r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 13, 2019 8:16:40 GMT
Anyone with further insights on this currently? Evaluating using them. Just to add that their provision fund has dropped substantially in recent months. This is relevant as LW pay all investors their nominal rate rather then let investors take the hit (in normal market conditions). It has so deteriorated that IMHO they will need to either top it up or no longer have enough PF cash-in-hand in the very near term (next 3-4 months). This has been driven by a very poorly performing loanbook. For 2018 loans, they initially expected a 4.9% bad debt rate and now forecast 7.2%. For 2017 loans, they expected 3.4% and also now forecast 7.2%. So in 2017's case, comfortably over twice as much bad debt as originally forecast. Finally, (from the same page), I cannot satisfy myself that for 2019 loans a blended borrower APR of 14.3% p.a. is going to deliver their forecast bad debt rate of just 5.0%, when a borrower rate of just 9.7% (in 2017) is currently forecast to hit 7.2% bad debt. Any further underperformance will again hit their bottom line and would require further financial injections to continue with a PF. How patient their backers are with all of this, I have no idea. They are far from the only platform not running a profit. Edit: Despite me always feeling bad writing this stuff as I like the platforms simplicity, transparency and engagement with the forum, I'm not going to feel too bad given that another LW thread here is full of people complaining about waiting for their investments to be matched!
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 12, 2019 13:48:06 GMT
My savings account tip of the day - The Investec Notice Plus account. 1.8% interest and only tied in with 95 days notice. Given that the rate beats the best currently available 1 year fix, that's not a bad deal I think. (also has various flavours of shorter notice/immediate access for slightly less interest, and i believe an extra 0.05% interest if you don't withdraw for 90 days) Thanks . Depending on the amount you have to invest £<10000 better have multiple current accounts paying 3-5% for up to £5000 each just cycle minimum deposit each month. Swap regularly and get up to £180 rewards . Currently manage £12000 this way with 3.9% overall. All FSCS protected. Plus instant access penalty free as interest calculated daily. If you require Direct Debits usually 2 if you don’t have enough just set one up for accounts you can then withdraw ie S&S account. Only TSB that I'm aware of fits your criteria (just) at 3% and only allows £1500, unless you count Nationwide, but that's only for a single year. Even if we count N'wide, that still leaves us at only £4k altogether. Is the other £8k your magical 7% BOS current account that no-one else can get? Or do you just manage a lot of TSB accounts?
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 12, 2019 8:55:19 GMT
You obviously have to accept that 'safer' equates to a lower rate of return, and the rate/risk level is always a personal choice. It's very easy to get a perfectly safe, FSCS-backed 1.5% at the moment. For me personally, and set against that, a fixed Access rate of 3% is no longer sufficiently attractive. I don't think any of us can recommend what others do though - it has to remain a personal choice! upperdeane faraday815 as per my other thread, you could try the FSCS Investec Notice Plus account at 1.8% interest. If you want (higher risk) P2P then you could have a look into Assetz Capital if you are not already with them. Their Quick Access Account offers 4.1% interest, or with 90 days notice 5.75%. Plus a welcome bonus offer ongoing at the moment of £150 for a £5k investment, which can also be combined with being referred by a friend for a further £50 too. DYOR, obvs.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 12, 2019 8:38:36 GMT
My savings account tip of the day - The Investec Notice Plus account. 1.8% interest and only tied in with 95 days notice. Given that the rate beats the best currently available 1 year fix, that's not a bad deal I think. (also has various flavours of shorter notice/immediate access for slightly less interest, and i believe an extra 0.05% interest if you don't withdraw for 90 days)
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 12, 2019 8:35:06 GMT
Thank you. YBS is 15 minutes walk for me and I never needed an appointment to open accounts with them. I'll visit the branch tomorrow whilst it's on offer. Drip feeding from 1.6% to 2.5% earns 2.1%, which is still good for today's hostile environment. Coventry BS launched a new regular saver late last month at 2.5% with deposits up to £500 pcm and importantly opening/management by internet ..and with a rather printed novel grid card login system. Like playing a really sad little game of battleships every time.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 11, 2019 14:00:40 GMT
It's just standard fraud prevention measures, nothing to be concerned about. Yes but ... I've just had a major battle to get first direct to release my first payment to GS, their fraud department was simply not willing to listen to my explanation. Unfortunately my admission that the account had only been opened the previous day seemed to add to the problem. I've managed to get my transfer cleared essentially by stating that I take full responsibility should the payment go missing en-route to GS and that I accepted first direct would take no action should I subsequently report an issue. I was left with the impression that I'll have to go through this rigmorole with every transfer I make to this account.
Whilst not an unusually large transaction on my fd account, it was what most people would term 'large', and clearly over the limit by which first direct were willing to accept any responsibility if it had gone wrong.
Funds have now arrived in my GS account, but that was a rather off putting phone call, both in tone and content, and left me feeling I was the "badie" here.
<an aside> I once had a conversation with Halifax/BOS's fraud department about a rejected payment in a similar tone. Their system has always been incredibly sensitive to new payees being set up, even for trivial amounts. I was expecting the usual few tricky-to-immediately-remember questions about it, but ended up being on the phone for 45 minutes in what began to feel a criminal investigation. Each time I responded with an answer, there was a long pause and a "sooo..ok" in a thick Glaswegian detective voice. Then another question. And another. At one point they were asking who my broadband was supplied by. I told them I was in a rented apartment abroad so didn't know. Judging by the tone that then followed, I had clearly confirmed their worst suspicions. I eventually ended up saying something like "Look, what is this, what do you want from me, I'm innocent!" it was that bad. I'm not actually joking - never had a conversation like it with them before or since. Was not funny at the time!
