Peer to Peer Lending?

[james.hendrickson]

Anybody making money with peer to peer lending via Prosper.com or Lendingclub.com?

I have about $2,000 with prosper and am making about 5% return before taxes. I would love to hear if anyone has done a better job optimizing their portfolios.

[Singuy]

Check out my "obscure investment" thread just below. I have money in Lendingclub and peerstreet. Your 5% return is pretty low. I think you are being too conservative in your investments. The trick of these loans is to get the terrible notes with high %.

[james.hendrickson]

For some reason I have not heard of peerstreet.

My brother has about $10,000 in prosper and he is pulling down about 10% returns.

What is unclear to me is what exactly the strategy should be to get the best returns for the lowest risk in the peer to peer lending asset class. If it were stocks I would implement some sort of diversified investing strategy but its not clear to me if loans behave the same way as stocks.

I was heavily into prosper in 2008 and 2009 - I ended up taking bath on some of the higher risk loans. After that I drastically reduced my risk by only pursuing lower risk issues. Now I am thinking I may have over-corrected.

[Singuy]

Peerstreet is crowdfunding RE for house flippers/renters. Unlike the lending club, all members involved will get a portion of their money back in case of a foreclosure. All the houses at least have 25% equity already for downside protection. Avg returns is around 8% and it is for accredited investors only.

Well for the lending club, you use back testing software online(forgot where I found one..think it was a link I pulled up from a thread at the lending academy forum) to figure out your filters. Only lend to people who wants to consolidate their debt or loan payoff..never give them money for home improvements/weddings/medical bills/anything else. Zero inquires on their credit in the past 6 months, and exclude a couple of states..those are pretty much my filters. I don't do G loans, I also don't do A loans. BCDs are the bulk of my notes.

[sblatner]

I've been in LendingClub for quite a few years. Making 6-8% on my money. Yes, people default but the interest I'm making on the other loans more than makes up for it. I'm happy with LC.

[frugal saver]

I've been in Lending Club for a few years now and average 8-10% interest, but that may change.

They've changed their way of doing business and are now packaging up loans to sell to (investment firms? don't remember) so all loans are no longer available. Plus there may still be some backlash regarding their management problems.

I've pulled out my available cash and will let the rest sit for probably a year to see how they work things out before I decide to invest more or not.

[butler]

I have been doing Lending Club for 3+ years now. My returns has been between 7 & 8% consistently. I have invested in 900+ loans so far with defaults of only about 17 (less than 2%). I select loans myself and about 70% of my loans have been through secondary market - folio investing.

[butler]

...as far as strategy is concerned. I invest in loans where there has been no delinquency, no public records, no bankruptcy and no collections. Other things I look for are job titles, credit score, loan purpose etc. Also, I never invest in A1-A2 loans.

[Spiffster]

I have Lending Club and Prosper accounts that are currently pulling in around 11% (~50% seasoned loans so this number may drop a bit). I use loan filters I have setup on Lendingrobot.com. I could provide you a referral link, but im not sure that sort of thing is allowed here.

FWIW here are my filter settings:

Amount Delinquent: No delinquent amount, Credit Score: Between 625 and 700, LendingRobot Score: 6 and above, Grade: From AA to D, Annual Income: $57,000 and more, Employment Status: Employed, Full-time, Self-employed, Inquiries (6m): No more than 1 inquiry, Loan Amount: From $6,000 to $35,000, Employment Length: Any, Open Credit Lines: From 7 to any number of lines, Loan Purpose: Debt consolidation, Green Loans, Medical, State: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CO, CT, DE, and 39 other states, Rev. Bal / Amount: Any, Revolving Balance: From $4,000 to $35,000, Max. Debt / Income: No more than 20%

[Captain Save]

I need to subscribe to this thread.. I've always wondered about P2P lending


thanks

Jerry

[clatoden99]

I have been a p2p lending investor for over 18 months now and I am delighted with the returns. I have made some mistakes but I have learned a great deal and I now expect returns north of 10% going forward.

[Captain Save]

I have been a p2p lending investor for over 18 months now and I am delighted with the returns. I have made some mistakes but I have learned a great deal and I now expect returns north of 10% going forward.

can you elaborate on the mistakes you have made? also .. what are the typical mistakes of a new investor?

[mcsewnab]

I've only been using Lending Club for about 6 months but my return shows 10%. If the 2 lates that I have pay I'd be at 15% return. I assume as time goes on it will settle a little but I'm happy with the returns so far.

[StormRichards]

I've considered this but I think I would take it hard if I ended up with a deadbeat.

[Captain Save]

I've considered this but I think I would take it hard if I ended up with a deadbeat.

I'm guessing they give you the option to diversify... you don't want to have all your eggs in one basket