LinkedFinance - new website

lusk29

lcwill wrote: »

......

I just started using Mintos too - but I am only lending on mortgages, car loans and asset backed business loans where the assets are worth at least 70% of the loans. These seem to be the criteria which result in fewest defaults judging by the data they release but so far it has been hard to find many loans to invest in so I haven't even been able to lend my original E1000 yet and it has been a few weeks. I am only doing E10/loan though and after my Bondora experience I am not going to relax my criteria just to lend the money.

I've registered for Mintos, the website looks very good. I presumed as most loans have a buyback, that they are all equally safe. I'm just wondering about why your criteria is important if all loans are guaranteed? Just trying to understand it a bit more before transferring money to Mintos.

spudwould

lusk29 wrote: »

I've registered for Mintos, the website looks very good. I presumed as most loans have a buyback, that they are all equally safe. I'm just wondering about why your criteria is important if all loans are guaranteed? Just trying to understand it a bit more before transferring money to Mintos.

Hi Lusk,

Not all loans are guaranteed .. as with any other loan you need to check out the lender.
Some mortgages are guaranteed, "A" rating business loans are guaranteed, secured car loans and most personal loans up to 577 euro are guaranteed.

Like I say I have had a few defaults but I do not worry as I know that the principle will be paid to me after 60 days ... but most are paid before as the lending company buys back the loan.

Hope this helps a bit.

EDIT
You do not have to start off big as you can invest as little as 10 euro and see how it goes for you.
...

lusk29

spudwould wrote: »

Hi Lusk,

Not all loans are guaranteed .. as with any other loan you need to check out the lender.
Some mortgages are guaranteed, "A" rating business loans are guaranteed, secured car loans and most personal loans up to 577 euro are guaranteed.

Like I say I have had a few defaults but I do not worry as I know that the principle will be paid to me after 60 days ... but most are paid before as the lending company buys back the loan.

Hope this helps a bit.

EDIT
You do not have to start off big as you can invest as little as 10 euro and see how it goes for you.
...

thats great, I'm going to try with a small amount at first as you suggested and see what happens.

lusk29

manafana wrote: »

Have boards or anyone being open to a LF section or another thread to discuss open Loans?
Todays loan doesn't look a bad one, that area of business is picking up, and a directors guarantee is always a little help to investors should things go wrong.

cronos wrote: »

I think we should share our analysis summaries on there for each business. Would be interesting to get each other's view.

I've just started lending on Linkedfinance, would anyone be interested in giving their opinion on the loans currently listed on the website? I've added my list below and the businesses I'm lending to, just wondering if others agree/disagree with me as I've no business/accounting experience.

Solar Craft - YES
Equine Acres - YES
Matthew Britton Carpets And Flooring - YES
Retroshop Dublin - YES ('-' no balance sheet '+' in business long time)
Ber Franks - YES ('-' no balance sheet '+' no overdrafts or bank loans)
S&L Gas Distributors - YES
Abbeyset Print and Design - YES
C Fish - YES ('+' high net assets '+' high net profit)

Coppinger Row - Undecided ('-' net assets are -70k, '-' large 50k loan, '-' new location)
Patton Interiors - Undecided ('-' large loss in 2014)
MOC Tyres - Undecided ('-' no balance sheet, '-' 2nd loan from LF)
Pat Lee Electrical Pumps - Undecided ('-' negative net assets, '+' this is first time they needed a loan in 28 years)

ShoulderChip

lusk29 wrote: »

I've just started lending on Linkedfinance, would either of you be interested in giving your opinion on the loans currently listed on the website? I've added my list below and a comment after some of them:

Solar Craft - YES
Equine Acres - YES
Matthew Britton Carpets And Flooring - YES
Retroshop Dublin - YES (no balance sheet but in business long time)
Ber Franks - YES (no balance sheet but claims no overdrafts or bank loans)
S&L Gas Distributors - YES
Abbeyset Print and Design - YES
C Fish - YES (high net assets, high net profit)

Coppinger Row - undecided (net assets are -70k, large 50k loan, new location)
Patton Interiors - undecided (large loss in 2014)
MOC Tyres - undecided (no balance sheet, 2nd loan from LF)
Pat Lee Electrical Pumps - undecided ('-' negative net assets '+'this is first time they needed a loan in 28 years)

Thank you for that, it is incredibly useful

TheSheriff

Coppinger row is one which I would have said YES on - while I appreciate what you say above re: their assets, the fact that Ive been in the business and know of its popularity sways me towards a yes,

Smiler1955

Just invested €100 for Equine Acres and Solar Craft. Might drop into Coppinger Row over St.Patricks weekend and check it out for myself, tasty!

duefrine

Matthew Britton Carpets And Flooring Ltd

Any thoughts on the above lone ?

