Guides, Reviews & Tips
Why do peer-to-peer lending? It offers inflation-beating returns with lower risk than the stock market even when you commit your money for less time.
4thWay provides candid information about all the risks and benefits, so that you can decide for yourself whether it's right for you.
Here are five great ways to learn about peer-to-peer lending, including P2P IFISAs, and how to earn more money, more safely.
1. Read our 10 Core P2P Lending Guide pages
1. What is P2P Lending? Or see an image explaining the same in How Peer-to-Peer Lending Works.
2. Is Peer-to-Peer Lending Safe?
3. 4thWay's 10 P2P Investing Principles.
4. The 10 Key Peer-To-Peer Lending Risks. (And two more risks in IFISAs: IFISAs: What Are The Risks?)
5. 4-Step Strategy to Safe Peer-to-Peer Lending.
6. 10 Ways To Get Your P2P Lending Money Back!
7. Peer-to-Peer Lending Vs Other Investments.
8. How Is Peer-to-Peer Lending Taxed?
10. How One Lender Is Losing Money – A Lesson In P2P Lending Diversification.
Plus, read our mini-guides, including Can Your Business Lend Through P2P? and many more.
And for expert lenders
You want even more info? You really must get the basics above first, but after that, if you're a seriously active investor putting lots of time into this, think about diving into our more detailed guide: How To Assess P2P Lending Sites.
If you get stuck for understanding any jargon, we offer you our Peer-to-Peer Lending And IFISA Glossary.
2. Compare lending products and IFISAs
Compare all P2P lending products, including IFISAs or just compare IFISAs.
3. Visit our most popular pages at the moment
4. See P2P Lending Reviews from 4thWay's specialists
There is probably no better way anywhere on the Web to quickly learn about each individual P2P lending opportunity than by reading reviews from our specialists.
Read our very popular and educational reviews for each P2P lending site by going to the compare page and then clicking on the reviews that interest you, so that you can see other key information side-by-side, such as their 4thWay PLUS Ratings.
Or you can click on the links here if you just want to read individual reviews in peace:
- ArchOver Review.
- Assetz Capital Review.
- BLEND Network Review.
- CapitalRise Review.
- CapitalStackers Review.
- Crowd2Fund Review.
- CrowdProperty Review.
- Downing Crowd Review.
- Flender Review.
- HNW Lending Review.
- Invest & Fund Review.
- Kuflink Review.
- LandlordInvest Review.
- LendingCrowd Review.
- Loanpad Review.
- Proplend Review.
- Sourced Capital Review.
5. Read our latest research and articles
You can also add to your knowledge by signing up to our newsletter below, or by looking through our P2P lending tips, research, buy and sell tips, and candid opinions. You'll find it all in our articles and research section.
28 Peer-To-Peer Property Lending Websites
We believe this list now covers every property lending company in the UK that, through one legal means or another, offers direct lending between you and the property owner. Read about them all here.
CapitalStackers Review Updated – How Fares This High-Paying P2P Lending Co?
CapitalStackers has paid an average lending rate after bad debts of more than 12% for many years. But how many bad debts has it had, how safe is it really and what's the lowest return achieved by any one lender?
To find out, read the review that has been updated after our latest re-assessment of this platform and its very detailed data submissions to 4thWay.
CapitalRise Review Updated
It's another P2P lending company beginning with “Capital”, but, other than that, it's certainly unique. We've updated this review into a property-lending website that goes against the crowd by focusing exclusively on prime London property.
Why Is Low-Risk P2P Lending Labelled As “High Risk”?
17 years of positive returns – every single year. The stock market has had 1-in-3 down years over the period, after investing costs. Why is P2P lending labelled “high risk” and the stock market isn't? We take a look.
Loanpad Review
We've taken the time to update our Loanpad review after another ratings assessment and further investigations. Is Loanpad still the safest investment of any asset class in the UK?
Best Innovative Finance ISAs In 2022
With just a few weeks to go to fund your IFISA for this tax year, there's another reason why you might want to look into this quickly. Read on to find out why. And, of course, to find out your best choices.
Funding Circle Share Price: Is Funding Circle A Buy?
Just like last year, one of our specialists has taken another look at Funding Circle for people who now want to invest in its shares – since its P2P lending side is now closed to new business. Find out if Funding Circle is a buy for share investors.
