Prosper referral program ends

Since announcing their referral program one year ago, Prosper has grown from about 300,000 members to nearly 800,000. Under the bonus program, both the referring lender and the new lender received $25. Over the last year the program has been modified several times. In addition, the program has been extended past several deadlines. According to Brad Prescott, Prosper's Director of Marketing, existing referral links will not generate referral payments for referrals that occur after 11:59PM PST on June 30, 2008.

Those that signed up prior to June 30th will still receive the $25 bonus when they fund their first loan. Prosper is expected to announce a new referral program this month with the goal of working directly with a few dozen, quality referral partners as opposed to hundreds of partners operating under a "one size fits all" approach.

Referral programs have been used by most peer to peer lending companies to grow their user base.

• Lending Club started off with a $5 referral bonus which they eventually increased to $25. Their program was halted in April 2008 when they entered their quiet period to register with the SEC. In addition, Lending Club briefly offered a 5% bonus to large lenders. It is expected that Lending Club will restore their referral program, perhaps in a different form, when they open again.
  
• Fynanz just announced a $25 referral bonus program with a 3-5% bonus to large lenders.
• Although it is not a peer to peer lending company, Revolution Money Exchange also has a $25 referral bonus program which has been very popular with our readers.

Although Prosper has announced that their referral program ended on June 30th, I received an email confirmation for a new referral generated on July 1st. This is no different than email confirmations generated prior to the end of the program and confirms a bonus will be generated if the new user becomes an active participant in the marketplace within the next 90 days. The Prosper referral page is unchanged and still allows you to invite friends with the same wording indicating a bonus will be awarded. Despite the deadline, perhaps it is not too late to sign up for the bonus. Prosper would be unwise to terminate awards until they make clear changes on their website, stop sending bonus confirmation emails and stop serving $25 bonus advertisements.

RME gives $750 to our readers

Six weeks ago I wrote about Revolution Money Exchange (RME), a new PayPal competitor. It is well funded (over $50 million in venture capital) and they don't mind spending the money in order to rapidly grow their user base. Their $25 sign-up bonus promotion, which was set to expire today, has been extended for another 30 days.

Over the last six weeks 30 of our readers have signed up for RME and received $750 in sign up bonuses. When you refer someone else you get an additional $10. One reader commented, "Set my account up-no prob this morning. Set one up for my wife too-$25.00 for me--$25.00 for her and I got a $10 refer fee. Easiest $60.00 I ever made."

We will use the $300 RME bonus we have received to attend the FINOVATE conference in San Francisco and bring you news from more financial start-ups including the new peer to peer lender Loanio.

If you want more information see our previous posts about RME or sign up now.

• PayPal competitor Revolution Money Exchange offers $25 sign up bonus
• Why does Revolution Money require my social security number?
• Revolution Money Exchange improves referral program

Revolution Money Exchange improves referral program

Many exciting new companies are launching at the intersection of finance and technology. Mostly I write about peer to peer lending, but last month I wrote about Revolution Money Exchange - a PayPal competitor.

Much to my surprise, the article is now the most popular article on this site. A follow up article, Why does Revolution Money Exchange require my social security number?, is the third most popular. Lately, more people are coming here looking for information on Revolution Money than P2P lending.

Like Prosper and Lending Club, Revolution Money offers a $25 sign-up bonus. Last week they improved the referral program making it easier to promote on websites.



Previously you could only refer friends by emailing them. Now there is an ad that you can place on your website. After you sign up with the $25 bonus you can refer friends and earn a $10 bonus. Here's their ad:



And, yes, it does work:


When you click on the ad, you are directed to the following sign up page:


In my opinion, this is far better than Lending Club or Prosper's landing page. Compare all three if you want:

All three offer a $25 sign up bonus. When people click on an ad offering $25 they expect to learn how to get the $25. Revolution does that and keeps it simple. In my opinion, Prosper tries to present too much information on their Landing Page. Lending Club, on the other hand, makes no mention of the $25 bonus on their landing page. In addition, Lending Club might do better if they just request an email on the initial landing page instead of security questions and a consent form. Keep it simple.

Many people have signed up for Prosper and Lending Club via this website but a very small percentage of those become eligible for the $25 bonus. With Prosper you have to make a loan of $50 and with Lending Club you have to verify your bank account and transfer funds to your account. Revolution Money is much easier - they transfer the $25 in your account immediately. Then, if you want to pull it out you have to verify your bank account.

I think some people signing up for Prosper or Lending Club through a $25 referral button become confused at the requirements to get the $25 and do not follow through. Revolution Money has a much higher conversion rate.

So, I'm quite pleased with Revolution Money's improvements to their referral program and I challenge Prosper and Lending Club to continue to improve their programs.

PayPal competitor Revolution Money Exchange offers $25 sign-up bonus

Peer to peer money exchange site, Revolution Money Exchange launched nearly four months ago. At the time, chairman Ted Leonsis said, "We want to become for social networks what PayPal is for EBay." Former AOL chairman Steve Case is behind Revolution Money and hopes that merchants use it to circumvent the traditional fees of 1.9 percent that credit card networks charge.

Revolution Money Exchange is aggressively courting new members with a $25 sign-up bonus. They advertise that it takes 24 hours for the $25 to be credited to your account but it took me less than a minute to sign up and a minute later the bonus was immediately available in my account.

Revolution Money doesn't charge many fees. It's free to register, add money, send money, receive money, request money and withdraw electronically to a bank account. There are fees to withdraw money by check or to receive a paper statement.

I'm sold. I'll be using Revolution Money Exchange instead of PayPal. Even if you don't use PayPal it's worth a couple minutes for the sign-up bonus.

Of course, if you haven't signed up for Prosper or Lending Club yet you can also get a $25 referral bonus there too. Some quick math - If you signed up for all three of these services and then referred your spouse you would make a quick $160. Of the three, only Prosper requires that you actually use their service by lending at least $50 to a borrower.

Update (3/26): Revolution Money Exchange has made it easier to get the $25 bonus. Here's the link. After you sign up you can refer others and receive a $10 referral bonus.




Update (2/25): Why does Revolution Money require my social security number?