• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Prosper Blog

Personal Loans Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)
  • Blog Home
  • Financial Literacy
    • Credit Score Information
    • Establishing Credit
    • Financial Trends
    • Interest and APR Information
  • Credit Management
    • Budgeting
    • Debt Consolidation
    • Managing Debt
  • Financial Wellness
    • Best Practices
    • Financial Habits
    • Financial Lifestyle
    • Saving and Investments
  • Finance for Homeowners
    • Home Equity
  • Investor Center
    • Investor Updates
    • Performance Updates
    • Quarterly Investor Updates
    • Tax Guides
  • Prosper News
    • Company News
    • Press Releases
    • Product Announcements

#MyProsperStory Q&A with Prosper Investor: Val Katayev

February 29, 2016 by Remi Harrad

Val Katayev (@ValKatayev) is an entrepreneur, investor and founder of several successful startups in the digital, media, mobile, music and data segments. He is one of the earliest investors on the Prosper lending platform.

We reached out to learn about Val’s experience. Here’s what he had to say:

, Prosper BlogQ: How did you first discover marketplace lending as an alternative investment strategy? 

A: I first came across marketplace lending in 2006, when Prosper had just opened its doors. I was looking for new ways to put capital to work, funded my first loan and then continued investing until I had a six-figure portfolio. I gave my portfolio of about 600 loans time to mature, and to see how it would weather the 2008 storm. Things went much better than I expected. When my portfolio got too big for investing directly on the platform, I decided to scale up further and hired a professional fund manager to take over the buying and lending processes.

I was half of the fund at the start, but as word got out, more investors joined. Now the fund is run by Prime Meridian Capital Management, which manages over $125 million across four funds. I am Managing Partner at the company, still the largest investor, and Prosper is largest platform we use.

Q: What specifically did you like about these investments?

A: It was a no brainer. I looked at how much the banks make when they take deposits and lend money. I was fascinated by the idea that I could invest in people’s loans at lower interest rates and cost.

Q: Given the high yield, short duration nature of marketplace loans, do you believe they will increasingly be seen as fixed income instruments and a complement to a balanced overall investment portfolio or continue to be considered alternative investments?

A: I think they will be called alternative investments for a long time, as the “alternative” status normally takes a long time to shake off. That said, we’ve seen more mainstream adoption of this asset class recently. The major banks like Blackrock and Citi have already packaged up, securitized, and sold paper as investment-grade rated fixed income to pension funds, insurance companies and other institutions who were happy to snap it up.

Q: How do you diversify your loan portfolio?

A: My portfolio is diversified across multiple grades and durations. You have the option of three and five-year durations, so we do 50-50.  The bell curve is around a C-grade, so we have lots of C grade loans, but also some A and AA, B, D, E and HR loans.

You also want to diversify the investment period rather than investing all your money in one day or one week. If you invest right before the holidays, borrowers might be different than those looking for loans in early April so they can pay the IRS. It’s better to diversify across times, as well as grades and durations.

Q: What do you see as the biggest changes over the next year in the marketplace lending space?

A: I think the Fed will potentially make some changes, but I don’t foresee any major regulatory changes. The marketplace will offer more availability and ways to invest in these loans indirectly, so you don’t have to buy loans one by one on the platform and be locked into illiquid assets.

A secondary loan platform called Folio Investing is already integrated into Prosper. Unfortunately, there is fairly limited liquidity on the platform as volumes are still relatively low, but over the next couple years there will be more opportunity to invest in the asset class without having to buy Notes. So, you might see more of a mutual fund or ETF structure that you can buy in your Fidelity account and sell right away.

Q: What are your thoughts on the overall investing experience with Prosper?

A: It’s extremely easy. It was easy back in 2006 when I started with Prosper, and it’s certainly easier and safer today.

—

This Q&A has been edited for the purpose of this blog post.

