Yes. She is Pukka and the Letter is just for AML ( Anti Money Laundering ) purposes.
We had the same here.
I think a Driving License had expired here, which probably triggered the new request.
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It's amazing the number of 25% interest flex loans v 10% coming on the Lending Crowd site now. The 10% loans have really dropped away. I am beginning to wonder if a Lending Crowd associated finance company is forwarding some of its loans to the Lending Crowd site. This would mean that the Lending Crowd group is getting the loan approval fee ($450ish??) and then 25% of the interest earned without carrying any risk whatsoever. Easy money - particularly if you're struggling to get depositors. If this thread is monitored by Lending Crowd I would be grateful for comment on this.
OK well it's time for my 48 Month Investment Update on Lending Crowd....
Been in with LC since their very 1st loan which was issued on 21st December 2015.
Write Off Losses = TWELVE
Loans Repaid Early = 63.3%
Platform RAR = 12.84%
# of Loans Taken Out = 1284
# of Axtive Loans = 471
Current Arrears = Zero
Out of the 3 x P2P Platforms I have actively invested in, for me this is the easiest, most straight forward and user friendly to use.
Attachment 10900
Happy P2P trading :)
Well done Saamee. I am a very fresh newbie on LC in comparison (started in September this year). To achieve that RAR, am I right in assuming you only invest in B1 and B2 loans? Do you find that sometimes you go through entire weeks with no loans to invest in?
I would love a few more B2s, but many of them are only for under $5,000 and last only a few seconds on the site before they are snapped up. Having said that, there was a longer lasting one yesterday for over $100,000 !
Hi Saamee, I too have been in for over 3 years at least but my returns are not so good 11.62%. However I am totaly satisfied with that and the reason is since Penny Pickers auto thing I have spent many hours trying to invest and have only been able to mostly get the larger amount loans. The smaller B2's are obviously the ones to boost returns but then I guess they contribute more to the defaults of which I have only had 4 with a loss of $200. So all in all happy and am still transferring all withdrawals from Harmony to LC.
@toukshare
>> Yes I do only invest in B1's and B2's....
>> Since something like 70% of loans these days seem to be referred loans with a 25% Flex rate - RAR's are moving slowly lower as that kicks in to the RAR returns after 100 days
>> Every week I get into LC Loans - but it does vary - It is not so easy for people with a strict work routine, where as I am retired and available all day :)
@soolaimon
>> Good to hear from you again and know you are back on baord ( like you I have very little funds left in HM these days )
>> I have not seen or gone looking for stats about Loan Class and defaults but it would be good to see it confirmed if more B2's default!
I agree that LC has been best of p2p sites. I've only seen one better imo but its not NZ based, and ironically in a region that has surplus of loans to investor liquidity. My frustration with LC is lack of loans, and the bunfight to grab any that do. The rush to hit Buy without being able to take a few seconds to viewing details is not a sensible investment approach, and continuing suspicion that automated processes are still running by others to grab the loans as they get listed. A xmas wish for some sort of auto-invest even if business sense dictated preference to bigger investors.
@soolaimon ~ Just wanted to ask you how your LC Investments have travelled over the last 10 Days or so??
I have found LC has got SO busy..... I'm retired and at home but still have Failed to get into a single loan in the last 10 Days...
I am now so freustrated that I am Drawing Funds out of LC and into Harmoney!!
I do not like Harmoney and their customer dis-service at all...... but Returns are better and funnily enough, losses smaller :)
Hi Saamee LC is busy for sure and I am also retired and unless I am sitting at home with the computer on refresh it is very difficult to get loans. However, last 10 days I have managed to get 7 loans but have had 4 repaid and one reversed. Not good really, but I am still withdrawing Harmoney and after 5 years of plugging away at this P2P stuff the incentive is wearing off some so no extra funds going in now for the last year or so and not sure that I will add anything in the future either. I detect a slight rise in term deposits at the banks lately if you negotiate and find that interesting.
