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Post by Paul64 on Apr 6, 2017 16:23:29 GMT
Hi all, sorry about this but we are still awaiting a response from the borrower's solicitors, so it's likely the loan will tip over to tomorrow. I'll provide a short update when I hear anything more.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 6, 2017 13:49:40 GMT
We are still expecting that this loan will go live today.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 6, 2017 13:31:06 GMT
Lendy's policies and positions
All,
Thanks for your DMs, and for the recent exchange regarding defaults and the Provision Fund.
I'd like to summarise Lendy's policy and positions in a number of areas, which I hope you will find helpful.
The Forum
Most companies in our sector choose not to engage with the forum, largely because most members are anonymous and therefore a company is unable to know whom it is communicating with.
Lendy's view is that the forum is a beneficial platform for investors, and on occasions we do engage, particularly when there has been a service glitch or we have made an error. Members however should use our Contact service (https://lendy.co.uk/contact) as it is monitored for quality, training and regulatory purposes. Please do not rely on a response from me via the forum just because you have tagged me, as they can get missed.
Most companies provide a 'Contact us' service. Some companies also, like us, provide an extensive FAQ and Glossary to help customers get the answers they need quickly and efficiently, without the need to speak with someone.
To manage expectations, Lendy is a small but fast-growing operating on very tight budgets. During busy times, which are most days now, our support team service level agreement (SLA) is five working days and sooner if we can (but not guaranteed) or if a request is clearly urgent.
Opening times : 9am-5-30pm Monday to Friday. We are not open Saturdays, Sundays or bank holidays.
Most general answers can be found however in our FAQs (https://support.lendy.co.uk/hc/en-us), which we keep regularly updated.
Credit assessments
All information that we have on an investment opportunity is published in our Loans section (https://lendy.co.uk/loans/available). This section contains a summary of our extensive and detailed due diligence undertaken by our in-house credit team and external partners.
The solicitors we use are specialist in the real estate market. For larger loans we only use Top 100 law firms. Our current panel is DAC Beachcroft, Clarke Willmott, and Shakespeare Martineau. We employ independent specialist firms for our valuations who use RICS registered valuers to carry out a RICS Red Book valuation.
All credit checks are undertaken by independent external agencies, with our own credit team undertaking their own checks. Only once our Credit Committee is satisfied that all searches, checks, valuations, legals etc. are complete and have met our strict lending criteria will a loan go live on a platform. It is for this reason that sometimes Advance Notice Go-Lives are delayed if we have identified a late issue that causes us concern.
The Provision Fund
While we do our best to mitigate investment risk, and have a discretionary provision fund in place to help protect investors from shortfalls, no-one should be investing on the basis that we have one. Capital is at risk, as we say in all of our marketing. Investors should be investing on the basis of the opportunity and the information provided about that opportunity, which is available in Loans (https://lendy.co.uk/loans/available) then Asset Details. Here you will find all the information we have on an investment opportunity, which we keep updated.
If an investor has any concerns about an opportunity based on the information provided then they should not invest.
A provision fund is one way of mitigating risk but there are many others. For example we are well-capitalised and profitable, which is rare in our sector. We also have a good track record of looking after our customers.
The Provision Fund is discretionary, i.e. it is not guaranteed. However, at the current time our policy states that ''the Fund will aim to have a minimum balance of 2% of the total live loan amount at any time,” and it will.
Our platform model
Our platform is simple, intuitive and responsive, but like all systems, it does suffer service glitches from time to time due to the technology, partner issues, and, occasionally, human error. We always try and notify our clients when we are aware of an issue and correct it as soon as we can. But we do, at times, get it wrong, and I am sorry if you feel that we have given you reason to be frustrated.
The top five improvements being explored at the current time are:
• Fix for stuck loan parts • IT glitches such as transaction errors and duplicate deposits
• News alert on home page for systems or service issues
• Improving communications on services like Go-lives, and service/loan status changes
• Continuous improvement to the website site and account management functionality
Monitoring survey reports
We also get regular questions on publishing monitoring survey reports. Our policy position is still that they are not suitable for investors for reasons explained here. (https://support.lendy.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/115002435269--Will-you-be-providing-Monitoring-Survey-Reports-on-the-platfrom-).
However, we understand that investors would find regular updates on an investment project helpful and reassuring, so we are exploring what other arrangements could be provided.
I will update you when I have news.
We have though made a lot of other improvements over recent months, which we hope people are beginning to see, including enhancements to banking transactions. We are working hard to improve and enhance a lot of our services, but it can't all happen overnight.
