P2P Sector Proving Popular – Plus Our How-To IFISA Guide

It’s always interesting to see how the rapidly expanding peer-to-peer (P2P) sector is valued. Today, we look at a report from our friends at P2P Financial News on a capital-raising effort by a P2P player that is moving from private to public.

PEER-TO-PEER lender Ablrate will open its £350,000 crowdfunding campaign to the general public on Friday 1 February, after raising £156,000 through private investments.

The campaign, which is now live on Crowdcube, was initially launched on 11 January with the goal of raising £350,000, but Ablrate’s chief executive David Bradley-Ward said that he would accept a total of £1m in investments, should the campaign exceed its target. In return for their investment, the Crowdcube funders are being offered shared equity of 1.3 per cent in Ablrate, which values the P2P lender at £26m.

Other than the fact that P2P seems like a popular and highly valued sector, we have at present no further comment to make.

Meanwhile, new loans are expected on site shortly – this will help lenders to diversify their portfolio and so spread risk.

A Process Guide To Innovative Finance ISA Investment

All loans on site are eligible to be held in a Money&Co. Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA), up to the annual ISA limit of £20,000. Such loans offer lenders tax-free income. Our offering is an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) that can hold the peer-to-peer (P2P) business loans that Money&Co. facilitates. For the purposes of this article, the terms ISA and IFISA are interchangeable.

So here’s our guide to the process:

  • Step 1: Register as a lender. Go to the login page, and go through the process that the law requires us to effect. This means we have to do basic checks on you to comply with money-laundering and other security requirements.
  • Step 2: Put money into your account. This is best done by electronic transfer. We can also process paper cheques drawn in favour of Denmark Square Limited, the parent company of Money&Co.
  • Step 3: Buy loans in the loan market. Once you’ve put cash in your account it will sit there – and it won’t earn interest until you’ve bought a piece of a loan. It’s this final step that requires lenders and IFISA investors to be pro-active. Just choose some loans – all loans on the Money&Co. site can be held in an IFISA – and your money will start earning tax-free interest.

The ISA allowance for 2018/19 is unchanged from last tax year at £20,000, allowing a married couple to put £40,000 into a tax-free environment. Over three years, an investment of this scale in two Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISAs would generate £8,400 of income completely free of tax. We’re assuming a 7 per cent return, net of charges and free of tax here.

Once you have made your initial commitment, you might then consider diversifying – buying a spread of loans. To do this, you can go into the “loans for sale” market. All loans bought in this market also qualify for IFISA tax benefits.

Risk: Security, Access, Yield

Do consider not just the return, but the security and the ease of access to your investment. We write regularly about these three key factors. Here’s one of several earlier articles on security, access and yield.



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Disclaimer: Money&Co.™ is the trading name of Denmark Square Limited, Company Number 08561817, registered in England & Wales, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company is identified on the Financial Services Register under Reference Number 727325. The registered office is 58 Glentham Road, Barnes, London, SW13 9JJ where the register of Directors may be inspected. Denmark Square Limited (ISA manager reference number Z1932) manages the Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISA.