Investor Update

Do you believe that statement? With the implication that the new owners did not even know about this forum? The scale and complexity of the problems are all here for all to see, and regularly updated by Adrian. If you believe that statement then you might also doubt their competence.

How much more attractive FS would be if they had said that they thoroughly assessed the business they were buying, knew the problems they would face, paid the right price for it and set out to provide the resources to fix the issues from day one?

'We were duped' does not inspire me to join.

Whats to do? 1: They either pull in whats left of a piss poor deal and we sweep up the few pennies of reality OR 2: They keep kicking it down the road until the company folds like Lendy . Which do you prefer ?  Me (1) and get on with whats left of my life.

This is vacuous spin. Well the hell does"putting controls" actually means - you can't retrospectively add controls. I interpret this as "we looked at the dodgy loans we have on our books and Gordon Bennett this pile of Horlicks is worse than we ever thought"

As I see it there are 3 main reasons why developers borrow money:

1) to develop a building project - as I have said before developing a site to a final property is a very tough game and often the profit is well under the FS interest rates true at 20%. Granted skilled developers can still turn a profit but believe me it is not like "Homes Under The Hammer" or "Building The Dream"!

2) to buy and flip - this is how I make most of my money - although potentially risky I would agree a quick FS loan in many cases could be a good move.

3) to shaft FS ! Clearly anybody with half a brain would realise when it comes to parting with vast sums of money to lenders who aren't credit checked and have often been turned down by the bank for say a  4% loan then there are going to be some devious buggers with a history of bankrupted and struck off companies that are going to try it on!

I did my mega top 40 list - not as an attempt to do anybody down but to raise my concerns that FS did not know what they were doing and lenders needed to think before investing in some (most) of their projected developments. To the few of you who have tried to belittle me so  regarding any lost money - tough. To the others thanks for your comments and I really hope your losses aren't too bad and overall you come out on top

FS have already been had - e.g. Whitehaven, Art loans etc but I think there is a real biggy to come which may well result in criminal charges regarding a string of related loans along with a thumping loss for we lenders. I also expect the above FS comment is spin rubbish to prepare us for this one. I have discussed this one with the moderators so am not ,at this stage, saying about more about it except to say I am very worried for my investments!

As to whether my top 40 list is validated I leave to you but I would criticise myself for not thinking enough about option 3 - not that FS should have done much better DD rather than appear to glibly accept any old unvalidated cobblers given by the lender.

Will be updating my top 40 this weekend - this is turning out far worse than I ever predicted! 

I thank you.

I thought the update was helpful, all of the issues have been acknowledged and it was good to read the comments on the viability of the business, which is my biggest concern as FS going bust is the worst outcome for my loans. He is committing to the business, I would like to know more about the new staff members and who if any has been turfed out, which is what needs doing. For now its a cautious thumbs up, time will tell if the plan can be delivered and I think results in stronger loan management and better communication will be obvious one way or the other over the next 3 months

"Demonstrating effective and efficient recovery processes will be an essential part of restoring confidence for many investors."

(Sorry folks, I know you've read all this before but I need to ventilate once in a while)

Indeed..but by distancing themselves from the originators of the historical morass with Churchillian rhetoric doesn't inspire me with any confidence that the outcome is going to be anything but a financial disaster for many lenders, especially for those in the loans we all know about..CH..LStA..GH..Art..etc etc..at some point, the bullet will have to be bitten and time already elapsed , dictates the resultant outcome is going to necessitate intensive care for many.

Undoubtedly, lenders have been led up the garden path by dubious valuations, lack of diligence, lack of security in some cases and a wanton disregard for lenders money generally. Proper husbandry of those loans has been superficial at best and at worst, non existent. As ive said before, professional independent oversight, certainly on all development loans, should have been mandatory to secure a loan and if that meant a significant reduction of %age 'interest' I for one would have had no complaints. Sitting behind a desk at Stokenchurch, willing the clock to hit 5pm and wondering what you'll be doing later that evening, whilst swallowing every cock n bull story given via a telephone is not oversight

Finally...for me, THE cardinal sin above all others was the non disclosure of borrowers with multiple loans. The vast majority of my LB £'s have connections, one way or another. That material fact should have been disclosed at each loans inception. I wont put here exactly how I feel about that. Of course the biggest fool in all of this was me but when you're not even safe in loans with an alleged 17.5%LTV, then when are you ?

Restoring confidence ?..its going to need more than 5 loaves and 2 fish

Time to go busking

Possibly...on your Dashboard..go to the "My Account" tab (far right) and from the dropdown see if you have email preferences checked..?

Thank you - but that is not the reason.