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Post by rugbylad on Apr 29, 2014 12:29:15 GMT
Afternoon
I wondered what other brokers (and indeed lenders) thought of recent trend towards irrelevant/non pertinent questions being asked in discussions.
I have over 26 years experience in finance, and a huge experience in P2P lending with over 35 successful P2P cases completed in the last 12 months and recently found matters very time consuming.
Some discussion threads have been overtaken by items that maybe should be on this type of forum not a clients' listing.
In addition many of the questions are more relevant to equity based investment, not debt based investment.
An awful lot of personal, questions have been asked on loans. Much of the information being asked already being covered as part of the underwriting process to get the case listed in the first place.
I know that I am laying myself up for much abuse from some investors, hence asking for the experience from other brokers on how they handle these things ?
It would also be useful to understand from lenders why they may not trust the underwriting process, and why so much information may be requested even though they have declared themselves "out".
Thanks in advance.
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shimself
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Post by shimself on Apr 29, 2014 13:30:49 GMT
I wondered what other brokers (and indeed lenders) thought of recent trend towards irrelevant/non pertinent questions being asked in discussions. I have over 26 years experience in finance, and a huge experience in P2P lending with over 35 successful P2P cases completed in the last 12 months and recently found matters very time consuming. Some discussion threads have been overtaken by items that maybe should be on this type of forum not a clients' listing. In addition many of the questions are more relevant to equity based investment, not debt based investment. An awful lot of personal, questions have been asked on loans. Much of the information being asked already being covered as part of the underwriting process to get the case listed in the first place. I know that I am laying myself up for much abuse from some investors, hence asking for the experience from other brokers on how they handle these things ? It would also be useful to understand from lenders why they may not trust the underwriting process, and why so much information may be requested even though they have declared themselves "out". Thanks in advance. Well you might know that these questions have been asked and answered, but we don't. Credit reports not shown. How sound is the PG? Do we believe it'll fly (because we all now know that guarantees are not easily enforced), so we will ask equity investor type questions. (Am I one of the people you are writing about I'd be curious to know)?
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Post by rugbylad on Apr 30, 2014 12:02:11 GMT
Actually not Generally asking the question, across the board really. In my (humble) opinion, some investors think they are on Dragon's Den. Interestingly, having carried out some research, 95% of money is invested from people not asking questions. (apart from one obvious investor on ReBs) I have suggested that the P2P lenders make the underwriting process more transparent to help investors have more confidence in the process.
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Post by jackpease on Apr 30, 2014 12:59:34 GMT
Endless questions about Scottish Independence do seem to crop up and must be really annoying. But I guess the 95% don't need to ask questions if you have a hard core of quickfire question askers.
Do introducers *choose* to (double) handle the questions from investors or are you required to? We don't know whether non-answers are laziness by the introducers or the borrowers.... Maybe Q&A panels could make it clear whether the questions are being answered by introducers or directly by lenders.
Jack
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Post by xordon on Apr 30, 2014 13:10:21 GMT
I read one long string of questions the other day where at the end the investor said well you will get my £20. I checked and that was all he had offered. The time to answer the question would have cost the borrower more than that.
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Post by rugbylad on Apr 30, 2014 13:43:38 GMT
Endless questions about Scottish Independence do seem to crop up and must be really annoying. But I guess the 95% don't need to ask questions if you have a hard core of quickfire question askers. Do introducers *choose* to (double) handle the questions from investors or are you required to? We don't know whether non-answers are laziness by the introducers or the borrowers.... Maybe Q&A panels could make it clear whether the questions are being answered by introducers or directly by lenders. Jack I can't quote for other introducers of business, but personally I will always answer what I can straight away, if I can't I will post that I have asked the client to answer and update/chase these. Some investors can be impatient, however must remember that in certain situations a referral to an accountant may be required, and also the borrowers are still trying to run a business. On some occasions we can't answer because we are not around, on some occasions, I know of introducers that refuse to answer due to the time wasters, or to avoid entering a confrontation situations. As yes xordon, 3 hours of questions for a £20 investment is very annoying, however, I have to look at it that someone has worked hard for that £20 and if it all adds up to fund my clients loan, we have a happy client, another UK business moving forward and investors earning well ! The Spirit of P2P !
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jimbo
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Post by jimbo on Apr 30, 2014 14:11:14 GMT
Plus, the answers to that person's questions may well encourage others to invest...
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Post by yorkshireman on Apr 30, 2014 14:23:53 GMT
It’s the lender who is risking their hard earned brass, not the borrower, introducer or platform.
As a result of bent lawyers, air con artists, crappy scrappies etc. shafting lenders, borrowers should expect a grilling, after all, this is what used to happen if you applied to a bank for a loan.
