Secret Investor: Assetz capital get FCA approval and RateSetter offer Hire Purchase to borrowers

Totals lent to date (21st September 2017)

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

LOANS TO BUSINESSES

Assetz Capital - £323,806,990

Crowd2Fund - £4,000,000
Funding Circle - £2,709,199,241
FundingKnight - £31,485,000
FundingSecure - £162,140,508
Money & Co - £6 million approx
Rebuildingsociety - £11,700,000
ThinCats - £247,805,000
Invest and Fund - £3 million plus
LendingCrowd - £18,279,846
ArchOver - £46,597,000

 
PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Zopa - £2,630,000,000
RateSetter - £2,071,151,299

Lending Works - £70,499,443

…………..

LOANS TO BUSINESS

Assetz Capital

Lent to Date: £323,806,990 – fortnightly increase of £5,206,857 – 1.63% growth.

When this blog was compiled there were 71 loans in the pipeline with 1 imminently due to be drawndown.

Highlighted Loan: A Property Developer from the North East was looking to raise £370k to refinance the development funding on 2 investment properties that will be used as holiday lettings. The LTV was just under 70% but the location seems popular and so there should be no problem servicing the loan. Investors were offered a return of 7% pa. While this is the same as the Provision Fund protected accounts this platform offers, it can take some time for investor's capital to be allocated through that medium so I invested directly into this loan.

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 (3.75% pa)

30 Day Access Account (4.25% pa)

Property Secured Investment Account (5.5% pa)

Great British Business Account (7% pa)

Green Energy Income Account (7% pa)

Liquidity: As mentioned in my previous 2 blogs, concerns about the viability of environmentally-friendly energy projects following the withdrawal of government subsidies led me to the conclusion that I should switch my holdings in the Green Energy Income Account (GEIA) to the Great British Business Account (GBBA). But, after nearly a month had passed, most of the funds were still sitting in the GBBA waiting to be allocated. With much of the throughput on this site related to property this makes it difficult to find a home for money in the GBBA.

Therefore, I had a choice. Switch to the Property Secured Investment Account for a return of 5.5% pa or go down the manual investment route which, fortunately, Assetz Capital still has available. I opted for the latter option where I spread the capital across one upcoming and 17 existing loans with returns between 7% and 8% pa.

As a disgruntled FundingCircle investor, I am also moving some of my holdings on that site to here.

Platform News: Assetz Capital have received Full Authorisation from the FCA paving the way for them to offer an IFISA in Q4.

Crowd2Fund

Lent to Date: £4 million – latest figure available.

There were 7 auctions added to the site in the past fortnight. As loans are listed for 30 days, only recent additions are noted in this blog.

Highlighted Loan: House builders from the West Country were looking to raise £200k to fund the acquisition of land to construct further properties. The balance sheet appeared to be asset rich and investors were offered a return of 10% pa.

Funding Circle

Lent to Date: £2,709,199,241 – fortnightly increase of £46,265,762 – 1.74% growth.

Funding Circle have returned to their usual throughput levels in the region of £50 million despite slowing down their operations this week to allow the newly introduced AutoBid/AutoSell software time to settle down.

Highlighted Loans:

Those days when the platform's offerings could be analysed are gone because the process of allocating investor's funds has been automated. Effectively, this is a bank that allocates customer's deposits to sub-prime loans. Apparently, according to those who have remained active on this platform, details of the loans that AutoBid buys are visible but cannot be selected for sale if they look poor. The Secret Investor has not switched AutoBid on and is moving his funds elsewhere as payments from existing loans are made.

Defaulted Loans Update: Bit of a disaster… last week a loan to a road haulier was defaulted because both the business and the guarantor had been declared insolvent. I was enthusiastic about investing in this company. They required >£250k but the balance sheet had Net Assets of £1 million. The capital was required to open a couple of new depots but within a couple of months the company has gone bust. How could they have plans for expansion when they were so close to imploding? Almost my full £80 is still outstanding

Another default this week. Locksmith is insolvent after a nightmare 2017 but only £5 of my capital is at risk.

FundingKnight

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

There were 0 auctions ongoing when this blog was compiled – only 1 loan has appeared on this site in 2017. The platform is planning a relaunch in 2018.

FundingSecure

Lent to Date: £162,140,508 at the end of August – total updated monthly.

Today 2 auctions appeared on the site.

