|
|
Post by ablrateandy on Aug 31, 2015 23:39:57 GMT
Enlighten me  |
|
ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
Posts: 11,334 
Likes: 11,558
|
Post by ilmoro on Sept 1, 2015 0:06:55 GMT
Reading a Times or Telegraph (forget which) article advertising 9% returns at Zopa whilst lunching during a wander along the South West Coast Path.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildlife2 on Sept 1, 2015 0:24:21 GMT
Telegraph article about 3 years ago. Was not sure about it for some time , but then I discovered this forum and decided to follow the herd.
|
|
|
|
Post by lynnanthony on Sept 1, 2015 6:30:36 GMT
A piece on Moneysavingexpert featuring Funding Circle about three years ago. Dipped my toe in very slowly at first.
|
|
|
|
Post by bracknellboy on Sept 1, 2015 7:45:24 GMT
Can't recall where I first HEARD about it, but probably MSE: in the days when Zopa was the only serious player. However did not take any part in. However the trigger for me to actually start participating was a piece in the Sunday Times a few years ago which in particular covered FC and TC.
|
|
ribs
Probably not James Marshall
Posts: 148
Likes: 151
|
Post by ribs on Sept 1, 2015 7:50:08 GMT
Well, this is one way to do market research! Looking to invest in some advertising? I honestly can't remember where I first heard of p2p. I first 'used' it when I took out a loan with Zopa, I vowed to pay it off very quickly (which I did, saved a full year's interest) and become one of the lenders. By time I paid off my Zopa loan, they were no longer top dog in my opinion, and so I dipped my tow with ratesetter instead. |
|
JamesFrance
Member of DD Central
Port Grimaud 1974
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 897
|
Post by JamesFrance on Sept 1, 2015 8:07:24 GMT
One of the papers for me too, but I quickly lost interest when I found the platforms mentioned were for uk residents only.
|
|
|
|
Post by wiseclerk on Sept 1, 2015 8:14:18 GMT
I saw Prosper by chance in spring of 2006 and was intrigued by the idea. However when I tried to assess if it was a sound business model I had difficulties to gather any hard facts/figures because at that time Prosper was only a few weeks old. I started gathering data and this eventually lead to my blogs.
|
|
pikestaff
Member of DD Central
Posts: 2,189
Likes: 1,546
|
Post by pikestaff on Sept 1, 2015 8:14:45 GMT
Zopa was on my radar almost from when it started. It got a lot of press interest and quite a few awards. I was working for a bank at the time and I was interested enough to ask our compliance department if I would be permitted to lend through it. Answer yes, and I was not the first to ask. I did not follow up my interest at the time because I was still able to make a decent return on term deposits - albeit with fringe banks (thank goodness for the FSCS!). Also most of my spare cash was going into my pension.
When I took early retirement, I had a lump sum to invest. By then the return on term deposits had fallen below 4% even at fringe banks. I remembered Zopa and decided to do some research on the internet. One of the places this led me to (early 2013) was p2pmoney.co.uk. After reading the reviews there, and looking at the platforms featured, I decided to invest in three: FC, TC and RS. Later I added AC and dropped FC, which I found too much like hard work.
I joined this forum when it started, having previously been a member of the independent FC forum, which FC closed down. These days it's my first source of info on p2p generally but I have yet to be tempted to broaden my portfolio.
|
|
|
|
Post by ablrateandy on Sept 1, 2015 8:24:14 GMT
Well, this is one way to do market research! Looking to invest in some advertising? Yes . But also interested generally. I first thought about it because I loved the concept of microfinance in developing countries where tiny business loans are made to cottage industries. P2P and P2B seemed like a logical extension and so I started to look a little after I left banking (my Compliance guys were less likely to take a positive view because of the desk that I sat on!). Then I sort of got sucked in...
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2015 9:12:33 GMT
Heard about it on Money Box about 5 years ago, looked each year since to see how the tools worked in a range of portals and felt uncomfortable (and was making more in the Stock Market), about a year ago found the stock market was getting harder to gain 20%+ so looked again at the options and felt that at least some had a working business model, while the industry had demonstrated that it was prepared to buy up the failing companies. Toe-in last October, running at +10% so far before tax.
Right now, only one of my 5 portals has a significant number of software problems and only one has a weak management team, luckily not the same portal, still monitoring and will remove if this does not improve.
|
|
|
|
Post by brummiefred on Sept 1, 2015 9:30:37 GMT
Heard about Zopa from a golfing friend about five years ago when it still had Listings (RIP) but have now spread wings to many
others and the original investment with Zopa is down to its last months now,
|
|
registerme
Member of DD Central
Posts: 6,626
Likes: 6,439
|
Post by registerme on Sept 1, 2015 9:38:53 GMT
I heard about Zopa when it launched, but was unable to invest because I didn't have ten years residential history available at the time. Real life took over and it was only back in April that I was reminded of P2P by a friend and took another look.
|
|
SteveT
Member of DD Central
Posts: 6,875
Likes: 7,924
|
Post by SteveT on Sept 1, 2015 9:49:46 GMT
Had heard bits and bobs about Zopa well before I started looking at P2P seriously. Then, having a substantial chunk of capital become available to reinvest for 3-4 years, I looked around at the lousy notice account rates and turned to MoneySavingExpert; was surprised to see Martin Lewis give such a positive review of the big 3 (FC / RS / Z) so started investigating further and began at small scale with FC and RS before deciding after a few weeks to start ramping up.
|
|
Jaydee
Member of DD Central
Posts: 417
Likes: 791
|
Post by Jaydee on Sept 1, 2015 10:01:30 GMT
Had taken early retirement and found returns on fixed deposits were very poor. Looked at putting money into a fringe bank on term deposit (offering 4.75% for 4 years) but my bank was making it difficult to transfer the amount I wanted in one sum. They wanted me to send a cheque instead of doing a same day transfer. Totally pi**ed off with B*S, googled "high interest returns", found money supermarket.com, which led me to Wellesley. Found this forum, which led me to FC, SS and FS. Have since moved out of FC, run down FS due to number of defaults and now in MT, Alb, AC and Lending Crowd. Being retired gave me time to spread my money and also gives me time each day to do a quick check on available opportunities. Set an overall target for "investments", which I've now reached so only a matter of reinvesting when needed.
|
|
