I put in $100 into Prosper to make loans some time ago because I really wanted to get into the P2P lending scene. The first little payment came in from one of my loans at $1.48 and since Prosper does not offer interest on that money being held I quickly transferred the repayment back into Wells Fargo and then out to my ING account.
This month the money came in again and I was all set to transfer it…but Prosper won’t let me.
Prosper is holding my money hostage because the TOS now states that you can only transfer a minimum of $25 out of the Prosper holding area.
This means it will take months for me to build up that money to get it transferred out to my interest bearing account.
This is really my fault because I should have set up the Prosper account with my Electric Orange account in the first place. In order to add a new account, I have to fax in forms and canceled checks and all sorts of stuff to protect my identity.
What do you think I should do?
Option One
Should I go through the hassle and add my ING account so I can make small transfers in the future?
Option Two
Should I leave things as they are and let the $25 build up over months and try to do the transfer once all the payments received reach the required amount?
Your advice is greatly appreciated!!!
That sounds like it’s annoying. I actually blogged about Prosper last month because I thought it was a cool website that provided people with some monetary flexibility. This little turn of events is troubling.
@ Flimjo:
It is a little bit of an annoyance but not anything to make a big deal about or to turn people away from Prosper.
The major thing is that I should have anticipated this and used my Electric Orange account instead of Wells Fargo because of the transfer restrictions.
Wells Fargo does not allow me to initiate transfers in from other non-WF accounts. I think you have to jump some hoops to get that done and then there is a fee.
If I had used my Electric Orange account I could transfer the money without any fees so that would have been easier. I am still trying to decide on whether I want to fax in all the stuff to Prosper to get the account changed or not. I have downloaded the forms…I am just thinking about it still.
I guess I have to hop over to your blog now to read your post on that now. 🙂
If I understand this correctly, you’re worried about earning interest on $1.48? At the current rates…or really any rates, that’s neglible. At 5% it’s only .61 or so cents per month of interest. I personally wouldn’t bother with an amount that small. Even $20 is only 8 cents a month of interest @ 5%. Just look down while you’re walking and I’m sure you’ll make more than that. =)
@ Seasicksquid:
I am not ‘worried’ about the money per se. I am thinking about the whole process. While this is a small amount the main idea behind what I wrote is that I do not have access to my money through Prosper the way I want to, because I made a poor decision in the beginning when I set up the account.
This is a mindset for me…every cent counts. 🙂
I would err on the side of getting all that paperwork done, etc. I like having control over ever cent that I have.
Ok Flimjo you got me. I will send the paperwork in and get the account changed to Electric Orange. 🙂
Yea I agree with a lot of the people here. Worrying about the interest on 1.48 is kind of ridiculous, you should definitely just work on paying off your debt. If you are getting a worse rate on you prosper account then you are paying in interest then it is not a good idea to put it in prosper. Pay off your debt first!