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Post by sayyestocress on Sept 15, 2020 7:01:41 GMT
Sounds about right. No answers to questions has been the policy for a long time. Meanwhile my XIRR is showing as 4.4%, last time I've checked exactly 2 months ago it was 10.1%, in the past year or so my XIRR was fluctuating (randomly) between 1.6% and 12% - their "computer" must be still broken and there is probably no budget for fixing it. But it's good to know that you've received e-mail communication, this confirms that the company still exists - better than complete silence. Signs of life? From the loan book stats, £ 0.5 Mil short term loans within a month, sounds good right? Yes, sounds promising.
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optimist
Member of DD Central
Posts: 124
Likes: 72
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Post by optimist on Sept 24, 2020 10:36:29 GMT
I got a personal email reply 28th Aug but no answers to any of my questions. Sounds about right. No answers to questions has been the policy for a long time. Meanwhile my XIRR is showing as 4.4%, last time I've checked exactly 2 months ago it was 10.1%, in the past year or so my XIRR was fluctuating (randomly) between 1.6% and 12% - their "computer" must be still broken and there is probably no budget for fixing it. But it's good to know that you've received e-mail communication, this confirms that the company still exists - better than complete silence. You say no budget to fix it but there is allegedly multiple millions from an overseas investment fund.
ACE confirmed there's info on Seedrs but I don't have shares so don't have access to it so not sure of progress.
I'm assuming there's been a hold up and they're chasing their tails trying to fix it - other speculation or actual info welcome.
My concern
I had a chat to the CEO who assured me a couple of months ago that the secondary market would be opening again in a couple of weeks. No dice. no change and another few hundred pounds has just vanished from my account.
Queried - no answer. Complaint - no answer. Emails don't seem to get looked at often or perhaps my frustrated tone put them off.
XIRR
I have 95% invested and should be getting 12.2% (painstakingly calculated once) but actually get 4% and they can't explain why after 9 weeks and umpteen emails and 2 calls.
reported XIRR fluctuates from 5% to 12% though dropping now I'm withdrawing more, big problem for me is that accrued interest doesn't seem to match the expected / reported (and money just vanishes from the account).
Will try ringing again. I spent 36 minutes on the phone to CEO 9 wks ago and 56 mins 5 weeks ago. He promised to look at my account, fix the website, send me a statement, resolve things and ring me back but not even a statement materialised.
In my opinion a statement should available to us or to them from be a couple of key presses.
Took the time to write an email to apologise for not producing the statement though...
It's funny how influenced these P2P companies are by the people at the top, the investment strategy they take, the customer service they give etc - more important than I'd expected and in some cases it has more of an effect than doing Due Dilligence on the loans.
I expected lack of investment or non paying customers to be the risk rather than correct reporting. Guess that's a learning point for me.
I wouldn't care if returns were down - I'd expect that, but a continued inability to explain why sets off serious alarm bells
Your experience
Has anyone else compared the % returns with the actual money accruing on the account and is it correct for you?
To my mind there should be a total invested, average interest expected and actual money recieved graph provided - maybe an additional line to show what a great job the providion fund is doing at protecting our investmets would be a bonus I wouldn't mind doing it myself if they could provide a CSV statement - respoinse was that more info on the website confuses people
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Post by ianrother on Oct 10, 2020 18:08:26 GMT
General impression from me is that I wouldn’t invest in FO.. been waiting nearly a year for any of my investments to be sold on a secondary market that does not appear to exist.. no communication, no explanation , no customer service... this company is a disgrace.. stay clear
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Post by df on Oct 11, 2020 17:47:17 GMT
Sounds about right. No answers to questions has been the policy for a long time. Meanwhile my XIRR is showing as 4.4%, last time I've checked exactly 2 months ago it was 10.1%, in the past year or so my XIRR was fluctuating (randomly) between 1.6% and 12% - their "computer" must be still broken and there is probably no budget for fixing it. But it's good to know that you've received e-mail communication, this confirms that the company still exists - better than complete silence. You say no budget to fix it but there is allegedly multiple millions from an overseas investment fund.
ACE confirmed there's info on Seedrs but I don't have shares so don't have access to it so not sure of progress.
I'm assuming there's been a hold up and they're chasing their tails trying to fix it - other speculation or actual info welcome.
My concern
I had a chat to the CEO who assured me a couple of months ago that the secondary market would be opening again in a couple of weeks. No dice. no change and another few hundred pounds has just vanished from my account.
Queried - no answer. Complaint - no answer. Emails don't seem to get looked at often or perhaps my frustrated tone put them off.
XIRR
I have 95% invested and should be getting 12.2% (painstakingly calculated once) but actually get 4% and they can't explain why after 9 weeks and umpteen emails and 2 calls.
reported XIRR fluctuates from 5% to 12% though dropping now I'm withdrawing more, big problem for me is that accrued interest doesn't seem to match the expected / reported (and money just vanishes from the account).
