June's Final P2P Lending Platform News Round-up

Last post: Jun 27, 2018

Assetz Capital report a strong increase in investor demand following the announcement of the rate raise for some of their Managed Accounts… Across all platforms the proportion of P2P loans to borrowers in Northern Ireland appears to be increasing possibly due to the Brexit-related uncertainties of that region deterring mainstream lenders.

Totals lent to date (26th June 2018)

*All data correct at the time this blog was compiled.


LOANS TO BUSINESSES

Assetz Capital - £538,900,000

Crowd2Fund - £20,200,000
Funding Circle - £3,400,000,000
FundingKnight - £31,485,000
FundingSecure - £251,633,026
Money & Co - £6 million approx
Rebuildingsociety - £12,800,000
ThinCats - £287,253,000
Invest and Fund - £3 million plus
LendingCrowd - £36,688,136
ArchOver - £68,616,000

 

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Zopa - £3,400,000,000
RateSetter - £2,563,309,713

Lending Works - £114,993,017

…………..


LOANS TO BUSINESS


Assetz Capital

Lent to Date: £538,900,000 - £9.9 million growth (1.87%) in the past fortnight.

When this blog was compiled there were 81 loans in the pipeline with 1 imminently due to be drawndown.

Highlighted Loan: The owner of a company that provides materials to the construction industry in Northern Ireland was looking to borrow £160k over a 60 month term to pay off debt to a High Street Bank. Security was provided via a First Charge over industrial premises and a plot of development land which gave an LTV of 52%. At the end the term, there will still be a significant sum outstanding but it is hoped, with the LTV reduced to 41% by that stage, mainstream funding will become available. The worrying thing for me was that the business had negative Net Assets and, due to the concerns over the nature of the border with the Republic post-Brexit, Northern Ireland is a particularly risky region to invest in at the moment therefore I felt a return of 6.5% pa was too low to take on debt that a Bank is offloading.

Managed Accounts: The following accounts automatically distribute funds on behalf of investors across different sections of the platform's portfolio and are covered by a discretionary Provision Fund (the target rates of return are in brackets):

Quick Access Account (4.1% pa)

30 Day Access Account (5.1% pa)

Property Secured Investment Account (5.5% pa)

Great British Business Account version 2 (6.25% pa)

Platform News: Investors have been flocking to Assetz Capital following the announcement in mid-May that it was increasing the target interest rates for its Quick Access Account and 30-Day Access Account from 3.75 per cent to 4.1 per cent and from 4.25 per cent to 5.1 per cent respectively. It has helped to grow the platform's pool of funding invested via an IFISA wrapper to more than £50 million.


Crowd2Fund

Lent to Date: £20.2 million – latest available figure.

Over the past 2 weeks, I received 4 notifications of new auctions being listed on the site.

Highlighted Loan: A company that provides sports apprenticeships were looking to raise £75k of expansion capital to enable them to hire more staff. The required sum is 3 quarters of their most recent annual profit figure however Net Assets were only £34k. The loan was Director Guaranteed but, as usual for this platform, there was no indication of the financial status of the individual. Investors were offered a return of 10% pa.


Funding Circle

Lent to Date: £3,400,000,000

Funding Circle are unique amongst the major P2P platforms that lend to SMEs in not allowing investors to choose who they lend to. Instead two managed accounts are offered which distribute funds across differing risk profiles of loans within their portfolio. These options are projected to return 4.8% pa and 7.2% pa.

As an active rather than passive investor, I am no longer involved with Funding Circle however posters on forums who remain with this site express concerns over the apparent lack of due diligence that is undertaken amid accusations that they are currently recklessly increasing the size of their Loan Book to boost the planned stock market launch.


FundingKnight

Lent to Date: £31,485,000 – no change.

There were 0 auctions ongoing when this blog was compiled – only 1 loan appeared on this site during 2017. The platform is planning a relaunch at some point in 2018 but there have been no signs of life so far.


FundingSecure

Lent to Date: £251,633,026 at end of May – figure updated monthly.

There continues to be a steady stream of 3 or 4 loans coming to this site each day although some are filled faster than others.

