UK P2P Lending Blog

RateSetter Review

July 3, 2017July 3, 2017
by Neil

RateSetter is a British peer-to-peer lending platform that provides loans to households and businesses. Since launching in Autumn 2010 they’ve lent around £2bn, making them one of the ‘big 3’ platforms (RateSetter, Zopa, Funding Circle).

RateSetter are a ‘hands-off’ platform with no individual loan-part management/selection: you just choose an investment product and rate. For this reason it’s an easier platform to start off with for P2P lending beginners. You choose an investment product and rate of return that you would be happy to lend at, then wait for the lending market to match your offer. Choose a rate that is too high and your money will be sat there without earning interest. Choose a rate that is too low and miss out on higher returns! Read more “RateSetter Review” →

Income Reports

May 2017 Income Report

June 2, 2017June 2, 2017
by Neil

I try to publish a round up of my peer to peer investments each month and their annualised rates of return, which involves going into each platform one by one and copying the data into my spreadsheet. This month I’m trying to combine it with doing the self assessment tax return which is taking a lot longer than I expected. Different platforms appear to treat certain cashback as taxable and others not. For example, most consider the cashback you receive as an incitement to join as a new customer as non-taxable. However, at least one treats it as taxable (e.g. Zopa, after multiple mails to customer service to clarify). Landbay is in no-mans-land, considering it non-taxable but including it by mistake as taxable on their tax statement export. Some consider the cashback interest you receive while a loan is funding as non-taxable and others as taxable (e.g. Landbay). Read more “May 2017 Income Report” →

P2P Reviews

A First Look at Huddle Capital

June 1, 2017June 5, 2017
by Neil

Huddle Capital first popped onto my radar at the end of March with this post by Cooling_Dude on the P2P Independent Forum. They were offering a special promotional deal for the first 100 investors, which on first glance appeared too good to be true: 20% cashback on investments for the first 100 investors. However, when you think about it, say an average of £1,500 invested for the first 100 people comes out to £30,000 total spend in cashback, not that bad for a marketing spend to launch your new platform and iron out the problems. Read more “A First Look at Huddle Capital” →

P2P Reviews

ArchOver Review

May 30, 2017October 26, 2017
by Neil

ArchOver is a peer to peer business lender that specialises in business loans secured against Accounts Receivables (‘Secured & Insured’) or contracted recurring revenue (‘Secured & Assigned’). Since ArchOver launched in 2014 they’ve funded nearly £50 million in loans. They state an enviable track record of no Borrower missed payments or reporting defaults, whilst offering interest rates of 6% to 9% p.a. to their Lenders. Read more “ArchOver Review” →

P2P Reviews

Flender Review

May 27, 2017June 9, 2017
by Neil

Flender is a new UK/Irish peer to peer lending platform with a social slant. For a business or consumer to borrow on Flender they first have to successfully raise funds from their friends or customers before opening up the opportunity to the wider public. Flender hopes this will help to reduce defaults, and do it in addition to standard checks run by other P2P lending sites. Current lending opportunities offer interest between 8% and 11%, though borrowers can set their rate as they like. Flender makes its money from a 2.5-4% margin on consumer borrowers or a 3.5% fee to businesses after a successful funding raise; there are no fees for lenders. Read more “Flender Review” →

Analysis

How to Get a Better Exchange Rate on CurrencyFair

May 23, 2017May 23, 2017
by Neil

CurrencyFair is a low-cost way to do international money transfers. I first wrote about it when researching how to transfer money to European P2P lending sites. CurrencyFair charge a fee of €3/£2.50 to transfer out money, is generally free to transfer in money, and a 0.25% or 0.3% fee on the currency exchange itself.

CurrencyFair claim that around 10% of their transfers actually beat the interbank rate. This is because the matching is done internally on a peer to peer basis. Here are a couple of tips to help you get the best possible exchange rate when using CurrencyFair with an example I did earlier today. Read more “How to Get a Better Exchange Rate on CurrencyFair” →

P2P Reviews

Property Crowd Review

May 23, 2017May 24, 2017
by Neil

Property Crowd is an ISA-friendly real estate crowdfunding platform that offers investors a chance to invest in “institutional grade” property deals from £5,000. They’ve been around since 2014, but relaunched with ambitious plans as part of Global Alternatives at the start of 2017. Those ambitious plans (a ‘cross-border property trading exchange’) were what first piqued my interest in Property Crowd, and I set up a call with one of their co-founders Charles Tan to understand more. Read more “Property Crowd Review” →

Analysis

Frazer Fearnhead on Property Crowdfunding

April 21, 2017April 21, 2017
by P2P Blog

Frazer Fearnhead, founder and CEO of The House Crowd, explains how he turned frustration with the banks into a multi-million pound idea:

The idea for The House Crowd was sparked almost entirely from frustration.

It was 2011, and I’d hit hard times thanks to the 2008 financial crisis. A time when many people were struggling due to the banks’ greed.

I’d left my career as a music industry lawyer to go into property full time. And why not? It stood out as one of the simplest and most rewarding investment options around. However, there was one huge problem: accessibility.

Two years after the financial crisis, there were plenty of opportunities to invest, but it was proving impossible for normal people to receive the finance to get back in the game.

Suddenly the answer was obvious: why not cut out the banks, crowding people together to invest and share the profits? Read more “Frazer Fearnhead on Property Crowdfunding” →

P2P Reviews

Property Partner Review

April 11, 2017April 11, 2017
by Neil

Property Partner is the UK’s largest Property Crowdfunding Platform with over £50 million invested to date (versus ~£10 million Property Moose or ~£43 million on The House Crowd). I’ve been investing with them since July 2016: so perfect timing to report on performance amidst the post-Brexit property gloom. I’ve also used The House Crowd and Property Moose, so this review is based on my experience in relation to the others too.

Property Crowdfunding platforms allow investors to buy shares in property investments and benefit from ongoing rental income and house price increases. Properties are held within an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) which is a specially created UK LTD company to hold the asset. Read more “Property Partner Review” →

P2P Reviews

Abundance Investment ISA Q&A

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017
by Neil

Abundance Investment are one of the first established P2P platforms to offer a fully functioning IF ISA. They focus on renewable energy projects like wind turbines or solar farms. Looking down a list of their completed investments, they generally target between 5% and 12%. Read more “Abundance Investment ISA Q&A” →