I have pulled out all the Funding Circle reviews written by investors (lenders) that I can find on TrustPilot and, I don’t mind telling you, it took a very long time. Because online Funding Circle reviews are usually written by borrowers and not lenders. I…
“Financial institutions” have increasingly been lending through peer-to-peer lending websites. But what is peer-to-peer institutional lending, how widespread is it, and, the key question: Is institutional lending a good or bad sign for individual lenders doing P2P? I’ll get to that. I must warn you that…
I want to write up my findings from looking at HNW Lending’s most recent data submission to us. This included extra information at our request to highlight any impact on loans due to COVID-19. A quick summary of what HNW Lending does HNW Lending does…
The past few months have been a strange, rough and disturbing time for many – perhaps most – people in the UK. Investors in the stock market have been slammed dreadfully. P2P lending and IFISAs have been a lot more stable, as you should expect…
In this special P2P Lending COVID-19 guide, read how savers and lenders can survive and thrive despite the COVID-19 outbreak. You’ll learn about: The history of epidemics and downturns on P2P lending and other investments. The attitude to your investments that you need to adopt…
Lending Works has boosted allowances to cover future possible bad debts from £3 million to £5.5 million, by budgeting for more borrower interest to be paid into the Lending Works Shield. While that means much greater coverage that will better match expected bad debts, it…
Lending Works has adjusted its forecasts of lender returns and bad debts for new loans. It’s increased the amount of borrower payments that now cover bad debts, with lending rates remaining attractive in its highest-paying account. All this has taken place after hiring a new…
There’s a lot to update you on with Lending Works again, which has been split between several of us to write up. In this article, I’m tackling the nitty-gritty around the reductions to lending interest rates on loans issued in 2019 or earlier. To see…
You absolutely must read all our research on Lending Works this month to get a good overview of it as an investment proposition today. As lenders, you need to reset what you thought you knew about Lending Works and take a fresh look, because it’s…
Neil Faulkner, 4thWay’s co-founder and Head of Research, has picked his top eight IFISA picks, based on his assessment of the risks and rewards. They include: Five selections that are easy to use and are good for both entry-level and expert-level investors. Five selections that…
Jocelyn, 4thWay subscriber, wrote: “I’m having real problems understanding what the implications are of saying that I am a sophisticated rather than retail investor in the new appropriateness checks, and I wonder whether 4thway will be doing a short piece on this – I tried…
The Zopa login page, as well as Zopa’s cyber security in general, needs to be strong to deter hackers keen to try and take a piece of the billion pounds being lent through this peer-to-peer lending site. As WordFence says, the “secure” symbol in your…
It’s got a little more fiddly for peer-to-peer lending platforms to keep on going. New regulations that started in December have put extra burdens on them – and it seems that this was enough to tip some to the point where they’ve chosen to close…
Here’s a quick update on Proplend. Proplend’s finally gone and got itself a bad debt Proplend* has finally had its first loan funded by individuals turn bad, out of £70 million in lending and around 90 loans over five years. Enough time has passed that…
My main research focus over the past few weeks has been on re-interviewing Growth Street, probing for more details, and pushing it for better quality data. This article covers all that, with my usually candid opinions thrown in. Check out my three-minute summary and, if…
There’s a lot for lenders to learn about the Growth Street ISA, launched in 2019. Take a dive into all the important aspects right here, and find out how it compares to the Growth Street’s ordinary lending account. The Growth Street ISA is covered by…
Landbay has just announced that a “major financial institution” will lend another £1 billion through it. Landbay has previously arranged over £300 million in loans, with most of that coming from regular lenders. I asked Landbay* some of the key questions that our experts at…
Property peer-to-peer lending sites that use loan brokers or regional managers to attract borrowers always require an extra little bit of attention from 4thWay. Brokers don’t just do the initial assessment of a loan. They are also partly salespeople, selling the loans to banks and…
This is quite a bit of fun for me today. I’m going to look beyond peer-to-peer lending to my old, very well-trodden stomping ground of shares and savings, where I spent nearly 20 years of my life before peer-to-peer lending took over. If you want…
A property IFISA is a tax-free investment account where you can lend to borrowers who have real property – real estate – to back up those loans. This piece is based on a vast amount of research over many years. I could have easily made…
