Post by james on May 20, 2014 10:16:02 GMT
Bondora is regulated by the FCA now under interim rules. One of their requirements even for those with interim permission is that promotional material must be "fair, true and not misleading". Please post here details of any breaches of that which you know about so we can get a nice list together for Bondora to fix. I'll start, the following claims in the "How does Bondora guarantee the quality of investments" part of the investment guide are untrue:
"All the customers who apply for a personal loan on Bondora go through a detailed background check. This consists of reviewing bank statements to check the figures stated on the loan application..."
Untrue for Bondora+ loans.
"applicants must meet the following criteria:
The borrower must not have a history of bad credit such as arrears, default, bankruptcy or an open execution proceeding
The borrower must not have had any execution summons in the last two years
The borrower may not be a convicted criminal or punished in a civil dispute"
The ones I've left in that list have appeared to be breached on loans that I have participated in:
a. Bondora has granted loans in 1000 payment history to borrowers who have been late many times and even paid late penalties on existing Bondora loans. Clearly a history of bad credit in the form of arrears but Bondora lent anyway and in the highest 1000 grade.
b. I have been included in loans where the applicant gave as a reason paying a bailiff, which very strongly suggests that they have had an execution summons and punishment in a civil dispute or they wouldn't have a bailiff involved.
And of course Bondora uses the word "guarantee" and that automatically is a problem because Bondora doesn't provide a guarantee of the quality of investments. The word "check" or "vet" (not the animal doctor meaning) would be a better choice.
Bondora can fix these things by changing the description to match what Bondora really does. Easy enough, just good to help them to identify what needs to be changed and why.
"All the customers who apply for a personal loan on Bondora go through a detailed background check. This consists of reviewing bank statements to check the figures stated on the loan application..."
Untrue for Bondora+ loans.
"applicants must meet the following criteria:
The borrower must not have a history of bad credit such as arrears, default, bankruptcy or an open execution proceeding
The borrower must not have had any execution summons in the last two years
The borrower may not be a convicted criminal or punished in a civil dispute"
The ones I've left in that list have appeared to be breached on loans that I have participated in:
a. Bondora has granted loans in 1000 payment history to borrowers who have been late many times and even paid late penalties on existing Bondora loans. Clearly a history of bad credit in the form of arrears but Bondora lent anyway and in the highest 1000 grade.
b. I have been included in loans where the applicant gave as a reason paying a bailiff, which very strongly suggests that they have had an execution summons and punishment in a civil dispute or they wouldn't have a bailiff involved.
And of course Bondora uses the word "guarantee" and that automatically is a problem because Bondora doesn't provide a guarantee of the quality of investments. The word "check" or "vet" (not the animal doctor meaning) would be a better choice.
Bondora can fix these things by changing the description to match what Bondora really does. Easy enough, just good to help them to identify what needs to be changed and why.
