shimself
Member of DD Central
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Post by shimself on Feb 1, 2014 14:09:03 GMT
LendInvest is continually reviewing it's minimum investment threshold and it may be something we lower in due course. It is however extremely unlikely it'll ever be as low as some of the other "unsecured" p2p lenders out there. We are specialist mortgage lenders and have the benefit of being able to launch with an inherited 5 year track record through our association with Montello. Therefore our loans are of superior quality compared to some other p2p lenders which are starved for deal flow. What news please, and what news also about taking on investors from outside UK?
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Post by Yorkie on Mar 10, 2014 13:11:44 GMT
I have invested with LendInvest (currently three separate projects) and have found their service pretty good. The website has steadily been improving but it is still rather clunky. When it comes to transferring funds, receiving interest payments, rolling over investments from one project to the next, all is done quickly and efficiently by email. Questions are dealt with quickly and personally by email or phone.
I do not agree with the need to have a lower investment limit. The nature of the business is that there are a low number of high value projects; it is going to be difficult to split an investment up into more than a dozen or so projects. If you want a lower limit in a similar market, check out Wellesley, but I have some serious concerns about the viability of their current business model (see my post there).
The high minimum limit with LendInvest means good, personal service. Also, if you have a large number of different low-value investments, you run a higher risk of any one of them going belly up, and then having to put in time and effort to chase after one low-value investment. I rather have a few high-value investments, meaning a much smaller chance of any of them going belly up. If one of these high-value investments goes wrong, it is worth chasing up after it. The amount of time and effort involved in recovering an investment that has gone wrong is the same regardless of whether it was low or high value, so I prefer to invest in fewer rather than more projects. Just my personal opinion.
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mikes1531
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Post by mikes1531 on Mar 10, 2014 16:35:46 GMT
As previously mentioned, the minimum threshold is under review and it is likely that it will be reduced in the new year, if not sooner. Can we please have an update?
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smee
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Post by smee on Mar 19, 2014 8:05:25 GMT
I am new to this forum, but thought I would just respond to the request for info. on LendInvest experience.
I have invested in several properties fairly recently, and so far both interest and capital have been returned. I like this platform and the interest rates make it very tempting to invest more than I intended, but I am trying not to put all my eggs in one basket. One thing I particularly liked was the availability of the Surveyors' Report. Not only did it help with investment decisions, but it was nice to see the photos and to have a sense of involvement and ownership of the property. It gave LendInvest an advantage over similar platforms.
Unfortunately, these reports are no longer being made available and I think that is a pity. On the plus side, I'll not be so tempted to invest additional funds, at least until I have more experience of the platform. But if LendInvest is monitoring this post, please consider reinstating these reports. They make investing more interesting, particularly for investors away from London who have no idea of property locations.
I have found communication very good. Queries are answered quickly and pleasantly. I see that LendInvest are recruiting IT staff which will hopefully improve recording of information. This is currently not very up to date and sometimes is incorrect.
I have invested in several P2P platforms and intend to cut down on some to make life (and tax returns) a little easier. LendInvest is one I would really like to keep. I like the relatively short investment terms, and the fact that interest is paid each month, not to mention the very attractive interest rates.
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shimself
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Post by shimself on Mar 19, 2014 19:10:16 GMT
The £10k minimum per deal exacerbates that problem as a portfolio of say 20 loans requires minimum of £200k which is rather a large amount for an untested platform (albeit they are backed by Montello). T I would really like it they reduced the minimum to say £5k since I'd like to be able to size my investments by conviction level to some degree. Exactly - I'd be prepared to invest 10K spread over 5 loans, 2k each. I don't really understand why they don't do this, the commitment is the same, it doesn't seem hard to make the software spread it out and they'd get more lenders (you and me at least)
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pete
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Post by pete on Mar 23, 2014 13:56:41 GMT
As a new member to this site and a lender to both Assetz Capital and LendInvest, here are my own thoughts.
AC are a very informative and very helpful setup. I think that their minimum investment of £20 is low but if they are quite happy with that then so be it. Each loan is accompanied by a wealth of information, probably more than enough in most cases. However, in a few cases they have accepted bids before before the full Credit Survey is available and the information is sparse. Surprisingly, many investors make bids despite this although they tend to be at the lower end of the bidding scale. The biggest drawback I can see is that from initial bid through to drawdown, several weeks (and in one particular case) several months can pass and thus no interest is being earned. In fairness, when the lengthy delay occurs, they offer the option of a return of funds but you may lose the opportunity to ultimately invest in that particular loan. They usually take what appears to be very good security although I have noticed recently that the loan to value ratio has crept up a touch on some loans. However, with the mass of loan information it is up to the investor to do their own due diligence. They say that up to now no loan has defaulted. I have nine investments with them and the interest has been paid on time, give or take the odd day. I am very happy with them so far apart from the delay awaiting drawdown.
