gl51
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Post by gl51 on Nov 23, 2016 10:18:46 GMT
I have for some time now been contesting with FC that they are guilty of financial incompetence, and I would be interested to hear of anyone who can shed any light.
I'm sure most people trust that FC are keeping track of their money honestly and accurately. I have no reason to suspect that they aren't honest, but I have serious doubts that they are accurate.
I first became alarmed when I happened to notice some duplicate purchase transactions (ie for the same loan part). I reported this to FC, and of course the duplicates were immediately removed. But it did start me wondering what would have happened if I hadn't noticed, so I asked FC. Their reply only made it worse. It was:
"I have calculated a manual reconciliation of your account to check what your account balance should be correctly. To do this we use the following formula: (Total deposits - Total withdrawals) + Net earnings + Previous Compensation Payments = Correct account balance"
Now this is equivalent to me reporting a fraudulent withdrawal to my bank, and them replying for me not to worry because my statement balances so everything must be OK!
I have found further instances of monies being taken from my account and me getting nothing in return. It's not happened for a while but there was a period when "ghost purchases" were a regularity. This is where the system told several people they had purchased an SM part, and deducted the monies from each of their accounts. Of course the part was actually only attributed to one person, but the debit transaction remained on the other peoples account unless you happened to report it, in which case they would correct it. When I asked FC how they spotted such rogue debits - again the mantra of my account "balancing" was trotted out.
I made a formal complaint to FC, which was eventually escalated to the ombudsman, but it's so difficult to understand, let alone prove, that I'm not holding my breath.
My latest instance is that I bought a load of parts at auction. The debits are there on my statement. However they do not show under my loan parts report. FC say I must have sold them, but cannot identify them in my sold transaction list.
I'm beginning to think it's Financial Conspiracy.
Surely this must be happening to many people who are giving FC more trust than they warrant.
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Nov 23, 2016 10:26:48 GMT
Duplicated SM transactions used to be a recurring hazard (usually fixed within 24 hours if you email them as soon as your account goes out of balance). However, to be fair, the problem has reduced enormously in the last year or so and I've not had one for many months now.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 10:58:01 GMT
FC used to have tremendous problems due to their bid system, the shear complexity of what they were trying to do and a miss match with their own competences. This came to a head when they realised that selling to large companies with few transactions was preferable to selling to "penny punters" like us. As a matter of policy they then modified how their system worked to focus on institutional investors. The result was to drive away many of us pps.
I no longer recommend anyone loans to FC and am cashing up slowly as debts repay (so as to avoid the tax on withdrawal that FC insist on).
If they are getting more phantom orders that is sad and a little disappointing. Given their own focus and the history I think their response is what I would expect but is, of course, not satisfactory.
As someone else on this site often says, "if you don't like the deal, don't invest".
Good luck, would love to hear the result of any Ombudsman review. In some 35 years of investing I have only ever personally seen a successful review where teeth were shown and used (I never had PPI), and it should be interesting to see what happens.
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gl51
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Post by gl51 on Nov 23, 2016 11:58:30 GMT
Duplicated SM transactions used to be a recurring hazard (usually fixed within 24 hours if you email them as soon as your account goes out of balance). If an account goes out of balance, then obviously something is wrong. But if it is in balance, it doesn't mean that their are not irregularities! And how many people check their balance? A tiny percentage. So how many accounts are out of balance, but no-one is complaining so nothing happens? (And BTW all the errors seem to result in me losing out, rather than gaining.) In the days when FC were claiming to spot errors within 24 hrs, I once left an error 1 month to see if it would be fixed without me reporting, and no - I ended up having to report it. I no longer recommend anyone loans to FC and am cashing up slowly as debts repay (so as to avoid the tax on withdrawal that FC insist on). I still use FC as I don't know any better place. What is this "tax on withdrawal" that you mention?
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Nov 23, 2016 12:11:18 GMT
Checking your account is in balance is trivially easy if you make sure your net stake (sum of cash deposits less cash withdrawals) is always kept to a round figure, eg. whole thousands. That way, your dashboard Net Earnings and Funding Circle Total figures can be checked visually each time you log in. For example, £10,000 net stake with Net Earnings of £2,134.57 and FC Total of £12,134.57.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 13:14:09 GMT
"tax on withdrawal" FC not only charge you for the pleasure of investing but if you sell a loan they charge you 0.25% fees for the added pleasure. Since my loan average is earning roughly 10% after their other fees and charges that means they are actually charging 2.5% on my interest earned. The term Fat Cats has to earned I suppose  "as I don't know any better place" I suggest you look at MT, FS, SS and, on a good day with a following breeze even AC. Steve's rounding system is exactly how I do it. |
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nick
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Post by nick on Nov 23, 2016 14:22:42 GMT
My account hasn't reconciled in years. The unreconciled difference was out by 5 figures at one stage (thankfully in my favour) and fluctuated widely. However, it has got a lot better and whilst by account still doesn't reconcile, the unexplained difference of a few hundred pounds has remained constant for the past 8 months or so giving enough confidence to only now perform a reconciliation once a month rather than daily.
