Are you in need of some quick cash that is going to a good cause, such as paying off some high interest credit card debt or maybe a car loan? Have you tried borrowing from the bank but they just aren't loaning any money out it seems because of the country's current financial crisis? If so, you do have another available option.

I've always strongly believed, while others are currently rapidly finding out, that carrying too much debt is a killer. Throw in a high yield interest rate on top of the debt and you soon find yourself in over your head. Recently, in the last couple of years, a few new sites have appeared online to give everyday consumers options to help with this specific problem. One of them is Prosper.com. Prosper offers it's members the chance to borrow money from other members, at a potentially much smaller interest rate then their local bank may offer. The site enables the user to borrow upto $25,000 and depending on your past credit history determines what risk category you fall into, much like a bank would. Depending on your personal history, other members who choose to loan money out decide if they want to "bid" on your loan and they can choose what interest rate they feel is an acceptable return depending on the risk, i.e. your past credit history. At the end of the "bidding" period, you can then choose to accept the "loan offer" from other members for the amount you want to borrow. You never actually have any direct contact with the other members, as you pay the money directly to Prosper who then disperses it to the creditors that loaned you the money.

On the flip side, if you have some extra cash laying around that you want to effectively put to work, loaning money on Prosper can yield you much higher returns then a CD or Money Market account at your local bank, around 5 times as much or more. When you sign with Prosper as a lender, you are given access to borrowers credit history and can see what type of risk they pose for defaulting. As a side note, site wide deliquency are around 7.5% currently (accounts that are more then 16 days past due). But don't think that those who become deliquent or even default are not reprimanded for their failure to stay current. Prosper does two things, one sends a debt collection agency after them and two dings their credit report. Prosper actually has the ability to help borrowers improve their credit score as they do report borrowers repayment performance to the major credit report agencies. So as they have the power to help improve your credit score, they have the power to further destroy it if you become a deadbeat borrower.

There's quite a few tutorials and help pages available throughout the site on Prosper, as there should be, and it is actually quite exciting going shopping to borrow people money who seem genuine and a good risk. You definately have an opportunity to make more with a loan to someone on Prosper then any bank is going to offer you currently. And for borrowers with less then perfect credit history, you have the opportunity to consolidate your bills or loans in one place, hopefully at a much smaller interest rate then you currently are afforded.

One caveat of the site, however, is that there are a couple of states that are prohibited from participating in any activity on Prosper, South Dakota being one of them. Also, many of your states lending rules are enforced upon Prosper, meaning if your state has a interest rate cap for local banks, the same rules will apply to your loan. As always with any investment or borrowing idea, check with Prosper.com to see if borrowing or lending on their site is right for you.