Provide one line that states monthly net income. If you have a partner or spouse splitting bills with you, suggest you add a separate line for your partners income right below yours.

Your monthly budget. See our Prosper loan listing budget page for details. Basic approach is to list (name - amount) all your monthly expenses then end the listing with a total. Under that place the net income figure and below that a line with the difference between the two. If your loan is a consolidation loan or some other loan that will make a difference in your budget aside from just adding the payment of the prosper loan then, for the items impacted, off to the right include in parenthesis (the new amount with the Prosper loan) then make sure you add up the right hand column and total it at the bottom. Therefore you end up with two totals, one showing your budget without the Prosper loan and one showing your budget with the Prosper loan.

Optional step is to conclude with a few from the heart sentences. Such as thanking the lenders and letting them know you appreciate them considering your loan. This is your chance to show the lenders that you are a real person and will repay the loan. Like other sections in the listing, keep this short and to the point.

That is it, you now have a loan listing!

Step Five – Publish Your Prosper Loan Listing:
Almost there, you are now ready to publish your loan listing. When publishing your loan listing, make sure you state income that you will be able verify. I recommend 10 day loan listings. Although there are other options such as auto fund and shorter loan listing durations, my experience shows that a 10 day loan listing will provide lower interest rates.

When selecting the interest rate to post your listing at, start with the highest interest rate allowed by your state. I know this seems like just the opposite of what you want to do since you are trying to obtain the lowest interested rate, but this allows the Prosper loan process to work for you. By starting with a higher interest rate you attract more lenders to your loan and the lenders will bid the loan down to the market rate. Think of this similar to eBay where buyers often end up paying more for an item then if they bought it elsewhere. The bidding process sets the market rate, let this work for you.

Including pictures is important. Listings without pictures are often overlooked on a page that contains dozens if not hundreds of other listings. If you want the best interest rate, make sure pictures are included. If you include pictures of dogs, children or anything else that may have an impact on your budget for care, make sure these are shown in your budget or you explain why they are not required. For example if you have children but you do not have child care expenses, in your loan listing, explain that your mother lives with you and watches the children.

Step Six – Answer Borrower Questions:
Once the loan listing is posted, potential lenders have the option to ask questions about your loan. Make sure you answer these questions promptly and truthfully. The lenders are looking to gain confidence in your ability to pay them back so provide details that will help them to become confident and they will bid on your loan.

Step Seven – Prosper Listing Review:
Almost there, your loan is now funded, however you have a few more things to complete to finalize the process. Once the loan bidding period ends, Prosper will review your loan and may contact you for information to verify your income, etc. Make sure you reply promptly to the Prosper requests, if Prosper does not receive the required information in a timely manner they will cancel your loan listing and you will need to relist your loan.

Step Eight – Make Your Payments:
Congratulations you have now obtained your Prosper loan. Remember that many people have bid their hard earned money on your loan and are counting on you to pay it back. Make your payments on time and once you pay off your debt come back to Prosper as a lender and support other people while making some money for yourself. See our Prosper Lending page for advice on the lending side of Prosper.

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