Highlighted Loan: An £800 loan secured against a guitar signed by Barack Obama was renewed on Friday when the borrower paid the interest to date. As is often the case with these small loans, despite a maximum bid of £25, blink at the time they are listed and they are gone. I blinked and missed out on  

Defaults: A loan secured against a property in South Wales was defaulted – on Sunday morning strangely enough… The receivers have been called in due to non-payment of any funds when the loan matured. A similar loan against a property in the North West was defaulted yesterday because the much promised refinancing has failed to materialise.

Wheeling & Dealing: I sold a few loans successfully in the past fortnight but there are still a couple that are refusing to move even though yesterday one of them received an update about an enthusiastic response to a pre-planning meeting relating to the development of the plots of land at the heart of this bridge funding.


Money & Co

Lent to Date: £6 million approx. (latest available figure)

When this blog was compiled there was 1 auction taking place. Throughput on this site is centred upon repeated borrowing by the same businesses, in this case it was the Property Developers in Germany who required a further £150k tranche of funding.


rebuildingsociety

Lent to Date: £12,800,000 – £100,000 growth (0.79%) in the past fortnight.

There was 1 auction taking place when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: Signwriters in Northern Ireland required <£50k to purchase an aluminium folding machine which they hope will win them more custom. Because this loan was only covered by a Personal Guarantee, the maximum bid rate was as high as 20% pa. Because the balance sheet was quite healthy, I was happy to make a small investment for this level of return.


ThinCats

Lent to Date: £287,253,000 – no increase in the past fortnight.

There were 0 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled. The much publicised increase in staff and strategic partners ThinCats have employed to bring in more loans doesn't appear to be delivering as no auctions have been listed for 4 weeks.


Invest & Fund

Lent to Date: Over £3 million

No auctions came to this site during the past fortnight.


LendingCrowd

Lent to Date: £36,688,136 – fortnightly increase of £698,780 – 1.94% growth.

2 new auctions were listed on this site on the morning this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: Car dealers were looking to raise £158.5k to enlarge their premises to enable them to increase their turnover. They comfortably reached the required sum despite their net assets being two thirds of the loan amount. No doubt this was because they were carrying no other debt. I put my bid in at just under 9% pa which was the minimum bid amount for this B+ rated loan. Borrowers seem to be ending up with interest rates much closer to the minimum bid levels since the bidding ranges were narrowed a few weeks ago.


ArchOver

Lent to Date: £68,616,000 – no charge in the reported figure although a number of auctions have appeared on the site over the past fortnight.

There were 2 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: A firm of auditors were today looking to raise £300k which is the first part of a £450k facility to help them expand from providing auditing services to offering general accountancy. This will expand their potential customer base to smaller companies who are not covered by auditing regulations. Security was provided by a charge over future Accounts Receivable. ArchOver decided insurance would not be required to give additional cover because the business has over 2,000 clients so they are not dependent on income from a small number of customers. Investors were offered a return of 7.75% pa.


PERSONAL P2P LENDING


Zopa

Lent to Date:  £3.4 billion – an increase of £30 million over the past 2 weeks – 0.89% growth.

Returns: Zopa's 2 accounts offer returns of 4.0% and 4.6% pa with the latter allocating some funds to riskier loans that offer higher returns.

Zopa distribute investor's money mostly to unsecured consumer loans.


Ratesetter

Lent to Date: £2,563,309,713 – an increase of £23,832,835 over the past 2 weeks – 0.94% growth.

Returns: Interest rates are set according to supply and demand. They currently range from 2.4% pa to 4.8% pa depending on the length of the investment. These figures have increased by 0.1% and 0.5% compared to a couple of weeks ago.

Capital is covered by a Provision Fund. Ratesetter proudly boast that no investor has lost a penny since they launched in 2010.


Lending Works

Lent to Date: £114,993,017 – an increase of £2,116,308 over the past 2 weeks – 1.87% growth.

Returns: 4.5% pa and 6.0% pa via an IFISA or standard account for 3 and 5 year investments respectively.

As well as a Provision Fund to cover investor's risks, this site also insures borrowers against redundancy, fraud, illness and accidents making this a very fair site for all concerned.


****Disclaimer: This blog contains the views of the Secret Investor. Your capital is at risk when lending via all P2P Platforms. You're recommended to speak to a qualified Independent Financial Advisor.


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