Peer-to-peer lending sites: MSE guide discussion

fun4everyone wrote: »

http://p2pindependentforum.com/thread/11063/full-fca-authorisation-ifisa



Hmmm that was late January, I don't think anything was ongoing then.

Great quick find! There we go, lies posted start of the year

masonic wrote: »

It was raised a on a number of occasions.

In a thread started around January 2017, some fairly pointed questions about specific interim permissions were asked of Gordon, and he stated that COL was under Interim Permissions and was "going through full permissions". He didn't really answer the questions posed, but it looked as though he was just a little out of his depth and didn't understand the situation. In hindsight, that thread was the first indication that something was wrong and someone sufficiently knowledgeable could have concluded COL should have had additional permissions for it to be permitted to run a P2P platform.

A couple of other instances, one in January 2018 (edit: that's the one fun4everyone linked above) are mentioned in this really nice timeline of events.

It is indicating that Gordon knew what was going on as well, it seems a strong possibility going by not really answering certain questions. Yes looking at that thread, in hindsight the alarm bells was there and it is a pity the FCA was not contacted directly at that point to raise questions on Collaterals position.

I feel Gordon's very strong presence on that forum and influence should not be overlooked and if there is a deeper legal investigation I feel he should be quizzed deeply. We all made our choices to invest and know the risks, but there is no doubt the "rep" as the front person on a niche investment forum did play it's part and also misinformation on the FCA with Collateral too.

Just how much did this Gordon know, to me it is another part of this saga :idea:

Update from Moneything finally a sale for Prestbury for the default with expected payout soon. It will be a start of something back from the defaults there.

Hopefully the can now progress on the next one.

I'm using ratesetter to get a monthly direct debit. It's only £10 a month and I put it in the 1 year market but yeah the rates on that site are awful.

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

that's ridiculously low, for the risks of p2p.

you'd expect about the same by just shoving your money in a cautiously managed corporate bond fund, such as https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-global-credit-bond-fund-investor-gbp-hedged-accumulation-shares and that has much lower risk and better regulatory protection.

That's been the case with P2P from day one. Even the "good" P2P rates were largely the same as those available from "high yield" corporate bond funds, and while high yield corporate bond funds are - naturally - higher risk than the Vanguard fund, the credit rating of the companies they are exposed to is still better than those who borrow via P2P, there is far less liquidity risk, and better regulatory protection.

Only the "pick your own" P2P platforms offering you the chance to invest in a caravan site at 12% per annum could claim higher rates than mainstream investments (and only if you made a generous assumption about bad debt).

Corporate bond funds aren't flogged by the newspapers and other unregulated channels though.