bigfoot12
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Post by bigfoot12 on Sept 26, 2015 7:23:32 GMT
I emailed AC to complain about this and ask they consider reinstating the old functionality to set a target by a loan level switch which will auto generate or add to an existing buy order to restore the target which shouldn't be too difficult to achieve (says I). To me the new way is just bloody annoying as every month I have to get the calculator out and adjust buy orders or whatever they are called on any loan I want to keep a set target. I've already said that we'll give you an option in the next couple of weeks for doing so, whereby a buy order will maintain a particular holding in a loan even as it amortises. The sell order variation will do the same thing except will deactivate when the target is reached. It was changed due to the number of people who grumbled and complained about that old way of doing things. The previous interface also didn't lend itself to dealing with buying and selling at a discount. is there any news on the API? Will it be able to list transactions, identify capital repayments, cancel existing orders and create a new order?
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Post by chris on Sept 26, 2015 7:31:08 GMT
I've already said that we'll give you an option in the next couple of weeks for doing so, whereby a buy order will maintain a particular holding in a loan even as it amortises. The sell order variation will do the same thing except will deactivate when the target is reached. It was changed due to the number of people who grumbled and complained about that old way of doing things. The previous interface also didn't lend itself to dealing with buying and selling at a discount. is there any news on the API? Will it be able to list transactions, identify capital repayments, cancel existing orders and create a new order? Nothing to report yet. QAA, MLIA and new market place took priority but it's near the top of my to do list now. Perhaps a first draft end of October / early November. The goal is to enable everything you can do manually to be done via the API but that is likely to take some time to achieve. Access to statements would be easy to include so is likely to be an early feature. The biggest hurdle will be authentication as there are so many methodologies to choose from each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In time we'll support more than one but we'll have to pick one to begin with.
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bigfoot12
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Post by bigfoot12 on Sept 26, 2015 7:42:10 GMT
chris is there any news on the API? Will it be able to list transactions, identify capital repayments, cancel existing orders and create a new order? Access to statements would be easy to include so is likely to be an early feature. The biggest hurdle will be authentication as there are so many methodologies to choose from each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In time we'll support more than one but we'll have to pick one to begin with. One suggestion would be to have a different password to normal and to not allow the API to withdraw funds, or change back account details. From previous experience API passwords tend to be left lying around in scripts and spreadsheets and I'd rather that someone finding it couldn't withdraw my money.
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Post by chris on Sept 26, 2015 7:48:09 GMT
Access to statements would be easy to include so is likely to be an early feature. The biggest hurdle will be authentication as there are so many methodologies to choose from each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In time we'll support more than one but we'll have to pick one to begin with. One suggestion would be to have a different password to normal and to not allow the API to withdraw funds, or change back account details. From previous experience API passwords tend to be left lying around in scripts and spreadsheets and I'd rather that someone finding it couldn't withdraw my money. The preferred approach at the moment would be to have a separate API key per account that can be used, perhaps using HTTP AUTH over HTTPS as a simple means of authentication per request. At some point we're likely to need a full OAUTH2 solution as well. We'll also support streaming over websockets, which is currently already in place, so that enables so more interesting solutions.
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Balder
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Post by Balder on Sept 26, 2015 8:05:01 GMT
We are now aware that there is an issue in that trading in loans which have had a monitoring or credit event is currently not possible regardless of any investment instruction you may have placed. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible."
Chris can you please let us know when this will be fixed - Stuart said this week but that hasn't happened - a question in QA was posted on the 22nd asking the same question which hasn't been answered in the 3 day SLA. On loan 45.
Is this harder to fix that previously thought - if so please come clean and set expectations.
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Post by chris on Sept 26, 2015 8:11:27 GMT
We are now aware that there is an issue in that trading in loans which have had a monitoring or credit event is currently not possible regardless of any investment instruction you may have placed. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible." Chris can you please let us know when this will be fixed - Stuart said this week but that hasn't happened - a question in QA was posted on the 22nd asking the same question which hasn't been answered in the 3 day SLA. On loan 45. Is this harder to fix that previously thought - if so please come clean and set expectations. .
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mikes1531
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Post by mikes1531 on Sept 26, 2015 14:53:15 GMT
chris is there any news on the API? Will this API be of any use to 'ordinary' AC users? Or is it just for those who have programming skills?
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Post by chris on Sept 26, 2015 15:26:37 GMT
chris is there any news on the API? Will this API be of any use to 'ordinary' AC users? Or is it just for those who have programming skills? Anyone will be able to have access, by definition you'd need programming skills to take advantage of that or trust someone else with access to your account (which I wouldn't recommend unless they're a trusted platform we've partnered with).
