I don’t often write about the ethical, ecological, responsible, “doing good” or social aspects of lending. Hardly anyone clicks on headlines like that. Yet now that I’ve tricked you into this one with my vague title, would you give me a few minutes, as: We…
LEND.ch is a Swiss peer-to-peer lending provider offering lending in Swiss francs (CHF). It hasn’t opened up to 4thWay’s specialists with data and access to its key people and therefore we haven’t conducted our usual week’s long assessment of it. So this is kind of…
Update: the first answer was corrected on 10th June after a stupid error by me. My apologies. On the positive side, on the 11th June HMRC explicitly confirmed to 4thWay that our second answer is correct. We have two questions on flexible ISAs and one…
Occasionally lenders reach out to 4thWay and describe what they are up to, how they’re doing and what their experiences have been when lending. I really appreciate the contact from you! Recently I had an email that inspired me to write this page today. I’m…
The people normally using 4thWay’s research are all very lucky. I mean, I presume you have money to spare if you’re lending it. There are an awful lot of people who can’t say the same. Yet I think it’s worth looking at the other side…
This update on 29th April 2025 is writing up a case in the High Court in February 2025. The judgment on the case was made on 17th April 2025 and it has just landed in my hands. Since the case is now on the public…
However, I’m not going to remind you what the latest property-price forecasts from the UK’s best-known economists are for 2025 or the next 12 months. If you want to know, you’ll have to look them up yourselves. Here’s why… What happened in 2024? To start…
This content today is extremely different to normal, but I need to get it out, as it’s pressing on my mind. Unusually, this page is not about a cold assessment of an investment provider or lending tips. Instead, it’s all about me. I have to…
Initially published well over a year ago, this page has been updated in March 2025. P2P lending companies’ financial health is of great interest to lenders and of course to us at 4thWay. If a P2P lending company is already making money then it lowers…
Your main protection is that loans and cash are segregated Firstly, lets get a sense of proportion. Because FSCS protection here is actually a very minor point. If you have loans at a P2P lending company or if that site is holding some of your…
Just brief thoughts on this new story. LandlordInvest is apparently winding down at the insistence of the FCA, which appears, according to brief reports from Alternative Credit Investor, to have issues with its CEO, Filip Karadaghi, who has been forced to step down. We have…
The 4thWay Peer-to-Peer And Direct Lending Index (PADL Index) 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 since start of the index, annualised returns after costs have been…
There are some items that we pay close attention to at 4thWay. For example, we have often described some of the signs we look for that a P2P lending provider is kicking the can of bad debt down the road to hide its actual performance….
Recently, for a friend, I returned to my old stomping grounds of share investing to look at the best options for her. I was interested to know how these had changed since I last assessed them in great detail, which would have been early in…
Borrowers were hit hard over 2022 and 2023. Property prices were unclear and somewhat rocky. And those who were borrowing to complete property developments have been suffering a shortage of workers. The worst for borrowers though was rocketing inflation. That didn’t just push up interest…
People who invest through AxiaFunder’s online platform are funding claimants’ legal cases. Investors typically take huge profits when these claims are won – sometimes even projected to earn 2-3 times the amount invested – albeit with substantial downside risk when cases are lost. Most cases…
FOLK2FOLK’s Property-Backed Business Lending Account/IFISA unrated, due to lack of information. This account has been paying in the region of interest after zero losses to lenders. Visit FOLK2FOLK or keep reading the FOLK2FOLK Review.
Crowd2Fund (read review) launched in the mid 2010s. Most of the companies listed on 4thWay that launched in the same era have already reported annual profits or are at least around breakeven. This includes: Kuflink (review), Proplend* (review), Somo* (review), CapitalStackers* (review), Downing (review), CrowdProperty…
4thWay mostly covers opportunities where you can expect to double your money “just” every 8-10 years, when you use a reasonably simple and sensible strategy. (See our 10 Core Guides.) That’s really good going, considering the level of risk involved. The stock market, which has…
Two platform heads have recently mentioned to me the surprisingly large tremor caused by Trussonomics on development lending, which is still having knock-on consequences. But that’s far from the only thing to hit this sector: the continued loss of construction workers from Brexit, recent high…
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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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 CapitalStackers, Invest & Fund and Loanpad and other P2P lending companies not mentioned above either when you click through from our website and open accounts with them, or when you make an investment, 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.
