stub8535
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personal opinions only. Not qualified to advise on investment products.
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Post by stub8535 on Feb 10, 2017 12:44:04 GMT
Hi All. I am trying to arrange a visit in early March. What questions wiuld people like answering that are unable to go themselves or otherwise. Not down to individual loans please. I am going to ask to see the facilities and meet the people. I will feed back on this thread, or by pm/email (pictures) to those that want me to, where I can. Come back to me by 25.2.17 please.
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ozboy
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Mine's a Large One! (Snigger, snigger .......)
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Feb 10, 2017 13:14:26 GMT
Post by ozboy on Feb 10, 2017 13:14:26 GMT
What contingencies/backups/safeguards do Collateral have in place in the event of platform failure from various scenarios (flood, bankruptcy, TOTAL & catastrophic system failure, hacking, etc).
I mean proper, full DD on how it would all "work" in such an event/s, and why it will "work" and why we s/would have complete peace of mind that it will "work" in such an event.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 14:05:08 GMT
Hi
Similar to Ozboy - they are a two man band (no disrespect) from what I can see - what would happen if one of them decides to quit or worse still (and hopefully not) one of them shuffles off his mortal coil - how would they cope/what is their disaster recovery plan?
The platform has recently diversified into property, with three small loans and now one big one. I know they have a charge over the properties, but would be useful to have more detail of their action plans (they are not MT)/ you being satisfied on their arrangements? On a different slant who are their other agents/partners they refer to in case the loan does not sell and what priority will our loan parts have against theirs?
Will be interesting to see what you think of their safety deposit facilities/ one assumes COL have the appropriate insurance coverage? It is not Hatton Gardens but you never know!!
This what immediately comes to mind, but will add other posts if think of anything else.
MANY thanks for undertaking this visit, I am sure you are well versed in what to ask and will await your report in due course.
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elliotn
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Post by elliotn on Feb 10, 2017 14:44:33 GMT
Alongside key person risk and previous assurances loan items are secure/insured, the real questions around the business model and relying upon trust will not be answered until stress tested around default scenarios:
- will all grouped assets being sold by the borrower be maintained with registered, fixed charges up to date in a winding up scenario; - what are the potential conflicts of interest where valuations are provided by partners/wholesalers/retailers; - without any val docs are we ever lending on assets valued by the borrower or the underwriting panel themselves; - how certain can we be the underwiting partners will stump up if gold/gems tanked without a formal agreement (lenders may be lending on this assurance); - again on conflicts of interest, have they ever put up loans for related parties.
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kaya
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Feb 10, 2017 14:57:09 GMT
Post by kaya on Feb 10, 2017 14:57:09 GMT
I thought that Collateral previously mentioned arranging an 'open day', perhaps for some pre-arranged invitees, or something like that. Was that idea just forgotten about?
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stub8535
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Post by stub8535 on Feb 10, 2017 15:46:53 GMT
Kaya. From my reading of previous posts from the platform they invited people but no one showed interest. I must admit that I did not see that communication if it was broadcast rather than put to specific people.
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stub8535
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Post by stub8535 on Feb 10, 2017 15:48:49 GMT
If you are interested then pm Gordon and arrange for w1 March. We could then compare views when preparing a report back.
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kaya
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Feb 10, 2017 16:14:19 GMT
Post by kaya on Feb 10, 2017 16:14:19 GMT
Too far away for me.
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Post by polonius on Feb 10, 2017 16:19:11 GMT
I am one of the people who expressed interest last year in a site visit, and I'm still interested. I've sent a pm to Gordon
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stub8535
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Feb 10, 2017 23:06:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by stub8535 on Feb 10, 2017 23:06:47 GMT
I would be interested on how Gordon and Peter plan to handle any difficulties arising from Property, how much experience of property matters do they have? Have to admit I'm worried about this aspect of the Business and would rather they set their sights on becoming the UK's biggest Pawn Brokerage, from what I've seen so far the Pawn side of the Business is a first class star performer, it sparkles. Many thanks for you kind offer, like kaya I'm living too far away to visit finding myself as I do just over 10 miles distant from the beautifully snow covered Grampian mountains. Hi Magenta14. I wish that I was in a place with clean air, quality water and wide open spaces in which to walk amongst the wildlife. Loved my time on Ben Nevis. Have you no visa to get past Gretna? S
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james
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Feb 11, 2017 2:10:13 GMT
Post by james on Feb 11, 2017 2:10:13 GMT
When you visit the facilities please see if you have access to insert a USB stick into any computer connected to their network. Do the office cleaning staff have sufficient physical access to do that at the start of cleaning and take it out again at the end? USB sticks can pretend to be keyboards to install attack software.
How secure are the marketing and CEO computers from walk-in theft that might lead to theft of unencrypted personal information as part of a deliberate attack?
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james
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Feb 11, 2017 2:32:52 GMT
Post by james on Feb 11, 2017 2:32:52 GMT
On data centers, someone with a clue might follow up with questions like these.
When someone in that nice tier IV data centre tries to open the exit door and instead hits the fire alarm, how will you recover after the emergency power off switch triggered by that disconnects all primary and backup power to the racks and the noise vibration from the halon fire extinguisher system destroys half of the spinning disk drives in the facility, including all of yours?
After the alarm, which turned out to really be the person fleeing from where they had deposited their bomb, how will you recover with no access for several weeks to anything stored in that data center?
When was the last time you tried to restore your database from backup and get a working site going with no help from the live site? Did you succeed?
If your database person deletes your database and all backups that they have physical or remote access to, how do you recover?
How many different data centers have copies of enough of your data to restore your business successfully? Will that still work after the DBA runs drop table on all of the databases then runs the hard drive secure erase command on any drives they can get sufficient access to?
I've encountered some quite unpleasant scenarios in systems I've been responsible for, or helping others at work, though fortunately not all of those.
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stub8535
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Post by stub8535 on Feb 11, 2017 11:02:33 GMT
I would be interested on how Gordon and Peter plan to handle any difficulties arising from Property, how much experience of property matters do they have? Have to admit I'm worried about this aspect of the Business and would rather they set their sights on becoming the UK's biggest Pawn Brokerage, from what I've seen so far the Pawn side of the Business is a first class star performer, it sparkles. Many thanks for you kind offer, like kaya I'm living too far away to visit finding myself as I do just over 10 miles distant from the beautifully snow covered Grampian mountains. stub8535, yes very fortunate to live where I do, Scotland is blessed with many good things including lots of wide open space, stunning scenery and of course our neighbours to the South and also to West South West. Open borders, the free flow of people and resources continue to be a blessing to all of us living upon theses Islands of ours, IMHO it would be best if it could stay that way. Agreed but unfortunately your first minister disagrees and expect the Scottish tail to wag the UK body. When I tried to engage her during "your" referendum to break up "our" country I was clearly told that I am not involved in the decision so I should speak with my own MP. Such arrogance is breathtaking and a political blight on a great part of Britain. I end my rant here. I will include your concerns when I go to visit.
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Visit
Feb 11, 2017 11:54:52 GMT
via mobile
stevio likes this
Post by Collateral Rep on Feb 11, 2017 11:54:52 GMT
Morning,
We've made arrangements now for this visit. If any other investors would like to come and see us at some point, we would have to arrange another date later in the year.
Many thanks,
Gordon
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stub8535
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Post by stub8535 on Feb 11, 2017 12:41:04 GMT
I too would like to move out of the city that is the largest outside London and is classed as Britains second city. Maybe with retirement I will get my wish in a few years.
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