When peer to peer lending first started, the biggest name in the market was Prosper. I was skeptical about the whole business of peer to peer lending and it showed in my review of Prosper, which was more about peer to peer lending than it was about Prosper itself. Since then, with the arrival of SEC oversight and other competing businesses like Lending Club, I have a little more faith in peer to peer lending networks.

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Email Newsletter subscribers will already know this (you should sign up if you haven’t already, you get a couple free eBooks!) but Lending Club is running a promotion this September where you could win $2,500 if you are Lending Club’s 250,000th subscriber.

Click here to sign up and if you are the 250,000th registered investor, you win $2,500. You don’t have to invest a thing, you just need to become a registered investor.

If you do invest, the average return over the last twelve months has been 9.6% APY, which is a pretty nice return. Can’t beat that with the stock market over the same period of time! I’m personally not an investor because I can’t be, Maryland residents can’t invest through Lending Club, but I probably would’ve given it a try if I were allowed to. So it goes sometimes.

Contest ends when September ends, be sure to review the contest terms & conditions to confirm your eligibility. Good luck!

In the comments of the $100 Lending Club giveaway, Reader Barry said it would’ve been nice if I had notified you all about the restriction on Lending Club investors. Well Barry, you asked and thus you shall receive!

There are two parts to Lending Club. There is the actual Lending Club site, where you invest in notes (loans), and there is the Note Trading Platform, where you can trade notes.

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Lending Club is doing it again, they’re giving away a hundred bucks to one lucky Bargaineering.com reader! How can you beat that? (two hundred bucks? hint hint!)

For those that aren’t familiar with Lending Club, they’re a social lending network. Investors can join and invest in 3-year loans, with Lending Club handling all the interest payments, at interest rates far superior to what banks offer. Borrowers can join and borrow at rates that are usually better than the banks, especially in this lending environment. It’s really a win win situation for all involved.

So how do you win the hundred bucks? Very very easy, you must:

• Leave a comment on this post before noon, May 22nd, and,
• Become a free registered member of LendingClub. If you signed up already, no need to do it again and you are still entered into the giveaway.

The second requirement, to register for free at LendingClub as a lender, is so that they can deposit the $100 directly into your account. You can withdraw that money immediately (or invest it, your choice).

On May 22nd, I’ll select a winner and they’ll take home a hundred bucks!

Congratulations to Eric! Eric is now the proud new owner of a hundred bucks deposited into his Lending Club account.

Lending Club, through EntrustCAMA, recently announced that they were going to offer self-directed IRAs. When you open an IRA with a brokerage firm, you can invest in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. When you open a self-directed IRA, you can invest in pretty much anything as long as you follow a few rules. I won’t go into those rules, you can read about self-directed IRAs at the Motley Fool, but this is a savvy move by Lending Club but I think it’s a mistake for average investors to participate.

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Following up on Jim’s guide to social lending networks, this is my story of doing business with Prosper, which is a lot like Lending Club. Although Prosper is in a quiet period, my experience with them is indicative of the basic social lending process, and should mirror what you’d get at other active social lending sites.

I hired a local landscaper and dirt mover last June to correct a horrible grading job in my back yard. For the basic hardscaping (dirt removal, retaining wall, and grading), he quoted $5,000. Of course, I needed the cash on hand. I looked at my local credit union first, which could go as low as 9%. Then I heard about Prosper on Clark Howard’s show, and checked it out. After registering and verifying the usual stuff, I created my loan page. Within a week, my loan had been funded.

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Certificate of deposit rates are abysmal, high yield savings account interest rates are worse, and the stock market is insanely volatile… which is why so many people have started to turn towards social lending networks like LendingClub, Prosper and Pertuity Direct.

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Scared off by stocks and real estate but seeking a higher return than a savings account? Consider testing social lending, where individuals loan money to each other. The returns can be quite attractive, but these loans are often quite risky as well.

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When Prosper first launched, I thought it was a cute idea that had some potential but likely wouldn’t earn my trust. Since then, other companies like LendingClub have launched and the whole peer to peer lending phenomenon has exploded in the news.

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How would you like to win a hundred bucks?

The fine folks from LendingClub are giving away $100 to one Bargaineering reader. As one of the only peer to peer lending marketplaces still doing business right now, Prosper entered a quiet period as it completes its regulatory filings. If you want to borrow or lend money, LendingClub is one of the only ways you can right now. A week ago, I posted a video explaining how peer to peer loan marketplaces like LendingClub are really helping people out of jams. Today, they’re ready to give a hundred bucks to one lucky reader.

Here’s what you have to do to get an entry in the contest:

• Leave a comment on this post before noon, February 20th, and,
• Become a free registered member of LendingClub.

The second requirement, to register for free at LendingClub as a lender, is so that they can deposit the $100 directly into your account. You can withdraw that money immediately (or invest it, your choice).

Easy right?

I’ll select a winner at high noon on February 20th, email them for their LendingClub username, and he or she will be credited with $100 in their account. Void where prohibited.

The contest has closed, Bobby was randomly selected to win the $100! I notified him tonight but if he doesn’t respond in a week, I’ll select another name.