Funding Circle www.fundingcircle.com Reviews
Latest Reviews
★★☆☆☆
“Not for the small, time-poor investor”
Written on: 21/03/2013
I have had a very similar experience to Berkobob. I'm only investing small amounts so don't want to spend a lot of time researching every company, but if you autobid you get the ones that everyone else has rejected. Zopa is much better for small lenders. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Its in the small Print”
Written on: 12/03/2013
WE prepared lots of paperwork for the service, carried out all their instructions, and was then told that we didnt qualify for a small technicialty. they shoudl review if you are eligable at the outset, rather than waste your time on a non eligable advance. same approach as the Banks, poor (read more)
★★★☆☆
“Defaults high & poor tracking of arrears”
Written on: 21/02/2013 by lender (1 review written)
Overall FS are ok but I have concerns in 2 areas, their declared default rate verses my experience and accounting for payments made by defaulted companies. I put £15K in Funding Circle two years ago, currently spread over 260 loans, interest earned £2220, fees £208 but losses from 12 defaulted loans is £1280. This may be just bad luck but I doubt it as many were A risk class loans and this is much higher than declared. Hence interest rate is much lowewr than I expected. Against the... (read more)
★★★☆☆
“FC could do better”
Written on: 20/02/2013 by FredBigBand
I would like to suggest the following improvements:- FC must record accurately the financial figures that borrowers submit. Far to often Q&A has to expose the problem. Surly the borrower should check the details before allowing the data to go public. FC should sence check all loan applications and question things that look wrong eg where 12 monthly repayments are greater than the annual turnover. Lenders must have confidence that FC is vetting loans thoroughly to minimise the risk of... (read more)
★★★☆☆
“lost all profit to bad debts”
Written on: 19/02/2013 by Grovebury (1 review written)
Probably my own fault for using the 'auto' invest option but had several bad debts and have still not recovered all my original investment many months later. Not as easy or fast to sell loan parts as I had understood it would be and I would rather see my real percentage return on the summary page not a generic average return which doesn't account for bad debt on my account. Not a good experience, perhaps partly my fault but I wasn't the one assessing the risk potential, Funding Circle did... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Not the service for me”
Written on: 19/02/2013 by BerkoBob
I don't have time to bid for every loan and so I used the autobid function (like I do on Zopa) which, as it turns out, puts you into all the worst risk bids. The people who bid manually get the best bids. I now have so much bad debt that, after tax, I'm making a net loss. At this stage I'm simply hoping to regain my capital. Unless you're willing to review every load application personally, don't use Funding Circle. (read more)
★★★★★
“Good p2p Lending site with good returns”
Written on: 06/12/2012
I have been investing in Funding Circle for just over a year and can honestly say that I have been more and more impressed with their performance. As reported in earlier reviews their site has had some speed and stability issues - but they appear to have all been addressed and the site is now easy to navigate and responds very well. Earlier reviews have criticised the net rate of return as it is not the 9%+ rate that is headlined. I have been keeping a close track on my investment and so far... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Funding Circle - BEWARE or AVOID!”
Written on: 10/11/2012 by taurustime (17 reviews written)
Funding Circle [FC] - Drawn by the allure of a potential 9% on my savings, I decided to dabble in Funding Circle. I invested a 'toe in the water' £2,800 over a 16 different loans, no more than £200 to any one borrower and around £100 to most. Some lenders are in for seriously large numbers of loans and vast sums of money but I like to sleep at night! The concept of making loans to small businesses in challenging times is good but the back office management style is absolutely woeful. ... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Good for business, same for people”
Written on: 02/11/2012
While in principle, the idea is fantastic, in practice it has a lot to be desired. You money is tied in for long periods and lent to businesses who seem to have free will when and how they pay. I have lent a fair amount on the platform and the feel good factor from helping UK businesses is great but the money you get back is actually not that fantastic compared to the liquidity of it. The headline rate is 9%, but once you take into consideration; bad debt, fees and tax, its more like... (read more)
★★★★★
“What a great idea!”
Written on: 17/07/2012
This is a brilliant site which connects businesses that need loans with individual investors. I'm an investor on the site and I earn nearly 9% on my investment and I get to help UK businesses that need loans. Great concept, I really hope they are able to take on the banks - I wish them lots of success! Sometimes the site can be slow when auctions are closing, but this seems to be improving. I would highly recommend Funding Circle. (read more)
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Taurustime's Response to taurustime's Review
Written on: 18/11/2012
Just a quick PS to my review above - the late payer eventually coughed up, I placed the remaining 35-month Part Loan for sale and it was immediately snapped up by another FC lender. My £2,800 'toe in the water' investment with Funding Circle produced a three-month post tax, post FC commission nett premium of £11.84. No complaints really as it was an interesting if frustrating three months but I would have had serious reservations about investing any more for a longer period of time, I can foresee current FC investors, some of whom seem absolutely blinkered by and to that headline 9% return rate, in 4-5 years from now, totting up their profits and seeing a nett 3-4% return at best, even less with any bad debts accrued over that period. As I wrote earlier, you would do better to lock your cash away in a 2-, 3- or 5-year bond with the security of your own control over its destiny if not its immediate access, bolstered by a good night's sleep!