New Loans (FS)

I remember the update but was just noting that the original loan still says that it is being 'renewed' so a disconnect in the information being presented.

fundingsecure:  Did I blink and miss the release of this loan?

I don't see it on the list of loans coming soon, or the list of available loans, or the list of loans awaiting activation, or the list of active loans. 

Mikes - thanks for highlighting the error - that loan had been renewed - now corrected.

Regarding how the pay down works - please check loan ID 8454072999 which was reduced, when renewing, by funds received. The borrower elected to pay down this specific loan, with the overall value increasing significantly, resulting in a lower LTV for all loans.

FundingSecure

fundingsecure:  Can you please clarify the state of the restoration/refurbishment of the replica boat?

The description for the renewal that was listed on Tuesday appears to be identical to the description that was given six months ago.  And that, in turn, appears to be identical to the description that was given eight months before that.  To my untrained eye, the photos that are described as showing the boat "in its current condition" in Aug.'15, Apr.'16 and Oct.'16 all look identical.  I am therefore getting the impression that no progress has been made towards the refurbishment.

Is that the case?  If not, can you please indicate what progress has been made and what impact this might have on the value of the security?

fundingsecure:  Thank you.

I think the really small ones have no email, if you check 'all active and past loans' you can often see small ones that came and went with no notice.

I have seen larger loans appear without notice in the past, but only when they were renewals where most of the existing investors rolled their investment forward, meaning that there was little of the loan left for others when it appeared.  But that's certainly not the case here.

Perhaps FS concluded that it wasn't going to fill quickly so they didn't need to announce it in advance or apply a bid limit.  Now, at least four hours after its release, it's still less than 40% funded.

I used to support these loans, but I don't now because I've become concerned about the total amount lent to this one borrower.  I don't know how big their whole collection is, but FS now have about £250k lent against the bits used as security so far.  The loans regularly come up for renewal, and sometimes there's a new loan at about the same time, which suggests to me that the new loan is being taken in order to pay the interest/fees on the renewing loan.  (About £35k of loans are coming due before Christmas.)  My main concern is what would happen if the borrower runs out of additional collateral to use.  Interest on the existing loans is accruing at over £30k/yr and FS fees must put the total payable into the £40-50k/yr range.  If the borrower ever defaults, FS would have something like £400-500k of railway memorabilia to dispose of.  And while I hope that the valuations FS have received are reasonable for the individual lots assessed, I can't help but think that a massive collection sold over a relatively short period would saturate a specialised market and noticeably depress the prices achievable.

I should make it clear that I'm just speculating.  I know nothing about the borrower's collection -- what they've pawned so far may be a very small portion of it.  And they may be expecting a large lump of money in that would allow them to redeem all the loans easily.  And I haven't a clue how big the market for these items is -- it might be so huge that a large collection such as this could be sold quickly for a price close to the valuation amounts.

There are just too many uncertainties for me to feel comfortable lending more to this borrower.  Others FS investors may be having similar thoughts, and that could explain why this loan is taking a while to become funded fully.