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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Mar 15, 2019 11:03:03 GMT
Hi Huxs,
As we hoped (and expected!) AutoInvest has become popular with our lender base.
For the launch this morning, the total of AutoInvest lenders' maximum pledge sizes equated to a greater value than was available to AutoInvest pledges for the project. Therefore, all pledges were scaled back proportionately in accordance with the total available to AutoInvest. Please note all pledges are scaled back by the exact same percentage - there is no preference given to larger pledges. This morning, pledges were created for every AutoInvest lender that were approximately 73% of your specified maximum pledge size.
With AutoInvest, we ask lenders to specify the maximum amount they would like to be pledged towards a project (which is restricted to 20% of your total AutoInvest amount). To be clear, we do not guarantee to invest that exact amount in each and every project, however, we do guarantee to never create a pledge greater than your specified amount.
Please rest assured we are monitoring the total amount available in AutoInvest very closely. If at any point we feel the need to close AutoInvest temporarily to new investors, to prioritise accounts which are already set up and to ensure their funds are being utilised quickly, we will. However, at the moment, we're pleased with the popularity of the product and the efficiency with which pledges are being created.
Anything else we can help with let us know!
Thanks, The CrowdProperty Team
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Post by Ace on Mar 15, 2019 11:28:07 GMT
Thanks for the explanation CP. Your platform seems to be flavour of the month right now.
I'm happy with the allocation method on this one, especially considering that it was a fairly small loan. I got £294.46 of my requested £400. So, I'll get a bit more diversification at the expense of a bit more cash drag.
With the likely influx of cash from the imminent ISA season changeover, I wonder whether it might be worth implementing a slightly different algorithm to prevent too many tiny allocations. Perhaps one where everyone gets a fixed minimum, with the remainder shared out as a percentage of requested amount. I'm not sure what minimum allocation would be sensible, but how about £200. So, in this case the likes of Huxs would have got their full £100, and the rest of us would have been scaled back slightly further. Just a thought!
Regardless, well done.
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Post by Ace on Mar 27, 2019 23:29:58 GMT
CrowdProperty Representative , there seems to be an issue with turning auto-invest off and on to avoid loans that I don't want to invest in. I realise that auto-invest is not really intended for those that want to pick and choose their loans, and I would have been happy with that, but, your recent decision to introduce some lower rate loans is a bit of a game changer. I turned off my auto-invest yesterday because I did not want to invest in the lower rate loan today. When I tried to turn it back on again today, to be ready for the upcoming 8% loans, the system did not take account of my existing auto-invest loans and forced me to effectively restart with a new auto-invest balance. In rough figures, I originally started auto-invest with £2k capital and a request for a maximum of £400 per loan (20% of auto-invest capital). I had managed to get £1400 invested in 4 loans before switching it off. When I switched it back on it forced me to have a maximum loan of £120, i.e. 20% of the outstanding £600 rather than 20% of the total £2k. Is it possible that you could fix this please. I also realise that I could have allowed it to invest as normal and then cancelled that lower rate investment within 24 hours, but that would have felt wrong/disingenuous as it would have affected others allocations. I guess that I'll need to do this in future until the issue is fixed, otherwise I will end up with a pot that is too small to allocate to auto-invest. EDIT: Also, my "Total AutoInvest allocation" now shows £600 rather than £2000 (so, if auto-invest is turned off and back on the display is very confused).
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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Mar 28, 2019 11:36:58 GMT
Hi Ace,
Many thanks for your message. As you mention, AutoInvest was built with the purpose of lenders investing in each and every loan that is listed on the platform, in order to ensure maximum diversification of funds.
As we continue to enhance our lender proposition, and as part of ongoing product development, we are already working on further developments of the AutoInvest product. The first feature, which we hope will be in place for next week, will be ‘skip next loan’. This will give lenders more flexibility to their investment strategy while using AutoInvest. We had communicated both on this forum and directly to our lenders that they would have the option to cancel AutoInvest pledges up to 24 hours after each project for now, but also really appreciate your bigger picture recognition that this would impact the allocation to other lenders, albeit in a very minor way. The structure of setting up any new AutoInvest pot is purposeful such that it is actually used to diversify across at least 5 loans. Further down the line we will also be enabling lenders to select specific loan criteria for their AutoInvest investments.
