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Popular automotive leasing company Concept has come to rebuildingsociety.com to pursue its next round of growth and improvements.
Paul Bulloch launched this venture 12 years ago because he was ready to step out on his own after many years as a businessman. As his business continues to grow, he proves the automotive industry is in his blood.
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With decades of commercial experience under his belt, Aidan Jewitt has set his sites on a new venture.
With the help of the rebuildingsociety.com community, Jewitt aims to raise £100,000 to purchase beloved destination pub The Gray Ox the loan and make improvements to the property.
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“P2P sheds ‘alternative’ label and moves into mainstream,” Financial Times
“This is not just finance ‘by the people, to the people’ any more. Increasingly it’s about big business now,” said Warren Mead, a head of financial technology at advisory firm KPMG.
“Africa’s big banks are betting on fintech startups and bitcoin to beat disruption,” Quartz
Financial technology has been crucial to many Africans for years, as telcos gave many people access to finance for the first time. Now, more banks are working to popularize international fintech solutions like bitcoin and blockchain throughout the continent.
“Peer-to-peer lending: everything you need to know about the leading websites,” The Telegraph
Thorough analysis of Britain’s four biggest lenders from The Telegraph.
“Online P2P lenders eye high street move,” Financial Times
More online lenders are pursuing brick-and-mortar opportunities. For example, mortgage lender LendInvest hopes purchase an existing “offline” lender.
We value your input. From recent communication with our lender audience we understand some key priorities and have been working to bring you noticeable improvements on:
We will continue working hard on the things you ask us to improve.
In the coming months, you will have the opportunity to decide which platform has the privilege to be your ISA Manager. This is a new type of ISA that is different to a cash ISA because you receive monthly repayments from borrowers, so the Innovative Finance ISA gives you a compounding benefit that may benefit you more than with a cash ISA or Shares ISA, but as with Shares ISA your capital is at some risk.
We understand that some lenders have more passive than active lending habits… While we would normally encourage you to carefully pick and choose the business you lend to, we understand that some lenders may not have the time to pick & choose each business. For this reason, we are proposing to introduce a provision fund and make this available to our passive investors who select a lower yielding IF ISA. This will work by allowing lenders to set their lending preferences and where there is a match it will opt-in automatically to qualifying loans. Lenders will be able to opt out of any loan by selling parts on the secondary market, subject to demand.
In this survey we will ask some questions about your lending habits, your preferred option for an IF ISA and your thoughts on our performance. Please be in a good mood…
With two decades of retail success under its belt in London, Monga’s is ready to expand its brand of high quality Asian clothing with larger premises.
Monga’s is known for its rich fabrics, customized design and excellent customer service. This company is special in that it owns both the factories in India where its garments are produced and the storefront in London where they are sold. After starting a successful export business in 1996, the company opened its London store in 2004. Demand for Monga’s formal traditional Indian and Western-style garments continues to grow, and the company is ready to rise to the occasion. They have identified premises that will double the current retail floor space and also improve walk-in traffic at the new location on the ground floor of a busy commercial center.
They seek a £185,000 loan from the rebuildingsociety.com community to acquire and refurbish the space.
More space means more business
“Right now, our customers come to us via word of mouth because we’re up on the fourth floor, and we have a lot of products we can’t display,” said Ankit Monga. “In the new retail premises, we’ll have a huge market presence because we’ll be on the ground floor of a very busy street. We’ll add new lines of products and be able to serve a greater number of customers at once.”
And their experience will be improved, as they have more space to walk around and comfort in making their choices.
Monga’s is beloved for its reasonable pricing and bespoke customization options. Now is the time to bring those benefits to more customers than ever, Monga said.
A steady financial history
Monga’s had no problem paying off the loan they took to acquire the current premises, and business projections are strong. The Monga family is confident that this will be a good investment for rebuildingsociety lenders.
“We have arranged our own funds to pay the premium, and the loan will allow us to refurbish the space,” Monga said. “As so much of our own capital is invested into the business, we are taking on more risk than the lenders, so they can feel confident in our commitment to improve our profits and repay the loan.”
The loan is to be supported by way of a director’s personal guarantee as well as a charge over the leasehold property for which the loan is being used to purchase.
You can learn more about this loan opportunity in the profile and discussion.
The biggest news in the UK P2P lending world this week was negative comments from Adair Turner about the P2P industry.
