Did you see the 'investment pie' thread?
I did, and it is helpful to see what people have invested in (I was going to post a pie chart myself, but it would just be a circle with saving stream typed in the middle
!).
However I thought it would be nice get actual feedback from investors.
Be careful what you ask for! Lots more I haven't tried yet and not looking for new platforms at the moment (may reconsider in new tax year) so in decreasing investment size (this will take a while)....
Bridge Crowd
I like them, tho am a bit heavier than my current intentions after I jumped the gun to replace a loan that ended up being extended, although longer term I may increase my holdings
+ves v low effort for 12%, just wait for the email, say how much you want and transfer your money
-ves min 5k (so goose eggs in this basket, hopefully golden!), no SM so return time of capital unpredictable (so far for me loans have either repaid early or extended), small and low tech (so you'll either love their KISS approach or be scared by it).
Property Moose
In hindsight I probably invested too much too quickly given the terms are 2-3yrs, so will now have to be really picky as to which properties I invest in to avoid them being too much of my portfolio...unless they introduce a good usable SM and I can rebalance a bit. I don't mind too much as it still feels much less risky, and is tying up less capital, than doing BTL on my own.
+ves - I find them very open and communicative, monthly payments mean its very easy to work out how things are going, cashback during fundraising period is great too.
-ves no SM at present...and no-one knows yet how well these properties will sell at end of term. A couple of my early properties have been a bit disappointing so far.
LendInvest (steady state but open to temporary high-rate temptation)
+ves - Nice and relatively boring platform, easy (with a bit of patience) to build up a decent portfolio especially now they take debit cards and alert you to new ones, steady flow to choose from, all loans so far paid back when expected or sooner
-ves - No SM, some loans paid back a lot sooner than expected
Ratesetter (steady state ditto)
+ves - provision fund, potentially very easy to use, potentially fire & forget
-ves - rate volatility, takes more attention than I'd like, expensive early exits (not that I intend to exit loans early, tho would make me less willing to go for an IFISA as I'd have to increase my holdings more than I might like in order to do so)
Lending Works (ditto)
+ve - very easy, rates compare very well with RS without the effort, true fire & forget.
-ves - can sometimes take a while to get new money invested, so a bit of patience needed
MoneyThing (actively increasing)
+ve - great rates against generally excellent LTVs, great platform, great team very responsive to feedback and who appear to be taking a very sensible approach to growth
-ves - still a small platform, needs patience and has really stretched my diversity principles - tho I still have a few months to go to meet my target of having as much invested as I'd like within a year AND for it to well diversified.
Saving Stream (actively increasing)
+ve - great rates, easy, and team generally doing well to react to a steady string of challenges. Pre-funding makes it very easy to build up a diverse portfolio with little effort.
-ve needs a lot of patience, deal flow tends to be feast or famine such that most of the time SM demand is crazy. But for me I'll easily get my desired stake within a year so should then be able to easily maintain it with newer loans as older get repaid.
Zopa (steady state)
+ves - fire & forget, and hopefully their long experience makes them stable
-ves - better rates elsewhere, but I keep a chunk here for stability & diversity
ABLRate (desparate to increase!)
+ves - some pretty unique & interesting propositions, great rates, interesting SM, responsive team etc
-ve - deal flow, am currently nowhere near my initial investment target, and would ideally like to keep it in step with other platforms. Then again as some of the deals are a lot longer there's plenty of time to build it up before they all repay.
LandBay (steady state)
+ves - fire & forget, slightly different (hopefully safer) take on property. Allegedly very easy to cash out so potentially good place to stick money shorter term (haven't tried but am considering). Nice people
-ves - rates aren't exactly exciting
Abundance (likely to increase slowly)
+ves - I like that it's a bit different, and so will probably trickle more money in over time
-ves - very long term (there is a SM but I've not used it) and very small number of deals.
House Crowd (waiting to wind down)
+ves- the investmens I do have with them appear to be doing OK tho I won't really have much of an idea until the annual dividend arrives. Other people seem to like them so maybe they're Marmite? (Too?) easy to invest anyway
-ves - in hindsight they are not for me - difficult to gauge performance, quite long term and any early exit is expensive. Can be a long dead period during fundraising/purchase etc before rent starts accruing (particularly annoying if the deal is then cancelled).
Lending Crowd (waiting to wind down)
+ves - joining bonus was good, steady trickle of loans hopefully means they're being sensible about growth
-ves - I'm just not very keen on SMEs at the moment and the SM sales fees hike and apparent slowness of the SM has put me off wanting to invest further.
Crowd Property (waiting to wind down)
+ves yet another property site. Quite easy to use and can now start earning more quickly
. Sent me a handwritten Xmas card bought on the high street (which says a lot about their size)!
-ves - I'm less keen on being locked in for the whole deal term and seeing nothing til the end, so have only dipped a toe and not intending to expand, but never say never
Funding Secure (winding down)
+ves Secured loans, good rates and sellers can make a killing on the SM
-ves - I'm just not keen on them. Loans on offer when I first joined felt a bit too jack of all trades and the lack of SM put me off more than a toe dip. Then they introduced the SM and beyond the very welcome short term gains and being able to exit most of my loans early I really don't like how it works. Doubt I'll go back once my last loan gets sorted (over a month late now)
Funding Circle - aka Hotel California, checked out but may never leave
+ves - with effort could make good returns. I only had one loan default on me
-ves - too much effort, bots, fixed rates, debateable loan bands. No clue if I'll ever see any recovery on my defaulted £19.75, but don't really care apart from the potential tax hassle.
!! 