It's interesting this thread has all-but died. Probably because it's almost impossible to get into a loan unless you're sitting in front of the computer with the page refreshing every 30 seconds (boring), or you've built a scraper and auto-invest bot (pretty easy to do and definitely worth it if you have several hundred grand to invest).
I have read this thread in yonks... and do find getting anything into loans a waste of time.... way better results with my Crypto ... P2P just isn't working
I think LC is doing a very good job, and like the way Wayne Croad has represented the fledgling P2P market in NZ. I sincerely hope that they are able to increase their share of loans.
Regularly look at LC financials, they're a typical kiwi SME business, without the resources that corporates have at their disposal. So although we all personally may struggle to get loans, I personally wish LC all the success in their business model going forward irrespective of my own experiences/performance on their platform.
And LC is likely to become even busier if money from Harmoney comes here , as some of it will, after the 1st April when HM is no longer a P2P lender.
Harmoney will be using money from its corporate wholesale investors to lend to the same type of borrowers. So the retail investors in the remaining true p2p companies will be chasing after fewer borrowers?
If Harmoney is to be believed, As far as retail investors are concerned it seems P2P is being finished off by the Commerce Commission.
New Rates effective today, out from LC.....
Attachment 11072
Rates not as good as HM, but at least they remain a true P2P lending platform...
Checked in today to see how things are going and b... hell, 3 loans available. I know it's strange times and these loans are only filling slowly. I did'nt help much. Can't bring myself to put much in p2p just now but still tempting and whos to say that todays loans are any riskier than last years now? Everyone cautious or still investing??
Yes I see the 3 of them are still sitting there at Midday on Saturday....
Oh what a change in sentiment....
That is a 100% swing from too many Investors to too many Borrowers now!
Personally I stopped Investing in P2P over 3 weeks ago now.
Gone to Cash ( which is King at times like these )
Good idea, I think I will follow you.
I'm just scaling back my investments and being more selective.
Defaults will rise. However these are much higher quality loans compared to HM. Finance Direct are also investing in these loans, they have navigated through the GFC, the security will mitigate part of the loses arising from higher default.
A year ago, I did a presentation on US P2P, and how they performed vs Shares and Real Estate during the GFC. It showed that overall during those 2 years performance was roughly break even, the higher grades made money and the poorer grades lost. Good to have liquidity, but everything not lost in P2P.
Definitely subject to DYOR. I thought "retail investors" was another way of saying individual non-professional investors. I was not referring companies doing the investing.
Unlike in some other jurisdictions, In relation to "retail investors", The NZ P2P sector never bothered to get an IRD ruling on tax consequences.
I wonder what would happen with this if Finance Direct folds, just had a look at their accounts for the year and they aren’t making any money. Who checks them on the quality of loans they put up and if desperate would they push harder when it’s the investors that lose? I have no money with them now but think I will avoid
I looked at this a year ago, and interesting to see there FY20 results are breakeven.
Theres a few things to look at in the financials. Financial Direct holds approx 1 million in cash, its able to sustain a certain amount of loss. Operating cash flows are positive, and they made a profit in FY19. So there could be some accounting adjustments in there, maybe the adoption of IFRS16 or an increased bad debt provision.
The loans (P2P product) are ring fenced, via the FMA. And there is the requirement that Lending Crowd arrange an alternative provider in the event of receivership. It does bring the question, if that were to occur, who would pick up the book in this market. But at least the regulations are in place, to afford levels of protection.
Finally you could consider past performance, Finance Direct made it through the GFC, if I understand correctly their lending is typically secured.
Yes it is all secured loans, but second mortgages and Caveats which I suppose is better than nothing. They also have quite a few vehicle secured loans which tend to perform well. Just worries me if they have been around 20 years or so and they still cannot make money. They are the worst performer of all the NBDT's albeit there is only five or six of them now but just leads me to wonder why they are doing so badly in a market that to 31/3 was really good for most participants. I don't think I would sleep well if I was involved with this so will look for other options. Cheers
I am thinking of pulling my investment in Lending Crowd. It is just too hard to secure a loan. I don't have time to refresh repeatedly in case one appears. I receive the email notification too late in most cases. Is anyone else in the same boat or am I just doing it wrong? I am averaging around 12.5% return according to my dashboard but it doesn't seem worth it for the hassle for less than $10k invested.