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bigfoot12
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Post by bigfoot12 on Sept 26, 2015 16:11:59 GMT
Will this API be of any use to 'ordinary' AC users? Or is it just for those who have programming skills? Anyone will be able to have access, by definition you'd need programming skills to take advantage of that or trust someone else with access to your account (which I wouldn't recommend unless they're a trusted platform we've partnered with). I don't know what technology the API is going to be when they release it to us, but I have used APIs from within EXCEL in the past - if they are using an established API variety there will be excel plugins. Writing code to do a few simple tasks should be straight forward. My guess is that there will be a lot of discussion about it on this forum. There are graphical programming environments, such as C#, which take some of the pain out of coding. The difficult thing in writing code of this sort is making it robust enough to deal with as many errors as possible, such as the internet going down, or AC's server being unresponsive. If you are happy for your code to exit if it finds an error then I think many people will find that within their abilities.
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gt94sss2
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Post by gt94sss2 on Sept 26, 2015 18:10:40 GMT
A couple of people spoke up but in general the feeling imparted was one that it wasn't how people wanted it to work. Hopefully with the changes we can accommodate both groups. We always do our best to listen. Chris, Like others, I am glad the functionality is coming back - but you really need to stop listening to those who were previously grumbling (or go out and shoot them!  ) As someone who uses the MLIA as well as the other AC investment accounts - I can tell you that until I read the comments in this thread - I as tempted to empty the MLIA accounts of my family and move all the funds elsewhere(though could I suggest not removing functionalility rather than taking it away and then having to re-add it). The MLIA has become to complex to use - I know you want to attract 'power users' but you have to do this in a way which doesn't lose the mainstream customer base who want a bit more control than a fully automated account (i.e. GEIA) but won't want to spend hours playing with settings and monitoring accounts. Its fine to have the more advanced options but hide them somewhere - clicking on the 'Invest' button and facing a new screen with up to 6 options to pick from is the way to lose customers and put them off - as is frankly the selling of units at a discount/allowing multiple buying/selling orders and introducing an API - these are all fine for those who want them and you may well have the IT capacity to do all these but they will be pandering to a **very** small (if apparently vocal) base. Instead, AC need to devote more time on 'mainstream' clients - and don't get me started on the other aspects of the platform such as rounding or <.01p or .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx1 of a unit being purchased - these may all be 'technically' correct but will put off mainstream customers. Hope you take the above in the spirit that its intended from someone who is a shareholder and wants the best for AC.
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Post by chris on Sept 26, 2015 18:24:31 GMT
A couple of people spoke up but in general the feeling imparted was one that it wasn't how people wanted it to work. Hopefully with the changes we can accommodate both groups. We always do our best to listen. Chris, Like others, I am glad the functionality is coming back - but you really need to stop listening to those who were previously grumbling (or go out and shoot them! ) As someone who uses the MLIA as well as the other AC investment accounts - I can tell you that until I read the comments in this thread - I as tempted to empty the MLIA accounts of my family and move all the funds elsewhere(though could I suggest not removing functionalility rather than taking it away and then having to re-add it). The MLIA has become to complex to use - I know you want to attract 'power users' but you have to do this in a way which doesn't lose the mainstream customer base who want a bit more control than a fully automated account (i.e. GEIA) but won't want to spend hours playing with settings and monitoring accounts. Its fine to have the more advanced options but hide them somewhere - clicking on the 'Invest' button and facing a new screen with up to 6 options to pick from is the way to lose customers and put them off - as is frankly the selling of units at a discount/allowing multiple buying/selling orders and introducing an API - these are all fine for those who want them and you may well have the IT capacity to do all these but they will be pandering to a **very** small (if apparently vocal) base. Instead, AC need to devote more time on 'mainstream' clients - and don't get me started on the other aspects of the platform such as rounding or <.01p or .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx1 of a unit being purchased - these may all be 'technically' correct but will put off mainstream customers. Hope you take the above in the spirit that its intended from someone who is a shareholder and wants the best for AC. All noted and I agree with much of what you write but disagree that those who want a bit more control than a fully automated account are the mainstream audience. There's a lot of research, both our own and across the industry, that shows that the mainstream audience find the dirty details of looking at individual loans off putting and too much. Mainstream = the investment accounts. MLIA is for the early adopters and financially literate which whilst a majority of the existing customer base is shrinking as a percentage and is expected to be massively out stripped over the next year or two. Of that segment there's a split between those who want simplicity and those who want all the features and those with the deepest pockets tend to fall into the latter category. All that said I do agree that the MLIA should be split into normal and advanced modes, with the normal mode having a couple fewer options and sensible defaults and the advanced mode giving a couple more options than is currently present plus those options we choose to hide. Functionality wise the front end site is pretty much there for the time being so we can move from innovating new features and systems into refining what is already there. That'll switch again at some point in the future but I'd be surprised if there were any big new introductions this year. This re-release of the MLIA and addition of the QAA actually represented roughly a 75% rewrite of the behind the scenes code that runs the market, handles the virtual banking, and was a 100% rewrite of the account management logic, so it was a huge release for us probably of similar scope and complexity to launching a new platform. I need to take a bit of a break after that! The API isn't primarily for on platform lenders, it's actually a route to retail investors via third parties and enables other developments aimed at the retail crowd. That it's next to no work to open it up to all lenders is a happy coincidence although I do worry about the amount of support time it may require. I have some ideas for easing that though.
