LinkedFinance - new website

bopter

Only LinkedFinance and GRID have fees.
Flender has no lender fees and their default rate is 0%.

garrettod

Hi,

Flender's default rate is 0% ..... seriously ?

How many loans have Flender launched to date, compared with Grid or LinkedFinance .... I suspect it's a very small percentage tbh, so I don't think we are comparing like with like.


I see BTW are back to the well, yet again....

How many times have these guys featured on LinkedFinance in the last 12 months, it feels like they are always on the site looking for more and more funding ?

brianomc

Deleted my post as it was not live loans I was looking at but previously successful loans, which changed my point completely. Yes, I had missed something obvious.

bopter

garrettod wrote: »

Hi,

Flender's default rate is 0% ..... seriously ?

How many loans have Flender launched to date, compared with Grid or LinkedFinance .... I suspect it's a very small percentage tbh, so I don't think we are comparing like with like.

I've done 20+ Flender loans in the second half of 2017 which I think is more than Grid offered for the whole of 2017.

Also lend on LinkedFinance and I've a few defaults on there (an acceptable level), but no defaults on Flender so far. Their social circle angle is supposed to keep the default rate low and maybe that's working but too soon to tell.

BMacccc

Dog Eat Dog in default since June 2016, 18 out of 36 payments outstanding. Last update from Linked Finance was in March 2017! Active Recovery - Case being handled by third party collections agency. Judgments being sought. Last payment received: 19/06/2016

Was an article in the Independent re the director David Marsh who gave a personal guarantee for this loan being arrested on suspicion of fraud : businessman-arrested-following-claims-he-took-thousands-of-euro-worth-of-deposits-but-failed-to-complete-work-36326298

Wonder are Linked Finance pursued legal action, doesn't seem to be a very active recovery!!

Seem to remember David Marsh being confronted on Joe Duffy's liveline also

garrettod

Sadly, anyone can have the misfortune of being done over by a fraudster, but how Linked handle the matter will be important.

They need to get in fast and early for a judgement, as the early bird gets the worm (assuming there's a worm to be had !).

sceach16

sceach16 wrote: »

Loan Book Report Q4/2017

No trace yet (12.00 Friday 12/01/2018)

Still no trace 16 January........

protosByte

protosByte wrote: »

Anyone have money in Heatec Plumbing Contractors? Grade A 12 month loan. I (stupidly) gave them a good bit, and they stopped paying on Oct 9 2017.
I got the following message on Nov 10th:
"In Arrears - Still working directly with Linked Finance. The borrower has advised they have not received a payment due at the beginning of September for a large contract they had completed. They are continuing to work with us and aim to catch up on all outstanding repayments.  Last payment received: 08/09/2017"
But nothing since. I'm about to write a strongly worded email to LF asking for more transparency on their recovery procedures. Anyone in a similar position should do the same. Put some pressure on ........

This is the mail I sent them last Friday:

"Hello,

I invested some money in Heatec Plumbing Contractors through your platform. It was a grade A 12 month loan, and they stopped paying in October. The latest update from Linked Finance was on 10/11/2017: 

"In Arrears - Still working directly with Linked Finance. The borrower has advised they have not received a payment due at the beginning of September for a large contract they had completed. They are continuing to work with us and aim to catch up on all outstanding repayments.  Last payment received: 08/09/2017"

Has there been any further updates? The last one was over three months ago which is a significant period of time and I would imagine there must be some more details available. Maybe you could also shed some light on your recovery procedures? Transparency is a very good thing - particularly in the financial world.

Regards,"


No Answer as of yet. I've started winding down my position with them.

BMacccc

Yep i'm exposed to Heatec Plumbing also, though not big money. Communication does seem to be lacking from Linked Finance for loans that aren't performing!

garrettod

Perhaps it would be better to telephone Linked Finance, if you can't get a reply by email ?

Tel: 01 9060300

Good customer service is essential in this business, imho.

protosByte

On the Heatec Plumbing saga - they updated the loan status today - wonder if it was my email that forced their hand :-)
Not good news - they're handing the debt over to their third party collections agency to handle  from here.
Anyone have experience with this happening to their loans? Did you get anything back if you did?

sceach16

protosByte wrote: »

On the Heatec Plumbing saga - they updated the loan status today - wonder if it was my email that forced their hand :-)
Not good news - they're handing the debt over to their third party collections agency to handle from here.
Anyone have experience with this happening to their loans? Did you get anything back if you did?

