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Prosper Survey Reveals High Costs Deter US Consumers From 'Going Green': Social Lending Website Provides an Alternative Way to Fund

SAN FRANCISCO (Business Wire EON) April 22, 2008 -- The vast majority of respondents (91%) care about conserving natural resources, but 75% indicated that they are deterred from implementing energy-saving home improvements, such as purchasing energy-efficient appliances, insulation or solar energy panels, due to high costs of implementation. A separate survey of Prosper's lender community found that 93% of respondents would consider bidding on a borrower's loan listing for the purpose of supporting a green project.(2)

"In an increasingly environmentally-conscious world, US consumers should be able to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle in an affordable way," said Chris Larsen, co-founder and CEO of Prosper. "With the largest online community of individual lenders and attractive credit quality borrowers, Prosper offers eco-conscious Americans an effective way to meet their like-minded peers and fund green projects."

To access complete survey results, please visit http://blog.prosper.com/2008/04/22/it-aint-easy-going-green/

About Prosper

Prosper (http://www.prosper.com), America's largest people-to-people lending marketplace, was created to make consumer lending more financially and socially rewarding for everyone. Prosper's membership consists of over 650,000 people from across the country. Since launching in February 2006, over $130 million in loans have been funded in the marketplace.

The way Prosper works is intuitive to people who have used eBay. Instead of listing and bidding on items, people list and bid on loans using Prosper's online auction platform. People who want to borrow on Prosper create loan listings for up to $25,000 and set the maximum rate they are willing to pay a lender. People who register as Prosper lenders set the minimum interest rate they are willing to earn and bid in increments of $50 to $25,000 on loan listings they select. In addition to criteria commonly used by institutional lenders, such as credit scores and histories, Prosper lenders can consider borrowers' personal stories, endorsements from friends, and group affiliations. Once the auction ends, Prosper takes the bids with the lowest rates and combines them into one simple loan to the borrower. Prosper handles all on-going loan administration tasks including loan repayment and collections on behalf of the matched borrowers and lenders.

Prosper was co-founded by Chris Larsen, co-founder of E-LOAN, and John Witchel, technology entrepreneur. Backed by Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Fidelity Ventures, Meritech Capital, and Omidyar Network, Prosper has raised approximately $40 million. Prosper's marketplace platform is patent pending.

(1) Survey conducted via Zoomerang in April 2008. The sample was comprised of 574 US consumers based in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Phoenix.

(2) Survey conducted via the Prosper Lenders Newsletter in April 2008. The sample was comprised of 401 Prosper lenders.

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