Thursday, June 15, 2006

Why the Bad Taste?

I hope I didn't scare everyone with commenting on the bad taste that Prosper is giving me. It's nothing serious - it just has to do with the way I am.

A few Lenders said a few things about me that I don't believe are true on a message board. I don't have the thickest skin and I hurt easily. I care too much about what people think about me sometimes. I'm the type of person who tries to make everyone happy, even though I know that's not possible 100% of the time.

What happened hurt my spirit a little, hense my post earlier. I was thinking about withdrawing the loan and relisting. But an email I received from a bidder on my loan made me feel a lot better about things. Then, while writing this post I received another very supportive email from another bidder. Words can hurt...words can heal...words are powerful. I think blogging and my Prosper experience has made me really realize that. A telephone call with Prosper (I'll write about it hopefully later tonight if I have time) made me feel better as well.

My loan closes tomorrow night, and as of right now the interest rate is 11% (the bidding started at 12%). Part of me wants to start plugging all the numbers, but that actually will be hard because of how I am paying my debt off. Anyone know of a debt reduction calculator that lets you choose what order you want to pay off your debts? The ones I found automatically calculate by paying the highest interest rate balances first - which I won't be doing for a little bit (more on why later). If I can't find one, I guess I'll put my Excel skills to work and share my creation here ;)

I am so thankful for every bidder on my loan and for all of my fellow personal finance bidders showing their support with their bid and/or blogging about my experience. All of the support I receive from everyone really does mean the world to me.

Index of My Borrowing Experience with Prosper

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't let the message boards sour you on the Prosper experience. They can be brutal, and some of the egos there are insufferable. I think I read the comments that hurt you, and I think even the offending person realized that he was wrong. Congrats on funding.

Ben
A Prosper Lender

Anonymous said...

As for a calculator that let's you pick an order of repaymenet, Mary Hunt has one over at cheapskatemonthly.com. Unfortunately it requires a memebership.

Anonymous said...

There is a pretty good debt calculator at www.geocities.com/snidecl/debtsnowball.html. It's used quite a lot by the Dave Ramsey folks and does allow you to choose your own order of debt repayment.