Peer-to-peer lending sites: MSE guide discussion

takesyourchances

Fatbritabroad wrote: »

I'm currently in a few and seem ok but I'm sticking to the auto diversified apart from ablrate. Mainly for the intro bonuses tbh

Current make up is

6k in assetz in 30day and quick access accounts

6k in lending works

5300 in ablrate where my max exposure is less than my interest earned in each BORROWER (or linked group of borrowers) not loan

1000 in ratesetter and 2x 500 in Kufflink for the bonus. Again in their quick access accounts

So about 19k. This seems OK to me

In contrast I have 7k cash 60k in s and s and 150k in pension. I'm 37 so my holding in p2p is high but I'm willing to take on a bit more risk and hope the auto products are a bit less risk than the manual loans accepting a lower interest rate. Ive assumed the whole 20k could go in theory which I'd obviously be sick over but I wouldn't lose my house

I can understand your reasons with your P2P and you are in a good position with your overall finances so can take on some risk that way and those platforms seem a reasonable spread.



With myself, after a bit of time I felt with over 5K in P2P problems which was basically towards a third of my P2P overall at the time, thanks to "Collateral" mainly while all this was unresolved I felt it was more prudent for myself after carrying on to a degree and thinking on it to reduce and drawdown my P2P.



As far as I am concerned the 5K is written off in my mind until anything starts to come back between the Collateral saga and MT defaults. I accepted the risks and accept the loss, which is a loss until I see something if anything back.



My S&S investments are now around 106k and I've 4K in property partner. I have been working on increasing my IT holdings lately and working on a dividend reinvestment strategy and the dividends are growing nicely and I have set goals with these, so I felt I wanted to work on my investments with a strategy for decades to come (I have growth based too) and I am a similar age to you, 39 this year and felt my P2P was not something that would be a very long term strategy and then the problems with 5K odd unresolved in P2P I have re-focused in this direction.

I expect it'll take way more time before my P2P is fully drawn down and maybe at some point I may enter it again with something, I would never say never but not at the moment with fresh funds.

I am also going to start increasing my cash levels back up as well along with still investing, I have a couple of future projects in mind and would want to raise cash towards them and also to have some on hand for any stock drops to invest into along with my regular investments. So I want to also work on this as well.

I will add a bit here and there to property partner, it's a bit of a property interest although I have property IT's I add to also. The property crowdfunding does not seem to be as popular here in the UK as it does in the States, I wish we could access some of the American sites for this and read some interesting blogs Stateside with people invested.

This is really were I am at now and how things have evolved in my direction recently and I will work away at this regular through the ups and downs and hopefully see some of the problems resolved along the way :)

Good to be sharing ideas

Ash_Pole

Does anyone else get calls from Lendy about something called "wealth" (I haven't answered, they've left messages)?

Why on earth they think I'd be interested when I've already got several k of defaults I can't imagine.

bxboards

Ash_Pole wrote: »

Does anyone else get calls from Lendy about something called "wealth" (I haven't answered, they've left messages)?

Why on earth they think I'd be interested when I've already got several k of defaults I can't imagine.

Yeah, I got one. I had to go out and buy a bigger bargepole.

bxboards

msallen wrote: »

I can't give you any evidence for Assetz unreliability, but I completely sold up my loans there about a year ago. This was mainly due to "gut feeling" and the fact that the self select loan rates were falling from the double figures to around 6,7 or 8% with no discernible reduction in risk to match. They also had a poor reputation for not utilising the protection fund when loans were months behind on repayments (although I can't speak from personal experience there as I only used their self select loans not the "black box" accounts)

Assetz is now my biggest single platform, and reading a here, I suspect I have quite a fair bit more in most.

It's also a platform I have a lot of confidence in as they are one of the few P2P companies that is actually profitable. i am also an very small investor in them via Seedrs which I guess shows confidence too, for full disclosure.

I use a mix of MLA and the 30 day account, I'm taking advantage of the 30 day rates right now as 5.1% plus whatever bonuses they are running with essentially 30 day access is hard to beat (Growth Street also about the same)

I tend to buy property at auction, so having money available in 30 days max is really useful in a 4 week exchange scenario. I am not in any of the riskier platforms with high defaults.

I average around 8.6% via MLA, I don't bother with low rates loans, can't see the point in doing 5.5% via MLA when you can get 5.1%+ bonuses if you do it via 30 day

Albermarle

Ash_Pole wrote: »

Does anyone else get calls from Lendy about something called "wealth" (I haven't answered, they've left messages)?

Why on earth they think I'd be interested when I've already got several k of defaults I can't imagine.

They launched a new 'Lendy Wealth' product . Auto investment ( i.e. total trust in Lendy ) and a £50K minimum , so aimed at HNW individuals.
I think the general reaction was the same as yours and the investment limit has dropped to £10K.
Last throw of the dice maybe ?

Albermarle

Regarding exposure to P2P , I have always stuck to the more generic investment advice . That is only to invest between 5% and 10% in alternative investments. This calculation should not include your own home and really should not include pension savings , although this could be an arguable point .As I would put P2P as risky, but not wildly so ( especially if you stick mainly to more mainstream sites ) then I have 10% in it , but stick to this rigidly, even if it means not reinvesting interest and withdrawing it .
Main investment is Lending Works, followed by Assetz , followed by Lending Crowd and recently Triodis ( ethical/green long term lending bonds ) The thinking behind this split is they are all lending to different sectors of the economy.

Fatbritabroad

Albermarle wrote: »

Regarding exposure to P2P , I have always stuck to the more generic investment advice . That is only to invest between 5% and 10% in alternative investments. This calculation should not include your own home and really should not include pension savings , although this could be an arguable point .As I would put P2P as risky, but not wildly so ( especially if you stick mainly to more mainstream sites ) then I have 10% in it , but stick to this rigidly, even if it means not reinvesting interest and withdrawing it .
Main investment is Lending Works, followed by Assetz , followed by Lending Crowd and recently Triodis ( ethical/green long term lending bonds ) The thinking behind this split is they are all lending to different sectors of the economy.

This is about where I'd like to get to maybe 15% tops as it becomes a more substantial amount. I'm only adding new funds to my equities now along with SAYE at work

Ash_Pole

I see Funding Circle is IPOing next week. Any opinions? I like the platform as a P2P investor, but I don't like the look of the IPO. I'd like to see them turn a profit first.

AdrianC

Ash_Pole wrote: »

I see Funding Circle is IPOing next week. Any opinions? I like the platform as a P2P investor, but I don't like the look of the IPO. I'd like to see them turn a profit first.

I'm almost the direct opposite. I've long since left them, as a P2P investor, but I'm quite tempted by the IPO (well, the concept, I've not looked at the detail), because I think they'll do well. Just not by lending my money...

shoi

Assetz. One of the founders and the MD for some years Andrew Holgate is no longer with the company. I wonder why