Yes on a few of mine and NO---- nothing back (yet...haha)! Handing it over to third party collection agency means Linked washes its hands....nothing to do with them anymore!

benjamin d

It's a major flaw in Linked Finance from an investor perspective that when a loan defaults they themselves don't actually lose money, they just *don't gain* money through fees. So they have little incentive to spend money chasing defaulters.

It's cleverly set up, LF get all the perks and none of the danger of losing their principal.

protosByte

True. Not very clever from a PR perspective though. There's a lot of competition out there (I'm moving everything to Mintos) and as more people get their fingers burnt - well, word spreads fast.

Bad loans happen - Nothing is risk free and I'm ok with that. I went into it with my eyes open and from the latest communication (if it's to believed) Heatec themselves got screwed by someone not paying a debt to them.

It's more the lack of communication around it from LF that annoys me, and the lack of transparency on what they do to follow up on late payments and defaults -  and that's the reason I'm withdrawing as soon as I can liquidate what I have left with them. In a nutshell - I don't trust them.

investor123

linkedfinance.com/terms

11. Missed Payments
    4. If you fail to make a payment for four consecutive months or only partially pay four or more consecutive monthly instalments or four out of six consecutive monthly instalments, your Loan Contract will be identified as being in default and the Collections Agency may engage field agents to attempt to collect the total Loan amount outstanding (including Collection Fees). In addition we may file notice of the default on your credit reference file with one or more credit reference agencies. We will try to give a Borrower 28 days notice before filing a default on a Borrower's credit reference file although we may not always be able to do so.

"Fresh Flower Imports" and a few others still not showing as 'In Default' even though they've missed 4 repayments

linkedfinance.com/faq  (number 17)

Linkedfinance also have a borrower fee, of up to 5% of the loan value.  I didnt know until recently when I heard from a friend who received a loan of 50k.   He borrowed 52k, 2k (4%) goes to linkedfinance and he got the balance.   I'm guessing thats why many loans are 52k, 104k etc.   Doesnt seem right to me that if the loan isnt repaid, that some of the money we are owed was used to pay Linkedfinance.


Personal Guarantee - A few of my loans are with the collection agency, to date none of them have been repaid.  I enquired about this but was told it can take a few years.

garrettod

Hi,

I don't think that it's right for them to let things run 4 months before considering the loan to be in default. Banks use 3 months and they often have properties or other tangible assets as security to give them comfort, Linked Finance don't have mortgages over property etc. so the risk is greater and by extension, they should be taking action earlier, not later than the banks !

Also, I don't think it's satisfactory to just say the problem loan has been handed over to a third party debt collection. By all means engage a debt collector, but litigation should also commence that same day, to get to court as quickly as possible. All costs should be for the account of the borrower from the day litigation commences, along with the debt collectors fees.

Linked Finance seem to be promoting more 3 year loans these days - so it's more longer loans, essentially on an unsecured basis, and on lower interest rates (given most borrowers are benefiting from lower rates since Linked Finance changed it's credit ratings last year). None of this gives an investor comfort, as it's more and more risk, for less return.

.

garrettod

protosByte wrote: »

True. Not very clever from a PR perspective though. There's a lot of competition out there (I'm moving everything to Mintos) ....

Hi,

What's the attraction to Mintos ?

TheSheriff

garrettod wrote: »

Hi,

What's the attraction to Mintos ?

It honestly baffles me how Linked is still functioning with the likes of mintos out there. Comparatively speaking, LF is far behind in my opinion in terms of their service - granted I get some people may want to "help Irish businesses", but that level of sentiment is not for me.

I have switched the majority of my P2P into Mintos, averaging ~11% return, short term loans (<1 year), all with a buyback guarantee. I realise the buyback guarantee would be worthless if Mintos disappeared off the face of the planet but I think that is a real risk with any P2P, LF included.

I think the real question is, "Whats the attraction to LinkedFinance anymore?"