Edit: Or do I scale up?
I had $120k invested and had the same problem. Stopped investing in March as the time needed to monitor the new loans far exceeded the return. I needed to sit at the computer all day to catch them as they landed and even then missed a lot. There can be no doubt that people are using programs/crawlers to automatically invest in the loans as they land but Lending Crowd either can't or won't stop this behaviour and are uninterested in developing their own autolend app. I would love some of the investors here who are still investing successfully to divulge their apps or methods but I doubt that they will be forthcoming.
I manage to stay 100% invested.
It's just a case of being near a Computer or Phone and being alerted to an incoming Email.
I use Gmail Email Filters to NOT be alerted about the LC Loan Emails that I do not want.....
Good if you are retired...... If you are working away from Technology - Not a chance unless there is that very rare 50K_ loan that stays around for hours....
I agree that by the time you get the email, the loan has gone. I work on my computer all day long, and have multiple screens so I have the Lending Crowd new loan page on auto-refresh every 30 seconds and so am quickly able to see new loans. But even then, the small B2s (say, under $5,000) get fully subscribed very quickly and basically I have to skim-read the loan details and invest (or not) within 30 seconds, otherwise it is too late. Obviously the bigger loans (> $20k) take longer to fill so you have more time but I find that even with those ones, the email sometimes arrives too late.
To summarise: I don't rely on the email alert.
Big changes from today with unsecured loans available.
The loan classification changes (and their associated rates), form just having A1, A2, B, B2 to A1-2-3, B1-2-3, and all of them secured or unsecured. New rates also for unsecured loans available on a 24 months basis.
Not sure whether that means we'll suddenly see lots more loans, and what the unsecured ones will look like. Will it be more like Harmoney used to be?
Not to keen personally to Invest in Unsecured Loans.......
OK well it's time for my 60 Month ( 5 Year ) Investment Update at Lending Crowd....
I have now been with LC since their very 1st loan, which was issued on 21st December 2015.
My Platform RAR = 12.38%
My # of Loans = TOTAL 1656 \ ACTIVE 515
My # of Loans in Default = CURRENTLY 2 ( 0.00388% of Open Loans )
This is now a mature relationship with Lending Crowd , who I see as my trusted ‘investment vehicle’ and partner
The only other thing to say is do not hesitate to call Wayne Crowd ( the Owner \ Managing Director ) he is very approachable and will always return your call.
Attachment 12127
Sammee says "The only other thing to say is do not hesitate to call Wayne Crowd ( the Owner \ Managing Director ) he is very approachable and will always return your call."
Well that's BS - I emailed Wayne and never received a reply. I got the feeling he couldn't care less...here's my email...
Hi Wayne
I’ve become very disillusioned with Lending Crowd after many successful loan investments.
The problem isn’t the quality of the loans or write-offs but the impossibility of investing.
I had $120k invested but stopped investing in March as the time needed to monitor the new loans far exceeded the return. I needed to sit at the computer all day to catch them as they landed and even then, missed a lot.
I had previously used an app specifically designed for the Lending Crowd platform, but Lending Crowd effectively banned the usage of the app (and allegedly all others).
There can be no doubt that people are using programs/crawlers to automatically invest in the loans as they land but Lending Crowd either can't or won't stop this behaviour and seem uninterested in developing their own autolend app.
I would love to start reinvesting with Lending Crowd and would appreciate your guidance on how to do this with out becoming tied to the computer all day.
Kind regards
I agree with Joker in as much that it has been immposible to invest for the last year or so. However, just lately I have managed to secure 10 or so loans. I have spent a bit more time on the site but at the same time there does seem to be a lot more loans available. The future returns for the unsecured loans will be of interest I'm sure and I am being a little selective with them in the meantime.