As communicated earlier in the week, in order to serve ever stronger demand from our valued lenders, we’ve made our borrower rates more competitive for the highest quality projects with the highest levels of security cover. This means we can now secure even more projects which very comfortably meet our meticulous due diligence criteria, in turn giving lenders more investment opportunities.
Yesterday’s launch is an example of an investment opportunity we would not have been able to provide had we not made adjustments to our rates. Please also bear in mind that the new interest rates, which are associated with lower Loan to Exit Gross Development Value (LTGDV) and lower initial purchase Loan to Value (LTV) of projects, offer increased security headroom to lenders, which we know is an important consideration. With these new rates, lenders will still receive strong, first-charge secured returns on each and every project we launch with rates of return clearly shown for every project launch. Of the 8 projects currently listed on the short-term pipeline, 7 projects are offering 8% p.a secured returns.
To illustrate more specifically around how much rates will flex and the increased security cover being offered:
The Land at Knoll Road, Godalming, Surrey, which was launched yesterday, was the first project offered under the new rates. The property is already owned unencumbered by the developer. We will be initially releasing 38.5% of the RICS-assessed current value and will be lending a total of £650,000 over the course of the £1,700,000 GDV project. This represents 38.2% LTGDV (excluding rolled-up interest) and 41.9% LTGDV (including interest). Having secured the project with more competitive rates to the borrower, we offered lenders 7.25% first-charge secured returns on this project, which fully funded in under 2 minutes.
The second of three projects launching next week is also one with very high security cover. The Leicestershire project is also already owned unencumbered by the developer and the project is well underway with the shell of the building already erected. CrowdProperty will be initially releasing 27.1% of the RICS-assessed current value and will be lending a total of £125,000 over the remaining stages of the £475,000 GDV project. This represents 26.3% LTGDV (excluding rolled-up interest) and 28.6% LTGDV (including interest). Lenders will be offered 7% first-charge secured returns and more information will follow next week.
We are firmly positioned as a lender of first resort for borrowers and therefore track the market very carefully for rates to attract the best projects. This ensures we see hundreds of millions of pounds worth of projects to assess, allowing us to deliver high quality lending opportunities on our platform.
Given defaults in the market place, we see this as a game changer in a positive way, but we recognise that everyone has their own needs/preferences.
As always, we appreciate your feedback.
Kind regards,
The CrowdProperty Team
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Post by Ace on Apr 2, 2019 9:44:25 GMT
As expected, auto-invest has become very popular. My allocation was scaled back to 35.5% of what I asked for today. It will probably get much smaller when the new ISA season kicks in. So far, of the 5 auto-investments I've made, my allocations were 100%, 100%, 72.5%, 70.5%, and now 35.5%. The allocation will obviously have been affected by the size of the loans, but that's a clear downward trend. I'm not complaining, it's an indication of CP's growing reputation for competent DD. CrowdProperty Representative , any news on whether the "skip next loan" feature you mentioned will be ready for tomorrow's loan? Also, to save me trawling through the platform to find it, could you please say whereabouts the button will be?
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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Apr 2, 2019 12:08:43 GMT
Hi Ace,
As you mention, the lower allocation of AutoInvest in this morning’s project is very much due to the size of the loan. 40% of this morning’s £200,000 loan was allocated to AutoInvest - a larger loan would have accommodated a higher proportion of everyone's AutoInvest settings.
We are launching 2 more projects this week; £125,000 tomorrow and £220,000 on Friday. We expect there will be a similar allocation of AutoInvest funds on these relatively small projects too. When this is compared to a single loan of £545,000 (the total made available this week), the overall amount invested from AutoInvest accounts is of an equivalent overall amount, however the smaller loans have meant a wider diversification of funds.
