rscal
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Post by rscal on Jun 9, 2021 8:23:16 GMT
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ashtondav
Member of DD Central
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Post by ashtondav on Jun 9, 2021 17:29:51 GMT
Leaving aside the schizophrenic appearance of AC's strategy, a fundamental problem for me is that I don't follow their thinking. Their emails are so muddied, so lacking clarity, so nervously talkative that to put it brutally, I don't understand what's going on. This week's email took the equivalent of two sides of A4 to make a simple announcement. (And of course, it prompted a second email with further detail.) At least this was only a fraction of the length of the one a few weeks ago introducing withdrawal fees, or the short novel the month before which said new lending was starting. One in January took nearly 1,000 words to mumble something about the lending fee, introduced in a series of voluminous emails months before, was being reduced; another impenetrable one last August (I think about untradeable loans, but life was too short); the series of indistinct essays introducing a marketplace the same month. It took a thousand words last June just to tell us rates were dropping. By contrast when I read a CrowdProperty update, I understand it. The language is simple and concise and the strategy is consistent. That makes it easier to understand. Same with Loanpad. Their monthly updates haven't always been upbeat, but they've been concise and straightforward. I'm not claiming clear communications is a guarantee of success. Plenty of examples, I'm sure, of the opposite. But I'm left with the impression that if AC can't explain things clearly to me, do they truly understand things themselves? If you think the emails are bad don't try looking at Stuart's Videos, goes on and on giving you all the information about covid and the state of the economy which we all have heard many times before with emotional statements about those affected, it is only at the last 5% that there is some useful information which needs further clarification, all accompanied by music to set the mood. They are a cross between a party political broadcast and a charity appeal except they go on longer.
One of the benefits of being out of AC is I do not have to face the prospect of listing to another one of these.
Im stunned you still bother to read this forum and post. Or does it make you feel all smug and dandy now you’re not in it any longer. Move on to your new bed of roses, perhaps...
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alender
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Post by alender on Jun 9, 2021 18:39:10 GMT
If you think the emails are bad don't try looking at Stuart's Videos, goes on and on giving you all the information about covid and the state of the economy which we all have heard many times before with emotional statements about those affected, it is only at the last 5% that there is some useful information which needs further clarification, all accompanied by music to set the mood. They are a cross between a party political broadcast and a charity appeal except they go on longer.
One of the benefits of being out of AC is I do not have to face the prospect of listing to another one of these.
Im stunned you still bother to read this forum and post. Or does it make you feel all smug and dandy now you’re not in it any longer. Move on to your new bed of roses, perhaps... It is comments like this that make it all worthwhile, hope you feel better now, it is so nice to be told what to do by someone so polite.
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Post by honeybadger on Jun 10, 2021 11:38:49 GMT
Hmm, this was an interesting read. I actually picked up a few shares of assetz on seedrs a month or two back via the secondary, thinking some of the troubles might have been overstated; i'm a little less ok about that purchase but still, Assetz are still here.
I would have thought that they should have treated the ISA related accounts a little differently - customers don't get that flexiblity with these products (re fund transfers etc) that other products afford, so I think the trimming of isa accounts at the same ratios was a mistep for sure, and to be honest I am surprised that FCA/Watchdog does not have more stringent measures for ISA, even just...7 day courtesy comms? Anything really.
The immediacy bothers me, for everything that says about operations, truth is if you do care about how your brand is perceived you have to treat your stakeholders as you wish to be treated.
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alender
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Post by alender on Jun 10, 2021 14:00:39 GMT
Hmm, this was an interesting read. I actually picked up a few shares of assetz on seedrs a month or two back via the secondary, thinking some of the troubles might have been overstated; i'm a little less ok about that purchase but still, Assetz are still here. I would have thought that they should have treated the ISA related accounts a little differently - customers don't get that flexiblity with these products (re fund transfers etc) that other products afford, so I think the trimming of isa accounts at the same ratios was a mistep for sure, and to be honest I am surprised that FCA/Watchdog does not have more stringent measures for ISA, even just...7 day courtesy comms? Anything really. The immediacy bothers me, for everything that says about operations, truth is if you do care about how your brand is perceived you have to treat your stakeholders as you wish to be treated. I think is is rather unfortunate for ISA holders as they do not have the flexibility of normal accounts but it would be difficult to justify treating ISA holders more favouredly than the same account outside an ISA, a bit like shares whether inside or outside of an ISA you are treated the same.
As you may have gathered from the posts AC actions have split the investors and turned one group against the other, the best example is the flat rate payouts.
There is a huge amount of vitriol from some posters against anyone who dares to criticise AC, it has been said that this may be due to some posts from friends and associates of AC and it is also been said that this is happening on twitter.
It is defiantly the case AC through their actions have chased away a number of large investors and I personally know investors with a total of about 1m who are very unlikely to return to AC.
