Cory Duval's $24,750 Loan Request

Here it is, in all its glory. Would you lend to someone like this? No credit history, not yet 21, and babbling like a...well a strange person...

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Posted By: prosperloan01 10/23/2006 3:40:00 PM

I've included my listing that I plan to post within the next few days and was hoping I could get as many people as I could to reply with a percentage of the chance they think I have of getting my loan based on my description and all of the information I included in my description. This loan is big for me, so I just want it to be perfect. I don't mind if you ask questions or include other things in your reply, as long as you give me a percentage once I answer your questions :) Thanks in advance to everyone who replys. I know its long, but good though, right? Don't hold back if you think I should change or include somethings, tell me, please! Welcome! Thank you for your interest in my loan. :::deep breath::: ?This is going to be one of the biggest, anxious, scariest, on the edge of my seat, nail biting, bullet sweating and nervous few days of my entire 21 year life so please be patient with me. This is a HUGE, HUGE moment in my career and I?ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for what seems like an ETERNITY. When you?re my age and don?t have credit yet, getting start-up money can almost be impossible, no matter how good you are at what you do. I was furious and on the verge of tears when the bank declined me! I?m beyond excited and prosper seems like nothing less than a dream come true right now. I?m a webmaster and have a bag of success in my hands (My profitable website) and I?m seeking the open-up money to open it. I apologize for having you read such a necessarily long description, but you will surely be glad I provided you with all the proper information. Since getting this loan is so critical to launching my first big site and career I had my group leader, who has some experience as a webmaster and small business owner himself, verify and endorse that this loan will be paid off in 12 to 18 months, probably less. During my description I?ll be focusing on my strong points which is my 0% DTI, my ability to pay this loan off almost two years early even if my site generates $0 in profit, my capability as a creative small business owner and webmaster, and my security. I felt it necessary to go into such detail because this loan is so important for me right now and being that I?m only 21 years old, have basically no credit, and this is my first big site with no previous successful sites to show due to lack of start-up money and my age in the previous years, I?m sure some of you have some concerns. My Experience I have a total of 6 (almost 7) years experience with web development & HTML, business and marketing, advertising and promotion (through internet), software ideas, website ideas, business ideas, computer programming, and much more. I programmed on a novice level for about 3 years in VB3.0 through 6.0 and a little Delphi and C++. I?ve spoke with several (dozens) successful webmasters, learned everything I need to know to launch a successful career, and have become incredibly skilled at what I do. Most of my ideas for software were quoted at around $30,000-$50,000 just for development of the software (plus another $20,000-$50,000 in startup costs) which was always a problem due to lack of finances and my age at the time (I wasn?t even 18), so I decided to stick with websites. (Too large to make the software products myself, I wanted to have them made by a team of professionals with 15+ years experience to get the highest quality product I could.) I had to learn quick how to minimize the size and cost of my big, but genius ideas. Though I?m only 21 years old, I know and understand every aspect of opening a successful and profitable website. I?ve studied [dozens of] other successful webmasters and their websites and tactics, learned more than I can name the past 6 years, and read, studied, and learned everything involved with the type of ideas I have. I?ve created hundreds of ideas for software, websites, products, membership sites, the list goes on. (Paper & .doc versions, not actual sites, I don?t do much web design or graphics.) About two years ago I started to get really good at what I do and became very private and protective of my ideas. Almost every original, unique, and trendy idea that hits the internet and makes ANY kind of profit whether $5000 or $5,000,000 is immediately copied and imitated, sometimes stolen. A month after the first ?Myspace friend adder? came out there were already several copycat sites trying to eat off the same plate, cutting into the originators profit. Now when you google ?Myspace friend adder? you see dozens and dozens of them. If the originator would of known what I know and would of been as ambitious as I am now, today there would only be 3 or 4 other ?Myspace friend adder bots? instead of 25, 50, however many are floating around out there. Almost every original idea that hits the internet with any amount of success is almost IMMEDIATLY copied. The first pixel site, the first ?street fighting video? website, the first ?The Palace?, the first ebay, the list goes on and on and on. Because of this and because the skills I?ve learned give me such a huge range in my ability to create, I had to learn to become skilled at creating barriers and walls around my ideas to prevent copycat sites and the rest of the web world from taking my visitors or cutting into my profits (A tactic used by many). Some webmasters don?t have to worry about it because their ideas are not original or new to the internet and web world, they