Having looked at many of the P2P platforms, I am only interested in the securitised ones. I 'found' LendInvest a couple of months ago and had some evening telephone conversations with them. They are helpful and informative although they don't publish anywhere near the amount of documentation per loan as AC do. Nevertheless, with the ones I had a choice of there was enough information for me to decide to invest in one (my solitary investment to date). From an initial minimum investment of £50k to the current £10k they now say that they plan to drop to £1k. I hope they don't drop further (like AC) as I feel that a certainly amount of credibility is kept as there are plenty of other sites available for those that wish to invest £20.
They are now sending emails with their "Offer of the Week", the most recent one being quite interesting. I went online to view the loan information only to find none available. I called LI to get a young lady saying that there has been a change in company and that this information will no longer be provided. It was difficult to get a logical reason why except for the fact that the loans are underwritten by Montello. I said that I found it difficult to invest £10k without being able to analyse the loan proposal but was told that 'Montello have a very good track record'. There was nobody on a higher level to talk to and despite a promise of a returned call, I am still waiting.
I notice a bit of a change in LI with less information and less communication. I also notice that there two requests on this thread which still remain unanswered, something they seemed keen enough to do last year. They have also altered their office hours to 9.00 to 17.30 weekdays only. As they are an offshoot of Montello and the loans are secondary and already up and running, they may think that no loan information is required. I would prefer to do my own due diligence rather than follow a 'trust us' policy and am sure that many others would agree. The counter argument to this is that the 'Offer of the Week' loan I referred to earlier is now fully subscribed (at the £10k minimum), so clearly the new policy is acceptable to many.
So there you are, I have a bit of a dichotomy. I like AC because they give you the information to let you make an informed decision but with a potentially long drawdown time. I also like LI but they have now adopted a less favourable policy, although as their loans are already active there is no drawdown delay.
I will endeavour to talk to them again this week and will report back, if successful.
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smee
Member of DD Central
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Post by smee on May 13, 2014 15:51:28 GMT
I'd be interested in knowing how many new loans are made available per week as I think it is important to diversify. There doesn't seem to be any indication on the seven loans shown on the site for unregistered users of how old or new they are. Can anyone tell me? There is usually only one new loan a week, sometimes only one in two weeks. Recently, it seems as if the interest rates have gone down, especially if you want to invest in a Tranche A loan. The last few loans have also been for a longer term and there is no aftermarket.
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Post by lendinvest on May 15, 2014 8:47:22 GMT
Hi all, Great to read about your peer-to-peer lending experiences and to see so much interest in LendInvest’s online marketplace lending. It appears some of you have some unanswered questions! As this is an open forum we maybe don't keep as close an eye on it as we should do, but thanks for bearing with us and we hope the below sections answer your burning questions! It will also be of use to you to know that we've recently improved the FAQ section of our website which also offers a support service where you can ask us questions directly or discuss with the LendInvest community. Regards, The LendInvest Team
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Post by lendinvest on May 15, 2014 8:51:47 GMT
LendInvest’s Track Record: Most of you are aware that LendInvest spun out of existing mortgage lending business Montello. To date LendInvest has lost £0 investor capital and through Montello this same loss rate extends back to 2008 when Montello launched. Our loans are quite short dated typically being a bridging loan (12 months or less). The average duration is between 5-7 months but will extend as we add more medium term (3 year) loans and even longer in due course. In terms of borrowers, it’s not common practice for borrowers to request extensions however it is possible and has been done. We've had a number of our earlier loans repay in full and on-time or early and all interest payments have been made on time (or within a few days in very rare instances). You can see an overview of LendInvest stats and trends here: lendinvest.com/statistics
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Post by lendinvest on May 15, 2014 8:53:42 GMT
LendInvest Investment Criteria:
The current minimum investment threshold is £10,000 per loan. We do intend to lower this threshold to make our investment opportunities more accessible to retail investors, yet retain our sophisticated investors by adding new products which should attract their interest. We're also reviewing our user agreement to make it clearer who is eligible to lend on our platform.
LendInvest is also open to offshore investors, however currently these investors need to seek professional advice on making investments in P2P lending (debt based loans) to ensure they’re acceptable in their jurisdiction.
In response to one of our investors who has requested that we reinstate the Surveyor’s Report, unfortunately we do not intend to reinstate the full property valuation reports. However it is on the development roadmap to incorporate additional information regarding the valuation, the property and the general area the property is located in to give investors more information to base their investment decisions off.
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Post by lendinvest on May 15, 2014 8:57:29 GMT
Future LendInvest Developments:Some of you requested a general update on LendInvest company news, if you haven't already seen we now have an blog section on the LendInvest site. We’ll be publishing more frequent articles and newsletters to investors in order to keep you up to date about our exciting news and developments. In terms of the products currently available on our platform, we have recently launched the first Medium Term Mortgage (MTM) loans and will soon be offering a secondary market facility. A secondary market enables investors to sell/trade their loan part which they have invested in before the loan is redeemed. Until now there hasn't been a need for a secondary market, given the short dated nature of all previous investment opportunities. This new secondary market feature is in our development roadmap and we plan to have it implemented by the Summer, if not sooner. If you aren't already a LendInvest Registered Member, you can subscribe to our mailing list here to ensure you receive all LendInvest updates - bit.ly/RTEjSF
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Post by lendinvest on May 15, 2014 8:59:29 GMT
Spreading Your Investment:
The nature of secured lending against real tangible property (predominately residential) in a stable and liquid market (Greater London) means that investments do not necessarily need to be spread thinly and widely across many multiples of loans as it is with unsecured consumer and SME loans. Through our association with Montello we have an inherited track record of having nil capital losses and also launching our LendInvest business with the experience of lending in this market against property since 2008. We are an existing financial services lending business which is web/technology enabled and not a tech start-up trying to get into finance. We've developed market leading risk mitigation and fraud prevention processes which no other tech start-up platform can compete with.
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ejohn
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Post by ejohn on Jun 5, 2014 9:45:12 GMT
As part of your review of who is eligible for the site (announced above), I would ask you to seriously consider the legality of this criteria:-
'you are currently, or have been in the two years prior to the date of receiving this document, a director of a company with an annual turnover of at least £1 million.'
The wording has already irked some as you may have read on this site.
However, there is a serious risk that it breaches age discrimination legislation. A director of a few months who may never have gone through an end of year process will be eligible. A director who has retired for two years with over 25 years experience( and may still be working on finances in charities etc:) is ineligible. This would suggests that since retiring a senior executive has lost considerable wisdom and knowledge to place him or her below the level of a new unqualified director. Two years after retirement clearly does not bring such degradation. If you are saying it does, then you will be exposed to discrimination law. It may be you meant that you required a director to have had two years experience, as a director. That would be better.
Another point for review is whether any director qualifies. Contrast an HR director or Technical Director with a Finance director. Some directors have very limited understanding of finance even at the balance sheet level.
This brings forward another issue. Those who have postgraduate business qualifications of diploma or above (which normally means they have prior experience before becoming qualified ) are completely excluded even if they have senior level responsibility in a large organisation (say in business analysis) or even in a start up organisation. These people will have far more experience at auditing/analysing company finances, as will most qualified accountants.
And lastly, as pointed out earlier, one of your other criteria - holding two unquoted investments - is easy to fulfill on other sites and suggests no sophistication of the investor that would bring them into the orbit of private equity or angel network competence. And do you really need that level of highly selective competence, anyway?
You may find it safer to stick to the government definition of a sophisticated investor rather than attempt to create self defeating criteria. Whatever you decide, I would recommend making eligibility clear before someone presses the understand terms and conditions box without actually looking at them.
On a personal note, I would like to see you retaining reasonably high level entry deposit (say at least 5k+) with a lower level deal minimum to allow some diversification. Even with a history of good security and credit control as you have previously argued on the forum for single high level investments, I think many would argue that putting all eggs in one basket is not particularly wise. Remember too, that future investors, with significant funds, might just want to put a toe in the water to see what you have and how you operate, before investing more.
In support of this, I would advocate that if you want to gain a reputation for the best customer service which I hope you will commit too, then you will need to restrict customer levels to those that you can provide that service too.
Hope you find this helpful and good luck with whatever you decide to do, (but do stay legal)!
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Post by lendinvest on Jun 5, 2014 15:13:35 GMT
ejohnThank you for your detailed message. As previously mentioned the user agreement is being reviewed. The eligibility is one of the sections that will be changed. The change will reflect less emphasis on being sophisticated/HNW to open our platform to a wider investor base.
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shimself
Member of DD Central
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Post by shimself on Jun 18, 2014 23:21:31 GMT
A couple of improvement requests It was hard to find out how to change my password, which I do quite often AND I was very surprised to be told that the passowrd had to be numbers and letters only, no symbols allowed. This is a long way from best practice.
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