Peer-to-Peer Lending; An Assessment of Returns
This article from This Is Money makes an attempt to analyse the returns from peer-to-peer or social lending, as it is increasingly being called.
RBS, Donald Trump and the Dreaded Wind Farms
The more I read about Donald Trump and the wind farms, I just think how funny it would be if either the golf course or the wind farms had been all or part funded by the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers.
After all something Sir Fred did is going to jump up and bite us, so when it does, it might be something with a good laugh in it.
The Weather Hasn’t Helped the Recession
I can only look at the London weather, but I don’t think that the first three months of the year have been very good. How has this effected the recession, especially, as figures show the construction industry hasn’t performed well?
I predict that the figures for the next quarter will be much better, if the weather pulls its socks up.
An Interesting Point About PPI Claims
Apparently the largest number of PPI claims have been made from Croydon.
Any ideas why?
Boiler Room Scammers Boiled
I like this story. Let’s hope these three don’t ever get out of jail to fleece people of their money.
Despite Help From Ed Milliband, Aquascutum Goes Bust!
Aquascutum has entered administration, as is reported here on the BBC today.
This is despite the publicity of Ed Milliband wearing one of their suits at his wedding last year. It must have been the colour!
The Zopa Return Rate Is Up
The Zopa rate so far this year has been 7.4 % before tax, including all costs and bad debts. This time last year the rate was 5.98 %
From my figures, it looks like they are short of borrowers. Have the banks finally got their act together or is it that the economy is turning?
It could also be that the bad publicity of payday loans is rubbing off! Their only connection is that they have a snappy name and they give loans, but they are a peer-to-peer lender, not a payday loan company.
The Bank Holiday is Not Good for Zopa Lenders
I’ve just looked at my Zopa statistics over the Bank Holiday weekend and the amount of money requested by borrowers has dropped by nearly 20% since Thursday. A similar thing happened last year, but in the last part of the Bank Holiday week borrowers returned to finance those cars and other goods they’d seen over the weekend.
Lenders seem to have kept up their funds in Zopa.
So perhaps now might be a good time to borrow from Zopa, as there is plenty of funds available.
The Speed of Lending on Zopa
I have been asked a few times about how long it takes money to be lent out in Zopa. A typical question might be something like “If I invest £1,000, then how long will it take to be lent out to borrowers?”
On Friday, I transferred £1,000 into Zopa and it had all been allocated to borrowers within eighteen hours. Remember that the system is continuous and on-line, so borrowers can probably turn up at all hoursimaginable. All of these contracts and there are about thirty of them are now being processed and they will appear in my account as Lent Out over the next day or so. If you have ever borrowed money or been credit checked, you will know this is a process that can be variable in time. Also some borrowers will be turned down and the money will be available for allocation to another borrower.
So don’t think your money has disappeared, when it is just very slow getting to Lent Out.
I’ll let you know when my thousand is fully lent.
Update on the 3rd April.
I’ve still got £750 being processed before loans are approved. It looks like only a handfull have actually been so. But then we’ve only had one working day so far.
Funding Circle Gets More Backing
Funding Circle is one of Zopa‘s peer-to-peer finance rivals, that concentrates on small businesses. An article in today’s Sunday Times has said that they have just raised an extra £10m of finance.
From my point of view, the most interesting thing in the article is this quote from Neil Rimer of Index Ventures.
Even if the banks were to get their acts together overnight and were suddenly to start lending, they would struggle to compete with Funding Circle. The Internet didn’t exist when the banks set up their infrastructure to deal with small buisinesses.
He doesn’t go as far as I do, but I definitely think that those who hold bank shares need their heads examined.
The Anonymous Widower 