Weekly BS

It's no longer a weekly roundup, it's now a weekly load of twaddle

Having utterly failed as a P2P lending platform, could Lendy be trying to reinvent itself as a blog?

Dear @magenta14 (/forum members)

We are still assessing the appetite for the bonds, and will be able to confirm in due course whether we will be offering the product and at what rates.

We have needed to change our proposition and model over the course of this year, and this has been largely down to us needing to respond to FCA requirements. We are aware however that some of these changes have not had a favourable response from some investors, particularly those who have been with the platform for some time. At times I can concede that their communication could have been clearer. They are however changes that we have needed to make.

Lendy does not undertake valuations. This role is performed by independent RICS-registered valuers. We use the same quality of valuer, and legal firm, as the top high street banks. There is property valuation risk, however, which is why we cover it clearly in our risk and Managing Risk statements - lendy.co.uk/managing-risk/property. We believe we take all reasonable steps to ensure property valuations are accurate.

On communications, I disagree with you. While there is still a lot to do (we are still a very lean machine), I believe there has been a lot of improvements, particularly if you compare them with this time last year, where, for example, communications were irregular and the website had much less content and it did not have a Help Centre, FAQ or news sections. I also disagree with you about the loan updates. It is of course subjective, but linking to loan updates, with search, and alerts, and not dumping them all in an email is far better and far cleaner in our view. And while it has sparked discussions on the forum, we have had positive feedback. I will though look at some ideas to make them as accessible as possible.

With regards the Weekly Round-up, we aim to provide a flavour of the things that we believe should be of interest to people investing via P2P, and in the UK property market in particular. Most of the topics are either news that the P2P media is also picking up (i.e. health of the UK p2p funded property market) or we are being asked to comment on by the media and other sector stakeholders. I will be looking at including a platform route map update at least once a month to avoid too many surprises.

We would however like to hear more from our investors, so if you or others on the forum would like to submit ideas, comments etc. I will happily review and look to publish when we have space, as we do do regularly with investor tips.

On the matter of unsold loan parts, this again was a regulatory requirement in us not being allowed to provide credit to cover shortfalls.

While some might not appreciate how much we do take our responsibilities to lenders seriously, and do our utmost to help them mitigate risk, there will always be a level of risk when it comes to investing, in whatever asset class you choose to invest in. It's for this reason that we have invested heavily in our recovery programme, and have had a lot of success since July this year. Again though, still work to do. Thank you for recognising the work does to date.

There has been various discussions on the forum in relation to the Telegraph, and our late reporting of our accounts. The first matter was resolved to our satisfaction, and we have thanked the Telegraph for retrospectively listening to our arguments. The final case file is available here - www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=19479-17.

With regards Companies House, we are a little late with our filing but we have been in communication with CH who have been happy to grant us an extension. We needed to make a change to our auditors to a company that was a more suitable fit to meet current corporate structure, and that coincided with our filing deadlines. The strike off notice should be removed over the next 48-36 hours.  

I am disappointed that we are losing you as an investor. I do however respect your reasons for moving away. I hope though that over time that we can rebuild your trust and that you do gradually come back.

All the best

Paul64

As feedback with regards to the loan updates.

I, along with a number of people I know in p2p like to be 'fed' information on the loans they are in.  To that end, putting the updates on the web site without alerting us to the fact there is a relevant update (unless someone logs in and checks) is not liked by many. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if you look at this the wrong way, it looks like the updates are being pushed out of the way in hope investors are not reading them. Some other platforms here have done the same and I personally do not like it.

Now, whilst I can agree with you that an update for every single loan on the platform in an email is probably too much for some (and seemingly disliked by Lendy), for the updates on the web site to be liked universally, you probably need to alert us when a relevant update happens. For me, I would like to see an email along the lines of 'one of the loans you are in has an update. Please visit the web site to know more'. Preferably I'd like the content of that update in an email, but I can live with visiting the site to read it if I at least get told it has been updated.

And to add credit where credit is due. The 'my loans' filter and search box for the updates is a great step forward in allowing us to filter to what we want to see.

Except in those cases where you profess to not having any further information that you could give us. For example, who messed up on the Isle of Wight Loan? External valuers external solicitors or internal personnel? This one has all the makings of a good story when it eventually comes out. An Oxford college, a would-be developer with a big name, a ransom strip, uncertain access rights over a tiny road, planning permissions and charges that were not properly understood (by whom?) and maybe a few locals who will be celebrating at Cowes Week - maybe they'll have bought a new yacht out of the proceeds and enter it in the Lendy handicap race? It will get interesting when we know who finally bought this development plot and for how much.

I'm not particularly interested in the weekly round-up email (sorry Paul!). I think some people are slightly over reacting to one extra email in their inbox that they can just ignore if they aren't interested. The transfer of updates to the website is good enough but a slight improvement would be an option in the email preferences for automatic emails to be sent when a loan I'm in gets updated. Most other P2P platforms I use don't send out updates by email unless it's a significant one like a default or suspension.

I come to Lendy for a place to invest. While there are some things I don't like about the platform (e.g. secondary market queue jumping to minimise underwriting costs, keeping investor interest on loanparts in the queue), I understand these are part of Lendy's revenue streams. Lendy aren't here for my benefit and that's ok by me because as Adam Smith said "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Spitting the dummy out while I'm making money just because there are a few things I don't like though seems counter-productive. As such, the two main things I want to see going forward are robust recovery of existing loans and the origination of quality new loans (including more simple residential PBLs ideally, not just mega DFLs) with solid valuations that give Lendy, the borrower and me a chance to make a profit.

Perhaps one of the administrators on here can pin a topic to the top of the Lendy page where people can annotate ideas for Lendy to consider implementing? If Paul64 is tagged in it or Lendy Support then they can see what has been added once a week and consider it.

This should not be used as a place to just moan or ask for particular loan updates. Any posts that are should be flagged and removed.

Maybe by Lendy engaging with investors in this way it will prove that they are listening and want to be more helpful.

My biggest problem is the deafening silence that some posts receive. Like the IOW saga. Although most of us understand that a full explanation could not/would never have been posted in the public domain, just a quick message saying "Please bear with us, we are doing everything we can" would have prevented half of the negativity that is on this forum for all to see.

Please Paul64 , no more mushroom theory and we should all get on great and make money for all of us (And you).