LinkedFinance - new website

bohsman

14 months left for me, reinvesting in 12 month and then 6 month loans where I can till then or withdrawing when it builds up without finding something to autoinvest in.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Have LF made a profit yet? They launched in 2013, so would have expected to be in the green by now.

2016 was a 1.2 million loss
2017 was a 1.1 million loss

I cannot find any data for 2018? Does anyone have a link to their financial results for 2018?

FinanceDublin

TheSheriff wrote: »

Also have less than 10 loans left repaying at this stage. I stopped investing when they introduced the autobid system - since then, the thought of investing more with LF has not even crossed my mind.

LF really need to look at the competition - mintos etc and at what they are offering if they want investors to come back.

I suspect that many, like me, who stopped investing at the entrance of the auto-bid system should be free of LF in the coming months.

Looking forward to be being fully withdrawn from the platform, even logging in once per quarter to withdraw funds is a pain!

Have to laugh.

Logged in there to conclude my account - reasoned final loan was due to stop paying around now. Not high amounts left so had half forgotten about it.

Have had a sort of blessed run - not a single default and late payments by a few days max. Now, of course, my very last company, in its final three payments, appears to have had the wheels fall off.

In this case, The Fishman.

On 19th April, LF said they had reached an arrangement to allow for them to pay at a slower half rate, and LF users would receive a payment every two months - with first such payment and an update at the end of May.

No payment, no update.

If I wasn’t already on the way out, I certainly would be based on what I read already on this thread and what I see on my own account. Poor.

Wheety

My last few loans are either drip feeding repayments or just not paying at all. Went to withdraw what's in my account, as I feel i'll be waiting a while for anything else. Minimum withdrawal of €50 :mad:

Maybe I could top up my account and then withdraw that plus the cash in there :cool:

bohsman

Wheety wrote: »

My last few loans are either drip feeding repayments or just not paying at all. Went to withdraw what's in my account, as I feel i'll be waiting a while for anything else. Minimum withdrawal of €50 :mad:

Maybe I could top up my account and then withdraw that plus the cash in there :cool:

Wait it out, would set off some flags and they could insist you invest the funds, not worth the headache.

Wheety

bohsman wrote: »

Wait it out, would set off some flags and they could insist you invest the funds, not worth the headache.

I can't see how they could insist on that.

FinanceDublin

Wheety wrote: »

My last few loans are either drip feeding repayments or just not paying at all. Went to withdraw what's in my account, as I feel i'll be waiting a while for anything else. Minimum withdrawal of €50 :mad:

Maybe I could top up my account and then withdraw that plus the cash in there :cool:

Exact same 😂. Stuck at €45, with about €50 left from one lender.... but stuck there for the last 3 months.....

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Niall Dorrian was on newstalk breakfast business this morning promoting linkedfianance. Did anyone catch it?

littlevillage

Heaven Happy Shower wrote: »

Niall Dorrian was on newstalk breakfast business this morning promoting linkedfianance. Did anyone catch it?

Puff piece in the Indo as well today.

https://www.independent.ie/business/small-business/linked-finance-tops-100m-in-loans-plans-to-double-headcount-38218611.html


Is this a sign that they may be struggling ? and have had to wheel out the CEO to try to shore up support get the word out ? :rolleyes:

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Niall is in the media frequently, so I don't believe that is the case. Look at the likes of Martins Sulte, the CEO of Mintos. He is very active in the media.

I wish and hope that LF do well but you have got to wonder what is going on in the background. With losses the previous two years of over 1 mil euro, did they suddenly become profitable in 2018? They were happy to release figures showing losses in 2016 and 2017 but they have not released a figure for 2018.

Now if my business was turning a profit after years of losses, I would screaming it to whoever would listen. Niall stated something about being profitable on the newstalk show this morning but I was distracted and missed the wording he used. I wonder if I can get a podcast of the show?

By the way, LF claim the default rate is less than 1%. Is that a legit figure? Looking at the last few pages of this thread it doesn't seem likely.

Something does not seem right but I am happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

sceach16

Heaven Happy Shower wrote: »

.......By the way, LF claim the default rate is less than 1%. Is that a legit figure? Looking at the last few pages of this thread it doesn't seem likely.........

What default rate do you want to arrive at?

