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Post by sannytwist on May 30, 2018 6:20:42 GMT
Hi, l was wondering what the overall opinion on unbolted. Been struggling to find a place to invest my pennies and while there has been a big deduction lately in interest rate how are people finding this platform?
Regards,
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stokeloans
Member of DD Central
Posts: 400
Likes: 484
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Post by stokeloans on May 30, 2018 8:36:00 GMT
I don't have any confidence in any p2p platform long term which is why I'm selling out where possible. Unbolted were my favourite until the rate cuts. We take all the risk so the returns should reflect that.Unbolteds rates no longer justify the returns in my opinion
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archie
Posts: 1,838
Likes: 1,842
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Post by archie on May 30, 2018 8:50:09 GMT
Before the rate cuts I would have recommended it. Now, it's just about ok. I'm not sure the rewards justify the risk.
I haven't reduced my funds here yet, that's mainly because I'm not sure where I'd move them to. I'm unlikely to add much though.
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Post by pedz14 on May 30, 2018 9:18:42 GMT
I am currently withdrawing funds as they become available mainly due to the rate cuts.
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IFISAcava
Member of DD Central
Posts: 3,664
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Post by IFISAcava on May 30, 2018 10:22:29 GMT
Waiting for the IFISA. Not adding or taking away yet, but my allocations per loan are increasing which means others are investing less.
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Post by sannytwist on May 30, 2018 12:02:56 GMT
I find myself in similar situation. Actually think with the rate cuts it has reduced my interest to invest into this platform.
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andy1
Member of DD Central
Posts: 103
Likes: 107
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Post by andy1 on May 30, 2018 14:25:24 GMT
When they announced the rate change I stopped adding money. I let my small cash balance get allocated but I've set auto lend limits to 0 now.
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amwinv
Member of DD Central
Posts: 198
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Post by amwinv on May 30, 2018 17:51:40 GMT
Even though on the face of it, the reduction is shown as around 0.1-0.2%, that actually equated to an interest cut of about 20%... So I'm currently cutting my investment by 100% as fast as they repay. I was incredibly unhappy about their decision and made it known here.
The other recent thread about the rate cut shows some arguments for and against the platform now, that's worth a read of you havent already. It's really up to you to make up your mind based on these percentages offered versus perceived risk. Don't take anyone's rants or raves for either side as gospel.
UNB have alledgedly "shown" that the platform is "safe" for our investment.
But as we are continually told in investing:
"past performance is not an indication of future performance" (...Unless they want to use exactly that to justify rate cuts)
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Esmeralda
Member of DD Central
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Post by Esmeralda on May 30, 2018 19:55:59 GMT
I regularly topped up my account by £50-£100 every time my cash balance hit £50 and I intended to keep doing that, but now that the interest rates have been cut I've set my auto lend limits to zero and I'll be withdrawing as funds are repaid to me. It's a shame as I really liked UNB, but for me they made a bad move when they announced the lower interest rates. I'm sure UNB won't suffer though - there will be plenty of people happy to keep or start investing, but for me it's no longer worth the risk.
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IFISAcava
Member of DD Central
Posts: 3,664
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Post by IFISAcava on May 30, 2018 20:42:28 GMT
Playing devil's advocate... When people talk about the risk, the risk is pretty low here given the PFs and past history isn't it? Platform failure is the largest risk. Who are the competitors with higher rates for this degree of risk?
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amwinv
Member of DD Central
Posts: 198
Likes: 282
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Post by amwinv on May 30, 2018 21:27:01 GMT
Playing devil's advocate... When people talk about the risk, the risk is pretty low here given the PFs and past history isn't it? Platform failure is the largest risk. Who are the competitors with higher rates for this degree of risk? Purely in my opinion.... Yes the risk is considered lower... in comparison to say, property developing I guess. There's a physical asset that won't cost a world to store and should hopefully shift well if it comes to it. Much like cars and boats. In theory. And that's the problem. It's still a massive "in theory". Like everything in p2p. There's no saying 100% that these items have been accurately assessed to the exact value they may ultimately sell for in a pinch. Fakes do exist and can be missed sometimes. Appetite for specific types of art, wine, antiques and luxury jewellery can potentially be unpredictable. Do you know and fully trust the valuation "experts" UNB use? And since when did anyone on this forum ever trust valuations of any kind? How do we know there will always be a market for these items? Particularly in another recession? The fact they have some items that haven't sold, and the pf has had to kick in, means it isn't fool proof. So where is our risk coverage if not with a decent interest rate? Unfortunately the lack of direct competitors led them to think they should reduce the rates. That doesn't mean we should have to put up with it. And it sounds like many, like myself, are leaving UNB in protest. There is bling scattered around on other platforms, if you have the time to dig it out... usually at around 50% LTV for approx 12%. That's more like what feels comfortable and appropriate to me. Id take chunks of those where I find them anyday over UNBs 6-8% for 80% LTV (and recently several times even breaching their own 80% max ltv.) That's just my two pennies.
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Post by investor1925 on May 31, 2018 12:40:57 GMT
My opinion is that we're stuck between a rock & a hard place.
