greatmarko
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Post by greatmarko on May 12, 2017 9:07:17 GMT
It has its own dedicated tab on the dashboard, it has its own dedicated page too, which has just contained the two words "Coming Soon" for as long as I've been a member! Any news/ETA on this ablrate? |
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Post by ablrate on May 12, 2017 14:50:50 GMT
It has its own dedicated tab on the dashboard, it has its own dedicated page too, which has just contained the two words "Coming Soon" for as long as I've been a member! Any news/ETA on this ablrate ? lol... this is true.. it is almost done, but we are all hands to the wheel on the IFISA integration right now which should be done soon, we then have a couple of large projects after that and auto-invest should be rolled in. The auto-invest will be issued in 'lite' version initially just allowing you to input criteria for primary market loans.
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blender
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Post by blender on May 16, 2017 10:35:44 GMT
I am troubled by AutoInvest on a platform such as Ablrate. I think of this platform as one for 'sophisticated' lenders, who rely on their judgement rather than the statistics of diversity. Ablrate of course does not provide sufficient loans to provide either sufficient diversity or statistical measures of past performance, or loss rate targets related to diversity levels. The basis of lending here is that you read the documents and are capable of understanding them (I try). What percentage of total funds would AutoInvest be allowed to bid on a loan? 1%? That would take some time. 10%? Would still take some time and would imo be unsafe for a consumer lender. One default would plunge them all into negative earnings and Ablrate would have to recruit a team of customer service staff and PR managers. At the sort of level of 10% these lenders must have the opportunity to withdraw before drawdown, if they subsequently read the docs and become scared. The whole thing is risky from a regulatory viewpoint. IMO AutoInvest on Ablrate not a good idea and the longer it stays in the long grass the better. Very glad the IFISA is the priority. Others may disagree.
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blender
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Post by blender on May 16, 2017 14:50:45 GMT
That's a surprise, ten of us having some concerns about AutoInvest.
I don't want to be negative, but it is also about priorities. In early 2016 I was expecting we would use two IFISA allowances for 2016/7 for FC accounts, cross purchasing on the SM. If someone had said that FC would fail to get approval and fail to launch an IFISA in that year, and that in 2017/8 I would be looking forward to ditching FC and doing the IFISA with Ablrate, well I would not have believed it. But FC have let me down and are pulling out of property, and here we are. The more income that can be protected with the IFISA, the better, and I think it will boost demand for Ablrate loans (on the SM also). Well done Ablrate. Rather than optional bells and whistles, the primary and overwhelming use of the financial expertise of Ablrate should be in chasing down new and good quality loan opportunities. Firstly to provide the income stream that Ablrate needs for building the secure future of the platform, and secondly to increase the resilience of the platform in the event of the second defaulting borrower, which must happen by the very nature of the platform (with p2p it's death, taxes and defaults). I am not suggesting that any loan is heading that way, but when it happens it will hurt.
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macq
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Post by macq on May 16, 2017 15:09:06 GMT
i was just happy to be called 'sophisticated'  .While i agree with your points on auto invest Ablrate as you say are trying to run a business and if people want to invest at a set minimum figure per loan i do not think they will turn them away(not sure about fff for the rest of us).Think by reading the terms C****2***d run an IFISA auto invest feature where you pick the rate you wish to achieve and you are put into loans that hit that rate so not sure there is any dd done by the investor and its set at a minimum of £100.But they also run the usual pick your own loan account as the main product. |
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Post by Butch Cassidy on May 16, 2017 15:27:07 GMT
Whilst I prefer self selection with my own investments I could see a role for this feature if it was more aligned to a COL style "pre fund" or MT "bid limit" feature; as these both help dissipate the FFF style auction frenzy & allow time for some DD or even just reading the associated documents properly. Of course at some time in the future when Abl are pushing many times the loan volume than at present it may become a true auto invest function such as those found on FC or AC. IFISA would be a much more useful & realistic short term objective to help drive the lender base & grow the available platform funds IMO.
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Post by GSV3MIaC on May 17, 2017 10:36:58 GMT
I'd worry about auto invest for significant sums, but for just recycling the monthly repayments (especially on amortising loans) back into things I have already OK'd, or even (in moderation) new things, it would help alleviate the cash drag, or the 'mental drag' of having to login and rebid rather small sums every few days.
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Post by ablrate on May 17, 2017 12:34:56 GMT
That's a surprise, ten of us having some concerns about AutoInvest.
I don't want to be negative, but it is also about priorities. In early 2016 I was expecting we would use two IFISA allowances for 2016/7 for FC accounts, cross purchasing on the SM. If someone had said that FC would fail to get approval and fail to launch an IFISA in that year, and that in 2017/8 I would be looking forward to ditching FC and doing the IFISA with Ablrate, well I would not have believed it. But FC have let me down and are pulling out of property, and here we are. The more income that can be protected with the IFISA, the better, and I think it will boost demand for Ablrate loans (on the SM also). Well done Ablrate. Rather than optional bells and whistles, the primary and overwhelming use of the financial expertise of Ablrate should be in chasing down new and good quality loan opportunities. Firstly to provide the income stream that Ablrate needs for building the secure future of the platform, and secondly to increase the resilience of the platform in the event of the second defaulting borrower, which must happen by the very nature of the platform (with p2p it's death, taxes and defaults). I am not suggesting that any loan is heading that way, but when it happens it will hurt. These are not all mutually exclusive we have several projects in the pipeline that will increase our loans flows over the coming months, as well as new staff members we hope to introduce to you soon. With auto-invest, we have a number of lenders who would buy each of our loans without looking at the docs, as they have an opinion on what we bring to the platform. Many of those people are time poor, cash rich and an auto invest feature works for them. There has to be restrictions of course, but these will be there when we launch. Our job is to bring good loans, increase our lender base and bring new products to benefit lenders and borrowers. Auto-invest and our current strategy of growth is based around those key goals.
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blender
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Post by blender on May 17, 2017 13:17:08 GMT
Of course that all makes sense, Ablrate. It's the restrictions on AutoInvest that are important. The cash rich and time poor are fine, if they know what they are into. What you have to watch for is the hard working families with some savings for the holidays being attracted by the high interest rate, easy lending and easy exit, but not understanding and accepting the risks. Those are the people for whom the regulators and the compensation industry work - and once they have their hooks in you it's big trouble. No doubt you will model the effect of possible defaults.
One of the good things about p2p is that when it works the interests of lenders, borrowers and platform are all co-terminus and all three parties benefit - win-win-win. I think that Ablrate is in that happy state, current problems being containable, but needs growth without too much diversification. Look at FC - tried to bolt property on and has failed, going back to its core business by dropping large secured loans! and probably can only afford to serve Autobidders who don't ask questions. Leaving plenty of space for the likes of Ablrate to grow.
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jfm
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Post by jfm on May 19, 2017 14:25:21 GMT
... current problems being containable...
Hmm containable containers...
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blender
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Post by blender on May 19, 2017 15:15:39 GMT
... current problems being containable...
Hmm containable containers... Yes, in that the size of the default is containable. For those who hold the loan it is a serious issue. Other loans are much larger as a percentage of the total book. And there are groups of large loans backed by the same guarantor.
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.While i agree with your points on auto invest Ablrate as you say are trying to run a business and if people want to invest at a set minimum figure per loan i do not think they will turn them away(not sure about fff for the rest of us).Think by reading the terms C****2***d run an IFISA auto invest feature where you pick the rate you wish to achieve and you are put into loans that hit that rate so not sure there is any dd done by the investor and its set at a minimum of £100.But they also run the usual pick your own loan account as the main product.
