more diversity, simpler ways to invest and consistent rates?

So people only see this post after they've answered the poll, right? (sorry, first time I've done this).

I asked because:

more diversity: The whole ethos of AC is that it's asset backed loans, these come with security so you just don't need the diversity that is necessary on other platforms. There are enough loans on AC already for good diversity. So more diversity really means more access to loans (if the £6m bridging loan comes off then we'll all get more access to the existing loans).

simpler ways to invest: I don't think that existing AC customers are asking for simpler ways to invest. The MLIA, GEIA, GBBA, QAA already give a wide spectrum of ways to invest. I don't regard the MLIA as complex and indeed, it's the adding of other 'black box' algorithms like the QAA that makes the MLIA complex (as we don't know what other funds are going to make parts available or take priority with parts come onto the market).

consistent rates: I see nothing inconsistent about any of the rates on offer (either in the fixed rate accounts or the MLIA).

We've had a loan drought (hopefully coming to an end soon) that's not been good for AC or us lenders. There was an internal AC decision to change their 'origination' and that led to the scraping of an existing way of working with its associated pipeline and the start of a new one with associated delays. There may be many good reasons why this happened but to say that it was because "Lenders asked for more diversity, simpler ways to invest and consistent rates." doesn't seem right. Unless of course the drought was not caused by a pipeline change but the QAA eating everything it could find but from what Chris has said there were only two loans that went exclusively to the QAA.

I'm just trying to understand what's happening.

Is your "other" feedback inconsistent with the feedback seen on these forums? If so, (briefly ), in what way(s).

I suspect that this thread will end up over analysing what was probably just a marketing phrase.  Lenders have been asking for more loans and more diversity, that's a given just on this forum but lack of loan origination was the number one complaint by far to customer services last year.

Secured lending or not diversification is still important, and not all security is equal nor are all loans equally likely to need to call upon that security.  Different lenders have different strategies for dealing with those variables.

Simpler ways to invest is born from both customer feedback but also demand for the investment accounts.  The QAA is the fastest growing account, GBBA and GEIA both grow markedly whenever we approach full deployment of lender funds (something that will be far easier with more loans coming through), and the MLIA also sees growth whenever new loans come to the platform.  All our data points towards plenty of money waiting to come in to the platform however lenders either find it too complicated to do so (we need to improve our educational material and on site help) or need to see there are a diverse range of loans for them to choose from before they will deposit their funds.

Consistent rates is probably alluding to the demand for our investment accounts, particularly the QAA, although I admit that phrase is probably mostly marketing terminology albeit whilst not being in a position to know for sure.

The drought predated the QAA and has a number of complex and (some) confidential reasons behind it.  The creation of the QAA was one of the first steps put in place to rectify things but there is such a long lag in making changes that all the hard work put in last year is only now being felt with the huge pipeline of loans we have now.  We're not at all complacent about the future and there are many things we still need to improve upon to get us up to the likes of Flying Carpets and RS in terms of monthly origination, but the foundations are there now and we have a far better understanding of the drivers and levers governing the business having been through the rough patch than if we'd sailed through.  We're not dependent on one or two individuals or relationships with third parties, where a change in one person's performance or a relationship moving away can affect us.  We have a team of sales people each of whom are originating more than £10m of loan opportunities per month and there is both strength in that breadth and the knowledge that as resources allow we have the foundations in place to scale.

What's important for lenders is whether or not we're heading in the right direction now, as this is the direction we intend to keep heading.  The upcoming loans section shows the huge increase in the volume of loans we're dealing with right now, and even then represents only about 10-15% of all the loans currently going through our sales process.  The investment accounts are here to stay as is the MLIA, and both will find themselves improved over time as we have a number of ideas for both.  It's my personal mission over the next few months to improve the usability and friendliness of the user interface.  And we're going to continue broaden the range and types of loans we offer, and that includes some of lower rates as well as trying to find more of the higher rate ones, and it includes mixing in some big loans amongst the smaller ones.

We're not going to please everyone, we're not going to try to please every last person, but we will continue to try and provide a broad offering within the secured lending space where we appeal to a wide range of lenders with a wide range of needs.

Technically, I didn't ask for any of them, in that I haven't written to or rung the company requesting them. But I have voted with my feet -- in, not out -- steadily depositing more and more funds here, especially since the advent of GBBA and QAA.  So I suppose that sort of acknowledgement of AC's strategy can be counted as wish fulfilment.

That is entirely consistent with our own analysis.

"Majority of Brits have less than £1,000 saved up"

I guess you can find anything you like using Google. How about "36 per cent of people across the UK in 2015 have no savings, including deposits or investments, while 13 per cent hold savings and investments amounting to less than £1,500. " which leaves 51% with anything from £1501 to a few billions. I imagine they (the £1500+ group) are the people investing in P2P. And "level of savings held by typical family now £145k" (though that does include pension money. Both those quotes from www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-3187100/Average-household-savings-rise-294-real-terms-1975-largely-thanks-pensions-tucking-away-savings-accounts.html