The ‘Skip Next Project’ button will be live this afternoon and it will be situated on your AutoInvest Portfolio page between the AutoInvest Summary boxes and the AutoInvest Loan Portfolio. Our development team have worked swiftly to have this implemented as soon as possible.
Thank you for recognising the strength in our due diligence process, as always we are working hard on sourcing more high quality investment opportunities but will not compromise on quality. We are seeing record applications for funding from borrowers, so the lead indicators are getting stronger and stronger.
Kind regards,
The CrowdProperty Team
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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Apr 2, 2019 13:07:54 GMT
Hi Ace,
Further to my previous message, the Skip Next Project button is now live.
Kind regards,
The CrowdProperty Team
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huxs
Member of DD Central
Posts: 299
Likes: 218
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Post by huxs on Apr 4, 2019 15:08:59 GMT
Hi, I have increased my total Autoinvest allocation by depositing more funds but the Maximum pledge size can only be increased based on the unallocated money not the total? I this a bug ?
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Post by Ace on Apr 4, 2019 15:58:29 GMT
Hi, I have increased my total Autoinvest allocation by depositing more funds but the Maximum pledge size can only be increased based on the unallocated money not the total? I this a bug ? Yes, it's basically the same bug I encountered. If you contact CS they can adjust it for you behind the scenes.
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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Apr 5, 2019 10:42:35 GMT
Hi huxs,
Many thanks for your feedback. The purpose of AutoInvest is to allow lenders hands-free, easy diversification of funds across the quality projects that meet our rigorous due diligence standards. The AutoInvest facility has been purposely built so that the maximum pledge size is calculated based on the remaining funds available, because in the design of the first version of the product, we felt that this would achieve the desired diversification best (it is not a bug and all our releases are thoroughly tested before launch). With pledge limits and the new AutoInvest product, a total 249 lenders participated in the relatively small project launched this morning, which we think delivers on much of the recent feedback from this forum, highlighting that we really value that feedback.
As you know, we crave feedback in all aspects of our business, quickly review it and make changes swiftly if we assess that to be in the best interests of all lenders. With any new product, this is especially important and valuable, so thank you. We are now reviewing this internally and will revert next week and as always, if changes will improve the CrowdProperty experience for all lenders, we'll make those changes swiftly (and thoroughly test the changes before implementing onto the live system).
We'll get back to you next week and please do keep the feedback coming.
Kind regards,
The CrowdProperty Team
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huxs
Member of DD Central
Posts: 299
Likes: 218
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Post by huxs on Apr 5, 2019 12:24:26 GMT
Hi huxs, Many thanks for your feedback. The purpose of AutoInvest is to allow lenders hands-free, easy diversification of funds across the quality projects that meet our rigorous due diligence standards. The AutoInvest facility has been purposely built so that the maximum pledge size is calculated based on the remaining funds available, because in the design of the first version of the product, we felt that this would achieve the desired diversification best (it is not a bug and all our releases are thoroughly tested before launch). With pledge limits and the new AutoInvest product, a total 249 lenders participated in the relatively small project launched this morning, which we think delivers on much of the recent feedback from this forum, highlighting that we really value that feedback. As you know, we crave feedback in all aspects of our business, quickly review it and make changes swiftly if we assess that to be in the best interests of all lenders. With any new product, this is especially important and valuable, so thank you. We are now reviewing this internally and will revert next week and as always, if changes will improve the CrowdProperty experience for all lenders, we'll make those changes swiftly (and thoroughly test the changes before implementing onto the live system). We'll get back to you next week and please do keep the feedback coming. Kind regards, The CrowdProperty Team Thanks for your reply, overall I am very happy you introduced AutoInvest but always want more . My personal view is that it would be nice to allow the user to set the maximum amount up to 100% of your available funds (or better still have both a maximum £amount and % which is user controlled). This would allow people to dip feed money in overtime, rather than invest and forget (which only works if you have the lumps sum upfront).