And Saamee, same feelings, and now I have a bit more time I will be trying to reinvest at least all the funds withdrawn over the last 18 months.
The situation is different now. Many more loans available now. The addition of unsecured loans has certainly helped but doses not account for all of the increase; there are six loans listed as I type this. Maybe increased marketing.
Update: there are currently eight loans listed.
Yes, it's quite amazing. The addition of unsecured loans certainly does not explain the whole increase. Maybe it's a pre-Xmas phenomenon? I can't remember what it was like this time last year.
Attachment 12139
Yeah I would be careful here, the cynic in me says Finance Direct will gobble up all the good secured loans and feed the riskier unsecured ones out to investors. This is a very small operation and not a lot of loans to go around which is why investors will always be behind the Parent.
I'm still concerned this entity is not making any money, six month to Sept 20 $4k Loss -full year to March 20 $1K profit, Lending Crowd only made $62K for the last two years. They have to change something as they are finding out like Harmoney that this business model does not work - innovate or die! I will not be re investing here or buying shares in harmoney :)
Hey Tony, where did you get the data re profit amounts of Finance Direct and Lending Crowd?
If these figures are to go by they'll be making less money then some of the investors on their platform.
This week has got busier and busier with new loans...
That is positive to see.
I agree it seems a lot cleaner than Harmoney.
However, I do have some arrears (7 loans out of 261 active, so small %). One is 42 days overdue and has never paid anything yet so could well be my first write-off.
OTOH, Harmoney is a shocker, and their closing to new investment might have been a blessing in disguise for me, $1,000 written off in the past year (since they stopped any new peer-to-peer), it's getting to the point where I'll be lucky to get all my original investment back.
Harmoney was mostly unsecured loans compared with Lending Crowd? Didn’t Harmoney change how they managed debt collection - maybe that was not successful.
How did Lending Crowd manage their Covid response? Perhaps they gave longer grace periods than Harmoney did and bad debts have yet to kick in.
Has Squirrel’s reserve fund taken a hit during Covid?
Hi Bjauck, I look after Squirrels P2P business. I can confirm that the Squirrel personal loan reserve fund actually increased over the last 12months. At 1/4/20 the balance was ~$506k. At 31/3/21, the balance is $580k. The coverage ratio is in excess of 4.00%. These stats are published daily on our website. All our investors continue to earn the returns we've stated on the tin. Happy to take any further questions.
I have been quite critical of these PTP companies espically Harmoney & The Lending Crowd but I do like Squirrel, best of a bad bunch - sorry DT! I just believe there are much better investmnents around these days than funds in a P2P lender. I can't be bothered to check out if Squirell is making money or not but the other two aren't so not sure why they persist, its not as if TLC team are paying themselves well either so I'm convinced it is just a bad business model apart from shifting the risk to investors.
The last few posts here indicate investors are not having any trouble securing loans now as has been the case early days. I have had no trouble reinvesting and being selective, ie. no unsecured loans. However I have noticed a considerable increase in loan amounts and a big percentage being for debt. consolidation. I try to avoid them and pick others such as vehicle purchase, house renovations etc. Anyone else concerned about the increasing number of these debt. loans ?. I mast add that I have not had any write offs now for a long time. (Should not have said that)
I have witnessed the same things as you. More loans (in part due to now having unsecured loans), which gives us more choice as to what we pick and what we ignore.
I am also uneasy about debt consolidation loans that are for a big amount (for me anything over $40,000). But there are enough of other types to keep me fully invested.
I haven't had issues with unsecured loans yet (to be honest, if the security is a car, then AFAIK, it might as well be unsecured).
2 years with LC, and one write-off.
(2 years with HM and 11 write-offs)
I have been in for 5 years and had 5 write offs totaling $218. Invested in 946 loans of which 646 have been paid off. I am happy enough with that amount of write offs but some of those early paybacks don't help us much and cause extra time reinvesting. Happy at the moment and their recent email re their performance in first 5 years was reasonably encouraging.
