Introduction of lender membership fees (AC)

It's only ever been discussed as a temporary measure

AC can take any fees out of the accrued interest on my Scottish castle loan...there's a few grand in there 😒

Good to know they have a lot to lose when this platform eventually fails - Rather shocking their behaviour to shore up confidence. 


AC is worthless now in my view.

Fees will not be taken from capital.

Dear all

I would like to address the questions, incorrect statements and wild speculation on this thread and also thank those who see what we are seeking to achieve here with these regrettable, but necessary, actions. 

We can of course confirm that we are no different to the vast majority of the companies in the world's economy, excepting perhaps food retailers and hand sanitiser companies and similar, in that we have seen income and sales lower during the lockdown and we are therefore also taking all the same measures as pretty much every other company in this country and indeed the rest of the world. Anyone that denies that this pandemic is happening, or that these actions are not absolutely necessary, when even the most cash rich of companies are having to take cost reduction measures, perhaps does not yet realise the seriousness of the situation or not yet have hospitalised relations and friends. Our actions, like pretty much every other company, include directors having salaries reduced very substantially, very substantial overhead cuts across the board, and I mean everything, meaning that we have brought down monthly costs by a huge 50%. This, combined with temporary changes to our charging structures, puts us in a sustainable position during the worst of this period over the next few months. The costs of servicing the loan book have increased substantially and we have addressed that. 

In a situation that has no certain endpoint yet, nor any predictable economic recovery trajectory at present, not taking the action that we have taken would be a gross dereliction of duty in looking after our stakeholders, including you, our investors. We are not short of cash ourselves but how long does this situation continue? Three months is the initial Government timeframe but who has the data yet to say its not six months, one year, longer? These actions protect the team who in turn protect your money.

Our team is also working very long hours protecting your capital and we have not shuttered like many other investments such as property funds, nor have we cancelled your income as listed companies cancelling their dividends left right and centre have done. Please give our team the space to do the best for you in this difficult time. I don't mind people casting insults and other poorly judged comments at me, as time will judge if I made the right decisions for you all with the benefit of hindsight, but please do not criticise the team who are also working tirelessly for you and not necessarily as thick skinned.

I can also confirm that the new lender servicing fee only applies to loans not presently in default/ recovery so no, you are not charged for those. If loans aren't paying or have no retentions then you still accrue interest and we accrue the small fee. Borrowers are not let off one penny of interest, it is still due and secured but we are recommending giving them time to manage themselves out of this to avoid certain loan losses otherwise. Borrowers have no current access to the Government backed loans' cash because they have barely announced the terms, never mind have any banks processed any material number of applications yet. The Government salary support scheme does not exist, there is no way to process a claim for that and it seems weeks away, probably next month at the earliest. Our proposed support gives them time to get that done. And our loans have property security, how would you feel if you'd lent unsecured to micro businesses with no reserves and no sales, consumers with no jobs now or self employed with no work any more? I've been through many cycles of all sorts of types and this is by far the worst and fastest that I and our team have seen.

I trust that this makes sense. 

This is the kind of level headed response this forum has needed for the past 15 days   Best of luck to you the team and Lenders alike, it is good to hear you are not charging for defaulted loans.

So the "membership fee" actually applies to ALL loans then, regardless of their status? ...it's just that you'll deduct the "membership fee" for active loans each month, but still "accrue" a monthly "membership fee" for each non-active loan too, so that if/when those loans ever start to repay, you'll then take your accrued "membership fee" from these too!??