Are people getting Itchy Feet with P2P like I am
Jul 1, 2016 22:41:00 GMT
mikeb, Liz, and 4 more like this
Post by bluechip on Jul 1, 2016 22:41:00 GMT
I posted part of this post about FS, in their section, but I wanted to gauge people's views for the whole P2P market, and thought a new topic would be better:
I am growing increasingly concerned with my large P2P portfolio, I am with 15 platforms, but in recent months I have totally wound down my holdings in TC, FC, Rebs and have been trying with Funding Knight. I still have plenty of bad debts will all bar TC, but I only invested low 5 figures with them so it was easy to come out of quickly (despite the complex website).
Over the past few months I have been very frustrated with Rebs - obvious defaults, misplaced generosity to those defaulting and hiding the true figures on the dashboard, crafty beyond belief. Assetz - yesterday discovering that up to 20% of my funds could be in one loan in their 7% GBBA acct, and that money could be locked away if that loan came up against problems, with no guarantees of the PF coming in, this surprised me but probably is my fault for not being thorough enough with their T&C's. FC - told me several times they would introduce different measures which they never introduced, and things changed once they got rid of the auction process, too many A's and A*'s for my liking. Funding Knight - not so much frustration with them but more concern as I could tell there was a problem and I couldn't shift loans (this all makes sense now). Funding Secure - the volume of my loans that are now going well over 180 days and their policy with renewals if you don't want to renew them, taking liberties in my eyes.
I was also a little annoyed with Saving Stream, the big 9 loans hitting recently took me by surprise and I had my investment setting too high for that volume in one day, which meant I had to move money around whilst on holiday like a mad man. I even had to dip into my Santander 123 account to cover part of the deficit whislt I waited for transfers to occur (God forbid) - a bit of notice and planning would have been nice. That pre-allocation facility is useful, but I felt they abused it by bringing so many to market in one day and it meant people like me put a lot more into the platform than they had planned, to ensure they weren't in arrears - that 12% can be like heroin to us investors and they know it. (But I'm going cold turkey now).
As a result I've generally stopped being as quick to recommend P2P to friends, family and business associates. My gut doesn't like what is happening in this sector now and I'm going to start following it a bit more. I don't want to tar all platforms with the same brush and be overly negative because it has some great aspects and each platform has it's unique benefits - I am certainly not exiting completely. But keeping on top of everything and being able to plan finances is a little more complex than I thought it would be when it comes to working with P2P. Just my own views and I know other people on here don't worry at all about the way things are going, but P2P is losing the razzmatazz it once held for me. These little niggles all add up and I think it's only fair that considering all the positives I have had to say (and read) that when problems arise they get voiced as well.
Are others starting to get itchy feet and starting to downsize their P2P portfolios?
This has nothing to do with BREXIT as far as I'm concerned, in fact if these issues weren't arising I would personally be putting more money into P2P now on account of what is going to happen to interest rates and the pointless bonds I hold with the banks that will mature soon.
I know there are things I can do to mitigate some of the problems, like not putting so much in, or not having pre-funding setting so high etc. Or spending every hour of every day reading the ever changing T&C's for each platform and new products they launch. But on the whole I think a sense of desperation and general disregard for the retail client is creeping in across many of the platforms, and it's starting to make me begrudge supporting them like I did. I'll be interested to hear peoples views and gripes.
Thanks for reading.
I am growing increasingly concerned with my large P2P portfolio, I am with 15 platforms, but in recent months I have totally wound down my holdings in TC, FC, Rebs and have been trying with Funding Knight. I still have plenty of bad debts will all bar TC, but I only invested low 5 figures with them so it was easy to come out of quickly (despite the complex website).
Over the past few months I have been very frustrated with Rebs - obvious defaults, misplaced generosity to those defaulting and hiding the true figures on the dashboard, crafty beyond belief. Assetz - yesterday discovering that up to 20% of my funds could be in one loan in their 7% GBBA acct, and that money could be locked away if that loan came up against problems, with no guarantees of the PF coming in, this surprised me but probably is my fault for not being thorough enough with their T&C's. FC - told me several times they would introduce different measures which they never introduced, and things changed once they got rid of the auction process, too many A's and A*'s for my liking. Funding Knight - not so much frustration with them but more concern as I could tell there was a problem and I couldn't shift loans (this all makes sense now). Funding Secure - the volume of my loans that are now going well over 180 days and their policy with renewals if you don't want to renew them, taking liberties in my eyes.
I was also a little annoyed with Saving Stream, the big 9 loans hitting recently took me by surprise and I had my investment setting too high for that volume in one day, which meant I had to move money around whilst on holiday like a mad man. I even had to dip into my Santander 123 account to cover part of the deficit whislt I waited for transfers to occur (God forbid) - a bit of notice and planning would have been nice. That pre-allocation facility is useful, but I felt they abused it by bringing so many to market in one day and it meant people like me put a lot more into the platform than they had planned, to ensure they weren't in arrears - that 12% can be like heroin to us investors and they know it. (But I'm going cold turkey now).
As a result I've generally stopped being as quick to recommend P2P to friends, family and business associates. My gut doesn't like what is happening in this sector now and I'm going to start following it a bit more. I don't want to tar all platforms with the same brush and be overly negative because it has some great aspects and each platform has it's unique benefits - I am certainly not exiting completely. But keeping on top of everything and being able to plan finances is a little more complex than I thought it would be when it comes to working with P2P. Just my own views and I know other people on here don't worry at all about the way things are going, but P2P is losing the razzmatazz it once held for me. These little niggles all add up and I think it's only fair that considering all the positives I have had to say (and read) that when problems arise they get voiced as well.
Are others starting to get itchy feet and starting to downsize their P2P portfolios?
This has nothing to do with BREXIT as far as I'm concerned, in fact if these issues weren't arising I would personally be putting more money into P2P now on account of what is going to happen to interest rates and the pointless bonds I hold with the banks that will mature soon.
I know there are things I can do to mitigate some of the problems, like not putting so much in, or not having pre-funding setting so high etc. Or spending every hour of every day reading the ever changing T&C's for each platform and new products they launch. But on the whole I think a sense of desperation and general disregard for the retail client is creeping in across many of the platforms, and it's starting to make me begrudge supporting them like I did. I'll be interested to hear peoples views and gripes.
Thanks for reading.
