ceejay
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Post by ceejay on Aug 3, 2017 8:16:20 GMT
So I started a thread titled "Why Octopus?" and got some good answers. As one of the posters said, the only way to really find out how a P2P site works is to try it out...
So, since it looked promising, I opened an account and chucked £100 in to see what happened. The process was very slick and easy, full marks. Promised rate was 4.0%, and my funds were quickly invested - at 4.07%. Great.
But now I look at where my money has gone and I just see a list of 10 loans, with £10 in each. Not only is there no info about the loan itself (ok, this is all black box, I can live with that) but there is also nothing about the end date of each loan. Looking at the full loan book I see end dates from 2017 to 2022. So I have no idea about the duration of my loans? Or have I missed something?
The reason it matters to me is to do with my exit strategy. When I want my money back - which I will, otherwise what's the point of putting it in? - as it stands I am wholly dependent on there being buyers for my loans. Yes, there is the fall back of turning off reinvestment and just waiting - but then I need to know how long I might have to wait.
Any comments?
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liso
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Post by liso on Aug 3, 2017 8:57:47 GMT
In their FAQ Octopus say that if investors wish to withdraw their investment and there is no one to buy the loans, then OC will buy the loan if they can to speed up withdrawal. "if they can" is certainly not a guarantee so I suppose it depends how much you are willing to trust that they will do it. Given that they are part of a larger investment company, I tend to be positive about it. But your point is valid, and maybe I should have given it more consideration before investing  |
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macq
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Post by macq on Aug 3, 2017 9:47:12 GMT
when you hover & click over the locations on the map that shows your loans it does give basic info but would agree more would be better.Would guess if you put a sell order in for part of an account OC decide which loans to sell to raise the amount for you
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ceejay
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Post by ceejay on Aug 3, 2017 12:01:33 GMT
Thanks for the responses. As it happens the map hadn't populated when I made my first post (too impatient). I now see that it has nine flags - not ten, no matter how far I zoom in - and that this does tell me the postcodes, which I can then look up in the whole loan list. There is some ambiguity (multiple loans with the same postcode) but end dates are similar (I guess because these are different tranches for the one development). So why is this being made so hard? Could they really not put the post code and end date on my list of loans?
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Post by octopusjoe on Aug 3, 2017 13:44:36 GMT
Hi ceejay, thanks for your question, I completely understand why you would ask it - and thanks to macq and liso for your responses. In a nutshell, Octopus Choice isn’t intended to pay out when a loan matures, but instead automatically reinvests in other loans until a user requests a withdrawal - which they can do at any time. The short term nature of most of the loans we make, and that we diversify people across a number of them, would make reinvesting quite a hassle for those after a less hands-on platform. For this reason, we didn't think users would really want to see the date of loan maturity. However, there is clearly demand for it, and I have passed this on to the rest of the team. On your second post, it is possible that you’ll get loans in the same postcode, especially as some of our borrowers are professional property investors that buy properties in the same area. And I completely agree with you that there could be more information in your list of loans. This is something our design team has already been made aware of, and you should be seeing the results of it very soon! Please do keep feedback like this coming, guys! |
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ceejay
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Post by ceejay on Aug 3, 2017 14:56:21 GMT
Thanks, octopusjoe. I certainly understand that automatic reinvestment generally makes sense, and that's how most people will want to run most of the time. But I also think that at some point I might want to start making a gradual exit, in which case turning off reinvestment (in the same way that you can turn off interest reinvestment) would be important.
Don't forget that a substantial risk for the P2P investor is loss of market confidence - for whatever reason, and it could start anywhere. For this scenario we need to be able to quantify the risk (how long might I have to wait to get my money back) and also to mitigate the risk (by stopping new investment).
But there is no good reason for not showing me my end dates - I worked out most of them from the map and your loan book, so it's not as if you are successfully keeping it a secret, just making it very hard for me!
