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Post by misotu on Dec 3, 2017 17:01:02 GMT
Decided to sell my Access loans - around £4000 - and put them on the market on 16 November. Had an email from Zopa to confirm, then another email about a week later saying their systems were running slowly.
Still haven't made a single sale. I assume when they say they'll keep trying for "20 days" they mean four full weeks? I know sales were very slow back in July, when there was a rush to sell and get funds into the ISA, but I thought things had improved since then?
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Post by wyndstryke on Dec 4, 2017 9:40:46 GMT
My impression at the time (august/september) was that loans in £10 chunks were selling fine (a couple of weeks to get going, and then quick after that), but loans with very large chunks were nearly unsaleable and needed to be handled manually. Their blog post at the time mentioned that as an issue.
I think they just mean calendar days rather than working days, but I'd have to look at an email to check.
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Post by misotu on Dec 4, 2017 10:33:57 GMT
My Access loans were all £10 or less when they were made, so they should be straightforward to sell.
For a while, Mr M still had funds sitting there that had been on offer for weeks and weeks, while I had Access loans for sale that would have suited him perfectly - his predicted return is above that projected for the Classic product. But he made next to no matches and I made no sales at all. If this is all down to their systems "running slowly" since July then they should really get some kind of award for the most woefully ill-prepared, under-speced financial platform in history :gnash:
"I think they just mean calendar days rather than working days, but I'd have to look at an email to check."
Jeez, I really hope not. My 20 calendar days are nearly up and not a single sale made! The next thing is I'll be pitched out of the queue with no sales and be expected to start all over again from the back of the queue. And of course, there is now no more Access product (as of two weeks after I wanted to sell) which won't help matters at all.
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Post by misotu on Dec 6, 2017 12:18:44 GMT
The FAQ is clearer than the email: In normal circumstances, we would expect to sell the estimated number of loans within a few days of the request. If demand is low or if your requested amount is very large then we’ll continue to sell your loans for 20 working days until we reach the amount estimated.Still no sales in my account.  |
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Dec 7, 2017 12:10:20 GMT
Decided to sell my Access loans - around £4000.... Still no sales in my account. Try talking to Zopa, I am selling my Zopa Plus without major issue. Access loans can be completely different. I tried to invest Access a long time ago, no money being matched at all. This could be the cause of it. It is sad that it is not easy to access the money with Zopa Access.
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Post by misotu on Dec 7, 2017 13:08:09 GMT
Talking to Zopa at the moment causes me to lose the will to live, but I have sent them an email ...
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aju
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Post by aju on Dec 7, 2017 15:18:31 GMT
Have I misunderstood aren't access and classic just the same except the spread of loans is slightly different.
I would have thought that access loans could have been sold and put back into either the classic or access queues - or ZopaCore with SG cover.
I have loads of sold SG "classic" loans in my Zopa ISAcore - they are not labelled as classic but rather "Zopa Core" and flagged with SG cover. Surely access could be sold and sent to the ISA Core queues as well.
For example the lowest classic I have on my investment has an interest rate of 1.4% with a borrower rate of 2.4% and A1_36. Does access go lower than that even. to be honest if I have real high values loans then zopa needs quite a few lower value ones to average them out to the current investment rates.
My lowest SG covered ISACore loan is 0.94% with a bRate of 3.04% its A1_60 too so I guess the SG cover of 2.1% has to be higher.
This is just my view so apologies if its a bum steer though.
Edit: decided to check and a Zopa FAQ suggests I might be on the right track.
No mention of different mix makeups though across classic and access types. Perhaps access is cheaper for the user to sell and thats the reason the sale is slooooooooooooow.
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Post by misotu on Dec 7, 2017 16:55:13 GMT
Yes, Access loans are perfectly compatible with the Core profile. Of course, the overall return is lower (in exchange for no-fee sale and "fast access" to your funds!) but the quote I had included only a small deduction for payments to the new lenders in terms of rate compensation.
The fact that Zopa have discontinued the Access product and have no non-SG equivalent probably isn't helping. And I think Access sales must be quite a low priority when it's clear that Zopa's systems are struggling badly to cope at the moment.
I'm not desperate for the funds, which is why I have no enthusiasm for yet another circular discussion with Zopa. But it looks like I am going to have to pursue it with them, unfortunately.
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aju
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Post by aju on Dec 7, 2017 17:49:34 GMT
Yes, Access loans are perfectly compatible with the Core profile. Of course, the overall return is lower (in exchange for no-fee sale and "fast access" to your funds!) but the quote I had included only a small deduction for payments to the new lenders in terms of rate compensation. The fact that Zopa have discontinued the Access product and have no non-SG equivalent probably isn't helping. And I think Access sales must be quite a low priority when it's clear that Zopa's systems are struggling badly to cope at the moment. I'm not desperate for the funds, which is why I have no enthusiasm for yet another circular discussion with Zopa. But it looks like I am going to have to pursue it with them, unfortunately. I feel your frustration - I am constantly bothering them with questions perhaps you and me both are tying them up so much they have not even noticed they have missed the announced deadline of 1st etc. (Nudge Nudge - Wink Wink - Know what I mean  , wheres Julian ...)
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aju
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Post by aju on Dec 7, 2017 19:47:46 GMT
Just noticed an email about starting selling Access & classic loans into the ISA with no fees and maintaining SG protection. So its not looking good for your selling. Lets hope what you are experiencing does not affect you even more from this.
This is general info and not targeted directly at me, I think, but the email said
They suggested I'd still get 2 days notice before the selling of my funds starts.