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Post by mrclondon on Sept 26, 2015 19:54:39 GMT
The API isn't primarily for on platform lenders, it's actually a route to retail investors via third parties and enables other developments aimed at the retail crowd. That it's next to no work to open it up to all lenders is a happy coincidence although I do worry about the amount of support time it may require. I have some ideas for easing that though. Whilst I am a reasonably competent programmer, it is the authentication stage of API's that I have struggled with, particularly those using OAuth2.0 and once over that hurdle the function calls are usually self explanatory. You'll save yourself a lot of support grief if you provide sample code in a few of the more obvious languages of the authentication process followed by (say) a read-only function call. Beyond that I suspect quite a few forum members will be able to provide some support. You'll also find support will be less onerous if the interface supports both XML and JSON, the former is pretty much a neccessity for integration with Excel / Access using VBA.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2015 9:01:03 GMT
I emailed AC to complain about this and ask they consider reinstating the old functionality to set a target by a loan level switch which will auto generate or add to an existing buy order to restore the target which shouldn't be too difficult to achieve (says I). To me the new way is just bloody annoying as every month I have to get the calculator out and adjust buy orders or whatever they are called on any loan I want to keep a set target. I've already said that we'll give you an option in the next couple of weeks for doing so, whereby a buy order will maintain a particular holding in a loan even as it amortises. The sell order variation will do the same thing except will deactivate when the target is reached. It was changed due to the number of people who grumbled and complained about that old way of doing things. The previous interface also didn't lend itself to dealing with buying and selling at a discount. Thanks Chris good to know. Probably best not to take away functionality and then give it back. When I spent my time in IT, we always added functionality not yoyo-ed it, it helped customers develop as they wished, rather than run for cover. You are in danger of making the thing over-complicated, as someone who has a horror of SAP, it is best to be avoided. If you read through the various threads on different p2pforums you will realise that "simplicity, consistency and good communication" is often far more attractive than "whizzy things". Right now AC stands far too far to the wrong side of whizzy and if I were not spending time getting out of FC I would be considering my options on AC. I for one, have not a single, certain, idea what will change next on FC and if it does if it will "work", I generally just hope that maybe some of the loans drawdown. Can I suggest you sit down with the guys, put together a communication pack of where you intend to go with all these changes, communicate it and roll it out "on time and tested" as I used to insist in my project management days; still too many errors, too much confusion. Still good luck and I hope I never have to say ATFATFish. 
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ianb
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Post by ianb on Oct 5, 2015 16:44:11 GMT
Seems to have been another change in the way loan holdings are being displayed (or at least I've only just noticed it) as I've just completed a pointless exercise of setting buy orders for £0.01 for a bunch of loans to make them nice round numbers. Still, this should be the last time of it as, per chris we must only be days off for having the ability to maintain set targets thankfully restored to the system. Shouldn't complain though, at least its something to do when theres no loans to buy into  . |
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ianb
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Post by ianb on Oct 15, 2015 17:14:43 GMT
I emailed AC to complain about this and ask they consider reinstating the old functionality to set a target by a loan level switch which will auto generate or add to an existing buy order to restore the target which shouldn't be too difficult to achieve (says I). To me the new way is just bloody annoying as every month I have to get the calculator out and adjust buy orders or whatever they are called on any loan I want to keep a set target. I've already said that we'll give you an option in the next couple of weeks for doing so, whereby a buy order will maintain a particular holding in a loan even as it amortises. The sell order variation will do the same thing except will deactivate when the target is reached. It was changed due to the number of people who grumbled and complained about that old way of doing things. The previous interface also didn't lend itself to dealing with buying and selling at a discount. - where are you at in terms of the above ? By your original post the functionality would have been available by now. Thanks.
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