AC loan monitoring -concerns

Edit: Just found AH email buried somewhere odd which includes

'Central to our thinking is the principle that you, as a lender on the platform, must be able to make fully informed choices about whether to invest' Really Andrew. Could we stop the thinking & start the doing! On recent evidence this is just hot air!!

So one of the loans I highlighted as not having had any comment for an extended period has finally had an update, first time in a year, and then in response to a lender Q three weeks ago. Surprise, surprise, the interest buffer isnt at the level it is supposed to be.

Have AC told lenders this

NO, NO, NO,


once again they have withheld this information (and the fact the lender is making up the shortfall) so I have been buying into this loan on misleading information.

Do we have any reason to trust AC with our money? 

Your camel must be really strong. Mine and my wife's camels died quite a few months back! Now we are only left with around 8 suspended loans which seem to be going nowhere.

Your reply Andrew says it all in the last sentence -"We are quite transparent compared to other models where there is no transparency at all." So logic says you only have to be a tiny bit transparent to claim to be better than other models. That I believe sums up exactly where you are as well as being very selective where you chose to be transparent to boot.

I am willing to say that I trust AC and Andrew. Why do I say that?

Do I think AC is dishonest? NO

Do I think they are incompetent? NO. But there is room for improvement. I am sure Andrew would acknowledge that.

Have I lost any money on AC? Speaking for myself, NO. (But I am not naive enough to think it won't happen some time, and I doubt that I shall be looking to blame AC).

Are they experienced in debt recovery? Well, as ex-bankers involved in this type of work they know a lot more about it than I do.

Have mistakes been made? YES, but these are acknowledged and it does not appear to me that anyone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Finally, is any of us perfect? NO.

Until AC really lets me down in a big way, I am keeping faith with them.

Hear hear.

This forum is rapidly degenerating into a bleat-fest.

westcountryfunder jo and anyone else. Its not a question of AC being dishonest, its not a question of trusting them to manage recoveries of distressed loans to the benefit of lenders but there is a question of how they manage the loans, communicate important information & the accuracy of information provided. This where the question of trust arises IMO.

Peer to Peer lending involves risk, we're all aware of this but we have to be able to assess the level of the risk & to do that we need accurate & complete information and we are generally reliant on the platform to provide this. AC are better than most at providing info (ive said we're probably to demanding as a result of previous openess) but this in itself influences our risk calculations as we should be able to more confident in the platform than others that are less communicative or provide less info to make an assessment on & will taper investments accordingly.

This is not a question of making a mistake but of an issue that has reoccurred repeatedly, on four known occasions.

L***s - where the buffer was found to be a quarter of what it was supposed to be based on the CR,  probably a mistake but one that was highlighted in Q&A 6 months before it became an issue
E**** - buffer to be established from rent deposit & rent retentions, highlighted in CR as a risk mitigator, but unit never rented so not established but AC didnt communicate buffer not established so dependent on lenders extracting info themselves
NLCPL - interest covered from buffer without lenders knowledge
Scots Prop - interest buffer again not maintained due to borrower issues, again not communicated

So in each of these cases lenders are assessing risk on incorrect or inaccurate info. I dont think the comments on here are unreasonable. If you bought  houses & subsequently found the surveys had missed a key point I doubt you wouldnt be annoyed with the surveyor & seek explanations.

There appears to be a misinterpretation of the word 'trust' in this thread and if I had any doubt in my mind then all of my holdings in AC would be liquidated immediately.

Whilst AC have shown very promising growth since inception I believe a great deal of this must be put down to their willingness to engage with the lender community. There are other platforms offering similar opportunities but when it comes to communication there is very little. There are more than a couple of them in the 'More P2X Sites' section and whether they will still be open for business in 12 months I have my doubts. I choose not to invest with them. Not because I feel they may pop off with a few quid in their back pockets but as a client, I expect and feel it is reasonable to expect, timely responses to queries. In the absence of same then that affects my confidence in them to simply manage all aspects of a loan.

In the case of AC, they should be congratulated on their transparency. The problem as I see it is that this is not consistent. Sometimes the flow of information is exemplary and other times it appears as though everyone has gone on holiday. So do I trust them to always respond in a timely manner then the answer would be no. Do I trust them with my funds - irrespective as to whether the communication taps are open or closed - then the answer would be yes.

I believe AC realise that they need to keep the lines of communication open at all times whether it's on this forum, the Q & A section or just general loan updates. The extra staff that AH mentioned a few weeks ago should shortly be having a positive impact but in the meantime it can be a little frustrating until they get up to speed.

Not wishing to defend AC as I'm sure they are big shouldered enough to fight their own corner but looking at the Q & A often many questions are anything but repetitive. I wonder whether the lender asking the question has bothered to read previous questions where their query has already been answered. So whilst AC may be guilty I also believe that lenders are sometimes not totally innocent themselves. Asking the same question simply takes up time and that time IMO is wasted never to be recouped.