Buy Local Food In Kitsap

HOW TO USE WWW.PROSPER.COM TO SAVE FARMLAND, HELP LOCAL FARMERS GROW HEALTHY FARM BUSINESSES AND INSURE YOUR SUPPLY OF FRESH, HEALTHY, LOCALLY GROWN FARM PRODUCTS.

This is the third brochure in a series explaining why and how you can support local farmers, farm businesses and locally produced food. Our focus here is how to use Prosper.com to become a farm angel for as little as $50.00 and access to the internet.

Prosper.com is an internet based financial intermediary that provides a secure and efficient means for people to lend money to other people with a very low cost and little administrative burden.

In this brochure you will learn the simple steps to set up an account with Prosper, a quick tutorial on how it works and an existing Prosper Group that you can join and ask others to join to provide capital for local farm businesses. Once you have joined Prosper you can learn directly how to become a borrower, if that interests you, and how to set up your own group to facilitate lending and borrowing within your own circle of friends and associates.

SEVEN STEPS TO LOGON AND REGISTER WITH PROSPER.COM

1. From any connection to the internet log onto http://www.Prosper.com
2. In the upper right hand corner of the home page in your browser click on the button that says “Join Now”.
3. Put in you first and last name in the boxes indicated and select what you want to do first, borrow or lend.
4. If you are registering to loan to a farm business then select “Lend”
5. Place your e-mail address in the next box.
6. Choose and type in a password.
7. Be sure to read and understand the “Terms of Service” and “Consent To Electronic Disclosures”. If you agree then check “I agree to the…”.

Once inside you will be asked to complete your profile with additional information. It is best if you use your real name to identify yourself and fill out the profile completely including financial information and a biography.
We recommend that you also upload a favorite current picture.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION IN YOUR PROFILE?

You see, Prosper is only a technology tool, a very good one and one that perhaps looks to a future where lending, borrowing and investing relations are very much more direct and concrete among human beings, but it must be used properly in order for your farm business client to succeed in getting the capital they need.

Let’s face it, lending is risky, even to your friendly farmer. Few people want to lend to or invest in someone they don’t know or understand. Most people, when faced with decisions about these opportunities will look to someone they trust implicitly for advice on what they should do. You and your advisor will usually make the best effort possible to get to know the person to whom you are proposing to loan and the strength of their proposal.

This is natural and fair. If, in your investigation, you find other people, people that you know, who are not strangers and in whom you have confidence, that are willing to lend also to this person and will endorse what they are doing then the more likely it is that you and everyone else will
• Loan money
• Reduce your risk
• Lower the cost of the capital (interest) to your farmer client

In Prosper, if a borrower is part of a group that has earned a good reputation for timely repayment, borrowers that are members of that group will benefit. Furthermore, if members of that group have complete profiles in Prosper including a picture and biography, and if they write an endorsement for the borrower that they are willing to lend to themselves, other lenders outside of that Prosper Group will be encouraged to lend also and to bid at lower rates.

Let me be clear about one point. Even if you do write an endorsement for your farmer client and lend them money through your group you are in no way responsible for the debt beyond the amount that you lent in the event that the farmer is late or is unable to pay.

JOINING A PROSPER GROUP

Jim Freeman has established a group within Prosper.com for the purpose of lending to farms and other enterprises and establish a top rating by its members for their track record of payment.

The name of this group is Catalyst Mutual Lending and Borrowing. Once your Prosper account is established you can search on the “community” tab to find us and read about our group. You may join any one or more groups or start your own. You need to apply for membership by following the instructions inside Prosper.

You may learn more about Catalyst Business Development LLC by visiting www.CatalystBusinessDevelopmentSite.com on the internet. You may learn more about Jim Freeman by visiting www.JimFreeman.com.

To Download a copy of this article in 3 column brochure format click How To Support Farmers.