Turner is the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the predecessor of the FCA. Turner told the BBC, “The losses which will emerge from peer-to-peer lending over the next five to 10 years will make the bankers look like lending geniuses.” Of course, P2P experts were quick to set him straight. Christine Farnish published her thoughts, writing “All members of the P2PFA operate to high standards of transparency and business conduct…All members of the P2PFA operate to high standards of transparency and business conduct…I challenge anyone to find this level of transparency in any other part of the financial services market.”
Other P2P leaders sounded off too: “The peer-to-peer industry is both broad and diverse, and to paint it with a single brush stroke as dangerous is ultimately unhelpful for consumers,” said Landbay CEO John Goodall.
In other news:
“Credit unions beginning to embrace fintech: ‘The way Canadians use financial services is rapidly changing,” via Financial Post
British Columbia’s First West Credit Union and Vancouver-based Grow have formed a new alliance designed to serve B.C. residents. And an Ontario credit union has announced plans to offer unsecured lines of credit through its own online platform. Financial leaders agree that the way Canadians use credit is changing, and companies are working hard to adapt.
“P2P lending: Four predictions for 2016,” via City A.M.
One P2P lending executive offers some insight into the coming year. As entrants to the industry rise, so may defaults, he writes, and the Innovative Finance ISA will continue to be front and center of the industry’s development.
At rebuildingsociety, we are pleased to be collaborating with investUP, an investment aggregator that launched last year – and today, they have a brand new website that will make the user experience even more seamless and powerful.
At investUP, users can streamline their investing experience across 25+ crowdfunding sites from one account. This is ideal for investors who have accounts on 8-10 platforms, explains co-founder Dom Wolf.
investUP has a simple mission. Says CEO James Tuckett: “We’ve focused the platform on the very real challenges faced by the crowdfunding industry today. Today investing isn’t an everyday thing – it’s associated with those in the know. Today savings and investment options for regular people are rubbish. If you’re one of the 99% you’d be lucky to earn yourself a measly 1% return. Well, our answer is a people friendly portal to access the entire P2P & crowdfunding market, and we’re launching it at Finovate today.”
rebuildingsociety is built upon that same passion for making high-return investing accessible to the masses, which makes this a particularly apt partnership. And rebuildingsociety’s exemplary API makes it even easier for investUP users to lend to rebuildingsociety borrowers.
“We’re trying to encourage more and more sites to have APIs, and we’d be happy if more sites used rebuildingsociety’s API because we’ve done all the work to integrate it,” said Wolf.
As investUP moves into its next phase with a new website and many new features, rebuildingsociety remains enthusiastic about the collaboration. Says rebuildingsociety managing director Daniel Rajkumar:
“We’re excited to be a featured platform on investUP, an aggregator that shares our goal of bringing smart investment opportunities to everyone. Our API allows InvestUP users to seamlessly lend to rebuildingsociety borrowers. InvestUP are a great team and we look forward to building on this relationship for years to come.”
You can visit investUP’s new website today!The site includes new features, including Club Up, an social tool that gamifies the investing process and allows users to connect with other lenders, see what they’re lending and more. The site has also improved its search mechanism to take the guesswork out of the process. A semi-randomized search will present users with a set of opportunities from among the more than 100-150 deals available at any time.
We believe this partnership represents a growing interest in P2P lending throughout the UK as well as the industry’s ever-expanding capacity to adapt to technology, promote small businesses and put user’s needs first and foremost.
Hull Boxes & Packaging has been in operations for 2.5 years and its director Richard Britton hopes a successful loan application at rebuildingsociety.com will help the company seize a growth opportunity with a new marketing campaign.
Hull is a family owned and independent business, and Britton says his friendly and hard-working personality shines through in the ethics of the company. He grew up in the packaging industry and is dedicated to providing a positive customer experience.
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“Peer-to-peer power? Finance tech comes to solar energy,” Business Green
P2P companies like Mosaic and Open Energy seek environmentally-motivated investors specifically to support projects like solar panels. Leaders in both industries are excited about the opportunities for potential partnerships.
“Estonia Based Investly Launches P2P Lending in the UK,” Crowdfund Insider
Investly has launched operations in the UK following a €600,000 investment. The Estonia-based company is an invoice finance platform targeting SMEs.
“London Is The European King Of Fintech, For Now,” Forbes
Responsive regulatory structures, strong tech infrastructure, and plenty of capital are among the chief reasons that London maintains relative dominance in the fintech sector, according to Forbes.
“The State Of P2P Lending,” TechCrunch
A nice breakdown of the history of P2P lending and some predictions for the future.