it depends on your other factors (debt, credit available to you, reasons for low score, cash available in the bank, percentage of financing you want - 95%, 100% - which is determined on what percentage of a down payment you can provide). It also depends on your area - the fed just dropped the rate by 3/4% which should put home mortgage prices back in the 4% area, which is GOOD and should boost home buying. Since home buying is in a slump now, many places may be willing to give you a loan just because there aren't a lot of people taking out home loans right now.

Java - please let us know how Prosper works out for you. It takes a while to get it up and running, you've gotta put money out there to get money back, but once you do, it should provide a steady stream of income. Just reinvest your profits into more loans. My co-worker who uses it started out by targeting those in the service (something about Uncle Sam requiring service men to make loan payments?). Something similar to that might be a good approach. Some people with good credit take out loans at a low percentage rate, and reinvest that loan to others at a higher interest rate (i.e., you get a loan at 10% for $3,000 and loan that out to people at 30% - you use the proceeds you get from the 30% loan and use that to pay back your 10% loan, netting roughly 20% minus fees). That's more risky and I wouldn't venture into that until you have some experience under your belt.

I would limit yourself, don't go all in at once... put two or three small loans out there and see how things work, and learn by experience... set a rule for yourself, such as only contribute to two loans a month. You can easily get excited and throw $2,000 in there and loan it out, only to realize you could have used that money elsewhere for more reward. Once you loan it out, it's gone, and you hope that you're repaid every month.

 

I feel like I owe an update here but I don't have much for you guys as of yet. I need to do another credit check which I'm waiting til early or mid feb probably. I have not been able to make much of a difference as you guys said this is a time thing and if anything I feel like I have only wasted more. I now have one line of credit up and have managed to set aside a decent chunk for saving up. I have paid two of three old debts. The insurance one has no information so I'm thinking I will be able to dispute it off. I have not noticed the changes from any of this as I have not checked my credit summary or score since december or november. I'll try to give a better update around the middle of February though. Oh and prosper denied me...

Ok i got prosper to accept me as a borrower. How do I become friends with people already signed up? Java, maybe we should set up a group? Let me know what you think and thanks for bringing this back from the dead

 

sorry java - I misread your post. I thought you were loaning money out to people and using the proceeds to pay off the credit cards.

Attempting to get a loan from Prosper to pay off higher interest rate loans is what most people use the site for. If you state that you have a 20% rate on credit cards, that will hopefully cause people to target 10-15% on the loan to you. that's still high, but better than 20%