State of the nation - the wheels are secure!
Oct 9, 2014 17:12:45 GMT
phlitb, mikeb, and 9 more like this
Post by andrewholgate on Oct 9, 2014 17:12:45 GMT
First off, my apologies for not being as active here in recent weeks. We are incredibly busy sorting the new website, making changes to systems and sourcing new loans.
What I want to do here is address some grumbles made in recent posts.
Banking
Changes in FCA rules meant that we had to move to the CASS rules for client monies. This meant moving the account from the Trust to a new account all of which was handled very smoothly including the sending of some 6000 letters to each of our lenders. The work and effort the team went to in making that happen was huge, yet for you the lenders the only glitch was the messaging around GoCardless being switched off. What the rules changed was how we can recognise funds in lenders accounts. GoCardless gave you funds instantly but actually left AC at risk as those funds did not credit the client account until a few days later. Under CASS rules, we can only credit your account when we have cleared funds. We are implementing a card payment system but this will not give instant funds as payments can still be rejected. Our bankers initially told us that they could not give us real time data on faster payments, but they have since told us they can. This is now being implemented and will allow you to see funds almost instantaneously. Please bear with us while we patch this in. We know the system isn't perfect and we are making changes.
PLEASE remember - not a single lender has lost money in our payment systems to date. The system does work but it slower than we like for now and changes are being made.
Rates
Questions have been asked of the current crop of rates on offer. Some are lower than have been seen before but are still competitive in the market place. There is also some lag period of when the deal was initially agreed with the customer to now. 4 months ago it seemed rates were going down, but now demand for rates is higher. We are working to get some more attractive deals to you. Indeed, I have just rejected a deal we have worked on for 2 months as I know the rate will no longer be acceptable. That is 2 months of work for no reward but I'd rather that than offer a deal that you just won't like.
Remember, we offer high single digit and low double digit returns on secured loans with nice tangible assets in support. Even where there are PGs there are assets behind those.
Drawdowns
The bane of everyone's life. What I will say is that we are taking tangible security here. We could do poorly secured loans with just a flimsy PG and we could drawdown in days. But this is your money, not mine. We take tangible security that requires the intervention of third parties acting for the borrower that we have no control over. This can cause delays and problems. Also, if we see there is a potential issue we deal with it because I do not want lenders to lose a single penny because of a small mistake we made in taking the security that then invalidates it. I'd rather we got it right.
That said, improvements can be made. Some of the wind loans used a firm of solicitors who have proved to be unsatisfactory and we have now moved to a new firm. This should improve things. We are also looking at bringing in our own panel of lawyers for the borrowers to use (in a similar vein to when a mortgage company pays your legal fees and farms out the work). This could improve the drawdown times.
However, the biggest change will be the removal of the auction period. As of next week, no loan will be released to lenders that hasn't yet drawn down. We will underwrite the loan, draw it down and only then release loan units to lenders. You will get instant returns, no drawdown headaches and no problems.
Bridging Loans
We've had a number of these loans that came from one broker. The quality of these loans has proved to be unsatisfactory and each one has had a problem at expiry. That broker no longer introduces deals to us and we are working hard to exit these loans as quickly as we can and we expect every lender in these loans to be fully repaid. All other loans (with the exception of the well documented FF) are on track and performing.
You, our lenders, are our life blood. Your funds allow us to do what we do best. That is source loans, make the credit assessment, and the loan management. You know that we listen to you, we make changes and we improve. My team work hard to ensure that we look after you and also interact with you. I've never hidden in the shadows or only appeared on a stage to answer bland pre-vetted questions. A number of you have given me a hard time on here but I do not shy away. You even have my direct email address to contact me (andrew@assetzcapital.co.uk).
One thing I would ask, if you have a grumble please email complaints@assetzcapital.co.uk as this is picked up by a number of people including me and our Chief Compliance Officer. If you want the fastest response from us, that is the email to use and it also allows us to formally log these things for when the FCA want to audit our complaints handling procedure.
