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Peer-to-Peer Lending Guide: It’s All In Here!

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This page was last updated on 21 January, 2017

The 4thWay^® Peer-to-Peer Lending Guide is the most candid and comprehensive guide of its kind.

We've broken the guide down into:

1) A few key chapters with what everyone needs to know;

2) Then there's more detail for those who need it;

3) And then there's just silly amounts of detail for those of you (ok, us) obsessed with peer-to-peer lending!

Peer-to-peer lending guide: key chapters

What the Heck is Peer-to-Peer Lending?

Here you'll find out:

What it is.
Who it is for.
What you can earn.
How it works.
How to do it with minimal decisions.
Who you can lend to.
How much you can lend.

Is Peer-to-Peer Lending Safe?

This section of the peer-to-peer lending guide tells you:

How to make peer-to-peer lending safe.
What the safest way is.
How you can increase the risks to go for higher rewards.

4-Step Strategy to Safe Peer-to-Peer Lending

This must-read guide page tells you:

How to both lower the risks right down and, almost as a side effect, increase your likely rewards.

Get Started with the Safest P2P Lending Websites

Here you'll see:

What makes a P2P lending company very low risk.
Which P2P lending companies currently fit the bill.
The vital statistics of those companies.

4thWay's 10 P2P Investing Principles

Here you'll see:

The 10 principles that anyone lending there money through P2P lending websites should always follow.

The Five Key Risks In P2P Lending

Read about:

Probably the biggest risks that you need to be aware of.
Some beginners tips to counter or reduce those risks.

Quick summaries of all the P2P lending websites

The Personal Loans P2P Lending Websites

The Property Peer-to-Peer Lending Websites

The Pawnbroking P2P Lending Websites

More sections, more usefulness!

Can Your Business Lend Through P2P?

Find out whether your business can lend and what the conditions are.

The Right Split Between Savings, P2P, Shares, Property

Here you'll get some strong guidance on how to split your money across four solid ways to save and invest.

Peer-to-Peer Lending vs Other Investments

Here we'll explain:

The four investments that make sense to almost everyone.
How peer-to-peer lending compares to shares.
How it compares to the stock market.
How it compares to gold.
How it compares to bonds.
Where it fits in the risk-reward scale of investment.

How Much to Invest in Peer-to-Peer Lending

How much would father of modern investing, Benjamin Graham, put into P2P?

How is Peer-to-Peer Lending Taxed?

We tell you:

How your returns compare after tax.
How you're taxed.
How to estimate your tax bill.

P2P Pensions Guide: Tax-Free Lending

This section tells you:

What P2P pensions are available.
The benefits of using P2P pensions.
The costs of P2P pensions.
The risks of P2P pensions.

P2P ISAs Guide: Tax Free and Easy Access

This section tells you:

The benefits of using P2P ISAs.
The risks of P2P ISAs.
A little bit on the costs of P2P ISAs.

Even more detail!

What is the “Bad-Debt Rate?”

You'll find out:

How P2P lending companies calculate the bad-debt rate.
What loans are classed as “bad debts”.

10 Things To Look For In P2P Property Loans

See the 10 key ways to assess these very popular P2P lending opportunities.

4thWay^® Forecast Returns Index: 4.59%

There's the savings way, the property way, the stock-market way, and now there's the peer-to-peer lending way. The 4thWay^® to save and invest.
Learn more.

We help people save and make more money, more safely when they cut out the banks and lend directly to other people and to businesses.

4thWay^® is shaped by investors, bank risk modellers and a senior debt specialist, and we're governed by our users to ensure our comparison services and research are trustworthy and complete.

Why are Wellesley’s interest rates different?

Wellesley’s P2P lending rates appear higher on its own website than on 4thWay^®.

This is because we calculate Wellesley’s interest rates the same way most other P2P lending websites do. We do this so that you can compare the rates more easily and so that they show a more accurate picture of what you’ll earn.

Important information before you visit Wellesley & Co.

Wellesley & Co. is primarily a P2P lending website.

But, when you visit the Wellesley website, you’ll see that it also offers “bonds”. Unlike its P2P lending service, its bonds don’t allow you to lend directly to 100+ borrowers.

Instead, you lend to Wellesley and it lends to other borrowers.

We have not risk-rated either of those bonds, but we expect that their structure makes them more risky, particularly because you’re lending to just one borrower.

Why are Wellesley’s interest rates different?

Wellesley’s P2P lending rates appear higher on its own website than on 4thWay^®.

This is because we calculate Wellesley’s interest rates the same way most other P2P lending websites do. We do this so that you can compare the rates more easily and so that they show a more accurate picture of what you’ll earn.

Important information before you visit Wellesley & Co.

Wellesley & Co. is primarily a P2P lending website.

But, when you visit the Wellesley website, you’ll see that it also offers two “bonds”, one of which is available as an ISA.

Unlike its P2P lending service, neither of these bonds allows you to lend directly to 100+ borrowers.

Instead, you lend to Wellesley and it lends to other borrowers.

We have not risk-rated either of those bonds, but we expect that their structure makes them more risky, particularly because you’re lending to just one borrower.

Why are Wellesley’s interest rates different?

Wellesley’s P2P lending rates appear higher on its own website than on 4thWay^®.

This is because we calculate Wellesley’s interest rates the same way most other P2P lending websites do. We do this so that you can compare the rates more easily and so that they show a more accurate picture of what you’ll earn.

Important information before you visit Wellesley & Co.

Wellesley & Co. is primarily a P2P lending website.

But, when you visit the Wellesley website, you’ll see that it also offers two “bonds”, one of which is available as an ISA.

Unlike its P2P lending service, neither of these bonds allows you to lend directly to 100+ borrowers.

Instead, you lend to Wellesley and it lends to other borrowers.

We have not risk-rated either of those bonds, but we expect that their structure makes them more risky, particularly because you’re lending to just one borrower.

Why are Orchard’s interest rates different?

Orchard’s lending rates appear higher on its own website than on 4thWay^®.

This is because we calculate Orchard’s interest rates the same way most other P2P lending websites do. We do this so that you can compare the rates more easily and so that they show a more accurate picture of what you’ll earn.

Why are Wellesley’s interest rates different?

Wellesley’s P2P lending rates appear higher on its own website than on 4thWay^®.

This is because we calculate Wellesley’s interest rates the same way most other P2P lending websites do. We do this so that you can compare the rates more easily and so that they show a more accurate picture of what you’ll earn.

Important information before you visit Wellesley & Co.

Wellesley & Co. is primarily a P2P lending website.

But, when you visit the Wellesley website, you’ll see that it also offers “bonds”. Unlike its P2P lending service, its bonds don’t allow you to lend directly to 100+ borrowers.

Instead, you lend to Wellesley and it lends to other borrowers.

We have not risk-rated either of those bonds, but we expect that their structure makes them more risky, particularly because you’re lending to just one borrower.

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