Provided the questions are relevant it doesn’t matter if it’s £20 or £20000, the lender is perfectly entitled to ask as many probing questions as necessary in order to help them decide if a loan request is a worthwhile investment or not.
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Post by rugbylad on Apr 30, 2014 14:24:23 GMT
Plus, the answers to that person's questions may well encourage others to invest... They should still be relevant to a "debt" based investment. Not an "Equity" based investment. We must remember that in order to be listed the case has already been fully underwritten. As an intermediary I wish so many were not declined (reflected across all P2P lenders) If the P2P platforms allowed anything to list and left it to the investors to choose, I could really understand.
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Post by rugbylad on Apr 30, 2014 14:26:43 GMT
It’s the lender who is risking their hard earned brass, not the borrower, introducer or platform. As a result of bent lawyers, air con artists, crappy scrappies etc. shafting lenders, borrowers should expect a grilling, after all, this is what used to happen if you applied to a bank for a loan. Provided the questions are relevant it doesn’t matter if it’s £20 or £20000, the lender is perfectly entitled to ask as many probing questions as necessary in order to help them decide if a loan request is a worthwhile investment or not. Even if they have already "declared themselves out" Don't forget there has already been an underwriting process of the figures. Or, asking borrowers to breach NDA's and disclose confidential contracts ?
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Post by yorkshireman on Apr 30, 2014 14:42:57 GMT
It’s the lender who is risking their hard earned brass, not the borrower, introducer or platform. As a result of bent lawyers, air con artists, crappy scrappies etc. shafting lenders, borrowers should expect a grilling, after all, this is what used to happen if you applied to a bank for a loan. Provided the questions are relevant it doesn’t matter if it’s £20 or £20000, the lender is perfectly entitled to ask as many probing questions as necessary in order to help them decide if a loan request is a worthwhile investment or not. Even if they have already "declared themselves out" Don't forget there has already been an underwriting process of the figures. Or, asking borrowers to breach NDA's and disclose confidential contracts ? Yes, it’s stupid if they’ve declared themselves out. As for the underwriting process of the figures, the track record of one leading platform leaves, ahem, a lot to be desired, I’ll say no more on that one. I don’t ask unnecessary questions and I don’t expect a borrower to reveal confidential information, however, I make my investment decisions based on due diligence which includes asking probing questions as I’m sure most lenders do. The aim is to weed out the shysters, if a borrower is honest they’ve nothing to fear by answering such questions. I’m taking the risk and I’m not prepared to be ripped off.
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alison
Member of DD Central
Sanctuary!!
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Post by alison on Apr 30, 2014 14:48:48 GMT
Plus, the answers to that person's questions may well encourage others to invest... This is a key point. A lot of lenders are not financial experts or do not have the confidence to ask searching questions. But when others have asked the questions, all lenders can benefit from the answers. So a questioner who just puts up £20 may be the trigger for others to put up £20,000.
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Post by rugbylad on Apr 30, 2014 14:49:25 GMT
Even if they have already "declared themselves out" Don't forget there has already been an underwriting process of the figures. Or, asking borrowers to breach NDA's and disclose confidential contracts ? Yes, it’s stupid if they’ve declared themselves out. As for the underwriting process of the figures, the track record of one leading platform leaves, ahem, a lot to be desired, I’ll say no more on that one. I don’t ask unnecessary questions and I don’t expect a borrower to reveal confidential information, however, I make my investment decisions based on due diligence which includes asking probing questions as I’m sure most lenders do. The aim is to weed out the shysters, if a borrower is honest they’ve nothing to fear by answering such questions. I’m taking the risk and I’m not prepared to be ripped off. I totally agree, I invest as well, fortunately know what to look for and ask. With reference to one of the leading platforms, I think they may have realised, as we get more rejections now from them than anyone else ! Sometime's I regret my own stance, which is never to invest in a loan I have introduced !
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markr
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Post by markr on Apr 30, 2014 18:09:06 GMT
Since this is in the ReBS forum it is probably aimed at loans on that platform, so something to bear in mind is that lenders are going to be more suspicious of loans offered on the smaller platform, since rates are usually higher there is always the suspicion that they are picking up loans rejected elsewhere, so more probing questions are probably appropriate.
Glad to hear the the other place are rejecting more loans, they've had some turkeys recently and I was starting to consider withdrawing from it.
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shimself
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Post by shimself on Apr 30, 2014 19:06:24 GMT
Sometime's I regret my own stance, which is never to invest in a loan I have introduced ! One of the sponsors on TC always invests in a loan they have introduced. Skin in the game, interests aligned etc. I'm very much in favour, so much so I think it should be compulsory
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