I'm planning on hosting another Q&A in a week or two. As always, please keep me posted of problems and even tell us when we are doing things right (always seems to be whinges on here!). I'm not able to spend huge amounts of time on the forum these days, but my spies are here.
Andrew
What I want to do here is address some grumbles made in recent posts.
Banking
Changes in FCA rules meant that we had to move to the CASS rules for client monies. This meant moving the account from the Trust to a new account all of which was handled very smoothly including the sending of some 6000 letters to each of our lenders. The work and effort the team went to in making that happen was huge, yet for you the lenders the only glitch was the messaging around GoCardless being switched off. What the rules changed was how we can recognise funds in lenders accounts. GoCardless gave you funds instantly but actually left AC at risk as those funds did not credit the client account until a few days later. Under CASS rules, we can only credit your account when we have cleared funds. We are implementing a card payment system but this will not give instant funds as payments can still be rejected. Our bankers initially told us that they could not give us real time data on faster payments, but they have since told us they can. This is now being implemented and will allow you to see funds almost instantaneously. Please bear with us while we patch this in. We know the system isn't perfect and we are making changes.
PLEASE remember - not a single lender has lost money in our payment systems to date. The system does work but it slower than we like for now and changes are being made.
Rates
Questions have been asked of the current crop of rates on offer. Some are lower than have been seen before but are still competitive in the market place. There is also some lag period of when the deal was initially agreed with the customer to now. 4 months ago it seemed rates were going down, but now demand for rates is higher. We are working to get some more attractive deals to you. Indeed, I have just rejected a deal we have worked on for 2 months as I know the rate will no longer be acceptable. That is 2 months of work for no reward but I'd rather that than offer a deal that you just won't like.
Remember, we offer high single digit and low double digit returns on secured loans with nice tangible assets in support. Even where there are PGs there are assets behind those.
Drawdowns
The bane of everyone's life. What I will say is that we are taking tangible security here. We could do poorly secured loans with just a flimsy PG and we could drawdown in days. But this is your money, not mine. We take tangible security that requires the intervention of third parties acting for the borrower that we have no control over. This can cause delays and problems. Also, if we see there is a potential issue we deal with it because I do not want lenders to lose a single penny because of a small mistake we made in taking the security that then invalidates it. I'd rather we got it right.
That said, improvements can be made. Some of the wind loans used a firm of solicitors who have proved to be unsatisfactory and we have now moved to a new firm. This should improve things. We are also looking at bringing in our own panel of lawyers for the borrowers to use (in a similar vein to when a mortgage company pays your legal fees and farms out the work). This could improve the drawdown times.
However, the biggest change will be the removal of the auction period. As of next week, no loan will be released to lenders that hasn't yet drawn down. We will underwrite the loan, draw it down and only then release loan units to lenders. You will get instant returns, no drawdown headaches and no problems.
Bridging Loans
We've had a number of these loans that came from one broker. The quality of these loans has proved to be unsatisfactory and each one has had a problem at expiry. That broker no longer introduces deals to us and we are working hard to exit these loans as quickly as we can and we expect every lender in these loans to be fully repaid. All other loans (with the exception of the well documented FF) are on track and performing.
You, our lenders, are our life blood. Your funds allow us to do what we do best. That is source loans, make the credit assessment, and the loan management. You know that we listen to you, we make changes and we improve. My team work hard to ensure that we look after you and also interact with you. I've never hidden in the shadows or only appeared on a stage to answer bland pre-vetted questions. A number of you have given me a hard time on here but I do not shy away. You even have my direct email address to contact me (andrew@assetzcapital.co.uk).
One thing I would ask, if you have a grumble please email complaints@assetzcapital.co.uk as this is picked up by a number of people including me and our Chief Compliance Officer. If you want the fastest response from us, that is the email to use and it also allows us to formally log these things for when the FCA want to audit our complaints handling procedure.
I'm planning on hosting another Q&A in a week or two. As always, please keep me posted of problems and even tell us when we are doing things right (always seems to be whinges on here!). I'm not able to spend huge amounts of time on the forum these days, but my spies are here.
Andrew
