Peer-to-peer lending sites: MSE guide discussion

jamiewakeham

A quick question. I'm contemplating putting some money into Ratesetter. I have to fill out a tax return as I'm self-employed.

If my wife were to also invest £1000 in there to get a second lot of the £100 bonus, would that mean she needed to fill out a tax return in order to declare the interest earned? She's a higher rate tax payer, employed, and has never had to fill out a return before. This would be the only interest (apart from a few pennies from bank accounts) she made. I think HMRC are saying that, if you don't breach your PSA limit, then we wouldn't need to do a return for her?

A second lot of the bonus would be nice, but not if it means I have to do her tax return as well as my own!

AlanP_2

If the interest is <£500 as a HR taxpayer it is tax free so no need to tell HMRC.

jamesd

Since you are already filling out a tax return you should find that HMRC will automatically give you the allowance when you report it to them on your tax return.

Your wife will not start to need a tax return just because of this.

jamiewakeham

Thanks, both. I'm sure it'll be trivial to include what I invest under my name on my return - but I really don't want the faff of having to start doing returns for her! It means I can gradually build up to maxing out both her £500 and my (basic rate) £1000 limit, too.

Do we even need to inform HMRC of the interest she has accrued, or - as it's below the limit - do we just not bother mentioning it?

jamesd

taylornj wrote: »

Another issue worth noting

It's worth noting that this bond isn't direct P2P lending. It's a "mini-bond" lending money directly to Wellesley who agree to pay the interest on it and to use it for business expansion and lending. This was done as a way around the limitations on holding P2P inside SIPPs, which is normally quite expensive. Mini-bonds have no liquidity/tradeability, holders are locked in until maturity. Investment was only available to high net worth or sophisticated investors or to investors who would put no more than 10% of their net assets excluding home into such investments.

Biggles wrote: »

Ablrate have had a chequered history, what with the website going offline for months for 'an upgrade' and, when it resumed, being plagued, even now, with errors and corrections.

Since there was no secondary market at the time - this upgrade in the spring of 2015 last year added that - and not much in the way of new offers it didn't make any significant difference, though they are unhappy with their developers and planning to change them. Upgrades and fixes are a fact of life, not always as fast as I'd like either but given their developer problem and work on that I'm comfortable enough to be increasing my investments through them substantially.

Biggles wrote: »

Nor do they have anywhere near the same flow of loans as any of the other main platforms, either. They also have what must be the most complex secondary market possible.

Not as much as some but still half a million to a million a month and increasing. I like the secondary market a lot, it offers great features and it's the one I like most of all the P2P secondary markets I've seen.

jamesd

jamiewakeham wrote: »

Do we even need to inform HMRC of the interest she has accrued, or - as it's below the limit - do we just not bother mentioning it?

No need to tell them.

They say that before tax returns become due they will do something to make it easier for those who go over the limit, so it may still be possible to avoid a tax return anyway. For untaxed interest before this it was possible to just phone or write a letter to HMRC to tell them about it but I suppose that they will do this by adding a way to do it on the Personal Tax Account web site. We already all have an account there, including your wife, though it's not much known about yet.

smoulder

Make sure your wife signs up via your referral link (see the "earn extra" link in your RS account). Then you get £50 referral bonus in addition to 2x £100 loyalty bonus.

Best thing is that neither the referral bonus or loyalty bonus are taxable. They are not interest payments and do not count towards your PSA. I checked this directly with HMRC. By all means check yourself to be sure. I found quite a convenient "web chat" feature on their website - beats phoning them for sure!

jamiewakeham

Jamesd - thanks. I will make sure we keep her earnings below £500 and avoid any possible complications.

Smoulder - crikey, I nearly missed that! Are they really giving £100 for investing a grand *and* £50 each for referrals? That's... generous.

Do you have a sign-up link to get yourself £50 for referring me? I'll then sign up and refer my wife.

ecnirp98

I'm looking at Assetz Capital through moneysupermarket, you deposit £2000 or more for 12 months and get £150 cashback in 12 months, seems a good bonus, anyone done this? its valid offer till 21st July.


I am planning investing the minimum £2000 in the quick access account with a target of 3.75%:


http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/assetz-capital-offer/


Not done P2P lending before, so just wanted to check peoples experience and if they have used this deal?

agent69

ecnirp98 wrote: »

I'm looking at Assetz Capital through moneysupermarket, you deposit £2000 or more for 12 months and get £150 cashback in 12 months, seems a good bonus, anyone done this? its valid offer till 21st July.


I am planning investing the minimum £2000 in the quick access account with a target of 3.75%:


http://www.moneysupermarket.com/savings/assetz-capital-offer/


Not done P2P lending before, so just wanted to check peoples experience and if they have used this deal?

I'm a bit luke warm on the QAA, given that if it's reached its cap then you wont get any interest on your £2k until you get to the top of the queue. Problem is the only way to see what is in the queue is to be in the queue.

Also there is a lack of transparency regarding what the QAA is invested in. No visibility of how much is invested in suspended loans or what the biggest exposure is to any individual loan.