Brother, can you spare me a dime?

Have you heard of peer-to-peer lending? Look to the left. See that ad for Prosper? This is an amazing new way to borrow and lend money.

Say you need $500 to furnish your baby's room, or update your wardrobe for a new job. Or you need $2,000 for some home renovations. If you don't want to go to a bank, or can't get approved, you can go to Prosper and submit a listing for no charge. Lenders, ordinary people like you and me who have a few dollars to spare, can bid on your loan.

Take this example: Jane decides to start her own, home-based business and needs $1,000 to set-up her home office and purchase marketing materials like business cards, advertising and the like. She lists a loan request on Prosper. Several hours she receives an email from Prosper saying her loan has been funded. Jane logs in to her account and sees that her loan has been funded not by one person, but by 30!!! 30 different people lending her small amounts, anywhere from $25 to 100 have given Jane exactly what she needs to make a strong start, and 3 years to pay it back!

Today is Prosper's 5th birthday and for anyone who lists today, Prosper will pay your second loan payment for you! Prosper has borrower rates as low as 5.9%² and average actual returns for lenders of 10.1%

So, in fact, your (figurative) brother CAN spare you a dime! Go check it out! Just click the ad link to the left.