1 hour left 80% funded, asking 50,000.......

lusk29

duefrine wrote: »

Matthew Britton Carpets And Flooring Ltd

Any thoughts on the above lone ?

1 hour left 80% funded, asking 50,000.......

reduced to 45,000 with 15 minutes to go

tadcan

Still not enough, closed of just under 98%. There are two more loans of 50k coming up just two days apart. Seems like to high for the current lender base.

lusk29

tadcan wrote: »

Still not enough, closed of just under 98%. There are two more loans of 50k coming up just two days apart. Seems like to high for the current lender base.

I see this in the FAQ, so it looks like its OK once its over 90%. If they hadn't reduced by 5k then it would only have been 88% funded.

13. What happens if my loan does not become fully funded?
If your loan request has not been fully funded within the bidding competition period but has achieved at least 90% of the requested value we can still proceed to fund your loan request for that amount achieved at the end of the auction period.

For ever odd

Why are companies going through linked finance instead of banks?

Is it high risk that the banks won't take on, or what?

spudwould

lusk29 wrote: »

I see this in the FAQ, so it looks like its OK once its over 90%. If they hadn't reduced by 5k then it would only have been 88% funded.

13. What happens if my loan does not become fully funded?
If your loan request has not been fully funded within the bidding competition period but has achieved at least 90% of the requested value we can still proceed to fund your loan request for that amount achieved at the end of the auction period.

If a loan is not fully funded then the loan request is denied.
IN last nights case the loan was 97.9% funded.. which would usually be processed.
This was the usual procedure up to lately as it has only been lately that Linked Finance are dropping the size of the loan if an application is not fully funded and looks likely to fail.

If a loan is not fully funded this shows to me "that investors do not have the confidence that the company can pay back the loan" ... then LF go and drop the application total so that the loan is accepted.
To me this seems desperation to get as many loans on their books as possible with disregard to the lenders and their decision not to fully fund a loan.!

However I did not see an issue with the application last night.

TheSheriff

For ever odd wrote: »

Why are companies going through linked finance instead of banks?

Is it high risk that the banks won't take on, or what?

Id also be interested in this - maybe the banks over the period of the load cost more?

manafana

TheSheriff wrote: »

Id also be interested in this - maybe the banks over the period of the load cost more?

Bank rates on unsecured loans would be quiet high, this is an easier method of getting cash, but given the stupid tax system its not working well, till its taxes like investments it won't grow in my view

lusk29

spudwould wrote: »

If a loan is not fully funded then the loan request is denied.
IN last nights case the loan was 97.9% funded.. which would usually be processed.
This was the usual procedure up to lately as it has only been lately that Linked Finance are dropping the size of the loan if an application is not fully funded and looks likely to fail.

If a loan is not fully funded this shows to me "that investors do not have the confidence that the company can pay back the loan" ... then LF go and drop the application total so that the loan is accepted.
To me this seems desperation to get as many loans on their books as possible with disregard to the lenders and their decision not to fully fund a loan.!

However I did not see an issue with the application last night.

I got an email about last nights loan: "The xxxxxx Ltd loan has been withdrawn from the marketplace and as a result we have returned your bids totaling €50 to your Linked Finance account.", but it doesn't say why it was withdrawn.

I agree that the loan amount shouldn't be reduced, especially just a few minutes before the loan ends just to get it over 90% funded.

tadcan

They are withdrawn by the applicant, who doesn't have to accept the loan if the interest is too high.

manafana

think along with looking at BS you need to look at the business area, sometimes length in business isn't important.

Areas such as Solar, Water, gas and other growth areas should be good loan openings.

OttoPilot

For ever odd wrote: »

Why are companies going through linked finance instead of banks?

Is it high risk that the banks won't take on, or what?

It's definitely more expensive going to a bank, and more scrutiny on their accounts.

Plus banks have been stung by reckless lending practices in the last recession. They are now being forced to take on SME loans by the credit review office. If there is another crash caused by reckless banking I would not like to be in their shoes. :P

Yurple

hi I'm brand new to linked finance and placed a bid on the solar panel company and the print company. The print company ended a day ago and the solar company last night.

