happy
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Post by happy on Oct 27, 2016 17:24:07 GMT
So it was an F then!  (I don't do unsecured on FC any more) Likewise, my SME journey with FC finally ended when last year I had 3 A rated loans go pop in a matter of weeks after making only 4-5 payments between them. First one all the money totally disappeared somewhere in less than a month with what looks like no chance of any recovery, second one there is a repayment plan in place with the PG that may return a few p in the £ over the next 3-5 years, the third is paying minuscule amounts of capital but no interest that may repay the capital in about 10 years time. Recovery over the last year is currently less that £1 in total. I don't think anyone can complain about defaults in P2P but I do not believe that people should think they are buying into relative safety of A*/A and B loan with proportionally lower returns only to find out a month or so later that they were already financial basket cases!
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 24, 2016 20:10:18 GMT
I've given up chasing any new loan launches on AC, partly because around 95% of them are of no interest to me (sub 10%), partly because MLIA lenders are generally allotted peanuts and partly because the long-promised MLIA tools to reserve funds for new loans, etc, have never materialised. As to this latest diamond loan, I suspect it will be fairly simple to accumulate whatever I want via the SM over a few days / weeks post-launch. Saves a lot of needless messing around. As per previous post, it appears that MLIA lenders are at the very bottom of AC's priority list these days. My new-to-AC experience differs markedly from that, I have to say. After trying - and failing miserably - to get any money invested in the GBBA and GEIA, I took the time to go through the MLIA accounts, and set investment instructions for all those I'm interested in. And... they're filling rapidly. All the money that the GBBA/GEIA was uninterested in has been invested - and much more. I agree, yes AC is not for the big hitters as the initial allocation can be is always disappointing but with buy instructions on a few hundred or so of my favorite loans and i have a pretty good 5 figure portfolio built up returning almost 10% with no hassle at all. I liken investing in AC a bit like always driving down the middle lane of the motorway, don't need to worry about the hassle of traffic joining/exiting, don't bother with all that stressful fast lane overtaking stuff, just sit back and literally go with the flow.........  Advisory: This post is my personal opinion and does not constitute a recommendation to invest in AC or any other P2P platform. I neither practice nor condone the act of compulsive middle lane driving and this post should not be considered advice that middle lane driving in any way leads to a more stress-free and fulfilled life.
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 24, 2016 10:39:51 GMT
I didn't get my email  . At 3.9% Zopa Classic is looking fairly poor value right now for up to 5 year investment IMHO. I was in auto-reinvestment mode with Zopa with no new money going in but with the likes of 4.2% for 3 years at LendingWorks or 3.75/4.25% for QAA/30 day at Assetz Capital I am likely to switch to an orderly running down of Zopa. This rate could even makes me question my progressive disinvestment (is that a word?) of FC.  |
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 24, 2016 9:08:27 GMT
Yes there is a 1 year market but it is not an income product. I.e full repayment of interest and capital on maturity whereas the 3 year is monthly interest and capital repayment loan so not easily interchangable I suspect.
I was given quote for a returm of £33 capital plus 15p accrued interest. Just checked again and same result
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 24, 2016 8:29:20 GMT
Yes, I have often wondered if FC applied to itself for a loan what banding the computer would give it? Almost certainly bot fodder.......or maybe they would get "the computer said NO!" 
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 24, 2016 7:56:56 GMT
Just by coincidence and also out of interest I looked at the cost of 3 and 5 year sell-out yesterday and I was offered only £33 to sell of my £30k plus 3 year investment! I was going to post this today.
It would appear that if it is Rule #1 that is stopping the sale as seems likely then unless RS is prepared to change the rules and let existing 3 year loans migrate to the Rolling (as the only other shorter amortized loan term available) we are all locked in to term.
Whilst I am not anticipating selling out of my 3 year loans I do hope this is an unexpected consequence of closing the 3 year market and RS will review accordingly.
