Sunday Telegraph

Care to provide more details?

Hardly surprising and not difficult.  No sources, few facts, no comparative discussion, no context, no consideration of the wider implications or where the issue may lie.

'FCA is understood' ... from whom? ... a bloke down the pub, a disgruntled lender ... not even sources close to Lendy this time or the FCA.

Percentage of Lendy book outside term ... excellent a fact ... so how does that compare to other P2P platforms, bridging industry as a whole, high risk lenders etc?

As to the actual case ... 4.9m valuation ... understood to be only worth 2m now ... again understood from whom ... a valuer, the property agents, sources close to Lendy? Why the drop ... failure by the borrower to maintain the property, issues over title, lack of leases, change in local conditions, the B word ... Interestingly, part of the property was valued by a different valuer in 2014 and in comparison the valuation for Lendy is actually conservative.

So what about the wider issue which is probably where the journalist should be going? Where does the actual issue lie? With the platform? With the valuer? Collusion between the two? Should they be looking at how the whole valuation industry works, the role of the regulator/professional body RICS which allows valuations to be made carrying their validations of methodology and standards? None of this is touched on at all.

Carefully rode my bike to the library to read the DT.  Call me "wild".  Anyway Lendy have a big central yacht photo in the business section, fantastic publicity and the Telegraph  or "the travel magazine of the oldie" as we call it at home has done a not very good write up.  I thought taking on Cowes week might be a mistake .

Or Ratner Group.

Dear all, thanks for the comments on today's The Daily Telegraph article.

As a company, we co-operated fully with the newspaper, advising where we felt they had their facts wrong, and where we felt they were misrepresenting facts. While they included some of our comments, they ignored most of our responses.

As part of our application for full FCA authorisation, we confirmed that, like all regulated companies, we do of course meet with the FCA on a regular basis. Many of the recent changes to the platform have been as a result of our discussions with the FCA. 

We have been as transparent as we can be at the current time with investor in PBL155 (W******y C****e) that was featured in the article. Our most recent update said: ""As part of the LPA receiver’s initial due diligence following its appointment on this loan, it has taken advice from various third parties in connection with the property’s value. Unfortunately, this advice has returned giving an adverse opinion as to the property value. In light of this, and in line with our regulatory requirements, Lendy has taken the decision to suspend the trading of this loan on the secondary market given the change to the risk profile. At this point in time, we are unable to release more information in order to protect any claims we may have against various parties. Please be assured that Lendy will be pursuing all appropriate recovery options available to ensure the maximum return to its investors." We were therefore unable to confirm anything more to the journalist while we continue the recovery process. 

While this has been a difficult loan, Lendy has invested a lot of resources on recovery over recent months. Earlier last week, we made what we believe to be the UK’s biggest-ever single P2P loan repayment. The loan, which was secured against the former Kentish Town Studios building in north London, was repaid in full 21 days ahead of schedule. This was one of a batch of repayments that are expected to total £19m over the next couple of weeks, bringing repayments since July 2017 to £38.5m, and a total of over £180 million in capital and interest to lenders repaid since the platform was launched in October 2012.

All our loans are at a maximum of 70% LTV, which gives lenders a cushion if a non-performing loan does eventually lead to Lendy foreclosing on the borrower. In addition to the sale of the security, we often have further recourse against the borrower, as is the case with this loan. Where a property is negligently overvalued, we have the option of pursuing the independent valuer’s professional indemnity insurer for the damages.

Regarding loans in default, at present, just 13% of Lendy’s loan book by value is considered non-performing. When the entire loan book since inception is taken into account, this figure is 7%. No lenders through the Lendy platform have, to date, suffered any losses of principal on loans.

We also explained to The Telegraph that portraying an overdue loan as a default is a clear misrepresentation of how the bridging loan market operates. We stressed that the bridging loan market could not operate if every loan that was one day overdue was forced into default and recovery action. A bridging loan is a commercial agreement that is not comparable to, for example, a residential mortgage. Some degree of tolerance period is virtually universal in the bridging loan market, as it allows a degree of flexibility for the lender to resolve common situations that are beyond the control of the borrower, such as delays in planning permission.

While the Telegraph article was not ideal, we have confidence in our model, which has proved very successful over recent years, and also in our ability to recover loans that have gone post term. 

We always say: "All loans made through Lendy’s platform are secured on UK property; however, your capital is at risk should a borrower default. Funds lent through a peer to peer website are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Whilst no Lendy investor has been subject to any loss of capital, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Please obtain independent advice if you are in any doubt as to whether this platform is suitable for you or if you require tax advice. Please see our full risk statement - www.lendy.co.uk/risk. 

Regards

Paul64 Lendy Support

I’m still investing with Lendy when further attractive loans become available.