Eric's Credit Community

About Me

I am a single 42-year-old woman. I have been a successful small business owner my entire life. My business has been in the world of music licensing for film and TV since 2001. For 13 years prior to that that I was a manager for various music artists. In 2002, I discovered that my identity had been stolen and therein lies a multi-year tale of woe which I'll detail below. But for now, the important thing is that I've made a comeback, my business is healthy again, my credit score has partially recovered from a drastic decline, and I'm ready to put the last of those problems behind me.

Purpose of this loan:
I'm down to the last couple of creditors still left from the problems in 2002. With this $5000 loan, I'll be able to pay those debts, along with my lawyers and accountants, and I'll finally have my life back on the track it should never have left.

My financial situation:
Until 2002, I had sterling credit, and a good cushion of savings in the bank. That year I was also making a big change in the direction of my business. Then I discovered somebody had stolen my identity, opened more than 20 credit card accounts in my name, and ran them all to the limit before defaulting and leaving me holding the bag--and with a credit score around 300 and no savings left in my account.

My comeback has taken years to this point. I had to bring in lawyers, accountants and auditors with no real money to pay them, still had to run a relatively new form of my business and pay bills- after all of that money was stolen. The situation forced me into bankruptcy, and put me in IRS debt.

I have finally grown my company into a successful business - again. Most of the fraud-related reports are finally off my credit report, and that 300 credit score is back up the mid-600's. Pardon me while I catch my breath a moment!

The only good thing about 'not' having credit is that you are forced to cover only costs you can afford, so my DTI is ridiculously low, including this new Prosper loan! As stated above, I'm now at the point where, with this loan, I can get the last couple of accounts paid off and put all of this entirely behind me.

I grew up in a very low income family, and my parents are, frankly, depending on me for their support late in life. I want to get my business and my credit to a point where I can provide them the security they need. This loan will put me over the final hump left from the whole fraud episode, and will allow me to get on with my life, and to build that future.

Monthly net income:
My monthly income varies a good bit, since my business is based on commissions, but my average income is about $8600.

My Monthly Expenses:
I summarize my total expenses below, both personal and business, since they are closely intertwined.

• Office/home - $ 2800
• assistant - 2000
• phone - 450
• car related - 350
• utilities - 150
• supplies - 150
• insurance - 360
• misc. - 150
• IRS/FICA/SE tax - 700
• LA Business/Employee tax -- included above

Total Expenses: $ 7110

Paying this loan back:
As you can see, I have a sizable monthly cushion, of about $1490. Since the Prosper loan will require about $300 per month, I have that covered 4 times over. I need that cushion in order to grow my business as well as to cover the leaner times (as I said, my commission income and my expenses vary a good bit). But I have a solid history of earnings in this industry and I anticipate no problem in covering this new payment.

Thank you for reading this far. I'll be happy to answer any further questions you might have.