Do you have debt you need to pay off because of home improvements? Do you need cash to pay for home repairs or house bills? There is an online practice called person-to-person lending or social lending, in which you can seek funding from individuals online and bypass the banks.

Approval from your online peers in a social lending network can help pay the mortgage.

Prosper is a social lending network. It lets consumers find individuals who are looking to lend money. To get a personal loan, you first need to complete a free registration form to become a member of the website. After you register, you’ll receive an email verification.

Click on the link provided in the email and it will activate your membership.

The next step is to verify your driver’s license number and Social Security number to prove your identity. You will also need to provide your checking account information so the funds can be electronically deposited when your loan has been approved.

The last step is to create a loan listing for lenders to bid on. Prosper provides a video tutorial on creating a good listing. The folks at Prosper emphasize that a good listing tells a story. Your story needs to explain how much of a loan you need and just as importantly, the reason why you need it.

A good listing includes photos and a budget that lists your monthly expenditures.

Prosper isn’t a great place for people with less-than-average credit scores (below 640) because of the perceived risk involved in lending to folks with lower credit. If your credit is less than average, you might want to consider credit counseling through a nonprofit organization before you put a loan listing on Prosper.

Have you been approved for a loan from your online peers? If you have used Prosper or another social lending site, I’d like to know about your loan experience. Please share by commenting below.

Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

Tags: Connect2Agent, home improvement loans, home repair loans, personal loans, prosper, social lending

This entry was posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 am and is filed under Home Improvement, Home Maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.