Secret Investor: Lending Works Get Full Acreditation

Totals lent to date (20th October 2016)

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

LOANS TO BUSINESSES

Assetz Capital – £168,062,224

Funding Circle - £1,578,329,180

FundingKnight - £31,220,000

FundingSecure - £65,180,968

Money & Co – £6 million approx

Rebuildingsociety – £10,528,767

ThinCats - £200,610,000

Invest and Fund - £1 million plus

LendingCrowd - £7,303,781

ArchOver - £24,177,000

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Zopa - £1,420,000,000

RateSetter - £1,490,864,674

Lending Works – £36,003,134

…………..

LOANS TO BUSINESS

Assetz Capital

Lent to Date: £168,062,224 – fortnightly increase of £15,399,968 – 10.09% growth.

The past fortnight has been the busiest period on record for Assetz Capital with over £15 million worth of funding raised.

When this blog was compiled, there were 65 upcoming loans with 3 imminently due to be drawndown.

Highlighted Loan: An electrical retailer was looking to raise £170k to refinance short term debt which was funding their rapidly growing business. The AC loan will substantially reduce their monthly overheads. Investors were offered a return of 9% pa which is at the high end of the scale for this site however there were a few concerns. While a number of properties were offered as security only second charges were available, the LTV was very high at 74% and stock is imported from abroad which means the fall in the value of the pound following Brexit will be squeezing margins.

Managed Accounts: The following accounts automatically distribute funds on behalf of investors across the platform's loans and are covered by a Provision Fund:

Quick Access Account (3.75% pa return); 30 Day Access Account (4.25% pa return); Great British Business and Green Energy Income Accounts (both of these offer a return of 7% pa)

Funding Circle

Lent to Date: £1,578,329,180 – fortnightly increase of £43,050,760 – 2.8% growth.

Two weeks ago Funding Circle had a record smashing increase of £43 million and they repeated this in the past fortnight.

There were 31 auctions ongoing when this blog was compiled.

Secret Investor's Activity: This remains the site which I have the most exposure to because they have the largest number of manually selectable loans.

Below are highlights from my activity in the past fortnight:

Highlighted Loan Invested in:

Expansion Loan of £50k+ to a plant/tool hire business (D risk rating, 14.1% pa return). Loan is required to buy more stock to be hire out. A little concerning is that the business made a loss last year but I suppose that is why this has a D risk rating. The balance sheet is asset rich which is why I decided to invest.

Highlighted Rejected Loan:

Consolidation Loan of >£106k requested by a wealth management company (C risk rating, 11.9% return): Business was only just breaking-even and their proposition was woefully short of detail which doesn't bode well for their ability to communicate with those who have wealth that needs managing. There was no indication of the interest rate of the loans they are consolidating but presumably it would improve their financials. If this had been a D or E rated loan, I may have taken a punt.

Defaulted Loans Update: Another of my borrowers were declared insolvent last week. The loan was only taken out in Spring so I lost large proportion of my initial investment of £40. It must have been picked up when AutoBid was still turned on before I gave up the day job as I usually allocate £80 when I bid manually. Looking back at the original proposition, it seemed quite reasonable so I was fortunate that it must have been fully funded before I came home from work otherwise my loss could have been bigger.

FundingKnight

Lent to Date: £31,220,000 – no change.

There were 0 auctions ongoing when this blog was compiled.

FundingSecure

Lent to Date: £65,180,968 at the end of September.

Total updated monthly.

There were 16 auctions ongoing when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: The bridging loans continue to come thick and fast on this site. Last week a Property Developer in the South West looked to raise £205k. With a return of 13% pa there were quite reasonable levels of security with first and second charges over two properties providing a good LTV of 46.6%.

Defaults: No further defaults. I am still waiting for the domain names and high-end car to be sold plus the loan to the Scottish Boatyard to be refinanced.

Money & Co

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

When this blog was compiled there were 0 auctions taking place.

rebuildingsociety

Lent to Date: £10,528,767 – fortnightly increase of £43,050,760 – 2.8% growth.

