ML500

No idea! Why, is there a loan coming up on one?

Ah yes found it

Excellent research pepperpot!

Close to my thinking as well, though if in reasonable condition should make about £7k at auction. The gas conversion could be a positive as it almost doubles the obtainable MPG. I will splash a £100 on it provided I remember to log in on time!

It was only £6k. Given the £100 bid limit it only takes/took 60 lenders??

At the moment, demand exceeds supply at FS, hence the need for investment limits.  FS have done a reasonable job setting the investment maximums, but the limitation of setting it in £25 increments makes it difficult to get exactly right.  There seem to be about 50 investors who sit poised at their keyboards whenever a new loan is released for funding.  If the total loan divided by the maximum investment is 50 or less, a loan would be funded nearly instantly.  If it's more than that, the 50 bids come in and there's a bit left to fund.  So today, with a factor of 60, the loan was nearly full after a minute or two and the rest went by the ten-minute mark.  Yesterday, with the factor being 70, there was more of the loan left to fund after the flurry of bidding in the first two minutes.  Since the rate of bidding slows considerably after the first rush, a slightly higher factor produces a significantly longer time needed to complete the funding.  Occasionally, FS will set the maximum low enough that the factor is around 100, and when they do that there's a good chance that the loan will be available for nearly 24 hours.

Other factors affecting the speed of funding are...

• The size of the loan -- If it's large, then even if the factor is low the maximum will be above what some investors are willing to put into a single loan so it will require more investors to fund the loan.
• The interest rate on the loan -- If it's less than 13%, some investors will pass on the opportunity, and that will extend the time needed to fund the loan completely.
• Whether the loan is a renewal -- If so, then there probably will be some investors carried forward from the previous loan who will have put in more than the new maximum (because maximums tend to be lower now than they were six months ago).
• Whether the loan is a second tranche, or a second loan to the same borrower -- If so, some investors will decide they already have exposure to that borrower and that will reduce their enthusiasm for investing.

The bottom line is that the setting of the maximum investment limit is not an exact science, so sometimes loans are funded very quickly and sometimes they aren't.  If you want to be sure of participating in a new loan then, unless the loan is huge, you really do have to be poised at your keyboard at the designated time.