are just business sites with a product and traffic flow with hundreds or hundreds of thousands of people already at the same table so it doesn?t matter who else comes to sit down with them. (Example: Opening a site that sells T-Shirts, lotions, chat room software, ect.). To sum it up, the site I?m opening with the loan money has no one else at the table but me. It?s new, fresh, creative, unique, original, highly appealing to a wide variety of people, and even with my barrier there will still more than likely be copycats who imitate me. Not many though, and only the bravest ones with the most finances would even try. Unfortunately for them they won?t be taking too many of my visitors or cut into my profit, thanks to the skills I?ve learned and experience I?ve gained the past 6 years. The Money Requested Amount: $24750 (The original price of start-up that I came up with was almost $30,000, I had to minimize a little) $10,000 ? Back-up, expansion, & security. [I can afford to pay the extra interest on the $10,000, I explain later.] $7000 ? Site development including high quality graphics, affiliate & merchant software, licensing, copyrights, accounts, domain, hosting, and a list of others. $3000 ? Advertisement [Plus 4 other methods of generating targeted traffic separate from the $3000. Not including word of mouth.] $4000 ? Various other costs and private expenses I can?t name to protect my website and idea. Bonuses - More money used for advertisement from the profits of the site. (Multiple methods of profiting, not just one way for the site to generate income.) - Site will more than likely begin to profit within days after the public opening. - I have an optional income of $1200-$1500 per month if needed and pay out $0 every month with no bills or cost of living. This means I have $1200 to $1500 per month extra income to do whatever I want with IF getting a job is necessary. (It won?t be) - I have financial support from family if necessary and can always borrow a few thousand from parents to pay the loan off early. (Won?t be necessary either, just showing you all my options and bonuses) - This site is a short-term site (for me) and I?ll be selling it after 6-12 months. It?s sort of like a stepping stone to open up my second more long term site. I?ve got well over a hundred sites I could go with but this one is one of the least expensive and will profit the most in the shortest amount of time. Estimated sellable value after 6 months: $30,000-$50,000 and up (I use several techniques to maximize the sellable value of my site.) [Probably slightly higher appraisal value but selling for the appraised value isn?t always an option.] - Not enough time to name all the bonuses. Profit It was very difficult to predict the income of the particular type of site I?m opening. The low estimate of the total amount of money I?ll walk away with after profiting and selling is anywhere from $35,000-$50,000 within 6-12 months after the public opening. That?s the LOW estimate and includes the total amount of profit made from the site after taxes and merchant fees, the total amount made from selling the site and all of the content, users, licenses, emails, steady traffic flow, marketing secrets, and lots of other things I use to increase the sellable value. Plus, another $4000-$6000 or so left in back-up and security money. Again, that is a LOW estimate based on the site doing poorly and not being very successful. If everything goes good then I could easily walk away with $75,000+ (Medium estimate). If everything goes great, I?ll walk away with $100,000 and up (High estimate). To benefit my credit the first thing I?ll be doing with the money is clicking the make payment button to pay the loan off (Which will hopefully also increase my chances of getting future start-up and expansion money here at Prosper. (And yes, I?ll be investing a few thousand or more as a lender also.) My Credit I don?t have bad credit, but I don?t have established credit yet either. I regret declining all those credit card offers and being so critical about minimizing bills and costs. If it eases your mind any, I?ve read a great deal of information on money management, saving, and spending. I hope you all can understand my position and excuse my lack of credit. My Website I?ve been preparing and studying for my career as a webmaster really, really, really serious now (just seriously before) for 3 years now from home, 6+ years total. - This site will be my full time job as a full time webmaster and business owner. I?ll be putting in about 40 to 60 hours per week to maximize the profit and success of my site. - Expecting about 250,000+ unique visitors within the first 3-4 months of being open, the majority of them being targeted visitors. - I?m not making the website or designing it, I?ll be having a professional company build it with a much quicker development time than I could do myself. (Better graphics, more secure, more appealing, higher quality bug free product.) - Fast for both high speed and modem users. - Requires little maintenance and customer service. - Easy to navigate. - I could go on into the hundreds. To protect my idea and site I cannot reveal any business plans, marketing strategies, advertisement and promotion methods, the actual idea, who my targeted audience is, or anything else that could fall into the wrong hands. Repayment & Income Income would be about $1200-$1500 per month IF getting a job is necessary (It won?t be). Fortunately I pay out $0 per month with $0 in costs of living and can live at home for as long as I need to get my career launched so I?m in no hurry to get a job and will hopefully be self-employed for the rest of my career as a full time webmaster and