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Post by nutfield on Sept 18, 2018 8:26:28 GMT
Personal impression of the Q&A event from one of four participants... I thought that RS fielded three capable and informed people with the intention of engaging openly with forum members in the hope that we will post information on the forum (as they believe the previous Kevin level of RS posting is not possible in today's regulatory environment. I must say that I regretted Kevin's departure. His comments gave me considerable reassurance as a new investor in p2p in general and RS in particular. Other lenders don't seem to be so restricted as RS. I am thinking of Mathew in the Lending Works section who seems able to address points raised by lenders. It seems to me that this type of engagement with lenders can deal with issues which although raised by one customer, are likely to trouble several others.
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lara
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Post by lara on Sept 18, 2018 8:32:27 GMT
Personal impression of the Q&A event from one of four participants... I thought that RS fielded three capable and informed people with the intention of engaging openly with forum members in the hope that we will post information on the forum (as they believe the previous Kevin level of RS posting is not possible in today's regulatory environment. I must say that I regretted Kevin's departure. His comments gave me considerable reassurance as a new investor in p2p in general and RS in particular. Other lenders don't seem to be so restricted as RS. I am thinking of Mathew in the Lending Works section who seems able to address points raised by lenders. It seems to me that this type of engagement with lenders can deal with issues which although raised by one customer, are likely to trouble several others. Agreed! I am really grateful for the input from Chris and others on the AC board. It's reassuring and gives a real sense that they appreciate their investors and care about their opinions.
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alender
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Post by alender on Sept 18, 2018 8:43:29 GMT
To the extent any particular loan is supported by funds lent in the rolling market or to a lesser extent the 1 yr market, RS do not know exactly what the lifetime cost of money will be to support any given loan they have written if the lenders (thats us) were to cash out, then return to the market a little later when lender rates have risen.
It's RS margins that are exposed to such 'churn' of lender funds. That is why RS want to match lenders funds for the life of a borrowers loan as it reduces RS exposure to changes in the cost of capital.
The 14 day lock out in the rolling market is designed to reduce 'churn' and I'm sure will have that effect.
It might also have the effect of reducing the amount lenders commit to that market as dipping in and out was an attractive aspect for certain types of lender.
And RS do want more lender cash on the platform.
IF RS want to fix the cost of funds they should source the funds from the appropriate market for the loan so 1 month monies are not used to fund long term loans. By using the Northern Rock module they will get cheaper funding but this can/will lead to lock in of funds when the market turns. I am happy all of my investment's have been repaid and will stay away from RS until they treat investors and their money with more respect especially in the area of gaming the rates.
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mark123
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Post by mark123 on Sept 18, 2018 8:45:16 GMT
Did they say at what point they decided that regulations prevented their representative from posting here as they suggest they would wish? Was it when Kevin left their employ or more recently and what reason was given for them being unable to engage to the same extent as the Assetz representative for example? They said that Kevin started posting on the forum before he was employed by RS. I got the impression that RS became gradually more uncomfortable and they have now reached a size and are in a regulatory environment where they feel every public communication requires authorisation by more than one individual. Although I valued Kevin's posts (and might not have invested much without them) I do sympathise... every imperfectly worded communication is analysed critically here! They did start to explain this but unfortunately I interrupted so I cannot report the entire process. I think that each actual borrower offer is added to the queue at a [lowish] rate derived from previous matches. If it is not matched immediately, the rate increases at [?] 0.1% per hour until it does match.
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Stonk
Stonking
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Post by Stonk on Sept 18, 2018 9:28:48 GMT
I think that each actual borrower offer is added to the queue at a [lowish] rate derived from previous matches. If it is not matched immediately, the rate increases at [?] 0.1% per hour until it does match.
I would love to have asked them how a couple of weeks ago on 1 Year there suddenly appeared a borrower offer for -- what was it, a third of a million quid(?) -- at 8.4%. Obviously it was the source of much delight here, but it doesn't quite fit with the intended algorithm!
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jlend
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Post by jlend on Sept 18, 2018 17:07:20 GMT
Ratesetter use to do annual evenings drinks and an update in London and later also in Manchester.
But I am guessing they haven't run these recently.
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Post by bricktop on Sept 19, 2018 8:06:05 GMT
It sounds productive even if low numbers opted to attend. I've been to the annual lender drinks previously and they were useful. That said it seems like over a year since the last one.
One comment I would make is that anyone increasing their lending risk appetite based on a posting on this informal message board should consider whether that is the right thing to do. Any non FSCS protected investment carries the risk of complete loss and if you cannot afford that then do not do it.The warm patter of an employee should not alter you're investment strategy. I'm all for the companies answering questions in every communication medium they can, but in all honesty that would never be a consideration of my investment.
