P2P lending - where's best?

DiggerUK wrote: »

Yes, very patient. I wouldn't go smiling at a crocodile either..._
http://www.cityam.com/234308/peer-to-peer-lenders-hit-back-after-city-grandee-lord-adair-turner-says-they-could-lead-to-big-losses

For someone who had a hand in creating the regulatory environment that led to the credit bubble and subsequent crunch, I'm not sure Lord Turner would know responsible lending if it weighed 10 tons and fell on him from a great height.

That aside, his comments were in relation to lending to "small and medium enterprises" in an automated fashion without any credit checking taking place. I imagine a fair few loans on those terms would default, but I'm not sure it is relevant to much of the P2P market. In any case that's far from the frenzied, credit-driven asset price inflation that created the mess Turner presided over. Schemes like Help to Buy are going to be more dangerous in that respect than P2P will be.

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Be interesting to hear him speak at length on the topic. Easy to be totally dismissive of a single individual. Without allowing a hearing. He is obviously a guy with considerable talent.

I'm not so dismissive of all of his views. It's hard to disagree, for example, with his views on the virtues of debt creation as a driver of economic growth.

mvarrier wrote: »

I use savingstream and moneything. Around £30000 pounds invested across many loans at 12% so ~£300/month income. Currently the secondary markets are extremely fluid. All loans are asset backed. I don't tend to keep them to the end unless a clear, on-course exit strategy has been communicated so as to reduce (but not ameliorate) the risk of default. My main concern is platform risk. My DD leads me to believe that both platforms are profitable and stable at present but I fully accept that things may change rapidly including a collapse in asset values (mainly property).

I'm not finding the secondary market on saving stream particularly fluid right now. Like you my main concern is platform risk so i've only 1000 in each of 2 platforms. I plan to add a third shortly. If the platform risk were somehow reduced in the future (FSCS protection?) then i'd contemplate switching all my equity investments over. I'm not greedy - 12% will do

Trentenders wrote: »

Huh????!!!! You can pretty much guarantee that any loan you put up for sale will be sold within about 1-2 seconds. How much more fluid could it possibly be?!

Theres the problem. I cant seem to 'buy' any at the moment. As soon as I see something its gone. They were having a 'bot' problem according to the boards.

Sound advice here on diversifying across platforms. I'd favour asset-backed loans, and wonder where to look next..? Currently using SS, FS, and LC for rates above 10%, and draining FC, Zopa and RS.

I'm reaching the stage where I don't want to put too much more into the platforms where I have existing investments. Set up AC, but new loans are slow to come through... a similar case for MT? Thincats, with their minimum stake of £1000, might be too big a risk. I'm wary of secondary markets too.

Not sure where to go from here but, with the fun going out of investment funds, P2P seems like the only decent medium-risk return at the moment. Curious to see how much the IFISA will open up the market. Perhaps it'll result initially in more investors chasing fewer lending opportunities.