Investment levels in Lendy

I'm slowly increasing with new capital and reinvesting interest. Having already diversified into ABL and MT (and briefly Property Crowd) there are a number of things I like about Lendy.

- Profitability, size and cash in the bank
- Retaining interest for the loan period (on most loans)
- Simplicity of the website
- Speed and style of SM (although obviously I didn't like the recent glut)
- Participation on this forum (lots of people actively posting good info)

Now before everyone starts flipping over their desks in outrage,  I agree with many of the criticisms of Lendy (particularly the lower rate loans and lack of transparency on the provision fund). That said, I'm a relatively new investor (6 months) with surplus funds still to deploy so I haven't seen how good it once was but equally I don't have preconceived notions of how it should be. I assess the investment proposition as it stands and revise it when it changes. I probably would have more in Lendy right now and would have diversified less if they had not made some of the choices they have. 

However, while the criticisms do stand it has to be balanced with:

- This forum magnifies negative sentiment with some people posting emotionally. This could indicate increased risk or a buying opportunity depending on how you assess the other factors.
- Some bad loans does not automatically equate to all bad loans so again opportunities may still exist. 
- Until we see people actually lose money there is no hard evidence other platforms like ABL or MT are less risky. Much of what is written is just speculation and sentiment.
- While not engaging well with investors on this forum, they do appear to be improving in key areas around transparency, interest rates and communication.
- The SM glut is now in a downtrend - maxing my prefund for the cashback offer on DFL019 now looks like a good move.
- The lack of continued cashback offers in the pipeline may indicate increased confidence by Lendy and a continuation of that trend.
- Changing their business model to get FCA approval indicates they are likely to get it eventually.

The biggest risk I see going forward would be a wider property market crash stemming from one or all of the following: derivatives, foreign investment, government debt/spending, central bank funny money. If that happens I think it doesn't really matter what platform you are on you are going to get burned... so then we get into a separate conversation about diversifying across other assets classes to mitigate risk.

I don't have a problem with the platform but I'm withdrawing capital as it repays and interest because I decided a few months ago when the SM liquidity started drying up to only invest in loans I'm willing to hold to term like I do on other platforms. I'd be happy to add to my capital if Lendy brought out new loans at a competative rate (ie. 12% + because that's what MT/ABL/COL are offering) and I had confidence the valuations would hold up in a forced sale.

Unfortunately the last loan that came out that met these criteria for me was PBL168 at the start of April(!). These more recent offerings at 12% PBL178/179 and DFL025/027/028/029 didn't excite me much when I read the valuations and did some DD on some of the borrowers. The new tranches of the DFLs that have come out I'm already maxed out in. If Lendy upped the quality of their offerings in terms of real LTV and rate I'd jump straight back in with more capital but until loans come along that replace the loans being repaid my balance will continue to decrease.

Slow decline as loans are repaid and interest appears, not because I dislike the platform, indeed its my favourite, but I'm maxed out on all nearly every loan I have, so the new DFL tranches are no use to me. If new borrowers appeared at 11-12% I'd put money back, but at the moment its going into FS (no idea why people like MT, it seems to offer little to me)