jaswells
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Wellesley & Co (W&Co) in Administration
equity raise
Jan 5, 2017 22:06:38 GMT
Post by jaswells on Jan 5, 2017 22:06:38 GMT
Has the seedrs campaign been dropped? I cannot seem to access information on it anymore.
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jaswells
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Wellesley & Co (W&Co) in Administration
equity raise
Jan 5, 2017 9:28:40 GMT
Post by jaswells on Jan 5, 2017 9:28:40 GMT
To be fair Wellesley are probably not the only p2p company that would need to raise money over the next year or so to continue as a going concern. The unfortunate thing is that once confidence is dented it can be difficult to rebuild, particularly in this area of business. However, Wellesley do have an outstanding customer service record to date and built what seems to be a strong team around them. As long as they can continue to expand their loan book and manage outgoings (which they are seemingly doing) they can continue to build their position as one of the largest p2p lenders in the market.
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jaswells
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WiseAlpha
wiseAlpha
Nov 19, 2016 22:52:47 GMT
Post by jaswells on Nov 19, 2016 22:52:47 GMT
With these relatively safe bonds your real returns will only be negative if inflation goes above 5-6% for an extended period of time (as long as you hold to maturity)
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Nov 17, 2016 23:43:34 GMT
Once they get availability to cheap capital as with any bank they will simply have a range of products with returns marginally higher than high street banks (due to lower costs). Bit depressing really if this is the long term goal for most p2p's. Fractional reserve banking is the problem for savers, p2p hoped to meet a need. Zopa is going over to the dark side.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Nov 4, 2016 22:34:52 GMT
As far as I understand the SM will run alongside the PM in its first phase of development. So indeed you would be able to buy any bond listed on the platform or put up for sale any you hold.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Nov 3, 2016 1:19:22 GMT
Yes, Zopa,FC and RS are the more established, safe (?!?) p2p lenders on the market, although their platforms don't always feel that way. Their loan volume is consistent, strong and varied. Rates have been falling which is a reason to look at alternatives and long term returns for Zopa Plus lenders still unknown. I would put almost every other platform on a similar risk level in an overcrowded market. Certainly some appear to be getting a real foothold and market share (SS, MT,AC etc ) but its early days and consolidation is likely.
I think WA works for someone who feels maxed out in other P2P companies and needs to spread their capital further. Newbies might be put off by the apparent complexity of their offering but at least it is genuinely different to yet another BTL, piece of farmland or mysterious small company loan elsewhere. Its also significantly less work than trying to continuously monitor your individual loan investments in AC or SS for example.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Nov 2, 2016 23:47:13 GMT
Is Virgin media risk at 5.7% YTM less risky than an entire portfolio at some of the main P2P platforms in your opinion?
It is an interesting question and as retail investors we often work with limited information. VM has a good credit rating, has strong market presence, brand and its balance sheet is exceptionally strong. In a healthy mix of 10-20 investments on SS and MT I would expect one or two to hit difficulties. However with VM you need to be willing to tie up your funds for 13 years (gulp) as at this point we cannot guarantee selling into a SM (The time frame is much less on other options however). Portfolios in p2p can be for 6-12 month loans so a different proposition all together and rates could be as high as 10-12%. The closest would be a 5 year RS account where presently 5.7% is quite difficult to achieve.
So its very difficult to answer the question but its definitely better than average in p2p. At present WA is better as a 'fire and forget' proposition with rates in very safe investments which you simply cannot get elsewhere. Other retail/mini bonds (4-7%) simply don't have the level of security. Preference shares, PIBS or (in particular) ordinary shares all have different layers of risk without better returns with a real possibility of capital loss over a medium term.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Nov 2, 2016 0:22:51 GMT
I have a growing percentage of my savings with Wisealpha and have been extremely impressed with their level of professionalism and communication to date. I am also invested in AC,FS,SS,AC,FC, RS,MT and Zopa and customer service experience is mixed. RS and Zopa feel most secure due to their longevity and I would rank the remainder on a similar level, they are untested in a downturn and still very much in the early stages of business development.
In terms of investments made I feel wisealpha offers the highest quality investments across my portfolio. These are senior secured debt instruments with some highly profitable, diversified multinational companies. Elsewhere for a couple of percentage points more I am invested in some rather dubious small businesses with almost no track record of profitability and potentially overvalued single securities.
To diversify I would encourage potential investors to give WA a go. The 1% promotion makes for some really decent returns.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Sept 26, 2016 22:27:34 GMT
I would make a plea for a pre funding set up. It works well on SS. I am one of the unfortunate ones who cannot be available at 4pm and can never get a slice of the pie.
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jaswells
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WiseAlpha
wiseAlpha
Sept 23, 2016 21:46:21 GMT
Post by jaswells on Sept 23, 2016 21:46:21 GMT
There is a risk with this type of investment but in my view very very small relative to other p2p type platforms. As with every site fraud stands out as the biggie and if everything turned out to be not quite as it seemed then there is potential for massive losses. There is only so much due diligence an investor can make. In Wisealpha's case so far so good, but they must remain in a position whereby they are at all times appearing to not trying to spin the operation or pull the wool over investors eyes. This is paramount to longevity of the platform. You can already see some minor p2p sites that have struggled with this and IMO will be the first to fail.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Sept 20, 2016 12:24:33 GMT
Wisealpha, along with the more standard p2p lending sites are all throwing up a challenge to some of the established patterns in the finance markets and the hold central bankers and institutional investors have over debt instruments. The criminality of a zero interest rate policy to 'stimulate' the economy should not be underestimated by the average personal saver trying to get by and save for later life. So far transparency by companies like wisealpha and a commitment to corporate responsibility is building trust which will be very hard earnt but easily lost. Keep up the good work.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Aug 10, 2016 0:26:14 GMT
Over 200k available from 6 different businesses at the moment.
To be honest I am perplexed how some really dodgy looking companies debt are snapped up on sites like A***** (for 8-10%). Ive seen small companies in deep debt whose spurious revenue stream (appears to come from somewhere in Africa) have their loans disappear in hours. Yet here on Wisealpha for 5-6% multinationals with huge revenues streams, who have successfully floated on the SM and have multi billion of assets (of which loan has first draw on) sit in oversupply.
My perception is that people have not yet caught on to this platform yet. Im not convinced platform risk is much different between sites at this early stage of industry growth.
Maybe i'm missing something or maybe many folk are making some really poor investments. Time will tell.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Jan 29, 2016 22:17:35 GMT
I am sure ratesetter have made a profit for the last two years, but their method of accounting, as with the other P2P platforms results in a trading account showing a loss around the 1 million mark. Whilst the improved transparency of company accounts is wellome by investors, it can cause confusion as it is all we have to go on when trying to answer the toughest question of all: What is the likelihood of the P2P platform failing due to excessive losses and me losing my investment? When and if a platform can show ongoing profit growth (maybe in going public) this will be the moment investor confidence surges and their market position consolidated.
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Jan 29, 2016 10:44:57 GMT
How is saving stream's business model so different than say, zopa? I am just wondering how and why their revenue stream is more secure or buoyant?
On that note Zopa has been around nearly a decade and still making eye watering yearly losses (as sown on the P and L account).
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jaswells
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Post by jaswells on Jan 29, 2016 10:14:38 GMT
Fair enough and I am willing and hope this is true. I can only read the P and L statements as I see them from companies house which show large losses by all the big firms. I am willing to accept that this is a complex business structure though and financial statements are unlikely to be easy to digest or particularly transparent.
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