First, this may be my favorite story of the year thus far. Grannies with guns rock my socks.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,267540,00.html
Next, I had to tell you all about this site I heard about
www.prosper.com It's a really neat idea. If you need a loan, you can post on that site and, depending on how appealing they find your terms, people bid to loan you money. Conversely, if you are looking for a way to earn a bit more interest than your bank offers, you can go out and bid on the loans people are asking for. (Is this making any sense?)
For example:
John wants to borrow $5000, so he makes a post on prosper. His credit report and basic financial information is included, so that people can decide whether they want to bid on his loan. He indicates in his post that he'd like to get an interest rate of 15%.
In response:
Betty bids $50 towards the loan, offering 15% interest.
Joe bids $500 towards the loan at 14% interest.
Chris bids $100 towards the loan at 15%
and so on until the loan amount is reached. John's interest rate is an amalgam of the interest rates that have been bid. Prosper administrates the loan, receiving the payment and doles it out to the parties who bid on the loan in increments based on the amount the bidder put up and the interest rate they offered. I believe all loans are 3 years in length, so it's not a quick turn around, but if you only have a little bit to invest from time to time, it's a pretty neat way to go. The minimum bid is $50. There is risk, of course, since these are loans and there is always a chance of default. Still it's an interesting concept.
Also, for folks who can't/don't want to go through a bank for a loan, this offers another opportunity to get the money you need.
Anyway, I heard about it from Becky and Manny. They've bid on 8 or 9 loans so far (bidding fairly small dollar amounts). They plan to save the loan payments until they reach $50 and then alternate putting the amount into savings and re-investing on Prosper. It's not going to get them rich, but they're making better interest than they do with their savings account, and not having to invest a lot at a time, so it works for them. I just thought it was a pretty nifty idea, and thought I'd share it with you all.
Oh, and Lys will be home from Italy tomorrow. *SQUEE*
