Last post: Sep 29, 2014
The Secret Investor reviews the peer to peer lending market 29th of September 2014
Just to show how peer-to-peer lending has grown, you might like to know that it has recently been announced that the total amount lent in the UK by such lenders has broken through the £2 billion barrier yet it was only back in December 2013 that it reached £1 billion and in May 2014 stood at £1.5 billion.
Anyway, below we provide an update about what has been happening within the above peer-to-peer lenders in the last couple of weeks.
Assetz CapitalAssetz Capital's investors have so far funded £44,850,745 of loans – an increase of 2.11% in two weeks. Having lent £10 million in 2013 and in excess of £30 million so far in 2014, they stated on their blog on 19 September 2014: "Expect that curve to take a more vertical look in the coming months. Assetz Capital will certainly be one of the big players." We shall watch them with great interest.
On 26 September 2014, they announced their default and losses for both 2013 and for 2014 so far. In 2013, there were no loans in default nor did they suffer any losses. Up to 26 September in 2014, they have had loans to the value of £350,000 (1.17% of loans in that period) in default and are forecasting losses of £50,000 (0.17% of loans in that period). When setting up the business in 2013 they were forecasting a default rate of 1.5% and a 0.5% loss rate so, we are sure you will agree, are on the right side of those predictions.
Funding Circle
To date, it has processed loans totaling £375,704,920 – an increase of 3.32% in 2 weeks.The platform remains active with £5.2 million being lent to businesses in week 38 (15 to 21 September 2014). In week 39 (22 to 28 September 2014), 123 new business loans totalling almost £8.5 million were listed on the marketplace ranging in amounts from £5,000 to £499,000.
FundingKnight
To date, loans totaling £7,771,000 have been processed – an increase of 3.12% in a fortnight. Interestingly, they have announced that they are getting together with Alternative Bridging Corporation to offer first and second charge short-term bridging loans of between £100,000 and £500,000. Term 3 to 24 months. LTV up to 70%.
Furthermore, they have also increased the amount that can be borrowed on an unsecured business loan to £250,000.
FundingSecure
FundingSecure has administered advances totaling £1,359,309 – an increase of 3.44% in 2 weeks.They are still in the process of setting up the loan secured against a Superman comic book but we cannot imagine it will be available for long before being taken up in view of the security margin involved.
Lending Works
Lending Works has arranged loans totaling £1,748, 087 – an increase of 11.47%.They continue to show the biggest percentage increase in their lending book of any of the peer-to-peer lenders we review.
Congratulations to Lending Works as it has become a member of the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA).
Money & Co
The amount lent so far remains at £2,640,000. Money & Co is to be complimented as it has been "taking crowd funding to the people" by conducting meetings in some cities in the UK with lenders and businesses thus increasing awareness of what this form of lending has to offer. Further meetings are planned this autumn.
rebuildingsociety
rebuildingsociety's loan book stands at £3,808,110 – no change in the last 2 weeks.There is nothing to report.
ThinCats
To date, £76,922,000 has been lent through ThinCats – no change in the last 2 weeks. We are aware of 7 new auctions in the past couple of weeks showing how active they have been.
Some of you may be interested to read that ThinCats has come up with a way of lenders transferring loans in their account into a Self-Invested Personal Pension Fund (SIPP or SSAS that may be acceptable to SIPP/SSAS managers.
Zopa
To date, it has been involved in loans totalling £627 million – an increase of 1.62% in 2 weeks. If you were at a London railway station recently you may have seen a market trader by the name of Daniel giving away Zopa Money Trees with a £10 note attached which we think is a novel way of increasing awareness about peer-to-peer lending. Well done to Zopa. We trust that you have found the above to be of interest.
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