Prosper Lending | Borrowing Tips

This post is in response to a post I saw in the Prosper Lender forums requesting for stats on defaults vs. DTI. To obtain this data, I have queried all the loans that have been paid in full, defaulted, or repurchased from 2/1/2006 - 7/19/2007. The query ended on 7/19 because I wanted to give sufficient time for loans to default. Buckets have been broken down based on credit grade and the DTI range. The chart was cut off at 59.99% DTI because there was insufficient amount of data points but the raw data is in the tables below if you are interested in taking a look at them. Please bear in mind that these numbers do not include loans that are still in the repayment phase. That is why the numbers seem exaggerated. You can hover over each point to see the percent default rate.
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The answer is an unequivocal “YES!” and I have done some number crunching to prove this point. I have queried all the expired or completed listings from 2/6/06 to 11/1/07 and counted the number of characters in the descriptions. The left bar represents all the listings that have completed with full funding. The right bar represents all the expired listings that did not reach full funding. The resulting statistics was surprising but understandable. Read more »

Using the Prosper API, I have compiled all the bid data ranging from 4/2/06 - 11/3/07 and counted the number of bids in hourly increments. All types of bids (withdrawn, winning, outbid, and partially participating) were included to obtain a real sense of the raw bidding activity. You can hover over the points on the line graph to view the # of bids for each point. Please not that the times are given in Pacific Standard Time.
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To answer this question, I queried all the bids on Prosper.com from 4/2/06 - 11/3/07 and included all types of bids: withdrawn, winning, outbid, and partially participating. This should give us a good sense of the raw bidding activity that goes on.
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Believe it or not, picking the right day of the week may have an impact on the amount of funding for your listing because bidders may be more active on certain week days. As you might or might not know, listings that are about to end will appear higher in the listings giving you more exposure to potential bidders. Having your listing end during peak times will give you maximum exposure and increase your chances of turning that listing into a loan.

To find out if certain weekdays are better than others, I have utilized the Prosper.com API to obtain the statistics for each day of the week. I have queried all the listings dating from 10/28/06 to 10/28/07 except for the ones that are still currently active. Please note that this data includes listings that have been withdrawn or canceled. Read more »

While it may be true that a listing with a longer duration may receive more views or exposure, does this necessarily mean that it will receive more funding? The statistics may be surprising to you.

I have utilized the Prosper.com API to obtain the statistics that I hope can guide you in answering this question. I have queried all the listings dating from 11/5/06 to 10/27/07 (almost a year’s worth of data) except for the ones that are still currently active. The listings has been broken down according to the duration that they were listed for and whether they were 100% funded or not. Please note that this data includes listings that have been withdrawn or canceled.
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Here is a neat little calculator that displays a bar chart showing how listings has resulted in the past given the credit grade and the loan amount requested. The results will give a count of the total number of similar listings as well the percentage of listings that were canceled, completed, expired or withdrawn. More importantly, it also shows you the percentage of these listings that were 100% funded versus the ones that did not reach full funding. Statistics also include the average borrower APR and the maximum APR the borrower was willing to accept. This tool can assist you in deciding on a realistic interest rate based on your loan amount and credit grade. Read more »

In order to get a good idea of what you should do for your listing, you should first read the post on Lending Tips so that you can get in the mindset of what lender’s are looking for. With that being said, here is a list of criteria that many lenders look for in a listing… Read more »