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 11, 2019 11:34:44 GMT
+1 for a complaint re: lack of early repayment emails. Have logged in this morning to find a large early repayment hit my account yesterday, so that cash is now of course stuck in RS until Monday because of this. I'm slightly confused as to why it's stuck, or did it get relent out immediately in the new markets, as in the old products can't one set rates higher than expected to prevent this type of thing happening. I'm also not clear why it you say its stuck until monday though. I set my relend rates in 5Y to 6.0% if something bites when I'm not looking great but at least I catch returned funds when I'm not looking. I usually come in most mornings and check but I also track stuff using the RS reports for the month - I find that whilst RS may report that money is due in on say the 17th it's usually not actually there until sometime after my daily checks I have found. I have never used relend to actually relend automatically but I guess many people do set it and walk away. Stuck just as RS process withdrawals the next working day, which on a Friday means Monday. (I mean, OK, I'm not going to be writing to my MP about this, but it is a minor irritation )
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 11, 2019 11:32:45 GMT
GBP/USD is going absolutely bonkers right now on news that negotiations have entered "the tunnel", up 1.75% (at time of writing) today after a big rise yesterday too.
It does rather bring reality to just how affected the currency would be if a deal were reached with the EU and then looked achievable in Parliament. Would probably be so upwardly volatile as to cause issues for some businesses?
(that is NOT a prediction btw - with zero detail going, who can possibly say this deal can hang together and pass Parliament).
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 11, 2019 9:55:18 GMT
I had a quick look at the T's and C's ( 1/ 2) and although I can't see anything that excludes that possibility, I would suggest dropping them a quick note (enquiries@assetzcapital.co.uk) to find out for sure. Happy to refer you if it works out. I've got a reply that "Both of these promotions can be combined. You can benefit from both the Refer a friend bonus as well as the £150 cash back." Can you refer me, please? Looks like you've already found my PM - glad to hear that worked out!
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 11, 2019 8:10:56 GMT
+1 for a complaint re: lack of early repayment emails. Have logged in this morning to find a large early repayment hit my account yesterday, so that cash is now of course stuck in RS until Monday because of this.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 10, 2019 21:42:49 GMT
Does anyone know whether £75 "refer a friend" and £150 "new investor cashback offer" can be combined? If that's the case I want to ask anyone to refer me so we could both get a referral bonus. I had a quick look at the T's and C's ( 1/ 2) and although I can't see anything that excludes that possibility, I would suggest dropping them a quick note (enquiries@assetzcapital.co.uk) to find out for sure. Happy to refer you if it works out.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 8, 2019 8:56:15 GMT
This thread has opened my eyes to the correlation between views on climate change and brexit. I'm not sure I took the correlation seriously before now but a handful of posters prompted further reading and the polling suggests it's real. I guess the same applies to views on Trump, another figure that appears to polarise people. Trump, Brexit, and climate change all speak to the divide between liberal, facts-based, outward looking individuals and conservative feelings-based inwards looking individuals. Re: inwards/outwards looking, examples all over the place e.g. Climate change - Outward: "The scientific consensus is really worrying as it looks like we're on a really damaging path" Inward: "Scientists/news are always going on about the end of the world, nothing's ever happened to me. Could do with a bit of warming here right now!" Brexit - Outward: "If we have No-Deal, it's going to be massively damaging to parts of the economy and harm the UK's long-term prospects" Inward: " My job's gonna be ok / I have a fat guaranteed pension, and the news is always full of lies anyway" Trump - Outward: " He's a misogynistic racist who has horrible policies that affect various groups of people severely" Inward "Yeah, but he likes me".I should clarify that there's nothing inherently wrong about being inward-looking. Being inward-looking can protect united cultural values, promote cultural cohesion, and a basis to 'all pull together'. We need both types of people, but what's unfortunately happening at the moment is a culture war between the two led by those with interests in driving us apart.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 7, 2019 7:54:11 GMT
For those who aren't going for the "additional 1% cashback" for ISA investment, any extra money being kept in just to qualify for this promotion should now be free to use as you wish.
Looking at my chart tracking various AC balances, I don't think AC are likely to be running another similar promotion in the immediate future - the "access accounts" appear to have more than £26M of non-invested cash, which is substantially higher than the level has been at the launch of any similar promotion (for this one, it was about £7M when the promotion launched, and somewhat lower a few days earlier when the decision would have been made), and the markets seem more stable with very few "loans available at a discount".
I concur. It would seem rather sensible to keep some spare capacity and further promotional ammo in the kitty given the current politics and also the apparently forthcoming insolvency of another platform (as advertised by the Times).
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 7, 2019 7:44:22 GMT
There's a big article about P2P on pages 44 and 45. 'A further platform is teetering on the brink of insolvency' apparently. Any ideas which one? Link here:
Re: your question, perhaps the answer lies a couple of paragraphs down: "So why the downturn in confidence? There are some clues in the FCA’s recent letter, which talks about “rapid changes to business models” and problems in an alarming array of areas, including “disclosure of information to clients, charging structures . . . and record keeping”. "Where lending platforms are reluctant to recognise defaults, as many are, published bad debt rates can be misleading." Also note that the article also covers Assetz' recent announcement re: the PF/Turbines.
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r00lish67
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Post by r00lish67 on Oct 6, 2019 7:45:18 GMT
When I borrowed money the bank would have had immediate control of any racehorse I had bought but here I guess FS have no charge on HER unless they petition for bankruptcy ? If they do this I suspect the wife may get a nice birthday present. With Fundingsecure's timescales, by the time they had full control of the horse the full recovery value would extend to the wholesale value of a few pots of glue and some particularly well-bred faux fillets in an upmarket French bistro.
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