I checked both pages and my bids are still green not red / rejected.

What happens next ? I read the faq and it states they have 5 days to accept the loan now? Can they still reject other bids? Do we get email notifications?

Sorry for my many questions but I tried reading all their faq and can't find the process after making a bid.

I would think a company wants to accept the loan as soon as possible.

Cute Hoor

Yurple wrote: »

hi I'm brand new to linked finance and placed a bid on the solar panel company and the print company. The print company ended a day ago and the solar company last night.

I checked both pages and my bids are still green not red / rejected.

What happens next ? I read the faq and it states they have 5 days to accept the loan now? Can they still reject other bids? Do we get email notifications?

Sorry for my many questions but I tried reading all their faq and can't find the process after making a bid.

I would think a company wants to accept the loan as soon as possible.

Welcome on board!

The business has now to accept the loan from Linked Finance, the vast majority of businesses do, but the odd loan is never completed for whatever reason, it could take a couple of days for this process to complete - there is one that is waiting 11 days for a decision at the moment but this is very unusual. If the business rejects the loan you will get an email from LF saying so and the money will be refunded to your account. Otherwise your bid will move from the 'Bids' tab to the 'Lent' tab as soon as the loan is accepted.

Yurple

Thank you very much. I will just wait and see what happens. I will continue to bid on loans closing soon

at9qu5vp0wcix7

I had a bid recently which was shown as accepted in the seconds before closing. However, upon closing, my bid along with about a dozen or so around me were also rejected. A bit annoying that it is not entirely real-time in stating if a bid is accepted or rejected.

Smiler1955

Coppinger Row have just posted a very generous special offer today, one of the best I've seen offered of late.

manafana

Mila Calm Ax wrote: »

I had a bid recently which was shown as accepted in the seconds before closing. However, upon closing, my bid along with about a dozen or so around me were also rejected. A bit annoying that it is not entirely real-time in stating if a bid is accepted or rejected.

this the least of the issues, always possible you can lose out if you try go for the highest rate at the time, best to go .1% under

sceach16

Mila Calm Ax wrote: »

I had a bid recently which was shown as accepted in the seconds before closing. However, upon closing, my bid along with about a dozen or so around me were also rejected. A bit annoying that it is not entirely real-time in stating if a bid is accepted or rejected.

It is not entirely real time but fairly close. A lot of people try and squeeze the best rate last minute, it's probably better to go a few pips below. Better for blood pressure anyway !

Smiler1955

I have noticed recently alot of borrowers are not accepting their loan offers because of high interest rates,i.e Patton Interiors today rejected. Personally I go in a sub-11% all the time and find that I get accepted on most loans.

sceach16

Smiler1955 wrote: »

I have noticed recently alot of borrowers are not accepting their loan offers because of high interest rates,i.e Patton Interiors today rejected. Personally I go in a sub-11% all the time and find that I get accepted on most loans.

Yes but if you bid 11 and I bid 13 and the borrower accepts an average 12, I am happier than you ! More seriously, it is a decision to be made by each individual as to what to bid. I started at 10% ish but now bid closer (much) to 15.

Cute Hoor

Smiler1955 wrote: »

I have noticed recently alot of borrowers are not accepting their loan offers because of high interest rates,i.e Patton Interiors today rejected. Personally I go in a sub-11% all the time and find that I get accepted on most loans.

It's not just because of high interest rates that loans don't go through. I had one a couple of months ago that was sitting in my 'Bids' tab for ages. I queried it with LF and they said that they were waiting for the business to provide them with some additional information, the business didn't comply and the loan eventually lapsed. I suspect something similar with Patton Interiors. this loan closed 11 days ago and it took until today to resolve it.

spudwould

Smiler1955 wrote: »

I have noticed recently alot of borrowers are not accepting their loan offers because of high interest rates,i.e Patton Interiors today rejected. Personally I go in a sub-11% all the time and find that I get accepted on most loans.

Personally I try and get as close to the 15% as possible.
After all if they went to a bank they would have a higher interest rate.
If you got the full 15% and linked finance take their cut you are lending at approx 13% so over 3yrs it is 4.25% which I think if a fair rate.

I see lenders giving loans @ 8% ... which is about 2% a year after LF cut and after DIRT it is about 1.2% a year!
Doesn't make sense to me! Either they have a big wallet .. a big heart and want to help companies .... or do not realize their returns.