business owner. I said above that I can pay this loan off in less than 24 months EVEN if I make $0 from my website. I can do this because of the following: - I have no rent payment (Live at home with both of my real birth parents) - I have no utility payments - I have no car payment - I have no car insurance payment - I have no phone or cell phone payments. - I have no food payments - I have no purchase payments - I have no other loan payments - I have no credit card payments - I have no insurance payments (Will be getting small business owners insurances) - I have no internet payment - I have no gas payment or cost of living - I have no kids - I have NO monthly payments. None. $0 per month. - I have financial support from family in the event something unexpected happens. - I have almost 4 years work experience and had a job at just 14 years old. I worked multiple positions at 3 different stores in 3 different cities with the same company, and voluntarily quit. I have the W2 forms for all 3 1\2 years with all 3 store locations plus references and numbers to each store location and manager if really needed. I was the highest paid employee in my age group! Because I pay out $0 per month and can continue to pay out $0 per month for as long as needed (with proof), even if my site isn?t successful at all after 4-6 months, I can get a $1200-$1400 per month job and make $1200-$1400 payments on the $900 loan bill each month PLUS make a $10,000-$12,000+ payment on the loan using the money left over from the security money ($5000+), the total profit made during those 4-6 months, the total money from selling the site, and the extra $2000 available to me if needed from parents. However, I honestly don?t see how it would be possible to take that long (18 months) to pay it off or how it would be necessary for me to need to get a job to pay the loan off. I?m certain the loan will be paid off in less than 12 months from the profits of my site and less than 18-24 months even if it makes $0...and making $0 is physically impossible unless my site gets hacked everyday for 6 months in a row. Security 1) $10,000 of the loan money will be set aside as security, expansion, and back up money. A portion of it will allow me to make the first 1-2 months loan payment during development and launch time, and another portion will be used to secure me so that I?ll still have enough money to make the loan payment for 2 to 5 months if my site doesn?t do as well as expected, giving me plenty of time to get a temporary job, reorganize, put back into the loan, anything that comes up. (I know I?m paying extra interest on the $10,000, but its well worth the security and I can afford it.) 2) If my site doesn?t do as well as expected and only makes around $5000 pure profit or less after 6 months (Very unlikely to make under $5000, but still possible.) I can still sell the site for whatever the value is at the time which would put the $5000-$6000 left in back-up money to about $8000-$9,000 (low estimate), plus another few thousand in profit from the site. So I?d have about $12,000-$14,000 or more. I?d put $10,000-$12,000 on the loan at that time, get a $1200-$1500 per month job, and have this loan paid off in 10-12 months after that since I can use all my income for the loan, furthering my ability to pay it off in less than 18-24 months EVEN if my site fails and I make $0. (In other words, this loan will be paid off in 12 months if my site does good, 6 months if it does great, and 18-24 months even if it fails and makes $0. ) 3) Help from parents and family is always an option, and I will use it before I ever come close to having a late payment on my credit or taking longer than 18 months to pay this loan off. Closing The bank declined my first attempt at getting a business loan awhile back for obvious reasons, so my best chances at getting this start-up money seems to be and hopefully is Prosper. (Finding an investor or using loan companies for the amount I need with my credit is very, very difficult and probably close to impossible since this is my first big launch.) Since I have exactly 0% debt-to-income with an optional income of $1200-$1500 per month, support from my parents if needed, AND a highly profitable site in my hands, I would of course be willing to pay a higher interest since I can afford the payment, but the highest I can give is 18% by law which is what I set it for...a big reason why I?m so worried I won?t get enough bidders to get my full requested amount (I need the full amount). I even made it so that no one can bid under 18 percent to prove that I?m not the least bit worried about paying it back! I?m not letting anyone outbid anyone else and making everyone accept the highest amount!!! Everything I know and love is depending on my success at getting this loan. I?d offer 25-27% for you if I could! I can afford it! I know it?s kind of low for my credit grade and the amount requested but I have no control over it. This is my perfect chance and getting this loan means everything in the world to me! If I fail here, it could be another 1-3 years before I?ll be able to get start-up money from the bank or a company. That?s a VERY, VERY long time to wait when you have such a passion for your work, especially after all the time and work I put into it already, and knowing how profitable and successful it will be! I?d like to thank all the lenders in the prosper community who bid on my listing and God bless you for lending me an extra pair of hands to get my bag of success open. I am very grateful. If you have any questions about my listing, my site, me, requests for proof, additional information, or anything else, please message me and ask. Sincerely & Respectfully, Cory D.