How to bypass the bank and get a loan
Websites are allowing person-to-person loans, cutting out the middleman.
from the April 30, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
How to improve credit
To determine the credit worthiness of potential borrowers, the social lending website Prosper relies on a scoring system provided
by Experian, a major credit reporting agency in Costa Mesa, Calif. Experian's credit scores are used to "grade" borrowers
from AA (topgrade) to HR (high risk) and help lenders assess whether it's worth loaning them money. (You can obtain your credit
report – one free report per year – at Experian.com.)
Prosper grade: Experian score
AA: 760 and above
A: 720-759
B: 680-719
C: 640-679
D: 600-639
E: 560-599
HR: 520-559
To improve your credit score, pay bills before they're more than 30 days overdue, avoid extra credit-card applications, and keep credit-card debt under 40 percent of available credit, says Gary Thurberg, at Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Central New York. Establishing a credit history (which includes secured debt such as a mortgage or auto loan, and unsecured debt such as a credit card), matters, too: You may pay your utility bills, cellphone, and rent on time, but typically payments aren't reported to a credit agency unless the bills are sent to collection, he says.
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