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 23, 2016 22:31:13 GMT
Don't you mean 1% plus the other £800k of cash they are burning every week at the moment. FC is one seriously cash hungry corporate machine right now. Which reminds me I must log in to withdraw my latest lump of repayments |
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happy
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Post by happy on Oct 18, 2016 8:48:12 GMT
Rolling market repayments for today have come through, but those for yesterday seem to fallen into a black hole Likewise, 3y&5y processed ok yesterday, all repayments done ok today but yesterdays Rolling repayments just did not happen! Question with RS CS waiting a response...........
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happy
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Post by happy on Sept 26, 2016 9:13:24 GMT
Kevin, my understanding is that Woodford and Artemis are equity investors in your business and not lenders. So, it is possible for you to have a commitment to retail lenders while at the same time taking investment from institutional equity investors - which is what you have done. I am not in a position to know the internal workings of your company. However, I think you will find it hard to deny that it is in the interests of equity investors to see your profit margins at a maximum. One way of doing this is for you to borrow as cheaply as you can and to lend at the highest rates you can. Judging by the comments on this forum, many lenders feel that they are not getting the deal they once did and see a concerted downward pressure on lending rates. You may not care about this if you are attracting new lenders who are only too happy to get anything above the derisory rates offered on conventional deposit accounts. However, "newbies" in my view quickly get over this euphoria and become hardened by experience. Old hands in the meantime are telling us on this forum that they are drifting away from RS and seeking better rates elsewhere. Newbies will catch up. Lenders are an essential stakeholder in your business. It is important that you listen to what they are saying. I don't see what has happened to RS rates recently as any different to other similar P2P platforms that operate primarily in the consumer space. When credit worthy borrowers can go and get personal loans for less than we can currently earn in the RS rolling market it tells you something striking about the highly competitive marketplace out there right now. Maintaining high lender rates would only drive platforms to ever riskier consumer lending, something I personally do not want to see them do in the current eco/political climate. You have to view current consumer P2P in the wider market context and if you don't feel the rates on offer reflect your assessment of the risk then don't lend. Personally I am very very careful in investing in the high return 12%+ platforms on the basis that anyone willing to pay 18%+ for money has to be fairly desperate, likewise Z+ where some borrowers are paying 20%+ and you cannot even choose your borrowers does not fit my risk appetite. All companies need equity investment to survive various phase of their development, be that private money or more public investments like RS. Again RS is not doing anything unusual here that makes them any different to most of their peers and it is also reassuring that they are making some bold steps towards a more sustainable future.
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happy
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Post by happy on Sept 15, 2016 18:14:26 GMT
I have approx £20k in the GBBA. Around 60% of this is in 3 loans of about £4k each which has always left me feeling somewhat uncomfortable of my individual loan exposure. I just did a test sale of £100 today expecting that it would probably sell some of my biggest holdings (one of which is actually over 20% of my GBBA) but no.....it sold £50 in 2 loans I barely had any holding in and had only recently been purchased. This seems like madness and in the absence of the promissed diversification routine chris said was in the pipeline it seems there is no way out of this situation short of just selling out of the GBBA altogether and then adding a little bit at a time back in to try and get some sort of diversification. Does anyone else feel the same about the potential lack of automated GBBA/GEIA diversification? Should I be worried about this with the PF protection or is it a non-issue? Personally I only stayed with this situation because I thought the fix was coming, I am reconsidering this position now though. Interested in others thoughts... |
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happy
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Post by happy on Sept 14, 2016 6:00:43 GMT
you can consistently get rates well above the "market rate" (as I have always managed to achieve once I understood the market) What are these well above market rates you speak of?  They must be hiding under the floorboards as I've not seen them in a while. I agree rates are not there at the moment which is the main reason I am only re-investing in the rolling market right now but you can achieve above market rates if you put the effort in. As newlender says in his post, we don't have to accept any rate, we can take it or leave it, if enough people leave it for long enough rates will/may come back towards where we want them, it's the supply and demand cycle. If you are investing for 5 years then waiting a few weeks or so to get the typically better mid- month rates has negligible effect on your overall rate of return and if the rate you want is not there right now then stick it in the Rolling market and wait and see - if you are only loosing 2% interest for a month or so on a potential 5 year investment and as Rolling lets you get your money out instantly (normal caveats apply ) you can be in the perfect position to get maximum return from the "Market" - Simples! Or am I missing something here?
