Upcoming Loans

So you don't think that the wheels will fall off this one

The limit is set as a percentage of the total loan amount, and in this case it was set at 2.51%.  I don't know why it wasn't set at 2.50% -- possibly because of rounding problems.  Anyway, with the limit at 2.51%, the system would accept a bid for £150.60, or maybe a penny or two short of that.  I didn't try to do that today, but when I did that sort of thing once in the past my slightly over the limit bid was accepted by the system.  A bit later, however, FS spotted it and adjusted my bid down to the stated limit.  I expect the same thing to happen to the £150.01 bid today.

Which reminds me -- I think there's a typo on the website that fundingsecure need to fix... 

When someone tries to place an over-limit bid, a box pops up stating that there are restrictions in place and specifying the maximum acceptable bid.  Today it said 2.51%.  (It would be a lot more useful if it said £150, so the user doesn't have to work out what 2.51% really means while being acutely aware that speed is of the essence in getting their bid accepted before the loan is fully funded by other bidders.  We've asked for this in the past but it hasn't happened, so I'm asking again now.)  That same box, however, states when the bidding restrictions will be lifted, and today it said 6 days after the loan became available for funding.  IIRC, the loan that became available yesterday also said six days.  The emails announcing the restrictions say they'll apply for just 24 hours, so the box on the website seems to be wrong and needs fixing.

This sort of thing happens in loads of the loans that have restrictions.  They always reduce them in the end.  It would be really good if they got the sytem changed so they could put in exact limits and not have to spend time manually correcting.

IIRC, something like six months ago we were told an Aftermarket would be available "soon".  If fundingsecure have said anything more about that then it has passed me by completely.  Have I missed something?

The issue was raised recently here in the P2PIF and FS was asked to let us know where that project stood, but I don't think we've had any response from them yet.

Yes, well, I've got emails from over a year ago telling me that certain suggested minor site improvements would be made 'in the next few weeks'..........................

Although I'm still very supportive of FS, and still find their handling of everything exemplary and professional, their web site has always been really bad and hasn't improved very much at all in all this time.  It's clunky, awkward to navigate and, today's problems aside, still frequently very slow if there's even just a handful of people trying to access at the same time - particularly putting bids in.

We've had notification that the 1966 soft-top Jaguar E-Type that was security for a loan made back in Oct.'13 is returning for another loan.  Last time, the loan was for £15k against a £50k valuation, for a 30% LTV.  That allowed the borrower to get the loan for just 9% interest.  This time, the requested loan is for £25k and, if I'm reading the Upcoming Loans section of the website correctly, the valuation is unchanged.  (Unusually, it wasn't stated in the email announcing the loan.)  I do hope that's the result of a current valuation, as the previous one is now over a year old.  I presume the 12% interest this time is the result of the higher LTV (50%).

The one thing that strikes me as unusual about this loan is the £250 maximum bid limit.  That's just 1% of the total requested -- meaning that at least 100 lenders would be able to participate in the loan in the first 24 hours -- which is a lower limit than I think I've ever seen before.  The lowest I can remember is 1/60th of a loan (£500 out of £30k).  Am I forgetting something?

My guess would be that this loan might be one of those very rare ones that actually stays live long enough for the bidding limit to be lifted. 

The loan is 80% funded as I write this at 2030.  It's done very well at offering an investment opportunity for a lot of lenders (about 110, I think).  Whether there still will be some funding required at 1300 tomorrow when the maximum investment restriction is lifted is uncertain, but it's unlikely to need much by that time.

On a separate issue related to Upcoming Loans, I see that the borrower has withdrawn their application for the Surrey dog kennel loan (#8589397612).  As fundingsecure put it on the loan's web page...
I can't remember this sort of occurrence on any previous loan.  FS went on to say...
That's exemplary treatment of their lenders, and praiseworthy.  Well, done, FS! 

I'm sorry I didn't invest more than the minimum.    I think I was delaying further investment until the loan was closer to being completely funded.  I'll try not to make that mistake again! 

PS.  I presume the reference to "actual bids" means that shadow bidders weren't given a 30-day bonus.  (Are there any shadow bidders here that could confirm that?)  While that does seem reasonable considering that those bidders hadn't actually put any funds toward the loan yet, they did make a commitment so perhaps they deserved some sort of token 'reward' for having done that.