Thanks again
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macq
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Post by macq on Aug 3, 2017 20:10:12 GMT
Thanks, octopusjoe. I certainly understand that automatic reinvestment generally makes sense, and that's how most people will want to run most of the time. But I also think that at some point I might want to start making a gradual exit, in which case turning off reinvestment (in the same way that you can turn off interest reinvestment) would be important. Don't forget that a substantial risk for the P2P investor is loss of market confidence - for whatever reason, and it could start anywhere. For this scenario we need to be able to quantify the risk (how long might I have to wait to get my money back) and also to mitigate the risk (by stopping new investment). But there is no good reason for not showing me my end dates - I worked out most of them from the map and your loan book, so it's not as if you are successfully keeping it a secret, just making it very hard for me! Thanks again Not looked for a while but if you are getting your end dates from the loan book under the statistics tab,note that when a loan fills its removed from that list so you may want to copy the info.Or that's what used to happen its been down as low as 14 loans showing before more were added
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ceejay
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Post by ceejay on Aug 3, 2017 22:18:06 GMT
The list I got shows 165 loans, and I think there are only 20 open atm? So this should be the full book of current loans - repayment dates are all in the future so no old ones.
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greatmarko
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Post by greatmarko on Aug 3, 2017 22:22:40 GMT
Loosely on the subject of exiting/withdrawing - I've been considering OC for a while now, and one of the things that appeals to me about OC is the option - according to their FAQ - to have interest automatically withdrawn directly to your bank account each month.
Does anyone know if you can fund OC from one bank account, but have interest automatically withdrawn to another (as long as they're both verified/in your name, etc) - or does OC only allow you to fund from one account and withdraw only to that same account?
Also, in relation to loan duration; given that for example, Growth Street currently offer ~6.0% interest for their "hands off" account with loans lasting 30 days, and AC's "hands off" 30DAA offers 4.25% interest - both of which would seem fairly comparable to OC's offering (in terms of being hands off/auto diversification/pretty quick access to your money, etc) but with higher interest rates. I'm curious - having been closely watching OC since their launch, when initially their rates were higher (at 5%) - now that OC's rates they've fallen and stayed below other similar accounts on other platforms, what's the particular appeal of OC now? ..or is it more just a simple case of platform diversification? ..or is the risk in OC considered significantly lower than competitors offerings?
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ilmoro
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'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
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Post by ilmoro on Aug 3, 2017 23:22:04 GMT
Loosely on the subject of exiting/withdrawing - I've been considering OC for a while now, and one of the things that appeals to me about OC is the option - according to their FAQ - to have interest automatically withdrawn directly to your bank account each month. Does anyone know if you can fund OC from one bank account, but have interest automatically withdrawn to another (as long as they're both verified/in your name, etc) - or does OC only allow you to fund from one account and withdraw only to that same account? Also, in relation to loan duration; given that for example, Growth Street currently offer ~6.0% interest for their "hands off" account with loans lasting 30 days, and AC's "hands off" 30DAA offers 4.25% interest - both of which would seem fairly comparable to OC's offering (in terms of being hands off/auto diversification/pretty quick access to your money, etc) but with higher interest rates. I'm curious - having been closely watching OC since their launch, when initially their rates were higher (at 5%) - now that OC's rates they've fallen and stayed below other similar accounts on other platforms, what's the particular appeal of OC now? ..or is it more just a simple case of platform diversification? ..or is the risk in OC considered significantly lower than competitors offerings? You enter your bank account details into the site and can change them so I think you probably can fund from one and withdraw to another, its not automatically recorded the account you fund from like Lendy say. You can also fund using debit card which I suspect could be a different account. Diversification, skin in game, institutional backing and faster access than say AC 30DAA, QAA better comparison. GS isnt available to me as no ID
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macq
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Post by macq on Aug 4, 2017 8:09:29 GMT
The list I got shows 165 loans, and I think there are only 20 open atm? So this should be the full book of current loans - repayment dates are all in the future so no old ones. You could be right as i use OC as pretty much set & forget.But i think over the last year they have had more then 165 loans (i have over 130 in about half that time)It used to be that at the bottom of the loan book where the loans may be in hundreds of pounds that when done it would change to red writing and say completed then go from the list.Only OC can say but based on the early days where it says 20 loans thats the minimum for funding but there can be more open
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macq
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Post by macq on Aug 4, 2017 8:15:10 GMT
Have not withdrawn but find funding very quick by debit card and in loans within hours if not minutes so far(but would depend on loans)my last payment this week took 10 minutes from card payment to loans.They also have a monthly payment plan
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