In an environment in which Treasury and the Reserve Bank are forecasting zero growth in house prices, from an investor's point of view, which investments do you currently think are better than investing through the platforms operated by Squirrel and Lending Crowd? What do you think their risk/reward profiles are?
I am now ACTIVELY Removing all Returned Funds from Lending Crowd and Harmoney...
Why?
Absolutely nothing wrong with either P2P platform.
However 'My Own Crystal Ball' tells me that with rising Inflation and a Falling LC RAR ( reflecting the lowered platform Interest Rates ) that when my RAR in 4 months time reaches 10%.... Tax @ 33% equates to just a 6.7% return.
Well REAL Inflation will be around 6.7% by the years end ( although the government may not admit that! )
So all net proceeds are being turned into 'Allocated Gold and Silver'.....
Wealth preservation in a period of high inflationary times ahead.
Just Sold my NZ house too at what I consider is 'The Peak'...... waiting for the Stock Market crash, and then in turn the World housing market crash.....
It sounds high risk to transfer all your investments to metals. With your NZ house sold and net proceeds transferred to precious metals, it begs the question as to how you will pay for accommodation, unless you live with family or your salary can now stretch to cover the accommodation your house provided.
The CPI has been an understatement of inflation for decades - as afaik non-consumer items such as house prices and land prices have largely been excluded. The taxation system in relation fixed interest investments in inflationary times certainly acts as a disincentive to hold such investments.
OK well it's time for my 5.5 Years Investment Update on Lending Crowd....
Been in with LC since their very 1st loan which was issued on 21st December 2015.
Loan Early Repayments = 65.9%
Platform RAR = 12.07%
# of Loans = TOTAL = 2,108 \ ACTIVE = 718
Arrears = CURRENTLY x 2
This is now the Only P2P Platform I have active investments in, I find that it is the easiest, most straight forward and user friendly to use.
LC have grown with me as I have grown with LC.
Everyone investing in P2P is here for the same reason - to increase our earnings.
I am just keeping an eye on inflation, as my RAR comes down ( expected to hit 10% in a few months time ), @ 33% Tax, when Inflation gets to 6.7% the returns will not be making any money!!
Happy P2P trading :)
The loan quantity has increased significantly in the last 12 months. I have no problem in investing the funds I want to invest due to abundant supply. At the point of typing there are 8 available loans.
However, it seems like LC are turning a blind eye to some of the information supplied by the borrowers, maybe to increase the loan supply?
Loan 1: House with mortgage in Nelson but declared outgoings are $261 a month or $60 a week.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_ko9klr2o0
Loan 2: Someone is renting in Auckland and monthly outgoings are $525 surely you cannot survive on $121 per week.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...d=ii_ko9kmg3m1
Loans like these are starting to worry me a bit. I emailed LC asking for a clarification weeks ago, however no one replied back.
It may be they get challenged later in the process before any money is advanced. But thanks, good spots. These are certainly challenging times to be an investor!
WOW!! Was really surprised that 77 year olds are taking out 3 Year Debt Consolidation loans with NO Death cover - No Thanks!!
Attachment 12691
I keep coming back to consider TLC for investment but see their financial performance has deteriorated even further with Finance Direct making a loss of $100K for the year and Lending Crowd only funding $3M for the year. As per previous posters have mentioned it doesn't appear the loans are being fact checked with real cost of living allowances etc and that is a concern. This with them not making money will keep me on the sidelines a bit longer if not permanently!
I stopped investing with LC over a year ago - my remaining loans are performing well (much better than Harmony) but the big problems for me were...
1. Too hard to get invested (15 months ago)
2. Too many 25% interest flex loans
I would be even less likely to invest now because of the number of unsecured loans and what I consider too low interest rates for the risk. Currently investing in shared first mortgages (6 - 12 month terms) at around 7%. Lesser return, lesser work and hopefully lesser risk too.