Finally, we want everyone to be happy and we always try to do our best to resolve problems. We have a particular model, which is simple and liked by a great many people. And, as I have said, we are profitable, which is hugely important for investors at the current time.
Of course there are other companies that will provide certain things that we don't and visa versa, so it is therefore down to investors to decide which platform they prefer.
Kind regards
Paul
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 5, 2017 14:26:46 GMT
Hi, I have answered this so many times via DM to members. The new description is here. lendy.co.uk/how-it-works#provision-fund. "The Fund will aim to have a minimum balance of 2% of the total live loan amount at any time. Every time a new loan is made a proportion of the fee charged to the borrower is paid into the Provision Fund (the amount is dependent on the loan size). If the Provision Fund is used to cover a shortfall in asset disposal, then it may take time to top the Provision Fund back up from company cashflow."
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 5, 2017 14:17:31 GMT
Hi, I have responded via DM to a couple of forum members. However, as a general comment the description of the PF has been rewritten/updated, as we update all of our policies from time to time. The fund is still discretionary, but it is still in place in the event of shortfall. Nothing has changed. And the policy's location has not moved. On a wider point the entire website has been rewritten/refreshed. We have also provided much more information on how to use our service, and included many more helpful links to various documents like our default policy and the provision fund in our new Help Centre. Information is now much easier to find than it ever was, and policies like our Provision Fund can be very easily found under FAQs. lendy.co.uk/how-it-works#provision-fundsupport.lendy.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/115002029365--How-does-your-lending-work-
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 5, 2017 13:43:27 GMT
Hi, £9m figure is correct, as is the 5% of the live loan book figure. But the information on the provision fund has not moved and is exactly where it always was, under the How It Works and FAQ sections. I can see that the selling at discount idea would have some appeal, so we will investigate further.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 5, 2017 11:44:53 GMT
Hi, we have had confirmation from the valuer as to the residual land value of phase 1 of the site (this has increased the overall residual land value of the site from £10.1m to £10.37m and is commented upon in the loan parts. We have also clarified/confirmed the GDV of phase one as per the commentary in the loan parts copied below;:
- GDV of Phase 1 is now calculated at £33,804,000 being the GDV of the completed 60 eco-lodges and 94 eco-glamping pods (£26,180,000) plus the value of the existing buildings/property on the site (arena, gas and restaurant site of £3,654,000) plus the residual land value of phase two (£3,970,000).
Hence the increase in the GDV on the website of £3,970,000, as the residual land value of phase 2 was previously excluded, but is now included.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 5, 2017 8:25:14 GMT
Hi, can you please send this via Contact Us (https://lendy.co.uk/contact) so Support can pick it up, or DM me with your details and I'll pass on to the Support team direct.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 4, 2017 15:38:59 GMT
As explained, it is our business model, and in most cases our customers tell us they understand that delays can sometimes happen.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 4, 2017 15:09:41 GMT
Each company has their own business model, with particular features that appeal to their customers. No company is a 'one size fits all'.
The vast majority of our 'advance go lives' are live within 24 hours. However, any thorough due diligence process will, on occasions, throw up 11th hour questions that were not identified by solicitors before, and we would always want to be 100% satisfied that all questions have been answered before a go live.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 4, 2017 13:40:00 GMT
Hi, it is imminent, but there are still one or two more steps that we need to undertake to complete the due diligence, which is taking slightly longer than anticipated. While I wouldn't want to put a timescale on it, I wouldn't expect it to be any longer than a couple more days.
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Post by Paul64 on Apr 3, 2017 16:07:24 GMT
No conspiracy I am afraid, despite the theories. It was a simple admin error, which credited March's interest at a flat 12%pa across all loan parts. This was corrected over the weekend, but it did result in some investors receiving less interest than stated on Saturday for loan parts that should be paying less than 12%pa. I'm sorry it happened, but nobody should be disadvantaged. Please though contact support via lendy.co.uk/contact if you have any account specific questions and the team will happily look to investigate them on your behalf.
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Post by Paul64 on Mar 31, 2017 13:45:21 GMT
The legal due diligence is in its final stage on PBL167. We are expecting this loan to go live over the next couple of days.
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Post by Paul64 on Mar 30, 2017 19:23:06 GMT
No thanks. Wouldn't want to intrude too much in your entertaining exchanges. Paul
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Post by Paul64 on Mar 30, 2017 18:42:27 GMT
Happy to give some insight into our thinking if you drop me a line via our Contact Us service. I look forward to hearing from you. Paul
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