SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Mar 26, 2015 13:10:54 GMT
Ed, I think one of the main factors is that you have learned from / avoided many of the major headaches and pitfalls of existing platforms. So far at least, MT is one of the clearest, simplest, least time-consuming and fairest (across competing lenders) way to lend smallish sums at good rates, all backed by realisable assets. Keep up that approach as you grow and you'll thrive IMHO. At some time the need for a Secondary Market will rear its head as lenders look for a route to exit early or reduce specific holdings. When it does, I urge you to follow something like the Saving Stream SM model (ie. lenders list and sell unwanted loan parts to other lenders at par, without fees or penalty to either party) rather than some of the more arcane and time-consuming models used by others.
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bugs4me
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Post by bugs4me on Mar 26, 2015 13:16:31 GMT
Morning Ed,thanks for the update. Progress looks good to me. How do you feel it is going, and how does it stack up with the early stages of your business plan? (if not too commercially sensitive). Morning jonno, I am very pleased with the progress and had forecast achieving £150K per month of loans on the platform for the first 4 months. I had however anticipated that at this stage I would be trying to find investors to buy the loans rather than searching for more borrowers to lend to. When undertaking my research into this market, part of this was looking at other platforms in a similar area of P2P and their rate of investor/lender growth. Of the ones I looked at they experienced a much lower rate of investment at the same stage of their life/age. Clearly a combination of the fact that the market has grown dramatically since these companies were formed but also they themselves have helped gain familiarity amongst investors for this type of model/platform. Kind regards, Ed I think you will find it very difficult to do any meaningful research unless you have plenty of time on your hands and are prepared to spend that time reading old posts. One of the problems with one of the other platforms was indeed their lack of loans. I'm certain the funds were available but the goods weren't even though there were IIRC plenty of promises about jam tomorrow. So I expect a few lenders lost interest and rather than see idle money they took it elsewhere. With MT the flow seems to be okay but from your weekly stats page it is apparent that the funds flowing in is healthy - the question is whether the platform can keep up with the demand. Several loans are due to mature over the next few weeks so these funds will be looking for a new home. So with new funds flowing and and loans being repaid as they mature can MT continue to keep up with demand. It's a balancing act and not an easy one to achieve. Maybe MT will have to introduce alongside it's smaller loan offerings a couple of higher value items - property perhaps - to test the appetite of the lenders. IMO what does need to be avoided at all costs is that platform plateau effect - there are plenty of P2P platforms that are at that stage and I wonder whether the platform owners will sooner or later realise it's simply not worth the effort especially with the added costs of associated regulation.
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Post by MoneyThing on Mar 26, 2015 13:31:51 GMT
Afternoon stevet and bugs4me,
Really useful comments and fully taken on-board.
It is a juggling act at the moment and progressing on a number of avenues for sources of loans to buy (i.e. partner model), as well as direct opportunities. As you can imagine, it does take same time to form & assess the partner relationships properly but hope that whilst these are developing I can secure sufficient direct loan opportunities to fulfil investor appetite in the meantime.
Kind regards,
Ed
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ilmoro
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Post by ilmoro on Mar 26, 2015 13:47:31 GMT
Ed, I think one of the main factors is that you have learned from / avoided many of the major headaches and pitfalls of existing platforms. So far at least, MT is one of the clearest, simplest, least time-consuming and fairest (across competing lenders) way to lend smallish sums at good rates, all backed by realisable assets. Keep up that approach as you grow and you'll thrive IMHO. At some time the need for a Secondary Market will rear its head as lenders look for a route to exit early or reduce specific holdings. When it does, I urge you to follow something like the Saving Stream SM model (ie. lenders list and sell unwanted loan parts to other lenders at par, without fees or penalty to either party) rather than some of the more arcane and time-consuming models used by others. SS dont pay interest while loan is up for sale, so there is potential penalty for the seller if it doesnt sell quickly or in entirety. Thats the bit Id tweak but otherwise agree with steve that SS is the preferred option for emulation.
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david42
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Post by david42 on Mar 26, 2015 22:36:59 GMT
I agree that the Saving Stream secondary market is better model than most. But ideally I would like a secondary market that includes three extra features missing from Saving Stream:
1) the ability to remove my offerings from the secondary market if they are not selling
2) a view on where my offering is in the queue - Ratesetter is an excellent example of this feature
3) For bonus points I hope Moneything can get rid of the tedious concept of splitting our offerings into fixed sized loan parts, which unnecessarily constrains and complicates the secondary market. If only £243.17 of my offering has been bought, that amount of money should be returned to my account rather than waiting until a whole loan part has been sold.
Features like this will become important to enable us to continue to manage our positions when there is a downturn or a bad loan and the secondary market becomes flooded with unwanted loans.
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bugs4me
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Post by bugs4me on Mar 26, 2015 22:45:53 GMT
Until or if higher value investments appear then IMO a SM is not necessary.
