Is Funding Circle Worth Putting Money In

Although it doesn't answer your question directly, take a look at the rate comparison table on the P2P Money website making sure you set your actual tax rate correctly.

FC is probably the most time consuming of the P2x sites, and only you can judge whether the return is worth the effort. For me it no longer is given the multitude of platforms in the P2x sector.

Most FC loans are unsecured with a personal guarantee (which means in the cases of defaulted loans there will be some recovery of a few of them). There are also some asset backed loans, but that depends on there still being assets in the business when it folds (and many of us are still wondering where the £2m stock of womens jeans pledged as security on one notable defaulted loan went).

with probably the emphasis very strongly on both some and few.

Well judging by the fate of the business, they probably didn't manage to sell 'em. I'm not entirely sure they existed in that quantity at the time of the loan. BTW, what was the outcome of that loan ? What level of recovery (well, two loans in fact).

I was in the first loan, but sold out when the second one was listed, despite it bringing asset security in play across both loans. It was a close call decision, so that one falls into the but for the grace of..... for me.

P.S. How on EARTH did England lose that match ?!?

To angry from grumpy!

I think FC may be having to tighten up on their actions regarding defaults and directors' "guarantees" following increasing public criticism, (and possibly the approach of increasing regulation). Anyway, if you are thinking of spreading some of your shekels into FC, (in my experience) they don't get everything wrong. Faults are well documented on this forum. However, keeping ahead of the "game" is time consuming, and smaller loans (especially A+ risk band) are not worth the effort for the returns on offer. (Autobid is a non-starter for me).

Mr Angry: are u a non-taxpayer, a 20%, 40% or 45% taxpayer ? NO need to answer that question in public obviously, however its something you should take into account.

In FCs favour: given the quanitity of loans available its a good place to build up a diversified loan book quickly. If you a non-taxpayer or 20%, then I would say it is not a bad place to put SOME of your cash into. Build a loan book relatively quickly with sufficient spread of exposure, do your best to weed out what you think may be the worst bets. I suspect you could then reasonably expect to get a similar or better return than you would in a bank or probalby with Zopa (and Rate Setter) .... ? IMHO.

On the other hand if you are 40 or 45% taxpayer, think very carefully about it, and think carefully about your lending strategy.

Also to consider is your own 'attitude': if you are likely to get upset/stressed any time an individual loan goes bad, then you are likely to be better off not using FC.

BTW, if FC concerns you, I'd be think very carefully before using the likes of TC. The volume of loans available is signficicantly less and of course the minimum bid size of £1k: combined this makes it difficult to build up a diversified portfolio quickly. While their loans generally have some level of asset security, the value of that security is always going to be questionable when push comes to shove.

First and foremost always ask yourself the question: am I going ot have any problems sleeping at night ? .e.g, if I hold say 10 loans accumulated over several months with TC, will I be able to rest comfortably with the threat that any one of those, and several, could turn bad with risk of losing several £k.

For what it is worth I agree with most of the sentiments expressed by posters on this thread. However, you did ask specifically about investing in FC and I have a couple of further comments to make. First is regulation by the FCA of the whole P2P business which is due to come into effect in a couple of months time and no one is quite sure what impact this will have on this market. Second is the subject of communication with FC and perusal of past posts on here will leave you in no doubt about the very poor way FC have treated investors in the past. Finally loan defaults are a continual source of pain to most people investing in FC and frankly my personal experience of "personal guarantees" usually are not worth the paper that they are written on.

Until a short while ago I had a five figure sum invested in FC but have now reduced this to a small four figure sum. After a fair amount of research I have moved some of this money to Assetz Capital (AC) as their loans usually have far better security and are backed by charges on buildings, tangible assets etc. 

Good luck with your search.

I never expected to see that kind of comment in my lifetime...FC website /IT being positioned in  a -ve light, contextually in the same para as mentions Thin Cats. I think I need an aspirin.