EasyMoney launches IFISA targeting 4.05% pa

Companies House
beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04861007

and  FCA

register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_FirmDetailsPage?id=001b000000MfOWOAA3

Links for E-Money Capital / easymoney

Hopefully no need to be in DDC orange

I haven't invested, but I did look into it - so, my 2 cents.

I'm all for diversifying to new platforms, but there's no track record as of yet (https://easymoney.com/statistics) and the main concern for me is that their rates are 'target returns' without any form of provision, so all risk of not achieving those is with us and even if those returns are hit, we're left faffing around collecting pennies for years as recoveries drip in.

They've pinched FC's 'balanced' and 'conservative' products, and applied them solely to property by the look of it. But don't worry, they have "many years of experience in property and property lending"   - and so the cycle begins again?

Their main USP's appear to be the ability to go the cinema more cheaply and that you're investing with a 'big brand'. They seem to be using those two points to avoid the need to play with nice big rates to begin with, or offer any other comfort blankets.

If they would offer a straightforward rate a'la RS/LW, then I might be interested, but without that I can't feel the love.

Orca money had a look too www.orcamoney.com/blog/easymoney

They're more polite than me, but did finish with "Certainly, the Innovate <sic> Finance ISA is straight forward to set up, aimed at the masses and is easy to invest in, but the loans sitting behind may be of a higher risk, which may challenge the value delivered"

Edit: OK, weirdly enough, I've just found one thing in their favour. You can now get £105 cashback for a £5k investment via Quidco 

www.quidco.com/easymoney/?ucb=11da5dab587768c39574b9a398f8dee43

I have opened an account with Easy money back in April. 

I opted for the 4.05% conservative. max ltv is 65%, no cash drag at the time when i deposited thr money. min intial investment is £1k.


The balanced offers 7.28%, min initial investment is £10k, max ltv is 75%.

The platform is new, so my initial 1k is not being diversified at all. all lent out to on single borrower.

the money repayment is currently reinvested back to the SAME LOAN I already lent out. It seems there is no option to TURN OFF REINVESTMENT.

The real benfit is lifework membership, offers discount voucher like 3% off on Amazon, the delivery of these online voucher is instant and lifeworks accept Amex for payment. 

to access money early, there is an option to sell loan, but it seems the max i can sell is 50% of initial investment.

Wow, given there's no provision fund, it's pretty scary that they'd lump it all into a single loan. AIUI, if that loan fails, then with Easy you're pretty much simply stuck with it until resolution.

Charges Table

In most instances, fees and charges are levied directly from the borrowers. However, the following charges apply fo administrative duties.

FEES AMOUNT

OPENING CHARGE £0.00
CLOSURE CHARGE £0.00
INVESTMENT CHARGE £0.00
IFISA TRANSFER IN CHARGE £0.00
ANNUAL CHARGE £0.00
REPAIRING AN ISA £0.00
STATEMENTS £0.00
WITHDRAWAL OF INTEREST £0.00
DECEASED (INTERNAL) £0.00
DECEASED (ADDITIONAL PERMITTED SUBSCRIPTION-INTERNAL) £0.00
DECEASED (ADDITIONAL PERMITTED SUBSCRIPTION-EXTERNAL) £50.00
DECEASED (EXTERNAL) £50.00
IFISA TRANSFER OUT CHARGE £50.00
WITHDRAWAL CHARGE £50.00
VOIDING AN ISA £50.00
PAPER APPLICATION SERVICES £50.00
BANKRUPTCY (NO LOANS) £50.00
BANKRUPTCY (ON LOAN) £200.00

I don't understand half of these potential charges, but it seems withdrawing interest is free, but withdrawing capital may cost £50, is that correct? (My bold on potential non zero charges.) 

I'm sure you know better than me, but that table of fees is in both the 'Lenders T&Cs' that apply to all lenders and in the separate 'IFISA T&Cs'. The IFISA terms are said to be supplemental to the lender terms (and they have separated them to avoid confusion....).

I could contact them to clarify but think I've decided against this one.   

Hi mudegg,

Let me tell you the discount first, currys 6% off, John Lewis 3%, tesco 3%, waitress 3%, National trust 9% off, virgin experience 12 %, Costa 6%. There are more discount for gift cards, instore10 and cinema deals

No Asda at the moment. And recently Lifeworks pulled off Amazon 3% discount 😡, nothing to do with Easymoney.

In store discount,

Halford 10%, apple up to 10%, vision express free eye test snow and rock 10%, bodyshop 30%,

Since Lifeworks can change the discount partner anytime, what really matters is liquidity of easy money.

At the moment, I am happy to say it's liquidity is good, I can withdraw pretty much to any value I want at the moment.

Regarding diversification, I don't havr a clue how it really works.


This is a quote from Easy Money FAQ:-
"Your money may start off being leant against a single loan, but the objective is to diversify you across a number of loans as quickly as possible. The precise number of loans across which we will diversify your investment will depend on market conditions.
You can view the actual P2P loans and cash held in your portfolio at any time via the ‘My Portfolio’ page."

All I can say I had £1000 diversified in 2 loans in June, then in the beginning of July it was 3 loans, but now I only have 1 loans.

I am waiting for the next monthly repayments and see if the repayment will be invested in a different loan next month.