Downing Crowd Review Updated
We haven't had a chance to update Downing Crowd's review for a long time. This is the latest on the P2P lending company that lends to businesses on property or energy projects.
Assetz Capital Review Updated
Assetz is a complex behemoth that takes a great deal of work in assessing and re-assessing. As the amount of loans it approves continues to rise again post-pandemic, we've gone through this lengthy task once again. Read our latest update on Assetz Capital.
Using P2P Lending For Your ESG Investments Is Responsible And Profitable
I regret that we've never written about environmental, social and ethical factors in investing. Ever. But the fact is that experience before 4thWay told me that it is a subject with disappointingly low popularity.
Perhaps the reason for that is it's hard for anyone to trust that responsible investments really do what they say? Or maybe it's the view that they probably underperform?
But I'm glad to say that this isn't the case in P2P lending. If you have any interest in making some of your investments more responsible, please read on.
Which P2P Lending Sites Offer FSCS Protection On Unlent Cash?
It should be simple, but it isn't. Here, we've updated this piece with more information. We try to make the situation with FSCS protection on your unlent cash as simple as possible.
This is complete with a list of the P2P lending companies that have strongly confirmed to us that your cash that is not on loan is protected. Read about it here.
Stock Market Superbubble Suggests Investors Shift More To P2P Lending
New research shows stock market bubbles across the world are bound to correct downwards and that a shift to specialised lending is the way to go. Read about it here.
What We Learned From Kuflink's First Profitable Accounts
Kuflink has published annual accounts once again. Beyond the headline of making its first profit as a P2P lending company, there's a treasure trove of information. We asked Kuflink some extra questions and summarise the most important parts of the accounts here.
Which P2P Lending Sites Are Profitable
We always try to update this page on profitable P2P lending companies bit by bit through the year, but at least once a year we take the time to investigate the accounts of all of them in a large batch. We've now reviewed an updated a score of P2P lending companies' results.
Look Outside P2P Lending: Investing In Shares
Share investing complements P2P lending very well indeed, so, as a Christmas treat, we look at the latest that share investors should know and stay on top of.
Best Lending Works Alternative
Lending Works is switching to a different model, so that individual lenders can no longer lend new money. Find your Lending Works alternatives that share some traits with it.
Best Alternatives To Zopa
With Zopa gone, a very large number of lenders will want a new P2P home for their cash. Here are three P2P lending companies that share some similarities with Zopa or with what lenders wanted from Zopa.
The Real Reason Zopa Is Closing Its P2P Arm
Zopa has closed its P2P lending operation to focus on its bank. The reasons it gives are a great excuse not to upset existing lenders, but they're not the real reasons. Read about it here.
Invest & Fund Review: Major Updates
Invest & Fund has really stepped up its efforts to provide even more data, interview access and information to 4thWay in recent months, enabling us to form an even stronger opinion about this lending opportunity. Read our substantially updated review.
Why You Might Be Missing Out On Instant IFISA Diversification
You may know already from 4thWay research that you're actually allowed to open as many IFISAs as you want in the same tax year.
But that doesn't mean everyone working at the P2P lending companies understands that!
Find out more about this and what one 4thWay user did to open two IFISAs, by educating a P2P lending company.
8 P2P Lending Mistakes People Make
Most lenders do very well from P2P lending. When it goes wrong, it's usually self-inflicted. We've identified the most common mistakes. Here's how to avoid the eight most common mistakes.
List Of All The Peer-To-Peer Lending Companies In The UK
Many P2P lending companies haven't submitted themselves to the very gruelling process of being assessed by 4thWay, so we usually don't get to mention many of them.
Here, we thought we should share the full list, so that you can see what else is out there and what types of lending they offer.
Proplend Launches New Lending – Effectively To The Government
Proplend has added a new lending type that will probably pay double-digit interest while containing the risks.
Take a look at its new loans, which are arguably more comparable to government debt than anything else.
Crowd2Fund Review
We've extensively updated our Crowd2Fund Review with the latest information and research.
New sections on COVID-19 and cybersecurity, with updates on its people, processes, results and more. Read it here.
Loanpad Profitable After Tripling Loan Book
Here's a digest of the latest update we have on Loanpad after our recent interviews and investigations.
Proplend Team Gets Another Upgrade
Proplend has another new key decision maker heading its lending team. Read about it here.
Read more in our articles and research section: