[moneydance] Prosper.com Account Question

[Scott Zahn]

I set up my prosper.com account as an asset account.  It seemed closer
to an asset than a bank account when I set it up, probably because I was
reading an article by Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame.  I
might have to change the account type after I get my first statement,
but for now it's an asset.  Trying to set it up as an investment account
just wouldn't work since it's not really an investment in the typical
sense.  It's more like a wierd capital generating thingy.  I guess
that's how I describe peer to peer lending.

cheers,
Scott

P.S.  What are your impressions of it as part of an investment strategy?
My thoughts so far are that, while there are certainly loans to
consider, most of them are crap.  After the .5% service fee and income
taxes, any loan under ~13.5% (possibly higher) won't beat stocks over
the long term, which then provides a real disincentive for me to invest
in them.

On Thu, 2006-08-17 at 06:26 -0400, Elana Shenton wrote:
> Prosper.com is a peer-to-peer lending system and it's new.  I'm trying it
> out with a VERY small amount of money (as a lender) and was wondering about
> the best way to track loans with Moneydance.  It's a very interesting
> concept but it's so new, I'm not sure it's an investment account or
> something else.  It works a bit like an investment account, but you're
> investing in people.   They have grades based on their credit score (reminds
> me of Morningstar) and you make a decision whether or not to invest in all
> or part of the desired loan.  You can put in as little as $50. You bid on
> the loan based on interest, so you could bid $50 at 23% on a high risk loan
> and you'd get 23% back on that loan (as long as it's paid).  Or it can be
> thought of as a CD with a variable yield and risk you won't get some or all
> of the money back if the borrower defaults.  As I said, it's interesting.
> I'm just not sure how to track it in Moneydance.   I do transfer funds from
> my bank account into my prosper.com account and they have to be available
> before I can invest in a loan.  Any thoughts?
>