Assetz Capital Peer to Peer Lending - New Account Offers Instant Access Savings at 7% !

Introducing the Assetz Great British Business Account (GBBA)

Too good to be true?  Read on ..

Assetz Capital have just introduced a THIRD Peer to Peer Lending Account.  Until recently, they had:

• A Manual Loan Investment Account where you build your own portfolio of loans
• A Green Energy Income Account that pays 7% 

The Manual Account typically pays around 11% on average with a package of self-selected secured (against property) loans.  There is no protection fund.  The Green Account automatically selects green loans (wind turbines, solar etc.) for you making a balanced, protected, portfolio at a fixed interest of 7%.

The good news with the Green Fund is it is highly liquid.  In other words you can (normally) get most of your money out very quickly.

Ratesetter Comparison 

This compares very favourably with, for example, Ratesetter, where you currently get 5.9% in the 5 year market.  This is decidedly NOT liquid in that it takes 5 YEARS to get all your money back and there are heavy penalties for early withdrawal.

The GBBA

So what about the third account, the GBBA?  This is similar in operation to the Green Account but this one offers 7% based on loans to Small to Medium British Enterprises (SME).  Like the Green Account it is protected by a contingency fund.

Some Assetz customers have been cautious about the future of Green Investment so this new fund offers a great alternative to park some cash temporarily and still get a really good rate of interest without too much risk.

Note that the Manual account includes all the Assetz P2P loans while the Green and Business Accounts each include a relevant subset of these according to the fund type (Green or Small Business).

'Hands On' verses 'Leave Alone'

While the Manual account is fairly 'hands on' and involves moderate risk, the Green and Business accounts are much safer and require virtually no management.  In other words, You deposit some cash in your Assetz account then transfer it into the GBBA.  When you want the money back you withdraw it from the GBBA and hopefully it will quickly appear in your cash account where you can transfer it back to your current account.  Tres simple!

Warning

Please note that I have no particular preference for Assetz Capital but, as other Assetz lenders have done, I have purchased a few shares in the company.  So please don't take this as a recommendation.  Make up your own mind as to whether this is a good deal for you and beware of investing too much in any single Peer to Peer platform.

As with all investing, DIVERSIFICATION is key.  Happy Lending!

An Introduction to Lending via Assetz Capital

Assetz Capital, Green Energy Income Account

The first Asset-based lending platform I tried was Assetz Capital.  In this type of platform the sum lent is secured against a tangable asset such as land, property or even at artwork or a plane.  I built up my Assetz investment to around £3000 with an average interest rate of 11%.  This included £500 in their Green Energy Income Account. 

The target interest of this account is 7% and it is invested in a range of green products such as windfarms.  It also includes a contingency fund to protect the lender from defaults.  This fund appears to have high liquidity as you can normally withdraw your money almost immediately (I’ve tried this and it works).

This fund is an attractive option for those who like to keep lending relatively safe, have (hopefully) instant access and a good interest rate (7%).  This compares favourably with Ratesetter where the five year rate is currently falling and today stands at only 5.5%.

Assetz Capital, Manual Loan Investment Account

The rest of my money is in the Assetz Manual Loan Investment Account.  You can browse the Loan Book and buy any loans not fully invested.  Interest rates are typically 9% to 18% and the term of the loans are anything from 6 months (bridging loans) to 5 years.  You can also specify if you wish to increase or decrease the size of your existing loans.  This creates a secondary market where you can generally get your money out or buy into new or existing loans as they become available.  Arguably there is less risk of ultimate loss of capital as all loans are secured against assets such as property.  It is still prudent to diversify and spread your money across the platform rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.

With Assetz you will find some loans are labelled ‘Investments Paused’.  This means the loan can no longer be bought or sold due to irregularities in borrower repayments or a default.  This currently means that these funds are inaccessible to the lender.  However the contract with the borrower often stipulates that the interest rate then increases so you can hope that eventually, even if the asset needs to be sold, you will be adequately rewarded once the issue is resolved.

Note that there have recently been some misgivings from Assetz lenders as to the number of loans that are ‘paused’ and I personally currently have 5 of my 20 or so Assetz loans paused.  However, this issue is currently being addressed by Assetz and I personally remain confident in the platform.

I’ve more recently joined Saving Steam, Ablrate and Money Thing and I’ll describe these platforms in future posts.