A look from the other side. I am thinking about buying a used car. As I don't want to cash on other investments, I was thinking I'd get a loan. LendingCrowd advertising rates from 5%. Credit score 890, never missed payment in my life and best offer I could get is 11% unsecured, 9% secured.
I will not secure a loan for 1-2 years against a house and never will I ever pay somebody 11% interest rate. The interest rates are ridiculous. So now I'll just wait for a year and buy a car in cash. I believe there's a lot of reliable people with enough money who will just decide not to get a loan under these conditions.
Earlier in the year I invested with TLC, Squirrel and Zagga to get some worthwhile returns compared to money sitting with the bank. TLC started out OK, with several opportunities listed almost everyday and the returns have been good with a number of secured A and B 1/2 grade secured loans. However I agree with joker's post above.
Most opportunities are now coming through as B or C 2/3 grade unsecured personal at 25% flex, and loan value has also been declining so they get snapped up within a few hours of being listed or even sooner.
Before turning on email notifications at the beginning of the month I hadn't seen any new listings since about July even though I was checking in weekly or more often when reinvestment came due. In comparison, Zagga and Squirrel have proven to be much more liquid with no 'down time' between investments, while also providing a decent return with the additional comfort of secured loans. I'll be pulling my funds from TLC as investments fall due.
With Inflation running at 6+% ( cough cough ) and most LC loans offering about 10% minus 25% flex, these days..... After Tax the true return is now almost zero.
As funds now get repaid - I too am withdrawing every cent and investing elsewhere.
Do not get me wrong, I really really like LC and they have served me very very well for 6 years, but perhaps now with changing external financial variables, for me their time with re-investing is finished for now.
It's a valid viewpoint. Everyone will have their own strategies, and different "tipping points".
For me, inflation is one factor when considering return on investment, but just as important is "where else would I put my money". Inflation might be 6% (those of us who pay rates, buy building materials, employ tradespeople and shop at supermarkets will know it has been at least that for a while!), but it doesn't mean that bank term deposits have caught up: TD rates are still very very low.
Managed funds returns have been good, but only partly impacted by inflation - I wouldn't say their returns have dramatically increased in the past 2 years. So while I do have money in managed funds as part of my diverse portfolio (same with NZ property), I feel that P2P still has a part to play in that portfolio.
I think a good loan of around 11-12% with 10% going to LC is still a very productive investment. Anything below 10% at 25% fee, or below 8% at 10% fee, is not worthwhile for me, I do agree on that.
I treat P2P like those managed funds actually: where in funds, you split between conservative, medium and risky, I do the same with loans. Each has a return in line with the risk. I have to say the risks with LC are a lot lower than what they were with Harmoney.
I'm generally very happy with LC.
The unsecured loans are however a concern to me as my areas rate in unsecured loans stands at 9-10% with 90% Cx loans and 4 Cx loans written off already. I'm not taking them since 2-3 month anymore until I'm down to 1% of my total invest from currently 5.1%. Then I'll maybe get into a few handpicked ones of B3s max and with 10% flex only.
Another concern is the upper limit of $20,000 for them. I find that limit ways too high, I would probably accept an upper limit of $5,000-$10,000
New RAR's out today @ LC.
Both the wife's and mine have lowered and morphed into the same rate now @ 11.81%
This was expected to happen, 6 months back now.
Agree totally. LC has been great, and it's recovery rates are best in class (globally - I invest P2P in several places around the world). It has always stunk that they shut off the auto invest program that was available for a while but otherwise top notch. But as Samee pointed out - the returns are basically zero after tax, inflation and risk!.
The question is where is elsewhere? This far out the risk curve is a young persons game!
Savers of the world we are being wrung out then hung out to dry!
I recently have become concerned many current \ future Borrowers will get approved \ take out a loan with NO intention of repaying anything..... Ever.
As interest rates rise, Mandates force people out of employment, Businesses struggle with cash flow - I fear loans being taken out by individuals ( with or without security ) with a cavalier attitude to the future.
