Crisis of confidence in the platform

I would hope they are, and these may be some green shoots, but my experience leaves me remaining to be convinced, viz:

Of my 4 loans which have become due so far this month, 3 have yet to be deigned with any update, while the 4th has "advised completion will be on 27th August", despite no previous mention of a sale or exchange; we shall soon see whether it's another sign of "light at the end of the tunnel", or just "the lamp on the front of the express . . . "

I'm quite surprised a few paybacks is engendering such optimism, as I'm sure a good proportion of borrowers are sincere, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something I'm missing!  Perhaps debaura yoiu could enlighten me regarding your "clearer outlook"?  Anyway, I guess I'll be a captive participant in FS for some time yet, so really want them to turn things around.

I rarely bother posting these days as frankly whatever is posted, whether it's factual or pure supposition/specualtion will IMHO have little if any effect on the way a platform operates.

It’s not just about LTV’s although they are important and there are plenty of justified raised eyebrows when everything imaginable hits the fan. Rather it’s all about loan management, from day one to when the loan is finally repaid, which many platforms stand accused of being negligent of. There will of course be losses, that is the nature of the P2P animal but if lenders/investors feel their interests are being protected by a platform being proactive then taking the rough with the smooth becomes acceptable. It's when investors do not feel their interests form part of the core of a P2P platform that agitation sets in - understandably so.

It’s all well and good saying that many platforms have, or may have learnt their lesson but have they? Possibly - many a business makes mistakes during it’s early days of operation and they learn far quicker when it’s their own funds at risk rather than a third party which has little if any recourse. In fact the only recourse is to cease engaging in further loans which is not particularly satisfactory.

Updates to investors are important and fully appreciate that often the source of these updates are the borrowers themselves. Fair enough but once a couple of ‘promises’ have failed to materialise would it not be in the interests of the platform(s) concerned to at least double check future borrower assurances rather than simply blindly repeating what has historically already been supplied and failed to materialise. I certainly would as if nothing else it affects the reputation of the platform itself. That is of course assuming the current platform owners are in the P2P market for the long haul which I often have doubts about.

So investors are left with the impression that they are simply a necessary nuisance and it’s this platform attitude which understandably leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

There’s no point in investors arguing with themselves. The simple fact is we're all engaged in P2P to earn superior returns which are not available from the traditional high street banks. To invest or not is entirely a personal decision. The greatest strength at this moment in time that platforms have is that investors are simply not organised. Certainly if they were dealing with an institution they would not be acting in the way many of them are now.

You see I had that thought quite a while back and then invested in multiple different pawn loans on things like paintings and vases. These should be quick at least to sell in the event of a default right? Was a real wake up call when I found out FS didn't even have the ability to sell the advertised securitys.

Well, do you think paintings and vases or medieval books are easy to sell (or value) items? I don´t think so.
The classic pawn loans on watches, coins, jewellery or also vehicules should be easy to value (and even easy to check by the investor by looking up the scrap metal price or the item on ebay etc.) and sell. But those ones are not worth the trouble of buying given the 25 pound restriction...

Therefore I stick to the smaller residential property loans with first charge but also there I skip 4 out of 5. No scottisch ports or castles and also no holiday parks, farms or cottages...

Birmingham 3042631025   ?

Didn't have much in it but good to see.

You need to take a holistic approach. Diversify and they are not losses they just result in a lower overall return. 504 days is less than 2yrs lots of p2p have 3year minimum for investment the whole sector is not for those that need investments to pay on the dot. I,m happy that they usually pay or are recovered. Expect every loan to last 24 months and you won,t be too upset and you can relax and enjoy the benefits when they come.