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Post by honda2ner on Sept 19, 2018 20:19:49 GMT
So a few cherry picked people went along to a meeting, nobody took notes or minutes and not a critical word was said by anyone, it was simply the land of milk and honey.
Oh really?
Perhaps next time real people could attend with prepared and sometimes difficult questions, take minutes and name names. That's what should have happened if it had been done professionally.
This farce needs to be consigned to the bull propaganda bin ASAP.
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starfished
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Post by starfished on Sept 19, 2018 21:04:44 GMT
I am not a RS cheerleader but wow. And people wonder why firms increasingly do not want to engage.
As far as I understand it, RS offered a number of places and only 4 people could be bothered/able to take the offer. Yet somehow those attendees are being besmirched for doing so?!
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Post by oppsididitagain on Sept 19, 2018 21:11:44 GMT
So a few cherry picked people went along to a meeting, nobody took notes or minutes and not a critical word was said by anyone, it was simply the land of milk and honey. Oh really? Perhaps next time real people could attend with prepared and sometimes difficult questions, take minutes and name names. That's what should have happened if it had been done professionally. This farce needs to be consigned to the bull propaganda bin ASAP. Hi Honda2ner I choose to go myself, I dont think I was cherry picked, I took the time out of my day to go and meet with RS and asked lots of questions on how the platform works and got them to answer all my concerns. 3 people from RS were there, one of the founders, the chief communications officer who took lots and lots of notes, and the head of product development. As I said before we were in the meeting for well over 2.5 hours, a lot longer than the 1.5hrs that had been allotted. To me it was a very open and professional meeting. John , head of Comms said he would post some of the minutes on this forum. I like to think of myself as a real person with over 20year financial experience in London, background of 10yrs proffesionally trading FX, and over 10yrs running operations in a boutique finance company. However, I dont think its my place nor do I have the time to post all the answers to other peoples questions on an open forum. I can only suggest you either E mail RS with your concerns, start a thread on here or if your a'real person' attend the next Q&As take notes of over 2.5hours disscussions and report back to the community. However here are a few things that stood out. They told us where most of the business comes from, and which lending markets the loans are matched in . Apart from the standard secured/unsecured loan streams, they spoke about a deal they have with a mobile phone company to fund handsets purchases when you take out a new contract, and also where they advertise for personal loans, the credit checks people go through and how they get funded. Which is one of the reasons why they gave for needing to change the rolling market to keep their margins steady We discussed how this could potentially create a liquidity problem rather than help it. Apparently within the APR % quoted for each loan, a proportion of that is sent to the provision fund. They want the provision fund to be between 125-150. The 1 year loans are mainly commercial property, property developments, bridging loans, refits or loans that need upfront cash and can only repay on a sale, or completion of a contract, hence why cap+int is paid at the end rather than monthly amortisations. They also spoke about how they are attracting new lenders to the platform, they are speaking with a few new lending apps who are targeting students or tech savvy people who with a few clicks on a phone can save as little as £10 instantly rather than having to stick to a set date or log on and browser the site. One app has the potential to automatically sweep your bank account on a set date and will send all the leftover funds for investment. They are also thinking about launching a progressive web based app themselves, again at the moment just talk and Im sure fi they want more feedback/suggestions in the future about this they will ask us.
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wuzimu
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Post by wuzimu on Sept 19, 2018 22:22:16 GMT
So a few cherry picked people went along to a meeting, nobody took notes or minutes and not a critical word was said by anyone, it was simply the land of milk and honey. Oh really? Perhaps next time real people could attend with prepared and sometimes difficult questions, take minutes and name names. That's what should have happened if it had been done professionally. This farce needs to be consigned to the bull propaganda bin ASAP. Such engagement & emotion... its good to feel alive!
I definitely cherry picked myself to attend this event.
I was surprised to see only 3 other lenders there.
But this is Ratesetter. Some might moan about certain functional issues and PR deficits , etc
but any lender who feels like it can completely exit the platform in hours,
and no lenders to date have lost money, most have made a steady modest return.
So RS as an entity is a mildly beneficial thing.
That makes RS boring compared with some other platforms that relentlessly serve up lender detriment
and I suspect the majority of lenders in the vicinity just couldn't be bothered to go for lack of a big enough gripe (ie a loss)
The event was worthwhile for the four us who went I think, and hopefully RS got something out of it , ideally they would publish a summary/
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lara
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Post by lara on Sept 20, 2018 3:14:11 GMT
To those of you who attended, it's great that you got something out of the experience. It's certainly not your job to report back to us and the fact that some of you have taken the trouble to do this anyway, is very generous of you.
But please remember, the event was only open to 8 investors, so even if all the seats had been taken, that leaves the rest of us still in the dark. And for those of us not in the vicinity, it would have cost a fair chunk of change to get there in the first place, negating any income from the platform for however long.