I hope I am wrong..... very very wrong...... but!
I think you're being a bit pessimistic. I have 99 active loans on LC. None written off, 1 in collection. 71 closed paid off. They do checks before approving a loan I'm sure. In fact they would be required to do so by law. Will that stop every maverick? No. But I'm confident history has shown that they are very good at filtering out those cavaliers. Stick to smaller investments over a large number of loans and you can't really go wrong.
Just curious for anyone out there that still has p2p loans outstanding. Can anyone talk to the interest income as a % of your loan you have been getting and how that has changed over the last 2 years? IE has it come down over the last two years, bottom out and starting to rise again? Or was it fixed at the time it was leant out and remained stable?
Every loan you invest in at LC the Initial Interest rate is the set and locked in rate for the whole duration of that loan ( be it 3 years or 5 years )
In the last 3 years the rates offered to borrower and thus lender have been coming down as competitor rates have also come down.
At some point I would expect LC's loan interest rates to start to rise again in the current environment - not sure when though!
Just to confirm and add to what Saamee said, LC used to offer 4 categories of loans (A1, A2, B1, B2) right up to Nov 2020. When I joined in Sept-2019, it went from the lowest A1 at 6.89% to the highest B2 at 18.20%. They later revised these rates downwards from 6.49% to 16.99%.
In Nov 2020, they changed to the current model A1-S to C3-U with rates going from 5.03% to 20.26%.
I have a feeling there were more loans in the 14-15% region in the old rating system (A1 to B2) than there are now. It certainly is quite rare now to come across a loan over 16%. If anything, my average % has gone down over the past 2 years. But this might be personal: I might have favoured higher risk loans in my early years.
I think Samee is very realistic on things happening which I can confirm still sitting on over 800 loans (more going out then in lately) with 12 written off, 11 in collection and 44 in areas.
However the recovery of written off loans was not too bad at all so far with <$500 lost incl. recovery cost, $200 of them from unsecured currently sitting on 4.5% of them over my portfolio and $220T invested.
Yeah, inflation is a big issue. No half way secure invest option would be capable to cope with those recent retail price rises. In (yet European) war times the stock market would be a no go anyway either. As Samee said it very right, people are loosing their jobs for mentioned reasons despite huge labor demand and loans are increasingly going into areas.
I'm running a 9.5 - 10% reported NAR which is my goal and I am very happy with it.
Brace yourself Sheila...!!
https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-...rears-personal
I struggle with choosing loans in my head with flex.
Is there an easy trick to it?
Not that there seems many 10% flex at higher rates anyway but for example which would be better?
A: 13% loan with 10% flex
B: 15% loan with 25% flex
It is only one criteria to consider.
I would favour Security over anything else ( only invest in loans with Property as Security - especially in the current climate )
If you have Funds to invest with LC then whatever rate you get, will ALWAYS be better than anything you can secure at a main street bank!
Saamee is right in the sense that Flex by itself doesn't indicate a better or worse loan. Other criteria will tell you more about the quality of the loan.
LC helpfully tell you the final rate, once Flex is applied. For example, there is currently a 16.64% loan with 25% flex, and the flex-adjusted rate is 12.48%.
In your example, a 13% loan with 10% flex means a true, flex-adjusted rate of 11.7% (before tax)
While a 15% loan with 25% flex means a flex-adjusted rate of 11.25% - so the above is slightly better.
Looking for more proof on Bad Loans??
Steer well clear of the Unsecured loans!!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128...ise-in-arrears
One thing I will probably never understand during my remaining lifetime:
If you have an income between $4,000 and $8.000 with $3.000 outgoings living in rent, why the h... would you need a 24M unsecured $2.000 loan with quite high interest paying off $100 monthly if you just could have saved a month or two to get the desired item without a loan.
Well I'm fully living on those not thoughtful people thanks god, but I'll never ever understand those people.
My policy from the moment I stood on my own feet was: "Mike, you're flying now, look that you'll always have enough air underneath your wings not to crash." I'm still flying well.