Currently supply seems to be matching demand but this could quickly change. Should higher value investment opportunities appear then it would be preferable for a SM to exist for these items only especially as there appear to be more than one or two disgruntled lenders on another platform that does not have a SM and one doesn't appear to be going to appear on the horizon any time soon. So I suspect (although I obviously have zero proof) that this could be an inhibiting factor regarding investment commitments - well certainly it is in my case.
Credit though to MT as they have taken many suggestions on board and are certainly quick to respond where necessary.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2015 9:27:29 GMT
From a customer point of view I see no need for a secondary market for loans that basically only exist for 6 months
From a software developers point of view I see no reason to complicate a relatively simple software suite
From a business development point of view I would rather Ed focuses on developing partnerships, fast filling income stream models, long tail business models etc. I like 1% a month with 6 monthly get outs but no other time requirements and LV of ~50%. Please tell us if you don't like the idea??
Just look at the little stumbles (well caught by the way) we have had in the last few weeks, everytime you complicate these things it sucks in the overheads and causes customers to get frustrated. Why do we want frustration built into this business model?
Don't let's try and make all the P2P portals do everything the others do all they will all be the same and hence less and less attractive. Right now, we have the opportunity to develop different things, in a few years time, when they start absorbing each other, we will be the losers and the longer we keep this divergence of offering going the better for the lenders.
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Steerpike
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Post by Steerpike on Mar 27, 2015 9:50:39 GMT
I agree, I don't see the need for a SM with the current loan portfolio.
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jonno
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nil satis nisi optimum
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Post by jonno on Mar 27, 2015 12:00:11 GMT
Morning Ed.
Any interesting offerings/developments planned for next week?
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Post by MoneyThing on Mar 27, 2015 12:41:09 GMT
Afternoon All,
Very useful feedback regarding the potential design/model of the SM when we get to this piece of work - thank you.
In terms of upcoming loans:
- We will have a further £28K of individual Partner loans going up early next week. - A loan of £15,000 secured against a Honda S2000, Harley Davidson & Rolex Datejust. (Middle of next week). - A £5,000 loan against a Jaguar. (Timing TBC) - I have also been given a list of 5 classic/collector cars that I am reviewing - (Loan amount TBC). - I have been given 1 bottle (to value only!) of a collection of Whiskey worth circa. £1,000 a bottle - (Loan amount TBC).
Kind regards,
Ed
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jonno
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Post by jonno on Mar 27, 2015 12:44:18 GMT
Afternoon All, Very useful feedback regarding the potential design/model of the SM when we get to this piece of work - thank you. In terms of upcoming loans: - We will have a further £28K of individual Partner loans going up early next week. - A loan of £15,000 secured against a Honda S2000, Harley Davidson & Rolex Datejust. (Middle of next week). - A £5,000 loan against a Jaguar. (Timing TBC) - I have also been given a list of 5 classic/collector cars that I am reviewing - (Loan amount TBC). - I have been given 1 bottle (to value only!) of a collection of Whiskey worth circa. £1,000 a bottle - (Loan amount TBC). Kind regards, Ed Is it whiskey or whisky?
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Post by MoneyThing on Mar 27, 2015 12:47:51 GMT
Afternoon All, Very useful feedback regarding the potential design/model of the SM when we get to this piece of work - thank you. In terms of upcoming loans: - We will have a further £28K of individual Partner loans going up early next week. - A loan of £15,000 secured against a Honda S2000, Harley Davidson & Rolex Datejust. (Middle of next week). - A £5,000 loan against a Jaguar. (Timing TBC) - I have also been given a list of 5 classic/collector cars that I am reviewing - (Loan amount TBC). - I have been given 1 bottle (to value only!) of a collection of Whiskey worth circa. £1,000 a bottle - (Loan amount TBC). Kind regards, Ed Is it whiskey or whisky? My apologies... whisky (i.e. Scotch).
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Post by uncletone on Mar 27, 2015 22:21:43 GMT
If you need any assistance in evaluating the worth of your bottle of whisky, I would be keen to help. I have no recognised expertise, but I can identify what I like......
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bugs4me
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Post by bugs4me on Mar 27, 2015 22:35:21 GMT
If you need any assistance in evaluating the worth of your bottle of whisky, I would be keen to help. I have no recognised expertise, but I can identify what I like...... Very kind offer but of course you would need to sample each and every bottle to ensure it's authenticity
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Post by MoneyThing on Mar 30, 2015 14:59:28 GMT
Afternoon,
We have just undertaken a sizeable system update to the platform.
Release Note
System Implemented database locking logic to prevent bidding race condition (This is a major change, and hard to test, only noticeable when multiple bids all come in at once).
For Investors Auto bid start (No more 9 minute delays) Add daily restriction logic (1 bid per user per day until restriction end date) 'Completed loan' list sortable 'My live loan' list sortable 'My repaid loan' list sortable Increased recent transaction list to 10 on the my account overview page Made login username case insensitive Speeded up 'My live loan' and 'My repaid loan' loading
Kind regards,
Ed
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