Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey. Your feedback is invaluable and will inform future decisions, enabling us to improve. Let's look at some key insights...
COVID-19 Response
⇒ Three-quarters of respondents agreed with our COVID-19 related borrower concessions; 3% disagreed.
⇒ A clear majority (66%) have been able to access funds when needed; 7% disagreed.
⇒ Two-thirds agree with the decision to list fewer loans on the platform; 7% disagreed.
Prospects for the Future
⇒ 70% are optimistic about COVID-19 and the economy in 2022.
⇒ Over half of respondents agree with an intention to lend to more businesses in 2022. One-sixth of respondents (17%) are reluctant to lend to more businesses at the moment.
⇒ 45% of respondents agree with a preference to lend to lower risk businesses, compared to 19% who disagree.
⇒ There was marginal support (32%) for the firm to take on higher risk businesses like tourism, retail and hospitality in an effort to support the economy.
Overall, lenders felt positive about rebuildingsociety.com’s response to COVID-19. Going forward we will track the timeliness of recovery action and report on this KPI, with our Board of Directors overseeing performance of the enforcement action more closely. We will also improve communication with lenders regarding defaulted loans.
We also took the opportunity to find out more about our lenders with additional survey questions. Please read on for further insights followed by our responses. In all graphs below, the figures are the number of individual responses for each option.
While most lenders are in full-time employment (56%), a significant portion of lenders rely on a pension (12%).
My income is mainly earned from...
Generally, pensioners would be discouraged from taking on higher risk investments. We will ensure that our marketing activity does not promote P2P lending as a ‘pension top-up’. We will stress in any marketing content which mentions pensions that all lenders should be sure of their ability to bear loss.
8% are divesting rapidly, whereas only 2% are investing more rapidly. The largest tranche, at 47%, are holding their investment.
On the rebuildingsociety.com platform, I am...
This may be symptomatic of not having had loans available on the platform for 2 months prior to the survey. We are working to bring new loans to the platform, however we only want to add loans when we feel they are of interest to lenders and will be 100% funded, and most importantly, when the applicant has passed our credit risk process. It’s positive to see that during the last 24 months of turbulence the majority of the platform’s lenders are either maintaining or increasing their level of investment on the platform.
For 51% of lenders, P2P lending represents more than 10% of their total investments.
Of my total investments, P2P lending represents...
These figures align with our platform stats on lender classification, and it’s encouraging to see that largely lenders are using P2P lending in a risk-adjusted manner, and are by and large not investing significant chunks of their assets into P2P.
76% of respondents have either no current P2P investments or have less than 20% of their total P2P investments with rebuildingsociety.com.
Of my P2P investments, rebuildingsociety.com has...
The overall sentiment seems to be that there are not enough loans on the platform to allow for a diverse portfolio. One lender succinctly commented, ‘We need more businesses to sign up - it's been very dry recently.’ As a firm, we will work to bring more loans to the platform but need to manage this against the risk the applicants pose to investors; our recent partnership with Basildon Council is one example of how we are reaching out to business owners.
32% of respondents feel rebuildingsociety.com is doing well compared to other P2P platforms, with an additional 40% saying it is doing ok. 15% are waiting for improvement before ‘investing seriously’.
Relative to other platforms, rebuildingsociety.com is...
Additional feedback provided by lenders in response to this question has been informative. We will take the following actions:
- improve our communication regarding defaulted loans
- improve communication and education on risk-mitigating features such as the BuyBack Guarantee
- improve our outreach to businesses to bring more, ideally lower risk, loans to the platform.
Overall, lenders agreed that P2P lending is high risk, that our Appropriateness Test helped to inform them of the risks, and that new lenders should limit P2P lending to 10% of investible assets.
Regulation: to what extent to you agree...
We will continue to provide clear risk warnings on financial promotions and marketing material. It is good to see that lenders understand the risks involved and that our onboarding processes are proving helpful in helping lenders identify and understand the risks associated with investing.
Lenders are influenced by a variety of factors when choosing loans on the Primary Marketplace:
When choosing loans on the Primary Marketplace, I am most influenced by...
‘Security’ garnered the greatest number of responses, with ‘Profits’ coming in second place. We intend to carry out a focus group to find out more about why lenders decide to bid or not to bid on a particular loan.
Overall, lenders felt positively about the service and support provided by the team at rebuildingsociety.com.
Service and Support: To what extent do you agree…
The balance of likelihood to refer is positive, although 21% disagree. Referral to others might simply not be highly relevant for the group who disagree. Half of respondents do not know staff are helpful in response to calls, possibly suggesting that many do not call. Half of respondents do not know if response to email enquiries is good, possibly suggesting many do not email. These statistics suggest that lenders are able to find the information they require on the website without needing to get in touch with the firm.
71% of respondents have never needed support.
When I've needed support...
Low engagement with our support feature suggests lenders are able to get the answers they need from the platform, meaning that the platform is working efficiently for the firm and for lenders.
94% of respondents have never used the mobile app.
The Mobile app is:
If you have an iPhone, please do try our mobile app. More info is available from our website, and you can download the app from the Apple App Store.
83% of respondents have never used the BuyBack Guarantee.
I've used the BuyBack Guarantee...
The BuyBack Guarantee is available on some Secondary Marketplace microloans. This guarantee aims to reduce your capital risk, with the microloan seller guaranteeing to buy back the loan part in the event of a default. We will as a firm do more to ensure lenders understand the BuyBack Guarantee and consider using it to help further mitigate their investment risk. Find out more about the BuyBack Guarantee.