Will try ringing again. I spent 36 minutes on the phone to CEO 9 wks ago and 56 mins 5 weeks ago. He promised to look at my account, fix the website, send me a statement, resolve things and ring me back but not even a statement materialised.
In my opinion a statement should available to us or to them from be a couple of key presses.
Took the time to write an email to apologise for not producing the statement though...
It's funny how influenced these P2P companies are by the people at the top, the investment strategy they take, the customer service they give etc - more important than I'd expected and in some cases it has more of an effect than doing Due Dilligence on the loans.
I expected lack of investment or non paying customers to be the risk rather than correct reporting. Guess that's a learning point for me.
I wouldn't care if returns were down - I'd expect that, but a continued inability to explain why sets off serious alarm bells
Your experience
Has anyone else compared the % returns with the actual money accruing on the account and is it correct for you?
To my mind there should be a total invested, average interest expected and actual money recieved graph provided - maybe an additional line to show what a great job the providion fund is doing at protecting our investmets would be a bonus I wouldn't mind doing it myself if they could provide a CSV statement - respoinse was that more info on the website confuses people
"Improvement/changes in a couple of weeks" promises started at Q2 in 2019. None of this materialised yet. A couple of days ago my XIRR was 1.4% (it was constantly jumping between 1.x% and 10.x%). Now it has completely disappeared, can't see it on "account summary" page anymore, which is fine because it was useless (if not misleading). I've tried to analyse the data, but the numbers didn't match up, I gave up after two or three attempts. It's not more info that confuses people, it is how it is presented.
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Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Oct 11, 2020 18:53:46 GMT
My 7p stipend has arrived.
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IFISAcava
Member of DD Central
Posts: 3,692
Likes: 3,018
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Post by IFISAcava on Oct 11, 2020 19:46:51 GMT
You say no budget to fix it but there is allegedly multiple millions from an overseas investment fund.
ACE confirmed there's info on Seedrs but I don't have shares so don't have access to it so not sure of progress.
I'm assuming there's been a hold up and they're chasing their tails trying to fix it - other speculation or actual info welcome.
My concern
I had a chat to the CEO who assured me a couple of months ago that the secondary market would be opening again in a couple of weeks. No dice. no change and another few hundred pounds has just vanished from my account.
Queried - no answer. Complaint - no answer. Emails don't seem to get looked at often or perhaps my frustrated tone put them off.
XIRR
I have 95% invested and should be getting 12.2% (painstakingly calculated once) but actually get 4% and they can't explain why after 9 weeks and umpteen emails and 2 calls.
reported XIRR fluctuates from 5% to 12% though dropping now I'm withdrawing more, big problem for me is that accrued interest doesn't seem to match the expected / reported (and money just vanishes from the account).
Will try ringing again. I spent 36 minutes on the phone to CEO 9 wks ago and 56 mins 5 weeks ago. He promised to look at my account, fix the website, send me a statement, resolve things and ring me back but not even a statement materialised.
In my opinion a statement should available to us or to them from be a couple of key presses.
Took the time to write an email to apologise for not producing the statement though...
It's funny how influenced these P2P companies are by the people at the top, the investment strategy they take, the customer service they give etc - more important than I'd expected and in some cases it has more of an effect than doing Due Dilligence on the loans.
I expected lack of investment or non paying customers to be the risk rather than correct reporting. Guess that's a learning point for me.
I wouldn't care if returns were down - I'd expect that, but a continued inability to explain why sets off serious alarm bells
Your experience
Has anyone else compared the % returns with the actual money accruing on the account and is it correct for you?
To my mind there should be a total invested, average interest expected and actual money recieved graph provided - maybe an additional line to show what a great job the providion fund is doing at protecting our investmets would be a bonus I wouldn't mind doing it myself if they could provide a CSV statement - respoinse was that more info on the website confuses people
"Improvement/changes in a couple of weeks" promises started at Q2 in 2019. None of this materialised yet. A couple of days ago my XIRR was 1.4% (it was constantly jumping between 1.x% and 10.x%). Now it has completely disappeared, can't see it on "account summary" page anymore, which is fine because it was useless (if not misleading). I've tried to analyse the data, but the numbers didn't match up, I gave up after two or three attempts. It's not more info that confuses people, it is how it is presented. Guys, let's not beat around the bush. Most of the facts we know point to this being a scam. I don't think it likely our money exists anymore, and I think everything else is hot air and delaying tactics. I suppose there is an outside chance it's incompetence and disorganisation, but I view that as much less likely. I would bet that this company is going to fold, the question is more when than if. Probably if/when the FCA gets involved going by previous examples.