Prosper operates a marketplace lending platform through which individual and institutional investors may invest in personal consumer loans.  More information about Prosper and the borrower payment dependent notes (“Notes”) offered by Prosper to individual investors is available at www.prosper.com/prospectus.  Prosper has no role in Mr. Katayev’s investment decisions and it is not responsible for and does not approve, endorse, review, recommend or guarantee the statements made by Mr. Katayev herein.  

Don’t forget to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to learn about future #MyProsperStory campaigns and contests.

 

 

Share this post:

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Email

#MyProsperStory

Primary Sidebar

Connect with us

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

For press releases and media inquiries: Prosper in the News or [email protected]

Categories

  • Blog Home
  • Financial Literacy
    • Credit Score Information
    • Establishing Credit
    • Financial Trends
    • Interest and APR Information
  • Credit Management
    • Budgeting
    • Debt Consolidation
    • Managing Debt
  • Financial Wellness
    • Best Practices
    • Financial Habits
    • Financial Lifestyle
    • Saving and Investments
  • Finance for Homeowners
    • Home Equity
  • Investor Center
    • Investor Updates
    • Performance Updates
    • Quarterly Investor Updates
    • Tax Guides
  • Prosper News
    • Company News
    • Press Releases
    • Product Announcements

Recent Posts

  • Prosper Performance Update – March 2021
  • What the Extended Tax Deadline Means for You
  • Paying for Childcare and Receiving Childcare Assistance — What to Know
  • How to Apply for a HELOC Online, Plus 5 Benefits of an Online HELOC
  • Saving vs. Investing: What’s the Difference?

Prosper LoansFollow

Prosper Loans
ProsperLoansProsper Loans@ProsperLoans·
16 Apr

Just a couple more weeks until @LendIt #USA2021! Who's attending? 🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏻🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏼🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏿

LendIt Fintech@LendIt

The USA 2021 agenda is now available✨

Head over to the link below to check it out https://www.lendit.com/usa/2021/agenda/

Reply on Twitter 1383175500940517377Retweet on Twitter 1383175500940517377Like on Twitter 13831755009405173771Twitter 1383175500940517377
Load More...
  • Finance for Homeowners, Home Equity, Prosper Blog
    Using a HELOC to Pay Off Your Mortgage

    Taking out a HELOC to pay off your mortgage is a common practice among many...

  • Best Practices, Financial Wellness, Prosper Blog
    Medical Bill Debt: What Happens If You Don’t Pay Medical Bills?

    Even before COVID, expensive healthcare costs had many Americans wondering...

  • Credit Management, Managing Debt, Prosper Blog
    Emergency Loans With No Job: Options for the Unemployed

    While the unemployment rate in June showed a decline to 11.1%, that ra...

  • Product Announcements
    Introducing the Prosper Invest Mobile App

    With the new Prosper Invest Mobile app, investors can adjust their investm...

  • Investor Center, Tax Guides
    2020 Tax Guide for Prosper Investors

    It’s tax season, and to help Prosper retail investors navigate the process...

Footer

  • Borrow
  • Invest
  • About Us
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Help Center
  • Contact Us
  • Legal
  • Prospectus
  • Financial Professionals
  • Developers

Prosper and WebBank take your privacy seriously. Please see Prosper's Privacy Policy and WebBank's Privacy Policy for more details. Prosper makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information provided on this Blog, which is intended for discussion purposes only. Opinions expressed in articles posted to this blog are the author’s own and may not reflect the opinions of Prosper. All personal loans made by WebBank, Member FDIC.

Prosper’s Notes are offered by Prospectus filed with the SEC. Notes are dependent for payment on unsecured loans made to individual borrowers. Notes are not guaranteed or FDIC insured, and investors may lose some or all of the principal invested. Prosper does not verify all information provided by borrowers in listings. Investors should review the Prospectus and carefully consider these and other risks and uncertainties before investing. None of the information provided on this Blog is intended to be investment advice.

Prosper Marketplace, Inc. NMLS#111473 (http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org)
All HELOCs are underwritten and issued by our banking partners. Refer to www.prosper.com/heloc for more information. Links to third party sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.

Equal Housing Lender

© 2005-2021 Prosper Funding LLC. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Go to mobile version