There was 1 active auction when this blog was compiled.

Highlighted Loan: A chain of service stations was looking to raise £200k to fund a programme of refurbishments. The company seems to be under-taking a large amount of borrowing including a bridging loan with FundingKnight and the security offered to ReBS investors seems minimal with just Personal Guarantees (albeit they are insured) and a second charge over a Buy To Let property. I decided not to invest.

ThinCats

Lent to Date: £200,610,000 – fortnightly increase of £2,560,000 – 1.29% growth.

ThinCats have reached the milestone of having lent over £200 million but the site was very quiet when this blog was compiled with only a single active auction.

Highlighted Loan: A business that provides secure lending facilities to property developers returned to the ThinCats platform to raise £250k to raise further working capital. This is the fourteenth loan the borrower has raised via ThinCats. It was interest only and offered a return of 10% pa.

Invest & Fund

Lent to Date: Over £1 million

There was 1 auction taking place when this blog was compiled and, over the past fortnight, 3 have appeared on the site which is far more than usual for this platform.

Highlighted Loan: The first tranche of a bridging loan to convert a farm building into a luxury 4-bedroom house recently. The initial requirement is for more than £160k to facilitate the purchase of the site – this gives an LTV of just over 50%. This is the first development that the borrower has undertaken however one of the partners has experience of similar projects in France. This could be why a return of 10% pa is offered instead of the usual 9% for this site. With security in the shape of a fixed charge, debenture and personal guarantees this seems to be a reasonable deal.

LendingCrowd

Lent to Date: £7,303,781

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

Highlighted Loan: A coffee house was looking to raise £50k of expansion capital to take over another enterprise. The current owner of the business being purchased is retiring therefore the borrower believes they can inject new life into the operation. As security was offered via a first charge on the property being bought, I was happy to make a bid at 12.4% pa.

ArchOver

Lent to Date: £24,177,000 – an increase of almost £4 million although it appears the total had not been updated since August prior to this week.

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

Highlighted Loan: An accountancy business was looking to raise £250k of expansion capital. As they were growing their portfolio to offer quite a large number of additional services, this seemed quite risky as the new ventures may not all be successful therefore I felt a return of 6.75% pa was quite low although, as is usually the case for this platform, quite a high level of security is provided via a first, floating charge on the borrower's Accounts Receivable and the loan is also insured.

INVESTUP PORTFOLIO

Despite listing loans from numerous platforms, there was only 1 auction taking place today and that was an offering from Assetz Capital. Having promised so much in assisting investors to diversify their funds from one platform, this is a poor state of affairs.

PEER FUNDING

Having launched earlier in October promising to offer investors a wide range of products to invest in, we await the appearance of any loans whatsoever!

PERSONAL P2P LENDING

Zopa

Lent to Date: £1.42 Billion – latest figure available.

Returns: Zopa's 3 accounts offer 3.3%, 4.1% and 6.5% pa depending on the levels of access and whether or not they are covered by the Provision Fund.

Zopa distribute investor's money mostly to unsecured consumer loans.

Ratesetter

Lent to Date: £1,490,864,674 – fortnightly increase of £26,031,454 – 1.78% growth.

Ratesetter have been unable to maintain the >£30 million per fortnight growth from the past 4 weeks.

Returns: Interest rates are set according to supply and demand. They currently range from 2.8% to 5.5% depending on the length of the investment. The latter figure has increased by 0.1% 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: £36,003,134 – fortnightly increase of £756,538 – 2.15% growth.

Returns: 4.2% and 5.4% for 3 and 5 year investments respectively. The latter figure has increased by 0.2% over the past fortnight.

As well as a Provision Fund to cover investor's finances, this site also insures borrowers against redundancy, fraud, illness and accidents making this a very fair site for all concerned.

Platform News: Lending Works has received full FCA Authorisation which paves the way for them to offer P2P ISAs. They are the only major platform to receive this accreditation.

****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.