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Ukmikk
Member of DD Central
Posts: 452 
Likes: 306
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Post by Ukmikk on Oct 12, 2020 13:14:00 GMT
"Improvement/changes in a couple of weeks" promises started at Q2 in 2019. None of this materialised yet. A couple of days ago my XIRR was 1.4% (it was constantly jumping between 1.x% and 10.x%). Now it has completely disappeared, can't see it on "account summary" page anymore, which is fine because it was useless (if not misleading). I've tried to analyse the data, but the numbers didn't match up, I gave up after two or three attempts. It's not more info that confuses people, it is how it is presented. Guys, let's not beat around the bush. Most of the facts we know point to this being a scam. I don't think it likely our money exists anymore, and I think everything else is hot air and delaying tactics. I suppose there is an outside chance it's incompetence and disorganisation, but I view that as much less likely. I would bet that this company is going to fold, the question is more when than if. Probably if/when the FCA gets involved going by previous examples. Makes you wonder what it would take for the FCA to get involved. Clearly, once they have doled out their approval to operate they take zero further interest in how these companies behave subsequently.
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Greenwood2
Member of DD Central
Posts: 4,376
Likes: 2,780
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Post by Greenwood2 on Oct 12, 2020 13:27:15 GMT
Guys, let's not beat around the bush. Most of the facts we know point to this being a scam. I don't think it likely our money exists anymore, and I think everything else is hot air and delaying tactics. I suppose there is an outside chance it's incompetence and disorganisation, but I view that as much less likely. I would bet that this company is going to fold, the question is more when than if. Probably if/when the FCA gets involved going by previous examples. Makes you wonder what it would take for the FCA to get involved. Clearly, once they have doled out their approval to operate they take zero further interest in how these companies behave subsequently. Has anyone complained to the FCA?
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Post by df on Oct 12, 2020 17:54:50 GMT
Guys, let's not beat around the bush. Most of the facts we know point to this being a scam. I don't think it likely our money exists anymore, and I think everything else is hot air and delaying tactics. I suppose there is an outside chance it's incompetence and disorganisation, but I view that as much less likely. I would bet that this company is going to fold, the question is more when than if. Probably if/when the FCA gets involved going by previous examples. Makes you wonder what it would take for the FCA to get involved. Clearly, once they have doled out their approval to operate they take zero further interest in how these companies behave subsequently. It does feel like their "approval" is nothing more than a lifetime MOT. They've even passed Lendy when it was already not road worthy.
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Godanubis
Member of DD Central
Anubis is known as the god of death and is the oldest and most popular of ancient Egyptian deities.
Posts: 2,011
Likes: 1,013
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Post by Godanubis on Oct 13, 2020 21:23:20 GMT
Makes you wonder what it would take for the FCA to get involved. Clearly, once they have doled out their approval to operate they take zero further interest in how these companies behave subsequently. It does feel like their "approval" is nothing more than a lifetime MOT. They've even passed Lendy when it was already not road worthy. I got my six month extention on MOT so due soon. I've done little milage like FO and work so can I just get lifetime pass. (my bro's 1949 Buick get free lifetime pass )
As you all know I got all my non ISA cash out. I have no tried any of ISA cash. Might try 1 small block as a test.
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Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Oct 17, 2020 9:06:17 GMT
Meanwhile in the slightly surreal World of FO we have an email on money saving tips during a pandemic. With such treasures as using £50 notes as disposable face masks (yes I totally made that one up)
Following on from baking on a budget, cheap medication and my favorite how to make a perfect cup of tea (filthy stuff should be banned).
If only they could come up with a guide to getting a reply to an email sent to FO, or how to make cheap phone calls to a line that simply tells you to send an email.
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optimist
Member of DD Central
Posts: 124
Likes: 72
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Post by optimist on Oct 17, 2020 20:32:27 GMT
Well. For what it's worth, I've opened a case with the ombudsman and started the withdrawal process for my remaining balance. The front screen now shows my requested withdrawal amount as 2K more than my balance which is Blx0dy typical.
Contradictory info on the website, missing money (balence dropping without explanation), Interest credited not as advertised, CEO admits the website info is misleading/wrong, failing to send a statement for 5 months, no response to complaints.
And breathe.... ah well, it's only money
I wonder what the story is with Seedrs and the overseas investors. When chatting to the CEO, he said they'd recieved an investment of (Edit) low double digit millions with high double digit millions promised which, if true, should make them solvent.
Maybe it's all about to happen.
Should have smelled a rat with the no interest paid while money is being withdrawn - so if they're really inefficient they get to keep all the interest for free - hmm - unfaiir practices or something I wonder?