Peter File

Payment from the Auld Rogue bar not received today. They are 6 months into a 12 month €50000 loan

manafana

TheSheriff wrote: »

It honestly baffles me how Linked is still functioning with the likes of mintos out there. Comparatively speaking, LF is far behind in my opinion in terms of their service - granted I get some people may want to "help Irish businesses", but that level of sentiment is not for me.

I have switched the majority of my P2P into Mintos, averaging ~11% return, short term loans (<1 year), all with a buyback guarantee. I realise the buyback guarantee would be worthless if Mintos disappeared off the face of the planet but I think that is a real risk with any P2P, LF included.

I think the real question is, "Whats the attraction to LinkedFinance anymore?"

one point here, i dont believe the guarantee is from mintos but from the loan provider, so some dilution of risk with the amount of providers.

Even mintos updates and new incentives put LF to show

sceach16

sceach16 wrote: »

Loan Book Report Q4/2017

No trace yet (12.00 Friday 12/01/2018)

Still waiting Friday 19 January........

protosByte

garrettod wrote: »

protosByte wrote: »

True. Not very clever from a PR perspective though. There's a lot of competition out there (I'm moving everything to Mintos) ....

Hi,

What's the attraction to Mintos ?

Large volume of loans available, Buyback guarantee, high average interest return on a relatively low risk profile, good customer service and they're much more active than LF with their efforts at attracting customers and keeping them. See their cashback campaigns.


The one thing LF has/had for it is that you can examine each loan offer and it felt a bit more personal, but even that's gone now, with it being pretty much impossible to get any decent loan without autobid enabled.

lad6w

I have been with Linked for over a year now. Was not happy when the move to Autobid took place but kept re-investing without adding more funds at the €50 lower limit per loan. Now have approx 350 active loans and am running this down and have ceased all bidding. I have multiple loans rated as A/B/C with relatively low returns, on 12month term that are going bad. This tells me they are mis-pricing the risk for investors. Like others I do not see sufficient progress on loans that pay late/default in terms of either communication or concrete recovery outcomes. My opinion is they have  a small but growing  number of strategic defaulters and the risk of that growing exponentially as word gets out is too high for me.

Also the Q4 Loan report is now about 9+ days later than any other quarter including last year's Q4 report - which only adds to my concern.

Bottom line is the risk : return equation after fees/losses/tax is no longer attractive for me. Will take a look at some of the other P2P sites other people have suggested - thanks.

garrettod

Linked Finance eyes profitability as revenue and lending levels jump

FinanceDublin

lad6w wrote: »

I have been with Linked for over a year now. Was not happy when the move to Autobid took place but kept re-investing without adding more funds at the €50 lower limit per loan. Now have approx 350 active loans and am running this down and have ceased all bidding. I have multiple loans rated as A/B/C with relatively low returns, on 12month term that are going bad. This tells me they are mis-pricing the risk for investors. Like others I do not see sufficient progress on loans that pay late/default in terms of either communication or concrete recovery outcomes. My opinion is they have  a small but growing  number of strategic defaulters and the risk of that growing exponentially as word gets out is too high for me.

Also the Q4 Loan report is now about 9+ days later than any other quarter including last year's Q4 report - which only adds to my concern.

Bottom line is the risk : return equation after fees/losses/tax is no longer attractive for me. Will take a look at some of the other P2P sites other people have suggested - thanks.

Yeah. They’ve blown it for individual investors. I’d guess they’re after some sort of bigger picture play here. Pity.

Cute Hoor

Peter File wrote: »

Payment from the Auld Rogue bar not received today. They are 6 months into a 12 month €50000 loan

This one would have been worrisome but they coughed up today, administrative error, won't happen again

Biketourer

Does anyone know how linked finance calculate their credit ratings? How would a loss making company with negative shareholder funds get a "B" rating?

Kuva

Biketourer wrote: »

Does anyone know how linked finance calculate their credit ratings? How would a loss making company with negative shareholder funds get a "B" rating.

They throw a dice in the air with an A,B,C etc on different sides and whichever it lands on is the rating.

Allegedly.

sceach16

sceach16 wrote: »

Still waiting Friday 19 January........

Just emailed LInk...awaiting reply.

sceach16

sceach16 wrote: »

Just emailed LInk...awaiting reply.

Got a reply...Q4 report will be published this week....