Peer to peer lending - Zopa, RateSetter, FundingCircle etc

blizeH

Yup, there is very little incentive to go there over a regular savings account right now, certainly with the monthly account anyway.

jamiex

Just FYI, I've posed this over on the referrers board. You can get a £20 Amazon voucher for lending at least £100 for a month. Offer ends at the end of January. Here's a link to my post:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58807711&postcount=14

Regards,
Jamie

NotCookingChipsAgain

Has anybody got an experience with the newer entrants to the market? I was with RateSetter but as other people have pointed out, the rates are now rubbish. One of my mates has registered with Evolutis Lending and is getting over 8%. They don't seem to be a scam, they have all their approvals etc, and seem to have picked an interesting niche market to lend to, just a bit cautious about lending to a newer company. Any thoughts?

Marazan

NotCookingChipsAgain wrote: »

Has anybody got an experience with the newer entrants to the market? I was with RateSetter but as other people have pointed out, the rates are now rubbish. One of my mates has registered with Evolutis Lending and is getting over 8%. They don't seem to be a scam, they have all their approvals etc, and seem to have picked an interesting niche market to lend to, just a bit cautious about lending to a newer company. Any thoughts?

I am innately suspicious of anyone who claims "higher returns and lower risk" than the general market. I'm not saying it can't be done but I do not understand why Legal, Accounting, Medical and Veterinary business would get an expensive p2p loan through Evolutis rather than a cheap p2p loan through the general p2p market.

Jonny1979

Marazan wrote: »

I am innately suspicious of anyone who claims "higher returns and lower risk" than the general market. I'm not saying it can't be done but I do not understand why Legal, Accounting, Medical and Veterinary business would get an expensive p2p loan through Evolutis rather than a cheap p2p loan through the general p2p market.

I've been tracking these guys for a while and thought I'd email them for some answers on why we should trust them and whether their rates are real. I got a call back pretty quickly from one of the founders.

He reckons that the rates are real and he had some pretty credible reasons why.

First, the rates the borrowers are paying aren't out to lunch (as a small businessman I can agree with that!). The main difference is that the P2P platform takes a smaller cut of the interest than their competitors do. He reckons that they picked the borrowers they did because the default rate is lower at <1/4% compared to 2-5% for general small businesses. Most of the others hold back some income to pay into a loss fund to make up for defaults so because they have fewer losses, they don't need to. Apparently they have a buyback guarantee that they fund from somewhere else entirely (didn't really understand how that works)

Second, they've been lending to the same audience for 12 years through a non- peer to peer company that does exactly the same thing. He told me that most of their business is repeat business from people they have lent to before who prize reliability and know that they can get a loan when the banks slam the door in their face, so they come back and are happy with the pricing.

He said he was going to post something on here later, so will be interesting what he has to say. Given that these guys have actually got a track record in lending before they started in P2P (most of the competition are computer geeks not lending experts) I think I'm going to give them a whirl. If I lose my shirt you can all tell me you told me so :rotfl:

JohnRo

Blatant "infommercial" there, well done. You'll have fooled everyone with that spiel.

All you've really achieved of course is to convince everyone they're a right bunch of cowboys.

CharlieSoho84

Far from a scam, Evolutis probably the safest option for p2p lending for 2 reasons – the first is that they lend to only professional services such as accounting, medical, veterinary and legal firms, amongst the most secure businesses. Secondly, investments are safeguarded with Evolutis’ ‘BuyBack Guarantee’ to protect the investor’s return should a borrower defaults. Plus, the rates are superior to those of others in the p2p market. It’s not that the borrowers are paying more than they would elsewhere, it’s because Evolutis takes a smaller cut of the income than many of their competitors - more of the income goes to the investor, not the P2P company. It’s definitely worth checking them out!

Marazan

CharlieSoho84 wrote: »

Far from a scam, Evolutis probably the safest option for p2p lending for 2 reasons – the first is that they lend to only professional services such as accounting, medical, veterinary and legal firms, amongst the most secure businesses. Secondly, investments are safeguarded with Evolutis’ ‘BuyBack Guarantee’ to protect the investor’s return should a borrower defaults. Plus, the rates are superior to those of others in the p2p market. It’s not that the borrowers are paying more than they would elsewhere, it’s because Evolutis takes a smaller cut of the income than many of their competitors - more of the income goes to the investor, not the P2P company. It’s definitely worth checking them out!

You've just taken text straight off their marketing material. This post seems even more like astroturf than "Jonny1979".

paddyrg

Wow, three new members all pumping one company on the same day. If it's a real company, this is massive reputational DAMAGE caused by astroturfing. Don't believe what SEO twonks promise you. Mind you, the difference between 1.5% (Ratesetter monthly) and 8% (advertised above) is significantly more than the broker spread, to that doesn't add up.

debeast

<sarcasm>I love to see the sub <10 post people giving advice on new products </sarcasm>

on a more constructive note there are a number of forums that do exist for p2x lending communities i won't link any as don't want to be naughty but google it!

/beastie