 Highlighted Loan: A £530k loan secured via a first charge on one property and a second charge on another was listed yesterday. This was a consolidation of multiple loans that funded the development of the first property which is now up for sale. The further financing will be used to purchase the borrower's next development project. The LTV was 62.5% pa. With the property already on the market, FundingSecure must believe this is slightly lower risk than most of their other offeings as the return was 12% pa instead of the usual 13% pa.

Defaults: Two of the 3 internet domain names held as security against one of my defaulted loans have been sold although FundingSecure are waiting to receive payment.

Money & Co

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

When this blog was compiled there were 2 auctions taking place.

Highlighted Loan: Borrower was looking to raise £300k to purchase a regional telephony business which provides B2B services. The current owners are selling because they wish to focus on other areas of their portfolio. The purchasers have plans for expansion. With the loan 50% funded the average rate of return was 8.4% pa.

rebuildingsociety

Lent to Date: £11,700,000 – no change.

These are busy times at ReBS with 5 auctions taking place when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: An Electrical Contracting company that was moving away from the declining oil and gas industries was looking to raise £54k of working capital to service contracts recently won in the defence sphere. This seemed a business that was under-going fundamental change and the only security available was a Personal Guarantee. Although returns in the high teens were on offer, I decided not to invest.

ThinCats

Lent to Date: £247,805,000 – fortnightly increase of £1,100,000 – 0.45% growth.

There were 0 active auctions taking place when this blog was compiled although one was due to begin at 14:00 on Friday, 22nd September.

Highlighted Loan: Property Developer in Northern Ireland who is developing a housing estate on the site of a former convent returned to ThinCats for their 9th tranche of funding. The latest capital injection was for £150k bringing the total to £1.1 million. A high rate of return – 14% pa – was available.

Invest & Fund

Lent to Date: Over £3 million

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

Highlighted Loan: The developer who is constructing 12 flats in Cardiff returned for his latest drawdown of capital. This represented the first >£36k of the >£1 million Tranche B which ranks behind the Tranche A which has funded the development so far. Because of this, investors were offered a return of 15% pa instead of the previous 9.5% pa. Two of the 12 flats are already completed.

Platform News: Invest & Fund have received Full Authorisation from the FCA paving the way for them to offer an IFISA. They claim to be the first P2P site focusing 100% on residential property development and bridging to be fully authorised.

LendingCrowd

Lent to Date: £18,279,846 – fortnightly increase of £685,830 – 3.9% growth.

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

Highlighted Loan: Advertising agency was looking to raise £109k to set up an online sales portal. They already had a wide range of clients, the most recent profit and net assets figures were 3x and 4x the loan amount respectively. This looked good and I was able to get a return of over 12% pa.

ArchOver

Lent to Date: £46,597,000 – fortnightly increase of £700,000 – 1.53% growth.

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

Highlighted Loan: Providers of capital to SMEs were looking to raise £250k to refinance an existing ArchOver loan – the platform has already provided the company with over £11 million of funds to date. The latest loan will be used to support an environmental water cleansing company and, as security is provided via charges over all assets plus bills of exchange as well as insurance being provided by Coface, investors are offered a return of 6.75% pa which is less than many platforms in this section of the blog due to the lower risk.

Capital Rise

As the FCA had not given Full Authorisation to any of the P2P Platforms that offer a broad range of loans before the end of the last tax year, I invested £5k into an IFISA offered by CapitalRise to fund the development of high-end apartments in London's Strand.

This seemed a huge risk as I had only previously lent no more than £80 to any single borrower but I was keen to use some of my ISA Allowance to get a worthwhile return – 11.5% pa in this case.

I received the second quarterly report this week and was relieved to read that the project remains on schedule. It is still early days as the loan is not due to mature until Spring 2019.

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Zopa

Lent to Date:  £2.63 billion – fortnightly increase of £40 million – 1.%% growth.

Returns: Zopa's 2 accounts offer returns of 3.7% and 4.5% 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: £2,071,151,299 – fortnightly increase of £23,708,935 – 1.16% growth.

This is the site's highest throughput since July.

Returns: Interest rates are set according to supply and demand. They currently range from 3.2% pa to 5.9% pa depending on the length of the investment. Returns are the same as a fortnight ago.

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

Platform News: Ratesetter are expanding the products the offer to borrowers. Consumers can now set up Hire Purchase agreements.

Lending Works

Lent to Date: £70,499,443 – fortnightly increase of £1,978,611 – 2.89% growth.

Returns: 4.0% pa and 5.2% pa via an IFISA or standard account for 3 and 5 year investments respectively. The latter has increased by 0.2% compared to a fortnight ago.

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.