Potentially not good news perhaps for people selling like yourself out side of this. To be honest I have a feeling they might be over estimating their systems capabilities in this but I guess time will tell.
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Post by misotu on Dec 7, 2017 21:41:25 GMT
Thanks for the heads up aju, although I can't pretend it's welcome news!
I think it's pretty clear that Zopa's systems are, right now, woefully under-spec for what they are attempting to do generally. This is what happens when you spend your investment money on high-price front men, rather than back-end systems I'm afraid.
To be honest, I've given up on Zopa for now. I'm sure they'll be fine, in the long term, but right now they are failing on so many fronts. Tax statements changed silently, with no notice. Defaults removed from my displayed investment totals. Systems overwhelmed by the complexity of their lending model when faced with the current demand. "Access" products that aren't accessible. Weekly reports showing queue times that are 5 to 10 times faster than actual. Constant messages along the lines of "we can't do what you want and what we said we could - our systems are running slowly". A customer service team that re-writes my complaints into something they can answer, rather than addressing the issue I actually raised, resulting in wearying, circular, pointless debate.
Am withdrawing funds, including from our ISAs. Not in a hissy fit, rather in exhaustion and lack of confidence. The model they now have, with no SG and endless barriers to proper diversification of loan monies without tedious micro-management, is not working well and their server capacity is clearly a joke.
Wish I weren't writing this, but that's how it is.
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Post by misotu on Dec 16, 2017 11:35:19 GMT
The latest update. Looking at the wording, I don't think anyone in Zopa thought this through ...
Ann, we’ve sold £0.00 of your loans
We have successfully sold £0.00 of your loans.
What about the rest?
We couldn’t sell all of your loans straight away. This is typically because some or all of your loans have gone into arrears or are expecting a repayment. If you’re not sure what to do next, please get in touch with our Client Services team
So, that's it. After exactly 30 calendar days, Zopa has managed to sell not one loan. Hard to know what to say really. My Access loans are returning 3.5% overall - that's actually higher than the 3.4% return predicted for my current Core ISA funds, and only 0.2% off the current projected return for Core of 3.7%.
So, perhaps they have no funds at all on offer at the moment? Or perhaps this is a splendid demonstration of what it actually means when you are "deprioritised" by Zopa?
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benaj
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Post by benaj on Dec 16, 2017 11:47:53 GMT
I have sold many loans in 2 different accounts recently (last 3 weeks) successfully without issues.
For the Zopa plus, at least 900 loans have been sold.
For thr Zopa classics (SG), all sold without issues or delay.
I would definitely give Zopa a call and let their Tech to look at the issue if no zopa access loan being sold
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aju
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Post by aju on Dec 16, 2017 12:06:31 GMT
The latest update. Looking at the wording, I don't think anyone in Zopa thought this through ... Ann, we’ve sold £0.00 of your loans
We have successfully sold £0.00 of your loans.
What about the rest?
We couldn’t sell all of your loans straight away. This is typically because some or all of your loans have gone into arrears or are expecting a repayment. If you’re not sure what to do next, please get in touch with our Client Services teamSo, that's it. After exactly 30 calendar days, Zopa has managed to sell not one loan. Hard to know what to say really. My Access loans are returning 3.5% overall - that's actually higher than the 3.4% return predicted for my current Core ISA funds, and only 0.2% off the current projected return for Core of 3.7%. So, perhaps they have no funds at all on offer at the moment? Or perhaps this is a splendid demonstration of what it actually means when you are "deprioritised" by Zopa? I think I watched a video the other day of the head honcho praising how more and more they were using "real" customers to vet their s/w changes and new products. Obviously it seems everyone is blind, experience tells me that they may not be the right customers but who knows. For me when I worked in S/w development both as a designer/programmer and as a technical lead it was always imperative that all changes and new work was tested every which way possible both against the design and against the requirements and especially including zero/negative values as they usually are always the ones that tripped up developers. Perhaps the problem is that your loans are better performing in a steadily worsening market and therefore are harder to match up as they require a premium for the higher performance than current. I'm not sure I've got that round the right way but it may be a factor. I agree with benaj you really must contact zopa - to be fair I thought you were already in dialogue with them. I'd actually do it by email rather than phone as you will then have a better record of what is happening but thats just my way in these delicate areas. also not sure the front (triage) people are that knowledgeable in the nitty gritty of Zopa and especially the multitude of things that seem to be changing daily not always for the better good IMHO that is. Good luck!
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Post by misotu on Dec 16, 2017 12:33:06 GMT
I have emailed them - no response as yet. I'm in Portugal until March, so telephoning would be too expensive anyway, and I prefer email for the trail.
I just know that there will be the usual flannel - the initial response will ignore what I say and consist entirely of platitudes and boiler-plate text. I will reply and get another pointless "triage" response. And so it will go on ... Luckily, I don't need these funds for quite a while - at least a year - so this is really in the nature of an experiment. I'm not surprised by the results, it matches the problems I've seen with our ISAs.
They've matched around £70 million over the last four weeks, IIRC, and looking at Benaj's sales it's hard to understand what is going on, other than yet another problem with the algorithm.
"Perhaps the problem is that your loans are better performing in a steadily worsening market and therefore are harder to match up as they require a premium for the higher performance than current. I'm not sure I've got that round the right way but it may be a factor."
Apparently I will have to pay a bit over 1% in compensation to the new lenders (!). I don't follow this at all, given that my overall projected return is so close to that currently projected for Core, and given that these funds are SG-protected. But that's what they say.
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, wheres Julian ...)