The majority of peer-to-peer and online lending focuses on development lending. That sector has gone through a very rough patch in recent years and I’ve been wondering whether too many individual lenders have not spread across other types of lending. So it’s a good time…
History has shown so far that when P2P lending sites, close, few of them end up paying reduced returns to lenders as a result of closing down and winding down loans until they’re repaid. (Although, as usual, you can suffer losses from bad debts after…
We had a query from a 4thWay user about tax rules on lender fees recently, so I thought we could answer that for everyone. The reader was asking about whether lender fees are tax deductible, what that even means, which P2P lending companies currently charge…
Whenever you invest (and money lending is a form of investment), you’re taking a risk that you’ll lose money. Not just lose to inflation – which is a loss that is practically guaranteed to happen in savings accounts. But I mean an actual loss in…
You have dozens of choices when it comes to peer-to-peer property lending. As far as we know, we’re listing every single one of your choices on this page that we at 4thWay consider to be P2P lending. The majority of P2P property lending websites offer…
Sometimes P2P lending companies close down or shift away from being P2P businesses. When they do, you want to see loans repaid in an orderly fashion. That’s why they have plans for this scenario in advance. These plans are intended to make it highly probable…
As of 30th June, 2024 The new 4thWay Peer-to-Peer And Direct Lending Index (PADL Index) was launched in August 2024. It enables investors to compare long-run returns to shares and other asset classes. Constituents’ returns have massively outpaced the stock market. In the ten years…
Invest & Fund lending slowed, but should pick up again 4thWay’s specialists conducted a full reassessment on Invest & Fund this month. There’s nothing at all to report on the risk-reward balance, which remains solid. This update is more about a slow down in lending…
4thWay has long collated more data on peer-to-peer lending than probably anyone else, stretching back to the very first P2P loan ever made. And now, we have sufficient data from a large enough number of important P2P lending providers to start accurately tracking performance. So…
I’m back! It’s been ages since I told you about anything through 4thWay, so I’m pleased to take you through the latest on cashback. Whatever happened to P2P lending cashback? A few years ago, the regulator banned cashback, which had been used to lure people…
Some lenders choose to lend through a type of pension called a self-invested personal pension, or SIPP. These are many and varied, but they often give investors an expanded choice of what they can invest in, albeit for a high price. SIPPs have historically suffered…
We told HMRC that, reading the rules for ISAs, “they don’t actually prohibit people opening multiple IFISAs in one tax year, provided they only subscribe new money to one of them”… Do they? A representative from HMRC has told us this “looks correct”. That’s about…
As you may know, you can only open one IFISA in a tax year, which runs from the 6th of April to the 5th of April, and this limits your ability to spread your money and the risks across lots of providers. Opening more than…
Last year, in 2023, if you invested in one of the cheapest and best share funds to cover the entire UK stock market, through Vanguard, and you did it directly through them in their own ISA, you’ll probably have made around 6.8%. That’s assuming you…
Owning property is one of the four ways that gives 4thWay its name. As we sometimes say: “there’s the savings way, the property ownership way, the stock market way, and now there’s the P2P lending way: the 4thWay”. All are equally fantastic ways to save…
Peer-to-peer lending is not a regulated phrase. By 4thWay’s definition, any online lending company is peer-to-peer if it structures itself and its loans to offer the same level of protection as direct lending, in order to protect lenders in the event that the lending company…
P2P lending costs money for both borrowers and lenders. Because there’s no such thing as a free lunch! You can find out true costs of lending through various P2P lending companies elsewhere on 4thWay and we’ll show you where further below. But, firstly, here’s how…
I just have time for two brief updates on Proplend, which is truly one of the most remarkable P2P lending and IFISA providers for lowering your risks while paying attractive interest rates. Instant diversification in extremely safe loans available now At time of writing, Proplend*…
Nationwide says we’ve just had four months in a row of falling property prices. To some people, that means there are more falls to come. My colleague has expressed his views on that in a separate piece. But some peer-to-peer lending accounts seem…
We don’t get soooo much interest from 4thWay readers when we write about the social and environmental impacts of P2P lending. Our focus is on the risks, rewards, growing your wealth, or earning an income from money lending. Understandably, that’s what you’re most interested in….
Independent opinion: 4thWay will help you to identify your options and narrow down your choices. We suggest what you could do, but we won't tell you what to do or where to lend; the decision is yours. We are responsible for the accuracy and quality of the information we provide, but not for any decision you make based on it. The material is for general information and education purposes only.
We are not financial, legal or tax advisors, which means that we don't offer advice or recommendations based on your circumstances and goals.
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not held by 4thWay. 4thWay is not regulated by ESMA or the FCA. All the specialists and researchers who conduct research and write articles for 4thWay are subject to 4thWay's Editorial Code of Practice. For more, please see 4thWay's terms and conditions.
The 4thWay® PLUS Ratings are calculations developed by professional risk modellers (someone who models risks for the banks), experienced investors and a debt specialist from one of the major consultancy firms. They measure the interest you earn against the risk of suffering losses from borrowers being unable to repay their loans in scenarios up to a serious recession and a major property crash. The ratings assume you spread your money across hundreds or thousands of loans, and continue lending until all your loans are repaid. They assume you lend across 6-12 rated P2P lending accounts or IFISAs, and measure your overall performance across all of them, not against individual performances.
The 4thWay PLUS Ratings are calculated using objective criteria that can be measured and improved on over time, although no rating system is perfect. Read more about the 4thWay® PLUS Ratings.
*Commission, fees and impartial research: our service is free to you. 4thWay shows dozens of P2P lending accounts in our accurate comparison tables and we add new ones as they make it through our listing process. We receive compensation from Lande and other P2P lending companies not mentioned above either when you click through from our website and open accounts with them, or to cover the costs of conducting our calculated stress tests and ratings assessments. We vigorously ensure that this doesn't affect our editorial independence. Read How we earn money fairly with your help.
**Joint statement from the World Bank Group, the IMF, the WFP and the WTO on food security projects 10 million more in extreme poverty for each one percentage point increase in food prices. Also, 81 countries benefiting from the World Food Programme could see an additional 47 million people suffering from acute hunger due to the food shortage.