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gl51
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Post by gl51 on Nov 23, 2016 14:34:11 GMT
Checking your account is in balance is trivially easy if you make sure your net stake..... Mmmmm. Still maintain most will never have done it. I've never even calculated my net stake, and the thought of wading through all those (ephemeral) statements... And for what? What exactly does "account in balance" prove? Does you credit card statement balancing assure you that there were no unauthorised debits? I suggest you look at MT, FS, SS and, on a good day with a following breeze even AC. Thanks for the leads. Appreciated.
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SteveT
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Post by SteveT on Nov 23, 2016 14:42:14 GMT
Checking your account is in balance is trivially easy if you make sure your net stake..... And for what? What exactly does "account in balance" prove? Does you credit card statement balancing assure you that there were no unauthorised debits?Yes, of course it does (assuming you balance it correctly against your own independent record of your purchases)
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Post by GSV3MIaC on Nov 23, 2016 14:45:38 GMT
Checking your account is in balance is trivially easy if you make sure your net stake (sum of cash deposits less cash withdrawals) is always kept to a round figure, eg. whole thousands. That way, your dashboard Net Earnings and Funding Circle Total figures can be checked visually each time you log in. For example, £10,000 net stake with Net Earnings of £2,134.57 and FC Total of £12,134.57. /mod hat off Checking the balance is right is indeed easy. When it is wrong, figuring out WHAT is wrong is night on impossible .. the transaction reports require real AI to analyse (some transactions are by part number, some by loan number, no way to cross-match them) some, like cashback, have no loan/part references at all. This assume you can even download a transaction report .. when yours gets "too big" (and this is 'since start of time' as far as I can tell, so each month you get further into never-never land) the report generation times out and you get 'no transactions'. I gave up going round it with FC, and took a bribe ex-gratia payment to close the issue. I knew more about the parts I had acquired but never paid for, sold twice, or paid for but never received, than they could work out.
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jayjay
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Post by jayjay on Nov 23, 2016 15:38:50 GMT
Current discrepancy caused by Henley First Tranche repayment taken off loans but not yet credited cash. Others have this issue, I presume?
I find things like this can take several hours (24 even) to resolve.
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Post by slumberingaccountant on Nov 23, 2016 15:57:13 GMT
I spotted something similar the other day. Spoke to FC on the phone. Got an email back a couple of hours later that it was being sorted out. It was sorted then very quickly.
I keep a spreadsheet of all my Fc investments, so can keep an eye on whats happening on my loans ( all property ).
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oldgrumpy
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Post by oldgrumpy on Nov 23, 2016 16:12:55 GMT
Why hasn't FC been confronted publicly, in a big way about this issue? I used to have quite a lot in FC during the "auction" days, and have never tried to prove whether my account is accurately maintained (too dim to do spreadsheets on thousands of transactions weekly). I have assumed the minor (?) discrepancies would be just as prevalent for me as people posting on the forum suggest is common, but that FC would balance everything properly FOR EVERBODY at regular intervals. Do they not do this?
I only have a four figure remnant holding now, a third of which is RBR dud loans in various stages of torpor.
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gl51
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Post by gl51 on Nov 23, 2016 19:31:38 GMT
And for what? What exactly does "account in balance" prove? Does you credit card statement balancing assure you that there were no unauthorised debits?Yes, of course it does (assuming you balance it correctly against your own independent record of your purchases) That's a complicated way of agreeing with me! And how often have you made an FC account audit against your "independent record". If you have then either you only have a handful of loans / have dedicated your life to keeping track of your transactions / have a genie / know of a report that does the job that I've not come across. I've never even attempted to start auditing monthly repayments. Bet that's a can of worms too. Ooops just noticed the thread title should say Financial, not Finantial. Guilty.
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Post by bracknellboy on Nov 23, 2016 19:36:32 GMT
I'd bet the entire value of my current FC holding that however difficult, it won't even come close to the difficulty of reconciling on TC..............reconciling ANYTHING on TC.
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