Lending Works
Lending Works is a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects people that want to invest their money, with borrowers who are looking for a better rate on their personal loan, so both can get a better deal. The platform operates on an auto-invest system, where each loan is split into many loan parts before being allocated to investor. The lender also has the option to invest manually. Investments start at £100, and IFISA is available
How Lending Works manages risk
They follow strict criteria when considering an applicant for a loan. The applicant must be; over 18 years old, be no older than 75 years old at the end of the loan term, be employed or self-employed, have an income of £10,500 or more, be able to afford the loan, a UK resident and have a UK bank account, no bankruptcies, insolvencies and no adverse credit. All of this information is combined to class the borrower in an overall risk category A, B, C or D.
Withdrawal of funds
Funds can be transferred directly into the lender's bank account either weekly or monthly. If the lender needs early to access their money while it still in the loan, the platform provides a secondary market where you can sell loans to other investors to release funds. Therefore quick access to the lent money isn't guaranteed and is dependent on other investors being able to buy the loan.
Fees
There are no fees for investing instead fees are charged as an arrangement fee on each loan, and they also take a percentage of the interest received by the borrower which covers the on-going costs of servicing the loans.
Selling loans in the Flexible product is completely free, whereas selling loans with the Growth product a fee of 0.5% applies.
Contingency Fund
The platform provides a contingency fund called “The Shield“ which is funded by a share of the arrangement fee and interest paid by the borrower on their loans. If loan repayments are missed or in default, the Shield will cover the repayment to the investor and Lending Works will recover the money from the lender and add it back contingency fund. The amount each loan contributes to The Shield is based on the probability of default and expected loss given default. As with all contingency funds the trustee Lending Works has absolute discretion as to the amount that may be paid, including no payment at all. Therefore the lender should not rely on possible pay-outs when considering investing.
Lending Works Products and Investment
Investor Overview
- Earn up to 6.5% p.a.
- Loan terms from 2 - 60 months.
- Minimum investment is £100.
- Lending Works provides a contingency fund called The Shield.
- No investment fees for early access. 0.5% fee for early access to the Growth account.
- * correct as of 10/03/2020
£201M
loan book volume
10.59%
default rate
5.72%
average interest rate
£30,957
biggest loan
* correct as of 18/06/2020
Officers
Michael George Hoare
Appointed: 17-01-2024
Andrew Charles Lawson
Appointed: 14-12-2023
Simon John Waugh
Appointed: 08-10-2018