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happy
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Post by happy on Sept 13, 2016 18:44:49 GMT
So here is a question for all you RS experts then........would you rather have the RS "market" where we can choose not to invest when rates are low but with a little bit of effort and a degree of patience you can consistently get rates well above the "market rate" (as I have always managed to achieve once I understood the market) or would you prefer a Zopa model where Zopa set a rate and you can simply have to decide if you are in or out at that rate. I have significant money in both RS and Z but RS takes the most by some margin.
Surely we all need to accept the RS "market" and it's "market rate" for what it is, understand them, decide your strategy and go with it. Personally I have never once used "market rate" but I don't see those accepting it as doing me any harm most of the time, though they are probably helping make RS more competitive and profitable which is a good thing, isn't?
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happy
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Post by happy on Sept 5, 2016 6:15:19 GMT
I was at the investor evening, but only joined this site recently. Here are some of the notes I took: On defaults:Would expect x2 as many liquidations in the UK economy in recession relative to today Expect 45p in the £ recovery on average 5 yrs after default (for SME loans) If you expect a recession over lifetime of investment then A+ will give better yield after losses than E; if expect a good economy then E will give better yield than A+ On property lending (which is all I use the site for now):Saw a -19% property price drop around 2008; Have scaled back property lending recently to be below 70% LTV Big lenders moving away from Property lending currently (why? didn't ask this) 8 in property finance team I thought the people who presented on the evening were credible and came across as proficient. They all alluded to having their own personal money at play on the platform. happy your comments in this thread very closely align with my views and approach to FC these days. Just back from sunnier climes, yes thanks marc77 for taking the trouble to provide us with the FC update. I see a little problem with my current FC strategy though as recently either new property deals have been disappearing before I check the site (once or twice a day) or there are virtually no new property loans of FC at the moment. Has anyone else noticed the recent lack of new property loans?
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happy
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Post by happy on Aug 16, 2016 17:02:26 GMT
When fixed rates came along I immediately noticed a change in the ratio of A+/A loans and the change in quality of these. After a few months I did some analysis of loan rank ratio prior to and after fixed rate and I was seriously shocked at the massive increase in A+/A ranked loans. I selected loans using strict criteria including Debt Rervice Ratios from profits, acid test liquidity, asset to loan ratio etc and I used to get about 20% or so A+/A loans meeting my initial health check. After fixed rate arrived this dropped to maybe 5% tops and I can only put this down to Frighteningly Confused being able to drive down their rates to borrowers now the lenders were not able to set rates via the auction. After that it just became too much effeort to analyse 20 or so loans to get one worth looking at in more detail so I called it a day and dumped most of my SME loans. Now I just reinvest repayments into low LTV property loans (ideally sub 50%) but I am struggling to do this so money is slowly coming out of Fixed Criteria. Oh by the way blender , I think the light is already off, can chameleons see in the dark? |
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happy
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Post by happy on Aug 11, 2016 13:54:17 GMT
The QAA has an individual investor cap of £100k as you say but there is also a cap on the size of total investments. Th 30 Day account is actually part of the QAA "fund" but with 30 Day withdrawal rule applied so it is your combined QAA/30 Day investment that is subject to the £100k personal cap I believe.
If you add up the total for the QAA and 30 day account this is the total that is subject to the overall cap, currently around £30 million but with a bit of headroom at the moment for further investments hence why investments go straight in at the moment.
Once the overall cap is reached then money invested in the QAA/30 Day accounts will queue until space is made by withdrawals or AC raise the cap ( and probably increase the underlying assets to match this increase) even if you have not reached your personal investment cap.
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(I don't do unsecured on FC any more)
. At 3.9% Zopa Classic is looking fairly poor value right now for up to 5 year investment IMHO. I was in auto-reinvestment mode with Zopa with no new money going in but with the likes of 4.2% for 3 years at LendingWorks or 3.75/4.25% for QAA/30 day at Assetz Capital I am likely to switch to an orderly running down of Zopa. This rate could even makes me question my progressive disinvestment (is that a word?) of FC. 
They must be hiding under the floorboards as I've not seen them in a while.