I guess the question for shareholders is will AC survive and will they make a profit, they have survived the worst so far but very few years (I think 1) have shown a profit and that was in the good times before covid. As we are in a very low interest rate economy AC may will attract funds but they must find decent borrowers which is difficult at present with the government throwing around masses of cheap money. There are also all the FOS complaints, even if AC win all of them there is a charge of £550 - £750 for each complaint over 25 per financial year, these will start to come in the next few months. I think AC should come clean with it shareholders and state the number of complaints received, not all will go the FOS but it will indicate the scale of the problem.
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alibaba
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Post by alibaba on Jun 10, 2021 14:30:53 GMT
AC need to clear up the mess left behind in the GEA, GBBA1 and GBBA2 accounts if and when they do, large investors like myself may return, they need to keep it simple stop devising new schemes and give clear concise information. Unfortunately with all of the money waiting to be invested I doubt if they feel the need to look after their long time previously loyal investors.
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ashtondav
Member of DD Central
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Post by ashtondav on Jun 10, 2021 18:32:37 GMT
Im stunned you still bother to read this forum and post. Or does it make you feel all smug and dandy now you’re not in it any longer. Move on to your new bed of roses, perhaps... It is comments like this that make it all worthwhile, hope you feel better now, it is so nice to be told what to do by someone so polite. Oh come on, you wouldn’t spend all this to me on a board in which you have nothing interest unless, what, gloating. Do tell. Why do you bother?
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dead-money
Rocket to the Moon
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Post by dead-money on Jun 14, 2021 19:36:28 GMT
I too am appalled by what AC have done tonight, and joined the forum purely to express my huge disappointment. With only a couple of hours warning, AC have transferred almost 100% of the very significant funds I held in the 90AA to my cash account. Like the poster above, I had an ongoing withdrawal request with a couple of months left to run, but would have cancelled it nearer the time (and had AC given any warning at all this would be the outcome, would have cancelled it before these latest round of rule changes). I now have a very large amount of ISA funds sitting earning zero interest with no indication of how long they might take to match, and no apology from AC. For me, despite having previously loved the AC model and the regular predictable interest payments, this is a step too far and I will be winding down fully / transferring all ISA funds out to another provider as soon as I can. For those who like a bit of gaslighting...
Comment by SL in response to questions on AC's recent actions in another forum.
"Rolling withdrawals are people wanting their money back in such a way that they can effectively jump the notice queue if needed. It is seeking to obtain an advantage over others and whilst we don't block it it was however quite rightly taken as a literal request to remove cash from the accounts and so those withdrawal requests were honoured alongside any genuine ones too in a simple process. there is nothing to complain about here as we dont support the gaming and so consequences from it are the result of the withdrawal instruction being created. Providing advance notice was not seen as fair as the instructions are only supposed to be used for withdrawal requirements not manipulating the withdrawal notice periods. It is unfortunate but a consequence of having a real withdrawal request active. "
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Post by davefoz on Jun 14, 2021 19:56:21 GMT
I too am appalled by what AC have done tonight, and joined the forum purely to express my huge disappointment. With only a couple of hours warning, AC have transferred almost 100% of the very significant funds I held in the 90AA to my cash account. Like the poster above, I had an ongoing withdrawal request with a couple of months left to run, but would have cancelled it nearer the time (and had AC given any warning at all this would be the outcome, would have cancelled it before these latest round of rule changes). I now have a very large amount of ISA funds sitting earning zero interest with no indication of how long they might take to match, and no apology from AC. For me, despite having previously loved the AC model and the regular predictable interest payments, this is a step too far and I will be winding down fully / transferring all ISA funds out to another provider as soon as I can. For those who like a bit of gaslighting...
Comment by SL in response to questions on AC's recent actions in another forum.
"Rolling withdrawals are people wanting their money back in such a way that they can effectively jump the notice queue if needed. It is seeking to obtain an advantage over others and whilst we don't block it it was however quite rightly taken as a literal request to remove cash from the accounts and so those withdrawal requests were honoured alongside any genuine ones too in a simple process. there is nothing to complain about here as we dont support the gaming and so consequences from it are the result of the withdrawal instruction being created. Providing advance notice was not seen as fair as the instructions are only supposed to be used for withdrawal requirements not manipulating the withdrawal notice periods. It is unfortunate but a consequence of having a real withdrawal request active. "
Alternatively your customers might wish manage their cash flow in line with anticipated requirements, something AC consistently fail to do.
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iano
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Post by iano on Jun 14, 2021 23:41:08 GMT
I didn't have any withdrawals requested and had been fully re-investing throughout the pandemic - I just don't appreciate having a not trivial sum of money thrown out of the accounts without so much as a five minute warning - anyone who's just done an ISA transfer or deposit must surely be fuming. Did Stuart mention anything about that in his little post? Any explanation on why they had to hit the brakes so suddenly instead of restricting deposits (that doesn't ring of lack of foresight or avarice)?
