What % do you put into P2P ?

nearlyretired2004

Just dipping a toe into the water of P2P. Have created an account with SavingStream and am starting small like most, I believe, but its difficult not to get greedy with the interest rate offered, together with the fact that although not FSCS protected, most of the loans have a first charge on the property and I believe theyve only had one loan default since inception and that money was recovered within 3 months.

I was wondering what percentage of your total investments you all feel comfortable with in P2P and ....any other comments really...?

Thanks as always......

EdGasket

As you don't have any protection (like with bank and building society accounts) you shouldn't put in more than you are prepared to lose. I don't invest in them at all; they look like the next car crash waiting to happen.

jimjames

EdGasket wrote: »

As you don't have any protection (like with bank and building society accounts) you shouldn't put in more than you are prepared to lose. I don't invest in them at all; they look like the next car crash waiting to happen.

Same here. 0% in P2P. Most of my money is in S&S ISAs as I understand them far better.

Missus_Hyde

I've invested a small amount in Wellesley P2P (I wouldn't invest a large sum, as there's no financial protection with them, as the other posters have stated).

However, I've had absolutely no problem with them at all; they credit my interest regularly and they have an easy to use website. They're extremely courteous and helpful on the odd occasion when I've contacted them. Whether they will have any problems long term, I wouldn't like to say, but so far, so good ( I also received an iPad mini from them which I'm using at this moment.)

All in all, I'm very pleased with them.

JohnRo

0% currently, I was with Ratesetter to the tune of about £10K in the early days but quickly lost interest (no pun intended) when rates started to plummet and all the enthusiastic talk by management of redistributing profits from the provision fund back to lenders quickly faded into obscurity and their back pockets.

yorkie3

Not all P2P investments are the same. Some are retail lending, some are commercial, some lend on invoices, some lend on gold watches and jewellery, some lend on property, some lend on yachts, some have provision funds, some have buyback guarantees for non-perfoming loans etc. The point is that it is a varied landscape and each P2P offering should be considered on its own offering.

That said, I think P2P is the future. It is a disruptive innovator and is changing the financial landscape. Also, I'm fed up of getting pitiful rates at the bank. With that said, I'm in for 35% of my liquid assets.

N1AK

nearlyretired2004 wrote: »

Just dipping a toe into the water of P2P. Have created an account with SavingStream and am starting small like most, I believe, but its difficult not to get greedy with the interest rate offered, together with the fact that although not FSCS protected, most of the loans have a first charge on the property and I believe theyve only had one loan default since inception and that money was recovered within 3 months.

I was wondering what percentage of your total investments you all feel comfortable with in P2P and ....any other comments really...?

Thanks as always......

Our p2p % peaked at about 20% excluding pensions and our house. This was a little higher than I liked but I'd be comfortable somewhere around 10-15% spread over a couple of providers. As things stand we're taking money out of p2p to finance a move to a more expensive property. However, once that is sorted I will be putting some new money into p2p via an IF ISA later this year.

colsten

0% for me too, for the reasons jimjames and EdGasket have given.

nearlyretired2004

Interested to see that a several of the 'regulars have 0% ..!!

(...for all the same reasons as I [STRIKE]have[/STRIKE] hadn't invested to date)

I am only talking now about Saving Stream - and my thinking now goes:

1. They seem to do plenty of 'due diligence' on borrowers
2. They lend a max of 70% LTV ...often less
3. They have an excellent history of loan repayments to date

the two biggest risks to me seem to be

1. a property crash in the UK .... personally I dont see that happening anytime soon and dont think it would happen overnight anyway

and

2. A loan defaulting - SS seem to have good mechanisms in place to recover in the event that that happens, but with a smallish exposure to each over a large number of loans it wouldnt take long at 12% to cover one bad loan

any comments on the above thinking?

george4064

Currently 0%, same reason as jimjames.

However, I am considering opening a P2P account in the future once I understand them much better (and their tax/ISA position is all cleared up).

westy22

I am happy with a target of about 10% of my investments in P2P as I need to diversify away from being almost 100% equities.

What are the alternatives? - I think that Bonds are currently higher risk than P2P; cash is barely matching inflation; gold is unlikely to make much more than cash in the next year or so; commercial property seems to have fizzled out in the past year; I know nothing about fine wines, classic cars etc.

I hope that by spreading my P2P funds into as many different platforms and individual investments as I can that, even after defaults and lost causes, I can achieve 5-8% pa return.