So, if the FCA fail to do their job, I wonder whether they are liable 
Hope this doesn't bring everything crashing down for everyone- feel free to make suggestions. No idea what sort of response I might get from Ombudsman - anyone have experience of this (guessing not great or we wouldn't be here)
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Post by sayyestocress on Oct 18, 2020 10:49:11 GMT
Well. For what it's worth, I've opened a case with the ombudsman and started the withdrawal process for my remaining balance. The front screen now shows my requested withdrawal amount as 2K more than my balance which is Blx0dy typical.
Contradictory info on the website, missing money (balence dropping without explanation), Interest credited not as advertised, CEO admits the website info is misleading/wrong, failing to send a statement for 5 months, no response to complaints.
And breathe.... ah well, it's only money
I wonder what the story is with Seedrs and the overseas investors. When chatting to the CEO, he said they'd recieved an investment of 16.5M with a further 67M promised which, if true, should make them solvent.
Maybe it's all about to happen.
Should have smelled a rat with the no interest paid while money is being withdrawn - so if they're really inefficient they get to keep all the interest for free - hmm - unfaiir practices or something I wonder?
So, if the FCA fail to do their job, I wonder whether they are liable
Hope this doesn't bring everything crashing down for everyone- feel free to make suggestions. No idea what sort of response I might get from Ombudsman - anyone have experience of this (guessing not great or we wouldn't be here)
I gave up on the fos and cancelled my complaint as fo returned my uninvested cash withdrawals quicker than the fos getting round to starting on my complaint. And that was several months. I wouldn't get my hopes up with the fos. I had also contacted the FCA about my situation. They acknowledge the evidence you present but it's their policy not to tell you what any outcome (if any) is.
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optimist
Member of DD Central
Posts: 124
Likes: 72
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Post by optimist on Oct 19, 2020 14:30:25 GMT
The strange thing is that my missing money has appeared again.
The amount pending withdrawal is not the amount expected, IE not the investment balance (investment + pooled) + unassigned from last week. The total is 2.95% higher - that's 6 months of half my interest as per my complaint.
Edit speculation removed about why the money was missing. No explanation has been received.
Either way, 17 emails, 1 1/2 hours on the phone, a complaint with FO and a complaint to the ombudsman failed to produce a simple account statement that would tell me what is going on. Just spotted an incoming email from the CEO - legal team CC-ed - something about there isn't any missing money and I shouldn't tell people that there is. I'd better read that - nice to get a response at last and my money back - feels like christmas
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optimist
Member of DD Central
Posts: 124
Likes: 72
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Post by optimist on Oct 23, 2020 21:46:30 GMT
It's been suggested I shouldn't use the term "missing money" and that the money isn't missing. It may be more accurate to say that the value is lower than expected or the calculation is wrong.
Though this of course the same thing.
The website calculation is wrong. Adding zero to something does not change the value.
The amount displayed as "pending withdrawal" on my account is now approx 3% higher than the investment balance from 5 days earlier.
It is surprisingly close to the 10% published expected return at 9.99% XIRR return. Good? I'd rather take my original investment if I could get out, but I may not be able to escape for another 5 years.
The Zero late payments of 35 days or less on the stats page, that I most recently complained about on 18th of September is now showing as 2%. Interesting that also changed at the same time.
The summary page today shows a "Lent Out" amount which is the exact same amount to the penny as it was on 9th of July so I know that nothing has changed there.
The "pooled" amount is zero. The "investment balance" is 97.85% of this value. Yeah, adding zero reduces the value apparently.
I am withdrawing an amount that is apparently 109.49% of the "investment balance"
There may be a clue in the fact that the "pooled" value drops and is calculated as a negative value. i don't know what it means but it's a clue.
I suspect that when this same calculation is applied to partial withdrawals, the numbers would also not add up, which, er, is kinda what I've been saying all along.
I just cannot see how the CEO can legitimately send me an email saying that I must not say that the website is wrong or misleading and that I must consider my liability. It literally doesn't add up.
On this same page the current return pop up says that the total return is Zero but the total return pop up says that the total earnings has a value
Right, so lets get this straight, the current returns are the total returns which are zero and the total returns are the total earnings which have a value (mind melts).
 There is no help file to explain how these calculations are made.
If anyone thinks I am saying anything libelous please let me know, that's not my intention I'm suggesting some very simple fixes for some very obviously wrong calculations on the front page of the website which we all use which will help future customers. This seems a helpful thing to do and I'm not even being rude about the company that is threatening me with lawyers when I point out that the numbers don't add up and I've been questioning this for Five months.
After all, "the numbers don't add up" is about the simplest of points. Adding Zero to a value is about the most simple example of this being blatently clearly wrong and the website appears to fail to do this correctly.
This would be about as close to a fact as one can get on a website calculation I'd think
Ongoing impression of Fund Ourselves, well gosh, um, yeah, wow, I'm pretty amazed
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