Peer-to-peer lending sites: MSE guide discussion

JackRussell

I've used Zopa since 15t March 2005! Wow how old does that make me feel :rotfl:

Around 2011 I also joined Funding Circle and RateSetter and drip fed a small amount into each. Zopa so far, has certainly been a lot more reliable than the others. None of my investments in any of the three P2P companies I joined, have come out negative, and all were above a normal easy access savings account.

Due to personal concerns and experience, I've closed down both RS and FC and redistributed the cash to Zopa.

It's hard to work out my Zopa overall return to date as I opened with a small lump sum and left it for a few years. Then I moved my money from RS and FC to Zopa, and have since added on a monthly basis.

Overall I am happy with the returns (£1,683.03). Yes there are few bad debts, but that taken into consideration I am still confident in continuing to invest in Zopa long term and the Safeguard helps (I think RS has something similar).

For the record I also have ISAs (for what they're worth) and investments in Wine (stagnant at best) and Funds (up and down like a you know what) so it's a bit of a spread.

P2P is a good alternative but I wouldn't recommend investing life savings in them. I also wouldn't say it was for "chancers" - thats for the Casino! Maybe for those people who opt for a riskier portfolio.

As for all the other P2P lenders, I just don't have the confidence with them as I do with Zopa. Maybe thats just because I've been with them a long time...

Daz2009

JackRussell wrote: »

I've used Zopa since 15t March 2005! Wow how old does that make me feel :rotfl:

Around 2011 I also joined Funding Circle and RateSetter and drip fed a small amount into each. Zopa so far, has certainly been a lot more reliable than the others. None of my investments in any of the three P2P companies I joined, have come out negative, and all were above a normal easy access savings account.

Due to personal concerns and experience, I've closed down both RS and FC and redistributed the cash to Zopa.

It's hard to work out my Zopa overall return to date as I opened with a small lump sum and left it for a few years. Then I moved my money from RS and FC to Zopa, and have since added on a monthly basis.

Overall I am happy with the returns (£1,683.03). Yes there are few bad debts, but that taken into consideration I am still confident in continuing to invest in Zopa long term and the Safeguard helps (I think RS has something similar).

For the record I also have ISAs (for what they're worth) and investments in Wine (stagnant at best) and Funds (up and down like a you know what) so it's a bit of a spread.

P2P is a good alternative but I wouldn't recommend investing life savings in them. I also wouldn't say it was for "chancers" - thats for the Casino! Maybe for those people who opt for a riskier portfolio.

As for all the other P2P lenders, I just don't have the confidence with them as I do with Zopa. Maybe thats just because I've been with them a long time...

Zopa might be established but their returns aren't exactly earth shattering.
I too began with Zopa but have moved my eggs to other P2P baskets now that give better returns,albeit with more risk

JackRussell

Compared to banks they are earth shattering

Taken in to account fees and defaults, what type of returns are you seeing as standard over a 3 year period? Would be good to look at alternatives.

Daz2009

JackRussell wrote: »

Compared to banks they are earth shattering

Taken in to account fees and defaults, what type of returns are you seeing as standard over a 3 year period? Would be good to look at alternatives.

I've average 6% from Ratesetter over the past year (I only use the 5 year market) and this year I've gone into Saving Stream and very recently MoneyThing.No defaults as yet for me but it is early days

JohnRo

Over the last few days the feeding frenzy on the SavingStream secondary market for any and all available loans looks to have come to an abrupt end.

I'm going to limit myself to a few grand in there for now, spread as thinly as possible. The rates are very attractive though, even with the odd default, especially when European stock markets are heading back towards their 2016 lows.

masonic

JohnRo wrote: »

Over the last few days the feeding frenzy on the SavingStream secondary market for any and all available loans looks to have come to an abrupt end.

They've released just shy of £15m in new loans over the course of 2 days, so that goes with the territory. It will take a few weeks for demand to catch up with supply. There will be times when this happens, so it pays not to be too reliant on the SM.

yorkie3

With regards SS, I think it is a massive achievement that they can launch and fund £12 million of loans in one day. If anything, it highlights the confidence of investors. In my view, now would be a good time for any new investors waiting on the sideline to dip a toe. It is very unusual to have so much choice and you could easily build up a diversified portfolio of loans in one sitting.

Flobberchops

Anybody with Rebuilding Society? What's the experience (and averaged out returns) like?

I saw they have lenders rates of up to 20% and got a little giddy, but reading the Independent P2P forum suggests they're rife with defaults. Is it worth a go, or a mug's game?

I'm with MoneyThing at the moment and perfectly happy with 12% average returns. But if there's bigger money to be made on the side...

bigadaj

yorkie3 wrote: »

With regards SS, I think it is a massive achievement that they can launch and fund £12 million of loans in one day. If anything, it highlights the confidence of investors. In my view, now would be a good time for any new investors waiting on the sideline to dip a toe. It is very unusual to have so much choice and you could easily build up a diversified portfolio of loans in one sitting.

Though you also need to diversify across platforms for significant sums, as well as across individual loans.

jamesd

yorkie3 wrote: »

With regards SS, ... If anything, it highlights the confidence of investors

Or alternatively it means that lots of people don't know that for at least one loan they used a value for LTV calculation based on planning permission that didn't exist, didn't disclose that they owned 10% of the borrowing firm, which was described as an individual, and withdrew their corporate guarantee after the loan defaulted.

I no longer trust them to provide accurate descriptions of investments they are offering and have cancelled my own plans to invest with the platform. Plenty of other choices around.