I have close to 10% default rate by loans. By Cash it is 5% ish.
If you keep doubling a loan book and doing short loans, your default rate will look very good. (The Anglo model).

I stopped lending on Linked because it has been ineffective in following up on bad loans.

It is now a borrowers market and Linked is not at the prime end. I have not bothered looking at many loans on the past years but cash flow issues loomed large when I was lending.

Their income structure insulates them from the effect of bad loans. If it did not, things might be different.

Scottie99

With a recession looming, I’m pulling out my cash as it can only get worse.

Shelflife

sceach16 wrote: »

What default rate do you want to arrive at?

I have close to 10% default rate by loans. By Cash it is 5% ish.
If you keep doubling a loan book and doing short loans, your default rate will look very good. (The Anglo model).

I stopped lending on Linked because it has been ineffective in following up on bad loans.

It is now a borrowers market and Linked is not at the prime end. I have not bothered looking at many loans on the past years but cash flow issues loomed large when I was lending.

Their income structure insulates them from the effect of bad loans. If it did not, things might be different.

Incidentally, their quoted figure is seriously misleading. They base their default rate (thats our money) on total loans to 31 March 2019 including 11million lent during 2019 which according to their criteria (90 days arrears) could not be in default.

Principal outstanding on loans not performing 90+ days as a percentage of total loan book excluding loans issued within last 90 days.

That’s from LF website , so you are incorrect to say their figures are misleading.

sceach16

Shelflife wrote: »

Principal outstanding on loans not performing 90+ days as a percentage of total loan book excluding loans issued within last 90 days.

That’s from LF website , so you are incorrect to say their figures are misleading.

Since U have faith in the linked website go to the Q1, 2019 loan report. Its in the blog. It quotes a default rate of 0.93 % on loans of 92 million including 11 million originated in Q1.


When U have done that , maybe U will come back to the forum and comment appropriately.

Incidentally, the statement you refer on the website was put there after complaints from my self and others on this forum. Words come cheap to Linked.

Shelflife

Default Rate 1.05%

Principal outstanding on loans not performing 90 days + as a percentage of total loan book excluding loans issued within last 90 days

Total loans €92.09

Default loans 70

Default principal €850,000

The default rate is 0.93% on the total loan book and 1.05% excluding the new loans.

Is that appropriate enough for you. The 0.93% rate is quoted at the very bottom of the blog, the 1.05% is quoted in the main section.

By the way I’m no apologist for LF they have their faults as do other platforms.

Their loan book has grown by 8 fold since 2015 and in the same time their default rate has virtually remained the same up by only 7% in the same time.

That would suggest to me that they are getting their act together with who they lend to and also getting better at collecting debts.

I’m not interested in bitching with other posters, I’m interested in learning from other people’s experiences so that we all can avoid the numerous pitfalls that are out there.

sceach16

Shelflife wrote: »

Default Rate 1.05%

Principal outstanding on loans not performing 90 days + as a percentage of total loan book excluding loans issued within last 90 days

Total loans €92.09

Default loans 70

Default principal €850,000

The default rate is 0.93% on the total loan book and 1.05% excluding the new loans.

Is that appropriate enough for you. The 0.93% rate is quoted at the very bottom of the blog, the 1.05% is quoted in the main section.

By the way I’m no apologist for LF they have their faults as do other platforms.

Their loan book has grown by 8 fold since 2015 and in the same time their default rate has virtually remained the same up by only 7% in the same time.

That would suggest to me that they are getting their act together with who they lend to and also getting better at collecting debts.

I’m not interested in bitching with other posters, I’m interested in learning from other people’s experiences so that we all can avoid the numerous pitfalls that are out there.

The misleading rate is quoted as it has been for years.....they havent changed.

Some of the other pitfalls that are out there....... .
Additionally, default rates are quoted overall...so a 6 month loan has the same weighting as a 36 month loan or a 24 month loan or a 12 month loan or a loan that is paid off early.


More of the other pitfalls that are out there.


Repeat. If loan book doubles and doubles and doubles....beware!

daheff

sceach16 wrote: »

Repeat. If loan book doubles and doubles and doubles....beware!

beware anyway. interest rates are just too low for the risk being taken here.

smurfsturf

Heaven Happy Shower wrote: »

Have LF made a profit yet? They launched in 2013, so would have expected to be in the green by now.

