Even over longer periods of time, – and perhaps not even that. over all time periods. How good are bonds? On average, bonds are “a bit naff”, according to the fantastic UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbooks. OK, the research doesn’t actually use those words, but it…
This was my first ever Candid Opinion piece for 4thWay, published originally on 25th November, 2014. I’ve just updated it very slightly – mostly as an excuse to get the editor to re-publish it for me and give it some more attention. This is a…
This article was originally the introduction and background to a piece called P2P Lending: How To Deal With Rising Interest Rates. But it got too long, so those tips on lending through rising rates now has its own page. In contrast, the page you’re reading…
When you’re locked into lending at lower rates P2P lending is almost invariably fixed-rate lending. Your existing borrowers aren’t going to start paying you more just because rates today are going up. Your cash is tied to that and it’s not partaking in any increases….
Naturally, we can’t know the answer to the question in the title precisely, because every major economic event is unique, coming with different causes, different factors happening at the time. However, investors need to invest – and lenders need to lend – with a large…
Recently we made a new effort to get even more data from the P2P lending providers to really get a full idea of how easy it is for lenders to get their money lent out at the moment. We wanted to know if we could…
Getting your money back when using auto-lend Some P2P lending accounts and IFISAs spread your money across loans automatically or have similar “auto-bid” or “auto-lend” features. When it comes to getting your money back from these sorts of accounts, a 4thWay user summed up the…
What is a secondary market? A secondary market allows you to buy and sell existing loan parts to or from other lenders. You might do this for bigger profits, to exit early or for other reasons. The only realistic way to leave P2P lending loans…
We’ve ranked the P2P lending providers in a few different ways on the 4thWay website, either in best-of articles or in our comparison tables, which can themselves be sorted in three different ways. And we’ve covered the details in reviews for them. But we had…
Our specialists have updated the 4thWay PLUS Ratings and 4thWay Risk Scores methodology slightly. On balance, the changes make it a little harder for P2P lending companies to get higher ratings and better scores. My colleagues have also removed all allowances made for COVID-19 forbearance,…
Mike Carter of the 36H Group has passed detailed data on P2P lending companies’ lending results to the FCA to demonstrate why this type of investing should be moved into a different, low-risk category. That’s according to P2P Finance News. 4thWay collects a huge amount…
Hot on the heals of Zopa, Lending Works has closed for new lending by small investors. Most likely its decision was impacted by damage to its reputation in recent years, some of it justified. With lenders all expected to have their money repaid in full,…
Here are your best alternatives to Zopa, now that it’s converting to a bank from P2P lending. (Read The Real Reason Zopa Is Closing Its P2P Arm.) Zopa was the oldest P2P lending company in the world, founded in 2005, with an exceptional record. Most…
Loanpad*, the bridging and development P2P lending company with the strictest lending standards in the industry, has tripled the total amount lent through its platform in 12 months to reach profitability in June 2021. It has reached this stage very quickly, as it only approved…
I’ve looked through Lending Works Trustpilot reviews to find all the ones written in 2021 by its customers who have lent money. Trustpilot combines reviews from all customers, making it hard to distinguish between comments from its borrowers and lenders. The overwhelming majority of reviews…
Northern Provident Investments was a company I’d never even heard of that offered IFISAs. It recently shut down, possibly because it offered mini-bonds, which the FCA recently banned from mass-marketing. Clearly, it was small. It also seems likely it either didn’t offer P2P lending investments…
LendingCrowd* has taken the rare step of deciding to no longer publish its loan book or provide 4thWay with it on a regular basis. As a result of this large step back in transparency, LendingCrowd has lost all its 4thWay PLUS Ratings on all its…
Has P2P lending outperformed long-run returns from the stock market, and with more stability? Where to look for information on shares I’d like to start by crediting the research on shares – and bonds – by Credit Suisse and the London Business School. If you…
RateSetter (which recently closed its P2P business with all lenders in profit after being sold to Metro Bank) and Lending Works* both had to adjust lending interest rates during the pandemic to cover the additional losses from the recession. Their reserve funds alone didn’t cover…
P2P lending often pays better than bonds and there are several reasons for this: Illiquidity – you might not be able to sell up early Most people invest in bonds through bond funds, where they can sell their holdings in those fund right away, even…
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.
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