The suggestion of contacting RS directly may seem obvious but I spoke to them about the changes until I was blue in the face back in May/June and was met with nothing but the company line and and regurgitation of the propaganda delivered in the (you had to know where to look to find it) announcement.
Forgive me if I wasn't prepared to be significantly out of pocket, for the opportunity to hear (potentially) more of the same.
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Post by supernumerary on Sept 20, 2018 5:04:05 GMT
I managed to attend most of this event at the Ratesetter offices on Thursday pm. Management made 4 of us lenders welcome and appeared to be intent on explaining why the made changes to the platform in the summer and listening to the feedback we lenders had and answered all the questions squarely.
Personal impression of the Q&A event from one of four participants... I thought that RS fielded three capable and informed people with the intention of engaging openly with forum members in the hope that we will post information on the forum (as they believe the previous Kevin level of RS posting is not possible in today's regulatory environment). I Also was present at the meeting. I found RS to be very professional and very open and happy to answering all questions posed too them. The meeting lasted for about 2.5hrs, not the 1.5 they had allowed so this gave me confidence that they did want to listen to us and happy to talk about idea's and suggestions, and not just get us out the door ASAP. John from RS said when he gets a moment he will post some of the minutes/Q&A's. raised the meeting. So a few cherry picked people went along to a meeting, nobody took notes or minutes and not a critical word was said by anyone, it was simply the land of milk and honey. Oh really? Perhaps next time real people could attend with prepared and sometimes difficult questions, take minutes and name names. That's what should have happened if it had been done professionally. This farce needs to be consigned to the bull propaganda bin ASAP. Hi Honda2ner I choose to go myself, I dont think I was cherry picked, I took the time out of my day to go and meet with RS and asked lots of questions on how the platform works and got them to answer all my concerns. 3 people from RS were there, one of the founders, the chief communications officer who took lots and lots of notes, and the head of product development. As I said before we were in the meeting for well over 2.5 hours, a lot longer than the 1.5hrs that had been allotted. To me it was a very open and professional meeting. John , head of Comms said he would post some of the minutes on this forum. I like to think of myself as a real person with over 20year financial experience in London, background of 10yrs proffesionally trading FX, and over 10yrs running operations in a boutique finance company. However, I dont think its my place nor do I have the time to post all the answers to other peoples questions on an open forum. I can only suggest you either E mail RS with your concerns, start a thread on here or if your a'real person' attend the next Q&As take notes of over 2.5hours disscussions and report back to the community. BIG THANK YOU for revealing on this message board that a meeting between Ratesetter lenders and Ratesetter management took place. I have searched through my emails and found NO email from Ratesetter announcing that any Q&A session was imminent or planned. I am GRATEFUL to those who attended and have posted their thoughts and observations. MUCH appreciated.
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Post by bornconfused on Sept 20, 2018 6:24:20 GMT
So a few cherry picked people went along to a meeting, nobody took notes or minutes and not a critical word was said by anyone, it was simply the land of milk and honey. Oh really? Perhaps next time real people could attend with prepared and sometimes difficult questions, take minutes and name names. That's what should have happened if it had been done professionally. This farce needs to be consigned to the bull propaganda bin ASAP. Such engagement & emotion... its good to feel alive!
I definitely cherry picked myself to attend this event.
I was surprised to see only 3 other lenders there.
But this is Ratesetter. Some might moan about certain functional issues and PR deficits , etc
but any lender who feels like it can completely exit the platform in hours,
and no lenders to date have lost money, most have made a steady modest return.
So RS as an entity is a mildly beneficial thing.
That makes RS boring compared with some other platforms that relentlessly serve up lender detriment
and I suspect the majority of lenders in the vicinity just couldn't be bothered to go for lack of a big enough gripe (ie a loss)
The event was worthwhile for the four us who went I think, and hopefully RS got something out of it , ideally they would publish a summary/
I too went to the Q&A session I wasn't cherry-picked I am a real person! Difficult questions were asked. I found the Q&A session beneficial. Whilst advertised as a 90 min session it actually continued for 2.5hrs. I too was surprised that only four lenders had bothered to attend, which suggests that despite the continual negativity on this forum, most investors are happy with the returns they get from Ratesetter.
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jlend
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Post by jlend on Sept 20, 2018 6:54:16 GMT
I have searched through my emails and found NO email from Ratesetter announcing that any Q&A session was imminent or planned. I am GRATEFUL to those who attended and have posted their thoughts and observations. MUCH appreciated. RS posted an open invite on this forum p2pindependentforum.com/thread/13206/invitation-session-ratesetterI assume they did this rather than emailing tens of thousands of lenders to target people who read the forum
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