Thanks
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Post by Ace on Apr 5, 2019 16:18:46 GMT
Hi huxs, Many thanks for your feedback. The purpose of AutoInvest is to allow lenders hands-free, easy diversification of funds across the quality projects that meet our rigorous due diligence standards. The AutoInvest facility has been purposely built so that the maximum pledge size is calculated based on the remaining funds available, because in the design of the first version of the product, we felt that this would achieve the desired diversification best (it is not a bug and all our releases are thoroughly tested before launch). With pledge limits and the new AutoInvest product, a total 249 lenders participated in the relatively small project launched this morning, which we think delivers on much of the recent feedback from this forum, highlighting that we really value that feedback. As you know, we crave feedback in all aspects of our business, quickly review it and make changes swiftly if we assess that to be in the best interests of all lenders. With any new product, this is especially important and valuable, so thank you. We are now reviewing this internally and will revert next week and as always, if changes will improve the CrowdProperty experience for all lenders, we'll make those changes swiftly (and thoroughly test the changes before implementing onto the live system). We'll get back to you next week and please do keep the feedback coming. Kind regards, The CrowdProperty Team Thanks for your reply, overall I am very happy you introduced AutoInvest but always want more . My personal view is that it would be nice to allow the user to set the maximum amount up to 100% of your available funds (or better still have both a maximum £amount and % which is user controlled). This would allow people to dip feed money in overtime, rather than invest and forget (which only works if you have the lumps sum upfront).
Thanks
I'll plus-one on that. Having the maximum pledge size based on the remaining funds available, rather than total auto-invest pot size, makes no sense to me. For example, If someone put £5k in their auto-invest account and built up a portfolio of 5 loans with £1k in each, then added another £1k, they would be restricted to £200 in future loans! Had they invested £6k in one go, they could have invested up to £1200 per loan. CP may not consider this to be a coding bug, but it certainly looks like a logic error to me.
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Post by CrowdProperty Representative on Apr 8, 2019 12:18:49 GMT
Dear Ace and Huxs
Again, thank you for your comments. Please do bear in mind that there are permutations and scenarios which can be illustrated where the current product design does in fact benefit those lenders who are looking to add funds, fully deploy them and then repeat, which in turn best respects others who are using AutoInvest as well as those who wish to SelfSelect. AutoInvest is supposed to facilitate diversification across many projects, not as a pre-loading means to access individual projects and please note that we need to carefully consider the interests of all types of lenders who have different needs, preferences and strategies. Believe us when we say that we take great care in the design and testing of all products, considering all customer perspectives, which is not straightforward.
Saying this, and as you know, we also welcome such valuable feedback and always act swiftly if we believe we should. That’s part of the benefit of having a large in-house tech team working on our proprietary tech platform, who also built the platform in the first place.
In order to additionally cater best for those who wish to incrementally top-up AutoInvest (whilst keeping others in mind), we are making the change initially suggested. The algorithm will now include total funds when setting the parameters for the maximum pledge setting - the maximum pledge size is now based on total AutoInvest funds (deployed + available). We see this is a reasonable balance for all types of lenders. This functionality is now live for you and we hope that improves your experience of CrowdProperty.
We have further exciting plans for our AutoInvest product, so please do keep feeding back and watch this space.
Best regards,
The CrowdProperty Team
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Post by Ace on Apr 9, 2019 23:50:25 GMT
Thanks for making the change CP. Though we'll have to agree to disagree on whether the old system was better for anyone 😉.
Anyway, I really do appreciate the change and my ISA transfer form is on its way to prove it. 👍
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Post by Ace on May 3, 2019 12:13:03 GMT
Would anyone care to say what percentage of their auto-invest request was allocated in today's loan? I had hoped that my ISA transfer would have arrived in time for this one as CP received the cheque on 24th April, but the funds have yet to arrive in my account. Now well outside the stated 5 working days .
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