2016 was a 1.2 million loss
2017 was a 1.1 million loss

I cannot find any data for 2018? Does anyone have a link to their financial results for 2018?

The company year end has changed to 31st December so the 2018 accounts are due by 30-09-2019. Nothing has been filed with the CRO yet, so sit tight!

The accounts for the preceding 8 months to 31st Dec 2017 show accumulated losses of...
2.2M as at 30-04-2016
3.3M as at 30-04-2017, and
3.8M as at 31-12-2017

Cash on hand as at 31-12-2017 = 1.5M

The losses do not unduly worry me though as the cash generated from fee income is likely to have increased substantially in line with the increase in lending during 2018/2019, so if they haven't ramped up their expenditure in recent times they should now be cash flow positive and no longer burning through the cash pile - this is just a supposition of course as they are not required to produce a P&L statement with their audited accounts. There will however be a lag in reported profitability as fee income from investors and borrower completion fees is booked to profit over the term of the agreements, not upfront.

What is of real concern to me however is the fact the auditors do not report on the investor monies held in the escrow bank account and the amounts tied up in the loan portfolio. Note 3.2 in the accounts regarding client monies states...

"The company holds client monies as a trustee on behalf of clients. Client monies are held in a segregated designated client bank account with a bank which is not the company's bank. As client monies are not held for the benefit of the company, such monies are not included in the company's financial statements."

In fact I cannot find any info on who independently scrutinizes monies held on behalf of investor clients.


So the only funding-related information provided by the company indicating how investors money is being employed is what is included in the quarterly arrears report on their web site blog! The veracity of this information, such as the running loan balances, aged-debtor arrears, etc., is not challenged or reported on by the auditors which is totally unacceptable.

It is for this reason alone that I will not be investing in this p2p business.

FinanceDublin

Last payment from The Fishman now 100 days ago. Still no further update despite one promised at the end of May, no payment on their revised payment schedule, and no response from LF either. Very surprising.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I would suggest you try them on Twitter here you go. I expect it'll get you a response.

FinanceDublin wrote: »

Last payment from The Fishman now 100 days ago. Still no further update despite one promised at the end of May, no payment on their revised payment schedule, and no response from LF either. Very surprising.

Shelflife

Anyone have a workaround for the €10 charge on withdrawing your own money ?

Just noticed that if you withdraw more than 4 times in a year you will be hit with a €10 charge for each extra withdrawal.

Wheety

Shelflife wrote: »

Anyone have a workaround for the €10 charge on withdrawing your own money ?

Just noticed that if you withdraw more than 4 times in a year you will be hit with a €10 charge for each extra withdrawal.

Don't think there is one. I've only been withdrawing quarterly because of it.

Wheety

sceach16 wrote: »

What default rate do you want to arrive at?

I have close to 10% default rate by loans. By Cash it is 5% ish.

Mine is similar actually. 11% of the loans are in default. Around 5% of amount loaned.

The only ones holding me with LF is the loans in default. All others have been paid. Could be stuck with them for a while yet :mad:

chris2000

Just to give everyone an update on my linkedfinance experience.


As with many other posters I have started to withdraw all my funds - reluctantly as really would like to support an Irish peer to peer lender.

I am running at an net return of 1.13% after about 4 years investing. Far too little for the amount of risk involved.

Likely this return won't increase too much.

Far better returns on Mintos.

Thanks to all the regular posters here - very interesting to hear others experiences.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

1.13% ...is that a typo?

chris2000

Unfortunately not

Wheety

chris2000 wrote: »

Unfortunately not

Yeah, I said something similar recently. People need to stop believing LF's headline figure on your account. Looks like that's the average of the rate you got when lending.

However if you actually work it out yourself, taking account of defaults, you'll be surprised.

urgecaution

I'm working at 5.3% including all defaults.

Wheety

urgecaution wrote: »

I'm working at 5.3% including all defaults.

And tax?

sceach16

My loans in default fell from 13 to 12 today! Craftworks brewery is now classified as early settled! BUT it repaid 59%.


While I am happy to get anything from default loans, it's classification by Linked as the same as other early settled is ridiculous and misleading .



Incidentally, no notification from Linked about this.