Goes without saying that I never had a loan or a mortgage in my life which always was my policy and I even built a house long time ago with my hands.
People are financially wired today, what to do.
Just the way of the world now Mike. I'm in online retail. The number of people who ask for laybuy, afterpay, humm, zip or another of the buy now pay later schemes is boggling. Often for items that cost less than $100. Kids want that widget NOW and don't care that it is costing them more or will land them in strife if they can't meet the payments.
just experienced my first 100% write-off of a secured C2-S-10% loan. I wrote them asking for more information like why the security didn't kick in. No response however. Not very satisfying.
To add to this we all observed that there were hardly any own 10% flex loans available anymore from one day to another since about 2 months ago or 3. With exception of some very few very low risk ones.
Wondering if there is some kind of profit margin polishing happening like selling own loans as referred 25% flex loans. Please let me be wrong on this.
I started investing via P2P platforms about 18 months ago and spread a few smaller amounts around to see how things stacked up before making larger commitments. Suffice to say I have found Lending Crowd to be the least impressive of them. I think the quality and amount of investment available has definitely dropped off over the last 12 months, and communications compared to other platforms has always been poor. I am moving my funds out and over as it becomes worthwhile to do do.
Do you recall WHAT the Security was??
Property or Vechicle??
If property you would expect a payment.
If a Vechicle was the Security - It may not have been insured and the Vechicle 'written off \ crashed'
An Email to LC support should get you an answer as to what the Security was if you do not recall.
It has always been a bug bear of mine that you are unable on the LC platform to go back and look at the original loan info we Investors were offered originally!!
Yes I'm the same they are extremely poor at communicating and I really think they may be considering closing shop. Them and Finance Direct don't make any profit so I wonder why they persist after 20 odd years in business - this model doesn't work but they haven't got the scale / brand that Harmoney had and not the grunt to get bank funding.
@Samee: Nah, can't recall what that loan came with. I received a 2nd response after the first purely generic and none saying response to my enquiries.
The 2nd response was slightly better explaining things in example which I anyway know 😂. So also kind of a generic response with no relation to that loan.
1.) Yes, communication is an absolute disaster with them. Same generic answers if calling them for a wee question.
2.) Squirrel as well as Zagga went through pretty innovative processes recently. No improvements at all are happening at Lending Crowd.
3.) Regarding their earnings: Several month ago almost no own loans (10% Flex) are appearing anymore except very few very low interest loans.
Shame on you and me to think they manipulate the Flex rates to rise their earnings 😂😂😂
I'd give their organisation and it's management today a very poor performance rating from investor side, but a very poor one.
At the time of this post there are 8 loans available. Haven't seen that in quite a while. All 25% flex unfortunately. But some secured with interest rates up to 16% as well. Often loans disappear within seconds, so I just thought it was unusual? Sign of struggling people perhaps, or LC pushing for customers?
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1) I believe it is a sign of Investors holding back ( which has never been seen before at LC )
2) Plus the number of Borrowers that are short of money too - hence the large number of loans currently.
3) Put 1 & 2 together and you can read 'Troubled Times Ahead'
Take it as a warning sign that the World \ NZ ecomony is in Shock!!
My advice - ONLY take a loan that is secured by a property ONLY...
I personally have been removing all my Cash from LC in preperation for what I believe is coming our way...
Wake Up Peeps.......
Yup, liquidity from investors seem recently to dry up a bit.
I'm withdrawing now also since last wek, but only about 5% of all so far.
Lots of loans to choose from for several months now but I have stopped choosing for good since mid November. Although I have not had any defauts now for 6 months I am wary of the future. So for the last year I have only taken 3 yr loans and I will be totaly out sometime in 2027 with a bit of luck. So far I have noticed that the early repayments have slowed considerably as well.
Happy with past performance since the very start. Good luck and merry xmas.
Where has your focus shifted to now for investing \ trading?
Hi Saamee, short term td's, and maybe bonds. No trading.
Thanks :)
Happy New Year.