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Post by davefoz on Jun 15, 2021 5:35:41 GMT
Additionally with a surplus of cash surely AC could finally have sorted the fiasco which is the GBBAs - surely all loans should have been transferred into the Access accounts with division fund payments paid as appropriate.
Was speaking to an ex employee of AC a couple of weeks ago - ironically he was leaving as he had “ gone to a company that wanted to lend money “
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ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
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Post by ilmoro on Jun 15, 2021 10:03:38 GMT
Additionally with a surplus of cash surely AC could finally have sorted the fiasco which is the GBBAs - surely all loans should have been transferred into the Access accounts with division fund payments paid as appropriate. Was speaking to an ex employee of AC a couple of weeks ago - ironically he was leaving as he had “ gone to a company that wanted to lend money “ Seems unlikely that was possible. Most of the loans in the GBBA/GEIA are in default which means if they were transferred to the AA then the AA provision funds would have to be sufficient to cover an increased level of bad debt which they almost certainly arent. Second the AA are set up to ensure that the income from paying loans is sufficient to cover the stated return each month. Too many non-paying loans or free cash place that under pressure. They had to pay out free cash to maintain the balance so they are hardly going to take on a loan of unpaying loans which have the opposite effect and require further cash to be released. Even if it was practical, I doubt that the AA investors would have been particularly happy to see their holdings in bad loans jump significantly. AC are lending money, currently on the CBILS side to the max allowed, which has caused delays on the retail side. Very annoying but then I wouldnt want them skipping on the diligence just to shove my cash out of the door. Perhaps they need to hire more staff, be more efficient, but that has a lead time too, and Id quite like them not to make make sloppy mistakes or miss things like not paying out interest or large capital repayments to lenders. Edit Lendy was a company who 'want to lend money' lots of it, especially when it wasnt there's. Think Id prefer a company that inherently didnt want to lend money when that money belonged to other people, even when they revenue was dependent on lending money.
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jlend
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Post by jlend on Jun 15, 2021 10:49:22 GMT
Additionally with a surplus of cash surely AC could finally have sorted the fiasco which is the GBBAs - surely all loans should have been transferred into the Access accounts with division fund payments paid as appropriate. Was speaking to an ex employee of AC a couple of weeks ago - ironically he was leaving as he had “ gone to a company that wanted to lend money “ Seems unlikely that was possible. Most of the loans in the GBBA/GEIA are in default which means if they were transferred to the AA then the AA provision funds would have to be sufficient to cover an increased level of bad debt which they almost certainly arent. Second the AA are set up to ensure that the income from paying loans is sufficient to cover the stated return each month. Too many non-paying loans or free cash place that under pressure. They had to pay out free cash to maintain the balance so they are hardly going to take on a loan of unpaying loans which have the opposite effect and require further cash to be released. Even if it was practical, I doubt that the AA investors would have been particularly happy to see their holdings in bad loans jump significantly. AC are lending money, currently on the CBILS side to the max allowed, which has caused delays on the retail side. Very annoying but then I wouldnt want them skipping on the diligence just to shove my cash out of the door. Perhaps they need to hire more staff, be more efficient, but that has a lead time too, and Id quite like them not to make make sloppy mistakes or miss things like not paying out interest or large capital repayments to lenders. Agreed I'd also add at least some GEIA problem loans (all in my case but may be different for others) are already being gradually paid back by AC directly so some patience is needed with this account. The Castle loan will hopefully get a further payment at some stage which will help many GBBA1 lenders. This is my largest loan left in the GBBA1. I only have 1 other loan left in the GBBA1. Not expecting anything back from this other loan. The accounts were a painful learning curve for AC and lenders but I am not sure how many people will have actually lost money when interest is taken into account by the time the accounts are finally closed which is some consolation.
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alanh
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Post by alanh on Jun 17, 2021 17:28:00 GMT
I can't believe these guys are still going. Its comical - are they deliberately trying to come up with ways to p**s off their entire lender base? They have already managed to lose all their big investors via the flat rate bailout system - now they have managed to alienate the people that are trying to keep money in  You couldn't make it up. |
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p2pfan
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Full-Time Investor
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Post by p2pfan on Jun 17, 2021 21:01:27 GMT
I can't believe these guys are still going. Its comical - are they deliberately trying to come up with ways to p**s off their entire lender base? They have already managed to lose all their big investors via the flat rate bailout system - now they have managed to alienate the people that are trying to keep money in You couldn't make it up. Yes, you're right, Laurel and Hardy would be able to run a P2P network in a far superior way than Assetz Capital. I've given AC the benefit of the doubt and my support through thick and thin, no matter how many stupid steps they've taken, but their latest action several days ago to suddenly kick me and other lenders out of their Access Accounts was the straw that broke the camel's back. They are very much my least P2P network now. Even though I'm invested to the tune of a very significant sum with them, I'll be doing cartwheels if I ever discover they've gone bust. It's worth losing hundreds of thousands of pounds just to see the smirk wiped off the faces of their slimey CEO and his merry band of arrogant shmucks that look down on retail P2P lenders.
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