I’m super proud of what 4thWay has done for many lenders and of our record. We have made some mistakes, but our ratings, research and guidance has been very accurate. More accurate than it needs to be for lenders to comfortably make satisfactory returns over…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Four years ago – spring 2021 – marked the beginning of the quick rise in inflation, eventually peaking at an annual rate of 9.6% by October 2022. It remained very high in historical terms till September 2024. While it has fallen substantially now, it’s still…
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…
Scroll down to see the latest nominee. 4thWay® has a Panel of Peers to govern our website on your behalf. These are individuals like you who lend their money through P2P. They are one of many safeguards we have in place ensuring that 4thWay® keeps…
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…
The key risks in IFISAs are: Psychological risk: your own greed and fear. Concentration risk: you don’t spread your money across lots of loans and P2P lending sites. Credit risk: borrowers don’t repay you. Platform risk: the P2P lending site (the “platform”) goes bust and…
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…
December 2024 had the most write-offs since July 2014 at about £4 million, but the interest paid outweighed that, so the month was still positive overall. That nudged up the year’s return to end on 7.61%, after costs and all losses. The 4thWay Peer-to-Peer…
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…
In this guide, we explain how peer-to-peer lending performs when compared against stocks and other investments. Here’s a short summary of what you’ll learn Useful investments for most people are 1) Savings accounts, 2) peer-to-peer lending, 3) buying your own home and 4) the stock…
Investors in peer-to-peer lending and other online direct lending have more than doubled their money in 10 years, while cash ISA savers grew their pots by just one-fifth. Cash ISA savers failed to keep up with inflation, while online lenders comfortably outpaced it. Returns on…
1) The 4thWay P2P And Direct Lending Index (PADL) starts from the end of July 2014 and currently goes to the end of September 2024.
2) Based on Bank of England data on savings deposits into one-year, fixed-rate cash ISA deals, including unconditional bonuses. BoE data shows one-year cash ISA deals have paid out more than one-year fixed savings account rates in all but five months since the start of the PADL Index. One-year cash ISA deals have also returned more than two-year cash ISA deals over ten years.
3) Inflation adjustment is based on what is widely considered to be the most accurate measure of inflation, the CPIH index.
4) The IFISA wrapper shelters individual lenders from taxes in the same way cash ISAs do. (By the by, both savers and people lending online are entitled to various substantial tax breaks and reliefs even outside of ISAs, such as the personal savings allowance, which applies to saving and online lending. In total, it means that most people won’t have to pay taxes even when using ordinary savings or lending accounts.)
5) “P2P” means the platform model is based on article 36H P2P agreements. “DL” means the platform operates using one of several other direct lending models, or models that effect the same for investors.
Using detailed data from the lending platforms, 4thWay takes the way many bond indices are calculated as a minimum standard and improves on that by using intra-loan events, such as additional default interest paid out to investors, and actual cash flows where possible.
Bond indices typically take the amount, rate and term, and extrapolate the amount made by investors based on generating a schedule, while marking down bad debt as it is written off or charged off.
4thWay® is an independent ratings and research agency for the peer-to-peer lending and other online direct lending markets that helps investors compare the many risks and aspects of lending. We uniquely have the full range of skills to research opportunities in this sector, and provide unbiased P2P lending comparisons, calculated ratings and performance indices, all available at 4thWay.co.uk.
Our mission is to be the most trustworthy source of information for P2P investors in the UK – which is why we hold ourselves accountable to our users, who govern us through a Panel of Peers, ensuring we always stay focused on individual lenders interests in this thriving market.
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.
