Rate my Prosper Listing?

[KUJustin]

I think I'm going to list a loan on Prosper, but wanted to run it by you guys here first since I know many of us have talked about Prosper before and I trust the intelligence of the 2p2 community more than most other communities.

tl;dr: I'm going back to grad school in the fall, but in the meantime I need some money to clear out some credit card debt ($2,900) and pay some monthly expenses. The Prosper loan would be repaid ASAP out of my student loan distribution in September.

Here's my potential listing:

About Me / My financial situation:
I graduated from the University of Kansas in December of 2005 with a degree in Business Administration. I will be returning to school full-time in the fall to get an MBA and possibly a dual degree in Financial Engineering.

Purpose of loan:
This loan will be paid off early, so if you're looking for a long-term investment vehicle this is not it.

I will be receiving a student loan distribution in late August or September at which time the full balance of this loan will be paid. Needless to say the typical student loan interest rate is more favorable than the rate above.

The purpose of the loan is to pay off $2,900 in credit card balances (as well as consolidating the payments which will be a huge blessing). My "weighted-average cost of capital", if you will, on these cards is 21%. The loan will also cover some monthly and one-time expenses as I transition from working to school.

I was working up until recently but will not be for the summer aside from finding some temporary work until I resume school full-time.

Monthly expenses: $ 1020
Housing + Utilities: $ 310
I share a 7-bedroom house with 10 great friends
Insurance: $ 90
Car expenses: $ 170 ($ 70 ins + $ 100 gas/maintenance)
I drive a Toyota Corolla with less than 90k miles so it's pretty cheap to own.
Utilities: $ incl above
Phone, cable, internet: $ incl above
Cell phone is on the family plan and free for me
Food, entertainment: $ 200 ($160 groceries/eating out + $40 entertainment)
I'm a pretty frugal guy and don't spend much on food or going out.
Clothing, household expenses $ none
I haven't bought clothes in a while and most household items are covered under groceries
Credit cards and other loans: $ 50
Private student loan. The CC payments will, of course, finally be gone.
Other expenses: $ 150
Miscellaneous expenses / personal purchases. Again I'm a pretty frugal guy and try not to spend much on myself. Having said that I say $150 because there's always plenty of unforeseen expenses in life.

Closing
This loan will give me freedom from the monthly credit card payments and outrageous interest rates. Also, it will allow me to bridge the gap to Grad School and be a first step on my road to receiving my MBA opening up a new world of opportunities for me to show off my skills. Your help will be greatly appreciated!

[wmspringer]

Just a note: a lot of people on Prosper won't bother with a short-term loan unless it has a high interest rate.

[Timosil]

I helped my buddy get a Prosper loan a while ago...One thing that seems to help is to play up the "recently graduated thing" (ie pictures of graduation...a small blurb about how good your GPA was..etc)...also, people like to see tangible proof that you are who you say you are. I invest in Prosper, and I usually look for people with proof of income and other documentation posted. The other thing that helps is to have a thread in the Prosper forum advertising your thread and asking for questions about your listing...

Also this may be obvious but you should start at interest rate higher than you want to pay, and let it be bid down...once the funding reaches 50% it often ignites a bidding frenzy.

Two other things:
-never auto-fund (it looks shady that you dont want your listing to be bid down...you look desperate)and...
-always include pictures...without pics your listing will not be featured on the main startup page under "featured listings"...it would be like giving away free advertising.

How much are you trying to raise?

PS-leave out any mention of poker...

[KUJustin]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm a C credit (used to be B, I think the higher balances on my credit cards pushed it down a notch). I was going to offer 19% and I should only need about $6k.

I think if lenders take the time to read through it they'll see a chance for an easy 19% for 4-5 months, but if they don't they'll just see my near zero income and my short time frame.

Timo, great tips all around. And I definitely knew better than to throw in the p word.