Prosper’s API

Prosper has recently released a new API that enables developers to access all of their public information. In the past, you have been able to download all of Prosper’s listings, loans, bids, and user profiles but with this new API, they’ve opened the door to allow people instant access to this data.

At first it sounded pretty cool that a company would make things so easy, but now I’m struggling with ways I can use it (I am a Prosper lender) or ways that I can help my CU use the data.

But this is what I’m thinking so far (for my CU):

• We could compare the lists of name, both lenders and borrowers, to our membership and see who’s borrowing and who’s lending.
• Use the zip codes from member profile to see how the population of our region is taking on to P2P lending.
• Compare Prosper’s unsecured default rates to our default rates and see if we can find any gold nuggets in that info.

What are some other innovative ways that the I, or anyone in the CU industry, can use this data?