Is Rebs different?

To me, the attraction of Rebs is the longer auction time / borrower dialog which means you are properly making investment decisions as opposed to FC. Course, the high rates look good as well though I always have in the back of my mind these come at a price - presumably the borrowers come here because they cant get a lower rate elsewhere, so they are inherently, potentially, riskier to a degree. I know there has been a default or two this year but so far I haven't been affected (so far...but I will) so I cant comment on quantifying default rates. Being a fairly young platform, the rates will still be quite low. Staff seem OK to me on pre-screening and on customer service to investors, no one is perfect it seems in p2p. Overall I've been in about 6 months cautiously building up a portfolio and have been happy to date. When I began, the problem was struggling to fill auctions due to too few investors (even for what appeared good loans), that problem seems behind them now (course, dodgy ones wont fill...).  Hope that helps.

Good summation of the P2P landscape. I would only add to FC is that you might want to change your mind about FC since they have taken to removing money from investors accounts without informing them of their actions. I thought that was piracy but with P2P who knows other than the FCA. See thread above.

Assetz seem to be having more than their fair share of problems with bridging loans not completing and a few other things including their computer system. Next week or is next month we are promised a new and much vaunted computer system full of bells and whistles and hopefully no b*lls ups. My guess is that the manner in which this system is received by the punters will either see AC spurt ahead or crash into the ashes.

I tend to agree sqh and kaya. In the current crop of p2p, Rebs does feel different to me.

I live across the road from that pub and the owner is a young guy, working really hard, his mum does the books, we are all rooting for him. I was so happy I could lend to him, and at a lower rate (lenders pick their rate, it is not unusual to see very low bids too, we all have soft spots).  I smile every time I walk past.

The biggest loan was £315k, to an existing borrower, to replace an expensive hire purchase agreement.  Now it costs less AND he owns the equipment.

There were tough, probing QAs from lenders and great crowd DD, but a lot of respect flowed, and hearty, happy congratulations/thanks/good wishes when the loan closed.

The restaurant borrower that was asked to explain why the restaurant was closed recently?

Turns out it was for a staff member's wedding.  Resounding response - 'ahh, lovely, that's what Rebs is about'.

The spinoff pet business from TOWIE - enterprising and clever young people!

The loan which the QA uncovered involved animal cruelty - it did not fill.

I could go on - I enjoy lending through Rebs, but I understand that caring is a luxury, in this tough old finance world. I so hope it continues, with sustainable growth.

I think I went through that "cycle", jackpease, with Rebs and back again - I lent on one of their few defaults.

Many lenders did not want to pursue this guy aggressively, he still stood a chance and we really wanted him to pull through, and did NOT want to behave like the banks.

He was not yet in default. Rebs spoke to him daily, he had big late paying customers (supermarkets) so Rebs introduced a cashflow consultant, who he hired to help with this.

Meantimes another p2p company called in a PG aggressively and made him bankrupt almost overnight, just like a bank, blowing all his chances, poor guy.

Rebs still have a dialog with him, the loan is not big and my part is only £200, but they have not forgotten it or written it off, with update emails every now and then.

I'm over it now, but went through "disappointed/angry", and Rebs was criticised for being so trusting and "human" to the borrower.  In hindsight, I can think of worse things to be.

I now have some lovely, diversified, Rebs loans and no reason to suspect a default right now, but even so Rebs' rates are high enough to cover it.
(my average return since January is 16.55, including that £200 bad debt)

I have to say I also rate AC, for their strong security and backbone, but it's more business - Rebs, to me, is more feel good. 

<sigh> on that note, I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Was this CBL?

No but presumably the guy called Mod: removed or whatever it was, may possibly have been. There's also the general idea that halal practices are somehow unethical while taking taxpayers' money to make a profit from unemployed people being desperate to work for nothing is just fine.

As Spooner said, if progressives think you're a conservative and conservatives think you're a liberal, you're probably doing something right.

The point with the sarnies was it was a niche: garage food's overpriced, so increasing the supply would've been a good thing whether you ate the new ones or the existing ones. The time to vote with your conscience is at the sarnie shelf.

Mod: please don't name people.