On March 1st, our Lending Club account balance was at $9,194.87 (an increase of $46.05 from last month). We received $637.55 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received $51.24 in interest (an decrease of $7.29). The principal balance of our active notes was $7,319.40 (a decrease of $511.31 from last month), with $25.00 of loans in review or funding and a remaining cash balance of $1,850.47 (an increase of $582.36). We are currently generating 5.10% on our seasoned notes. No loans were charged off this month.
Again, we continue to be thankful that we are not losing any money, but with the automatic investments strategy not working out very well, more and more of our money is standing idle and thus losing value when inflation the opportunity costs are factored in. I think it's time to look elsewhere for investment opportunities.
Any ideas on where we could invest this growing cash pile?
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On March 1st, our Prosper account balance was at $9,187.84 (an increase of $17.86 from last month). We received $464.78 in payments from our active notes; of which, we received, $54.44 in interest (an decrease of $7.12). The principal balance of our active notes was $8,006.43 (a decrease of $166.93 from last month). We are having much better luck with the automatic investing on Prosper compared to Lending Club. Nevertheless, we are still currently sitting on a cash balance of $1,181.41 (an increase of $184.78), of which a total of $225.00 is pending investments. We are currently generating 6.98% on our seasoned notes, and 6.68% on all notes invested to date (includes profits from paid off notes).
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Even though we are not having great luck finding notes that meet our criteria (described below), at least the accounts are continuing to show some growth (albeit very small).
Below are the updated numbers that include both Lending Club and Prosper accounts:
Total Value of Both P2P accounts: $18,382.71
($63.91 increase from last month)
Total Interest Earned in February: $105.68
($14.41 decrease from last month)
Estimate Average Interest Earned: 6.04%
Click below to view our peer-to-peer lending accounts history
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NOTES CRITERIA:
Our family has been investing in peer-to-peer lending notes for approximately 3 years now. And because of past defaults, we have now refined our search criteria. As a result, we now take a slightly more conservative approach with the notes we invest in. Currently, we only invest in notes that fit the following initial criteria:
Amount requested is under $6,000;
Credit score of 700 or more; and
Monthly payment will be less than $250.
From those we evaluate (Employment Status):
The borrower's income (prefer > $50,000 but depends on amount requested);
Length of employment (must be > 2 years); and
Their occupation (certain occupations, known to be more secured, are more desirable).
We then look at (Ability To Pay):
We do not invest in any notes where borrow is currently delinquent, of if they have had a public record within the last 12 months. We also do not invest in notes where the description provided is "Other." We feel that there is too much risk involve when the borrower is not willing to reveal why he/she needs the money.
