Comments on: Prosper Borrowers: Buy My Endorsement For A Better Loan Rate

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:43:38 +0000

Sorry for those who mean to leave useful comments on this post. It seems that some trolls enjoy hanging out on this post attempting to tell me what I was intending to do. As I don't believe in feeding the trolls and no meaningful discussion is coming from this, I'm closing the comments here.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:03:42 +0000

Maybe I bid of my own volition unrelated to the payment for the endorsement.

By: phreddy

phreddy — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:37:11 +0000

You say that your plan does not violate the terms of service because it only relates to bidding, but you state, ” It’s pretty simple really. Contact me and let me know how much you want your endorsement for. Give me that money plus 50% and I’ll bid on your loan.” above. Looks like you are bidding on laons in this scheme.

By: pfodyssey

pfodyssey — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:06:28 +0000

Sorry Lazy…I think probably a non-starter. I also felt the post gave me a glimpse of the “dark side” of Lazy-Man. I say that not in a critical or attacking way (we are all looking for ways to make a buck, no?)…just a different tone / tact than I’m accustomed to from the Lazy one. In general, the whole concept gives me the same feelings as a payday loan joint (kinda sleezy).

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:43:09 +0000

Good comparison Geoff. Hopefully, it’s easier to get Prosper to change their policy than the credit card industry’s. Since Prosper is smaller and more nimble, I like to think it will.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:58:07 +0000

This is just similar to the company that paid individuals to add strangers to their credit cards so that their credit score would go up allowing them to get better loan rates.

That forced a change, but it only came about when more an more people started doing this.

By: Seth

Seth — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:04:01 +0000

In some sense selling endorsements might help indentify good borrowers. The are other possibilities too, but if you were going to take the money and run you would be less likely to pay upfront for an endorsement. So by paying you show you are a better borrower.

Sorry if this is gosh, but I tried to provide a more detailed explaniation here.
http://sethgitter.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-if-we-could-buy-lazymans-prosper.html

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:50:24 +0000

Matt, what makes you think this is illegal? Where is the law that says buying an endorsement is illegal?

Also, the terms of agreement specifically relate to bidding. It doesn’t relate to the endorsing. I receive no compensation for bidding (other than the standard interest that anyone else does). I would receive compensation for the endorsement.

It’s a moot point anyway, because I don’t really want to do this. I want to make Prosper aware that this can be done. There are probably people doing behind closed doors already. I want to get it into the open so that action can take place and fixed it.

Anyone accusing me of any wrong-doing here has misinterpreted the style of writing I chose to use to make my point.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:40:40 +0000

I don’t get it, what you want to do is against the terms of agreement and is illegal. [Editor's note: this is false, see my full comment below...] Why are you making it seem like this is a loophole? If you want to be a criminal why don’t you just steal somebody SS# and use it to take a loan out. To make yourself feel better, “Mr Grey hat”, you can give half the money you stole to some charity.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:30:51 +0000

Sorry Matt, I try to make systems better. I think it’s how we evolve to better products. The alternative is to just stick with what we have. I’d rather improve.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:43:26 +0000

I don’t like this at all.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:34:57 +0000

I never said that I write good satire ;-). I think the best is when you keep it as close to reality as possible.

By: Yankeefan

Yankeefan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:00:59 +0000

Ok- I believe you’re writing satire. Good satire, however, needs to be beyond reality, and, unfortunately, this blog idea is only barely outside what we have seen already on Prosper.

The idea does point up a need for such things as a way to view all endorsements made by individual members.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:52:38 +0000

Proseper has a looooooong way to go before mainstream investors even consider it as a slice of thier portfolio. Just like any new idea (especially e-commerce) it may be one of those things that the uneasy end up kicking themselves over not being more involved at the onset.

This is a good discussion though. The fact that there are so many polarized opinions means that Lazy Man does have something going here. If prosper (of the gamut of bloggers who love it or hate it) seem to think this is immoral, or illegal, it it up to them to fix it. (the ebay model is an excellent example of people keeping each other honest).

The quote I love in here that really pertains is “Innovation occurs when a potential problem is exposed.”. That is what is happening here.

By: JustGuy

JustGuy — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:05:01 +0000

I’d love to see someone buy an endorsement from you.

Just one more reason Prosper will never get a secondary market off the ground. Too much room for fraud for the SEC to ever allow the stuff to be traded.

By: Step3

Step3 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:36:12 +0000

So much hate in so few comments. I’ll admit I was a little angry when I first read the post, but once I saw what Lazy Man was trying to do, I fully applauded the effort. I’m new to prosper, and LM’s idea of selling endorsements made me angry because I just bid a some loans for that very reason. As near as I can see from the website, Prosper does not track the history of endorsements. LM’s scheme illustrates a flaw in the system that needs to be addressed to make Proper a better marketplace.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:08:29 +0000

Based on your lendingstats profile, I have to say, empirically there is only one asset class your investments have not been correlated to: commodities!

If you want to go long consumer debt, go buy a bank stock.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:43:11 +0000

“It makes available an asset class not heavily correlated with stocks, real estate, or commodities”

Are you sure? I’d bet that prosper loans are very heavily correlated with other consumer debt, such as real estate.

By: Tokyo Joe

Tokyo Joe — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:06:12 +0000

Why do you keep deleting my website from “my website”??

It is a field you ask for when you post comments, and that’s my website.

That isn’t very nice, or ethical-looking…

Prosper put you up to it?

By: Tokyo Joe

Tokyo Joe — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:42:07 +0000

Come on! You really didn’t understand that sentence?

Okay, I’ll explain it to you:

Your name will be dragged through the mud as an endorser as soon as the loan you endorse goes bad. If you endorse several that go bad, your name will becaome synonymous with promiscuous endorsing for profit…

Like I said, if I needed 20 grand as a cash-out, why would I care about the $75 I sent you, or your reputation? I’d take the money and laugh.

Assuming this scheme ever gets off the ground.