What's on the SM? (L)

Before I start, for the sake of openness I must declare that I have been an investor in SS/Lendy for 4 years with sums varying between £35 K & £80 K, am not a Flipper but believe in investing to term, am still invested with them & currently plan to stick things out.



Sadly fellow investors, I no longer think you are correct either with regard waiting for new pipeline loans nor the positive effect of interest reinvestment. 12 months ago your optimism on the last day of the month would have been proven correct on the following day, now the situation is VERY different.

In the early days of this platform (2014 - 16) both those in at the start & newby investors did receive 1% pcm, confidence was high, investors felt they were "partners" with the platform in funding projects, new offerings filled quickly, interest was rapidly reinvested, new funds were added, the SM was a frenzy of FFF.

12 - 15 months ago some capital repayments started to slow/stop, interest on some loans started to be frozen, more & more loans required more & more tranches to get them over an imaginary completion line, official updates from the platform on borrowers/loans either ceased or became more "general", investors questions whether via this forum or direct either were ignored or answered as if addressing a nasty smell, monthly returns for long established investors in early loans started to slide to 0.7% - 0.85%, new HNW investors to the platform started to slow, the SM started to bear easy to pick low hanging fruit followed by within the course of just a few months becoming a static beast.

Fast forward to today & I would suggest that the vast majority of investors who have been invested via this platform for 12 months or more are seeing their monthly returns down to 0.3% - 0.55% (therefore far less to reinvest & very low confidence in doing so), due to the slowdown in new incoming money the balance between new money (receiving 1% pcm or near to) is vastly outnumbered by older investments yielding sub 0.5%, the number of loans in some form of legal recovery (& therefore not returning either capital or interest) is eye watering, confidence in & meaningful communication with the platform is at an all time low.

I'm afraid we are where we are, & things will only get worse before hopefully regaining some but not all lost ground.

When discussing the pros & cons of platforms which have come to the market more recently (M T, COL (sadly), ABi etc) colleges in the past have warned & drawn attention to the change in relationships we go through - Platform start up, honeymoon, mid life crisis, infidelity, & eventual separation. Sad it has to be that way, maybe a platform will eventually come along which can steer a middle path.

Hi - I'm currently snowed in, so off to sit by a log fire & have a hot toddy. Will share my thoughts/use you as my psychiatrist later!

It's not looking good is it?
How much must be going on Legal fees etc?
All the while investors shun new loans - the heartbeat of the platform.
I'd say Lendy is in intensive care, not far off needing a LSM and then maybe the priest..

Lots of DFL033 and PBL192 available this morning, looks like a big hitter is abandoning ship. Rich pickings for now...

Wow, out of the frying pan and into the fire then!

Suggestion :-  Change the title of this thread to  "What's not on the SM"  

I am doing exactly the same as you and have been investing for 3 years. I have now sold that which can be sold and the rest are either in defaulted/suspended or large DFL loans which are there for the duration (£30k).

As a platform it is important to keep supporting the loans that you have got funds in when they ask for more tranche funds (assuming happy with the DD), otherwise, if no one puts funds in those projects might stumble and then no one gets the capital back.

For new projects, I am not investing in those until the platform settles down more. By that, I need to see some real progress on big loans repaying. If new loans do not get funded, then Lendy does not earn their interest up front and I think that is the best move to really get their attention that lenders are unhappy. Even with the large DFL loans there are only 4200-4700 investors in each project and I get the impression it is the same investors in many of the loans.

All the existing loans have made Lendy money already so buying on the SM does not change their income, although a loan on the SM is earning Lendy interest and not the holder, so if more of the SM was bought it does reduce the income for Lendy too.

I do think that Lendy are being bashed by a lot of users of these forums and sometimes it does feel a little harsh, although I understand the undercurrent of emotions, and a lot of the criticism is justified. Furthermore, the communication is improving (still not optimal but slowly getting better), but some big steps forward are required not tiny nudges.