Prosper.com is a marketplace where ordinary people can lend and borrow money from each other. I have a few loans there and have made about 14% since October. It’s pretty neat and can also yield interesting information about other businesses, since many business owners use Prosper loans and borrow to expand their businesses:
The way the ATM business works is as follows:The ATM company(that’s me)…places an ATM in a retail location. I fill the machine with cash(between $2000.00 to $6000.00) A retail customer that needs cash, swipes his card…the ATM dispenses the cash….the retail customer is charged a surcharge fee ($1.50 to $1.75)…the retail customers bank deposits the money, including the surcharge back into my vault cash account the next business day….The cash is then refilled when the ATM is low on cash…Thats the way we make money in the ATM business. 2006 was a very good year for my company, it grew over 900% from the following year which was my first year in business. I now have 11 additional contracts for new locations to expand the business. I was lucky enough to purchase 9 used ATM’s from an estate sale….The machines are ready to go on location and start earning money. The only thing holding me back is additional vault cash.
I think one day, companies like Prosper.com could compete directly with banks and credit card companies by allowing individuals to compete for good loans.