Do you: a) pull all you cash from the lower interest p2p platforms & put it into the higher interest ones, thus reducing your diversity & increasing risk of 100% loss
b) keep some in a each of a large number of platforms, some of which are higher/lower interest than others & accept you'll not maximise your return, but will lower your risk of a 100% crash
c) withdraw most (if not all) into a bank for junk rates but 100% certainty of return.
Personally, I'm in B.
Some defaults & loses are expected, but the returns on all those that are performing outweigh the return you'd get with C & reduce the risk you'd get with A
I wonder if anyone has 100% of their investments in Col at the moment. If I had, I'd be wishing I'd done B right now.
So as far as I'm concerned the rock & hard place are actually a pillow & soft place.
Diversify your cash (I'm in 8 platforms right now) & hang on for an interesting ride
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Post by df on May 31, 2018 13:20:03 GMT
My opinion is that we're stuck between a rock & a hard place. Do you: a) pull all you cash from the lower interest p2p platforms & put it into the higher interest ones, thus reducing your diversity & increasing risk of 100% loss
b) keep some in a each of a large number of platforms, some of which are higher/lower interest than others & accept you'll not maximise your return, but will lower your risk of a 100% crash
c) withdraw most (if not all) into a bank for junk rates but 100% certainty of return.
Personally, I'm in B.
Some defaults & loses are expected, but the returns on all those that are performing outweigh the return you'd get with C & reduce the risk you'd get with A
I wonder if anyone has 100% of their investments in Col at the moment. If I had, I'd be wishing I'd done B right now.
So as far as I'm concerned the rock & hard place are actually a pillow & soft place.
Diversify your cash (I'm in 8 platforms right now) & hang on for an interesting rideI'm mainly in B, but also in A to some extend. I've pulled out of Landbay and running off my Zopa and RS investments because the rates are far too low. Most of these funds are reinvested in LW, GS, AC (30-Day) - lower return platforms/accounts, but with lower risk attached IMO. Diversification is the most important strategy for me (I'm currently in 17 platforms). As for UB, despite the rate drop, I continue to invest as before. I've been with UB for 17 months, never lost any capital and happy with my return rate for the amount of effort required. It still makes sense for me to invest on UB with new rates. I have 7% of my p2p money in UB and I don't mind increasing it up to 10% in future.
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Post by df on May 31, 2018 13:28:43 GMT
Playing devil's advocate... When people talk about the risk, the risk is pretty low here given the PFs and past history isn't it? Platform failure is the largest risk. Who are the competitors with higher rates for this degree of risk? Purely in my opinion.... Yes the risk is considered lower... in comparison to say, property developing I guess. There's a physical asset that won't cost a world to store and should hopefully shift well if it comes to it. Much like cars and boats. In theory. And that's the problem. It's still a massive "in theory". Like everything in p2p. There's no saying 100% that these items have been accurately assessed to the exact value they may ultimately sell for in a pinch. Fakes do exist and can be missed sometimes. Appetite for specific types of art, wine, antiques and luxury jewellery can potentially be unpredictable. Do you know and fully trust the valuation "experts" UNB use? And since when did anyone on this forum ever trust valuations of any kind? How do we know there will always be a market for these items? Particularly in another recession? The fact they have some items that haven't sold, and the pf has had to kick in, means it isn't fool proof. So where is our risk coverage if not with a decent interest rate? Unfortunately the lack of direct competitors led them to think they should reduce the rates. That doesn't mean we should have to put up with it. And it sounds like many, like myself, are leaving UNB in protest. There is bling scattered around on other platforms, if you have the time to dig it out... usually at around 50% LTV for approx 12%. That's more like what feels comfortable and appropriate to me. Id take chunks of those where I find them anyday over UNBs 6-8% for 80% LTV (and recently several times even breaching their own 80% max ltv.) That's just my two pennies. 1. MT - hardly any new bling in the past year or so. 2. FS - Some new bling comes in, but the rates are 10% and below. 3. Col - in administration and before that there were no new bling at 12% for long time.
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Post by sannytwist on May 31, 2018 22:55:28 GMT
I started investing with Col at the very start when they were mainly focused on bling. It was great then with most of my money on different precious stones/ gold/ jewellery/cars etc. until they got heavily into property and they started raising the % rates, this is when l removed my few pennies and went to MT. When something seems to good to be true it usually is, they were giving like 14% interest when all other competitors were 10-12%.
MT was good until l wasn't happy with a few loans in a short period of time which they took that was very very fishy (at least to me). It was quickly highlighted by further investigation from the contributors on this forum most of these loans had pretty serious problems. I understand most people take p2p loans when mainstream loans are not avaliable and appreciate. The fact that MT failed to find out or neglect to inform investors really affected my confidence and from then on l just removed my investments all together. A few fishy loans were even given the all clear by MT which didn't sit well with me.
Here l am now with UB. To be honest, its not easy to put any substantial amount in anyway. Given A,B or C, maybe the bank is a better option until we have a clearer picture where p2p investments as a whole is going.
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