There’s one risk that is completely ignored by many financial institutions. Dangerously for savers and investors, this blinkered vision filters through to financial and news websites, and even to professionals who should know better. This risk is such a huge risk for people saving in…
The P2P lending companies pitching themselves as lowest risk and easy-to-use all have the best records – with no lenders losing any money. These companies all have bad-debt provision funds: that’s a pot of money in reserve to pay you back in case a borrower…
Ratesetter, the low-risk consumer loans p2p lending company, has announced that it is taking over GraduRates‘ loans. GraduRates is a P2P lending company targeting postgraduate borrowers. Full financial regulation is starting next year and so Gradurates has decided to wind down its loan book rather than meet…
Around 2004 or 2005, I can’t remember which, dentists suddenly started doing far more fillings and far less root canals. A few years later, German hospitals suddenly started doing lots more caesarean sections than previously. A few years after that, financial advisors in the UK suddenly…
This is the Candid Opinion blog and now it’s time to be candid about the 4thWay® Risk Ratings. We’re proud of our scoring system and we’ll only get more proud as it proves itself and as we improve on it. The feedback we’re getting from the…
Alongside our article on some very interesting changes coming this week at Bondora, the European P2P lending company, and my blog showing my opinions, here’s our Q&A with the chief executive officer and founder, Pärtel Tomberg. If you struggle with any technical or other difficult…
I wrote this morning* about the latest news from European personal loans P2P lending company Bondora, which UK lenders can use to lend to borrowers in other countries. In a moment I’ll share my thoughts on Bondora’s changes and there’ll be a dark interlude into doctors killing patients,…
Bondora, the European personal loans P2P lending company, has devised a system to make it easier for lenders in the UK or elsewhere to compare the risks of lending across Europe, including in countries with far higher interest rates. To do this it will soon being…
It’s all very well us telling you to spread your risk – diversify – across dozens or hundreds of loans, but what if a P2P lending company you’re interested in doesn’t have enough loans? Other than walking away, I think you have five choices: 1….
Funding Circle is currently returning cashback to lenders, taken out of the borrowers’ fees, in the following loan auctions: A+, residential property development loan for 16 months in Cheshire Offering 1.5% cashback. The auction will be over by 10am on Wednesday 10 December at the latest. This…
Once again, we have a new report into the outstanding P2P lending opportunity that is RateSetter, with interest rates up to 6% and the lowest 4thWay® Risk Rating of 10, which makes it just slightly short of savings accounts in terms of the risk of…
…But there’s a catch at the end. Cavendish Online, the discount broker of investment and insurance products, has created a fund supermarket providing the cheapest route to buy a share ISA, with all costs included. Cavendish Online will get you spread into a few different funds…
Ever wondered what the average returns in P2P lending are? We wonder that all the time. We know average doesn’t mean much, but, like most people, we’re curious anyway. We have just launched the 4thWay® P2P Forecast Returns Index, which is the first index of P2P…
Again, I’m abusing my position and writing a blog about one of our own products – and yet it is something I would have written about if another company had created it. This week we have continued our series of highly detailed, plain English, informative, candid…
There are at least three Estonian P2P lending companies already seeking lenders in the UK. Estonia has just 1.2 million people and yet Spain and many other large countries don’t have many more P2P companies themselves. Why are there already so many P2P lending companies…
Update: eMoneyUnion is now JustUs. It appears there has been some confusion both in the press and at the financial regulator as to whether eMoneyUnion is a property lender itself or a P2P company that matches loans for individual lenders. However, the Financial Conduct Authority has recently confirmed its…
P2P lending is an investment and all investments go through cycles. It doesn’t matter what you invest in, be it shares, property or something else, all of them are driven up and down by supply-and-demand, greed and fear. It’s the last two that cause huge bubbles…
Landbay, the buy-to-let mortgage P2P lending company, has just joined the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA). The P2PFA sets minimum standards for all its members, including: Setting high standards in vetting borrowers. This does not mean they cannot arrange high-interest, high-risk loans, but it does mean…
We don’t intend to use our Candid Opinion blogs to brag about what we’re up to. But if it was another company producing high-quality research, we would inform you about it either in our news articles or in our candid blogs. However, it’s us setting…
My colleague, Matthew Howard, wrote just a few moments ago about Wellesley leaving the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA). It seems quite possible that the company left due to differences over its savings bond. On the one hand, Wellesley & Co. is a peer-to-peer lender, matching borrowers and…
