End-June P2P Lending Platform News Round-up

Totals lent to date (19th June 2019)

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

LOANS TO BUSINESSES

Assetz Capital - £798,300,000

Crowd2Fund - £29,430,000
Funding Circle - £5,000,000,000
FundingSecure - £308,062,994
Money & Co - £6 million approx
Rebuildingsociety - £15,600,000
ThinCats - £465,125,000
Invest and Fund - £60 million
LendingCrowd - £60,112,556
ArchOver - £100,519,000

CapitalRise - £25 million

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

RateSetter - £3.1 billion

Lending Works - £179,445,529

…………..

LOANS TO BUSINESS

Assetz Capital

Lent to Date: £798,300,000 - £3.9 million growth (0.49%) in the past fortnight.

When this blog was compiled, there were 109 loans in the pipeline with 1 imminently due to be drawndown. The number of borrowers being credit checked with a view to receiving finance has been increasing in recent months.

Highlighted Loan: Borrowers requested £185.5k to assist in the purchase a combined Post Office/Shop/Residential unit in Suffolk. The loan would be for 5 years – amortised over 20 – but no capital would be repaid for the first 24 months to enable the new owners to become established in their new venture. The fact that this sort of leeway was required seemed to underline the riskiness of this loan and, with a high LTV of 70%, a return of 5.5% pa held no appeal whatsoever.

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)

90 Day Access Account (5.75% pa)

Property Secured Investment Account (5.5% pa)

Great British Business Account version 2 (6.25% pa)

Platform News: AssetzCapital have comfortably exceeded their target to raise £1 million via the Seedrs equity funding platform. When this blog was compiled, they were £710k over the amount they were aiming for.

Crowd2Fund

Lent to Date: £29.43 million.

Since the last blog, I have received 7 email notifications about new auctions launching on the site.

Highlighted Loan: Recyclers and disposers of IT equipment requested £53K to provide Working Capital to service recently won contracts. Strangely, the financial information listed on the site didn't match that lodged with Company House which showed Net Assets of £28k instead of the measly £89 reported by C2F. The upper figure was still not much more than half the amount being borrowed which meant I wasn't tempted by the 11% pa rate of return.

Funding Circle

Lent to Date: £5 billion

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. At the moment, these options are projected to offer returns in the ranges of 4.3% - 4.7% pa and 4.5% - 6.5% 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 although Funding Circle's pursuit of bad debt is reportedly better than any other platform.

There are also concerns about the liquidity of this site as there are many reports of people waiting a couple of months to sell their loan parts.

FundingSecure

Lent to Date: £308,062,994 at end of May – monthly growth of £2,266,184 (0.74%).

When this blog was compiled there were 8 auctions taking place.

Highlighted Loan: A Property Developer from the Midlands requested £15k this week although this was a small part of the total amount borrowed from the platform as it was the eighth tranche of a second supplementary facility of £250k. This ranked behind the original loan of well over £1 million which had the first charge over the block of apartments that are being developed. Because of this, the return was high at 14 pa. The extra borrowing was required because it had been realised that changes to the internal layout would increase the number of flats that could be fitted into the structure and also to meet changes to building regulations following the Grenfell Tower disaster. Encouragingly, FundingSecure have seen two offers to purchase the complete development, at sums substantially more than the outstanding debt, although the borrower has not yet decided what their course of action will be. Previously, this would have been enough to tempt me to invest but too often "certain" buyers have a change of heart – if they ever existed

Defaults: The past few weeks have seen many updates against the numerous late loans I have on this site but not much news of concrete progress except for the debt secured against a luxury car which was repaid yesterday.

Money & Co

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

There were 2 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled. One of these was a familiar borrower in the shape of a Germany Property Developer who, in the past fortnight, had been unable to hit the £250k target for their twenty-third tranche of funding since last Summer.

The other auction saw an international Web Hosting Provider request £100k to refinance a Crowd2Fund loan that had been fuelling their growth plans. They certainly appeared to be putting this capital injection to good use as their turnover increased by almost 3-fold in the most recent set of financial figures and the company claimed to be on the brink of inking a deal with a Blue Chip customer which will transform their profitability. Furthermore, Net Assets appeared to more than cover the amount being borrowed. This looked like a good deal for which investors were offered a return of 8% pa.

rebuildingsociety

Lent to Date: £15,600,000.

There were 4 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: A Domiciliary Care Agency from Yorkshire were looking for >£75k to grow their business having come under new ownership. Although Net Assets just about covered the amount being borrowed, a large proportion of this was tied up in office equipment which may not be easy to sell if the business got into trouble. Furthermore, the most recent Annual Profits were only £11k and a loss was made the year before. While the capital was supposed to be required for expansion through the hiring of additional staff, it was also going to be used to pay off existing borrowing, purchase Pool Cars and update the agency's web presence. The vehicles, in particular, were a concern as they introduce depreciation and maintenance costs. A return of 17% pa wasn't enough to tempt me.

ThinCats

Lent to Date: £465,125,000.

There were 0 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled.

Invest & Fund

Lent to Date: £60 million – latest figures

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

Highlighted Loan: Property Developers in Yorkshire requested their fourth <£100k tranche of a £1.353 million facility that was being used to convert former offices into 11 apartments. The Monitoring Surveyor expects the works to complete in November after which the plan is for the loan to be repaid when the dwellings have been sold. With a GDV of 61%, investors were offered a return of 7% pa.

LendingCrowd

Lent to Date: £60,112,556 – increase of £803,060 (1.35%) in the past fortnight.

On the morning this blog was compiled, one auction was taking place.

Highlighted Loan: A Flooring Company required <£28k to complete a light refurbishment of their showroom and purchase new equipment that will be used to produce made-to-order products. This auction had 1 hour left when I checked it out and was already 54% oversubscribed. I suspect this popularity was due to their most recent Annual Profits being double the amount being borrowed as Net Assets were negligible however these Financial Figures were almost 12 months out of date and I would have liked to have known the current situation before committing any funds. When reviewed, investors were getting an average return of 9.59% pa.

ArchOver

Lent to Date: £100,519,000.

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

Highlighted Loan: Providers of leased office space in London and Leeds are in the process of renewing the £3.35 million of borrowing from ArchOver's investors and at the time of writing a £190k tranche of this funding was close to being filled. The company is benefitting from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit as businesses prefer to rent rather than commit to capital expenditure. But what will happen to their operational model if/when Brexit is resolved? That query is preventing me from investing in this round of borrowing although I am invested in a loan with them which is due to mature in October – I don't expect the Brexit question to be resolved by then. The loan was secured by future rental income although, unlike many offerings on this site, there was no insurance which meant investors were offered a return of 8.5% pa.

CapitalRise

Lent to Date: £25 million approx. (latest available figure)

CapitalRise have not listed any new lending opportunities in the past fortnight.

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Ratesetter

Lent to Date: £3.1 billion – latest figure available.

Returns: Interest rates are set according to supply and demand. They currently range from 3.2% pa to 5.8% pa depending on the length of the investment. These figures have increased by 20 and 60 bases points over the past fortnight.

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: £179,445,529 – an increase of £3,015,234 in the past fortnight – 1.71%.

Returns: 5.0% pa and 6.5% 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.

Platform News: Lending Works are celebrating being named Best P2P Platform for Investors at the Moneywise awards for the fourth year in a row.

****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.