Crowd2Fund Versus Funding Circle: Which Is Better?

This article was originally published on 11th October and has been updated due to fresh statistics from Crowd2Fund. Crowd2Fund was one of the first P2P lending sites to be granted full authorisation by the financial regulator. It does loans to small businesses paying 8% to…

3 Ways NOT To Choose P2P Lending Sites

There are a lot of ways to look at a P2P lending site to get a handle on the risks. Here are three ways that can lead to false positives. 1. The P2P lending site has won awards Almost since P2P lending started, P2P lending…

Which Founders Lend Through Their Own P2P Lending Sites?

One of the two first questions* that Leigh Baker, 4thWay’s chief risk modeller, asks senior people in the industry is: “How much have you lent through your own P2P lending site?” What particularly interests us is not just the amount that the founders and other…

Does The FCA Really Make P2P Lending Safe?

Here’s a picture to show you what the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority does and what it doesn’t do to make P2P lending safer. The FCA has effectively blocked around 300 applications from businesses wanting to start a P2P lending site and I have seen its…

Have Investors Really Made Money From P2P Lending Funds?

Cliff is an experienced freelance journalist hired in as 4thWay’s “Chief P2P Cynic” to give you the alternative view. Read about Cliff. Typically, UK investors have two main options when it comes to lending out their cash via peer-to-peer (P2P) websites. The first is to…

Is It Worth Diversifying With ArchOver’s Secured Loans?

It’s both invoice lending and ArchOver month at 4thWay. Since it’s high time more lenders got to understand the beauty of this kind of lending. ArchOver is one of the only invoice lending P2P sites that has provided 4thWay with all the information we need…

How Much You Lose If A P2P Lending Website Goes Bust

There are all sorts of reasons why a P2P lending website may no longer be able to pay its bills. It might run out of start-up funding before it has started to earn enough money. It might succumb to better, more nimble competition. It might itself…

How To Protect Your Lending From The Personal Loans Bubble

First I’ll tell you about the lending bubble, then I’ll share my views about how much it affects us as individual lenders, and then I’ll say what action we can take now. The growing personal loans debt pile Financial advisers, debt charities and the Bank…

I Think Peer-to-Peer Lending Should Be Less Than 10% Of Your Wealth

Cliff is an experienced freelance journalist hired in as 4thWay’s “Chief P2P Cynic” to give you the alternative view. Read about Cliff. Some months ago, I was chatting with Neil Faulkner, founder and owner of 4thWay. During our conversation, Neil asked me a key question,…

How To Pick P2P Property Development Loans

Development loans offer attractive interest rates of 8% or more, secured on land and property, so they are appealing to lenders. Most property P2P lending websites focus on development loans more than other kinds of property loans. (See sidebox, right, to find out what development…

What I Think Of Assetz Capital’s Property Secured Investment Account

At first glance, Assetz Capital’s* Property Secured Investment Account looks pretty much like what I always thought its Great British Business Account was really meant to be. Its British business account describes itself as lending in loans that are “usually” backed by land and property,…

5 Ways To Reduce This Hidden Cost In P2P Lending

There’s a hidden cost that we at 4thWay have not given much attention to so far, but we’ve just had an email from one of you about it. It’s called “cash drag”. Cash drag is when you have money sitting in your P2P lending account…

Big Lending Update On Zopa, RateSetter and Funding Circle

We have had a lot of requests for updates on the big three P2P lending sites, namely Zopa, Funding Circle and RateSetter. There’s an awful lot of important things to say about each of them, so here goes: Zopa Core earns a 4thWay PLUS Rating…

How Lending Works’ Insurance Against Losses Works

Prime personal loans P2P lending site Lending Works* is one of a smaller number of P2P lending sites that uses insurance to protect lenders from specific situations. What the insurance does for lenders Lending Works’ insurance could pay out if and when a borrower is unable…

Fact Check: Was RateSetter Hit By £80m Of Struggling Loans?

Not enough time to read this 4,000 word report? See the simple, plain English summary here. In this report: The Guardian says: RateSetter was hit by £80m of problem loans. Is that true? Significant mistakes admitted by RateSetter. The risks and rewards at RateSetter have…

Should I Sell RateSetter Loans?

One of my colleagues wrote a 4,000-word report on RateSetter, explaining some recent troubles it has had as well as his opinion on whether individual lenders should sell RateSetter loans now. It’s called Fact Check: RateSetter Hit By £80m Of Struggling Loans. I know that…

Buy Tip: Why You Should Lend Through CapitalStackers

There are very few P2P lending sites that have given me the feeling of 100% honesty and openness that we at 4thWay also aim for, but I certainly feel that from CapitalStackers. Jumping through hoops For a P2P lending site to get listed on 4thWay,…

7 Reasons To Put Half Your Savings In P2P Lending

In a recent article, one of his first for 4thWay, freelance investment journalist Cliff D’Arcy suggested the maximum amount that any of us should lend through P2P is 5% or at most 10% of our wealth. Susan, a 4thWay reader, told me on the phone…

Wellesley Is Still A Sell

Scott is a 4thWay reader to whom I am grateful since he takes the trouble to send us much needed feedback. (Hint hint. You can send your praise, requests and constructive criticism to allofus@4thway.co.uk. Thanks!) Scott just asked me if, in the light of new…

How Millennials Are Making Money From P2P Lending

Among politicians, advertisers, big companies and brands, the biggest buzzword by far these days is ‘Millennials’. But what are Millennials and how are they making money from peer-to-peer (P2P) lending? Are you a Millennial? Loosely speaking, you’re a Millennial, also known as ‘Generation Y’, if…

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