Post by rebsrep on Feb 11, 2016 21:56:24 GMT
Ok time to respond to quite a few of these ideas. Many of them are duplicates above, so I'll pick one of the comments, where that's the case, to respond to.
We are very aware of this. It isn't just one issue it is lot's of small issues so we are improving them one at a time, but many are fundamentally built into the underlying platform and hence require major changes and substantial testing. There is a development roadmap and speed is always considered.
This is still under review. And there is a significant percentage of the overdue/in recovery/bad debt balances that we expect to recover. Once we've finalised the review we will check with FCA compliance requirements to see if we can publish the expected recovery figures either at a granular or global level.
We will ensure this is considered when the legislation becomes effective and include the answer on our FAQ's
Again if we can do this in an FCA compliant way then we will do so.
We have to balance the chance of recovering something with the chance of losing everything. As per the lender evening, we are looking at developing a feature that will allow the crowd to vote on what we do in each case i.e. we'll set out the options and all lenders will have a vote and we will act on the majority. So if the majority, taking an extreme example, vote to bankrupt a lender even though there is a higher chance of recovering at least something, in our view, by accepting a minimal repayment plan, then we will act on that lender vote result. i.e. we want to try and remain true to the crowd ethos as we grow where many platforms have effectively become a bank.
Also you ask for reasons for why repayments are late from borrowers, unfortunately we can't force borrowers to give us a reason, but where they do give a reason, no matter how unbelieveable, we have instructed Corp & Comm to pass on the reason in their discussion forum commnications, but please don't shoot the messenger.
We have identified a specialist firm of solicitors that we want to instruct to be given the next stage after Corp & Comm have exhausted the general debt chasing process and I've been tasked at todays Board meeting with moving that forward asap. Hopefully they'll want the work, if not I'm sure we can find a different firm.
It appears to be a common misconception. All loans start accruing interest as soon as the auction is marked as 'closed'.
It's a balance, we need to give the loan time to allow lenders to outbid each other. Borrowers of course have the option of drawing down early which does happen from time to time. The larger loans e.g. the £185k currently listed, we have more than enough money in the client account to cover this loan many times over but we find that the crowd waits for the rest of the crowd to bid. So if I could please ask you to bid on the larger loans (if you are comfortable with the loan proposition of course!) sooner rather than later and we won't have to extend them.
We reject more loan applications at the underwriting stage than we accept. Again we are looking at ways of communicating the percentage split that isn't misleading and is FCA compliant.
We will look into this.
This is in the development pipeline, but it is clearly stated that we don't monitor all threads all the time and if you have a specific query please email support@rebuildingsociety.com which raises a support ticket. I hope you've noticed that 'May' is not tring hard to read all discussions and passes to the appropriate person to answer.
We will look into this
We will look into this
A known issue in teh development pipeline. On a laptop (doesn't work on an iphone/ipad) once logged in you can then click "back" on your browser and it will take you to the linked page you clicked on originally.
A known issue in the development pipeline.
We are developing automated systems to assign deposits/withdrawals but in the meantime it is a manual process. We use 3 part matching i.e. Amount, Date and Reference to match the bank to the amount deposited/withdrawn on the platform. When a user deposits the day after or before clicking the DEposit button on the site it won't match. When the reference doesn't match the user ID it won't match and when the amount is different it won't match at this point it needs manual intervention and hence requires a level of authority to sign off because of course it isn't our money it is client account money.
We are aware of this bug and in fact I was discussing it today myself with a developer. With improving communication a current focus, this is being investigated asap.
I hope I've addressed everything and I will also circulate a link to this thread to the senior team to ensure that the relevant teams pick up the actions committed too.
site speed
We are very aware of this. It isn't just one issue it is lot's of small issues so we are improving them one at a time, but many are fundamentally built into the underlying platform and hence require major changes and substantial testing. There is a development roadmap and speed is always considered.
defaults/bad debts review
This is still under review. And there is a significant percentage of the overdue/in recovery/bad debt balances that we expect to recover. Once we've finalised the review we will check with FCA compliance requirements to see if we can publish the expected recovery figures either at a granular or global level.
baldpete point 2 - when does a distressed loan qualify for bad debt relief.
We will ensure this is considered when the legislation becomes effective and include the answer on our FAQ's
baldpete point 3 - Would it be possible to offer somewhere on the site a guide to such matters, or at least a glossary for the uninitiated & those of us who are confused about such elementary things as: the difference betweem Administration & Liquidation? what is CVA? what is Bankruptcy? What is a debenture? How is a personal guarantee enforced?
Again if we can do this in an FCA compliant way then we will do so.
Thrush: Stronger action taken against consistent late payers, phone calls and emails do not seem to make any difference to these borrowers. Communication to lenders as to why these repayments are late preferably from the borrower. One of these is a debt collector, irony at it`s best.
We have to balance the chance of recovering something with the chance of losing everything. As per the lender evening, we are looking at developing a feature that will allow the crowd to vote on what we do in each case i.e. we'll set out the options and all lenders will have a vote and we will act on the majority. So if the majority, taking an extreme example, vote to bankrupt a lender even though there is a higher chance of recovering at least something, in our view, by accepting a minimal repayment plan, then we will act on that lender vote result. i.e. we want to try and remain true to the crowd ethos as we grow where many platforms have effectively become a bank.
Also you ask for reasons for why repayments are late from borrowers, unfortunately we can't force borrowers to give us a reason, but where they do give a reason, no matter how unbelieveable, we have instructed Corp & Comm to pass on the reason in their discussion forum commnications, but please don't shoot the messenger.
We have identified a specialist firm of solicitors that we want to instruct to be given the next stage after Corp & Comm have exhausted the general debt chasing process and I've been tasked at todays Board meeting with moving that forward asap. Hopefully they'll want the work, if not I'm sure we can find a different firm.
ladywhitenap: Paying interest from loan closure
It appears to be a common misconception. All loans start accruing interest as soon as the auction is marked as 'closed'.
steerpike: auctions are too long
It's a balance, we need to give the loan time to allow lenders to outbid each other. Borrowers of course have the option of drawing down early which does happen from time to time. The larger loans e.g. the £185k currently listed, we have more than enough money in the client account to cover this loan many times over but we find that the crowd waits for the rest of the crowd to bid. So if I could please ask you to bid on the larger loans (if you are comfortable with the loan proposition of course!) sooner rather than later and we won't have to extend them.
kaya: There are too many 'maverick' borrowers being presented, and I would like to see more small hardworking businesses
We reject more loan applications at the underwriting stage than we accept. Again we are looking at ways of communicating the percentage split that isn't misleading and is FCA compliant.
shimself:
Put dates of last post on header of each discussion thread.
Put dates of last post on header of each discussion thread.
We will look into this.
Find some means of alerting REBS staff to a posting which is seeking a response from REBS (I personally have prodded you into action on 3? occasions, each time your story was we hadn't noticed it)
This is in the development pipeline, but it is clearly stated that we don't monitor all threads all the time and if you have a specific query please email support@rebuildingsociety.com which raises a support ticket. I hope you've noticed that 'May' is not tring hard to read all discussions and passes to the appropriate person to answer.
Put a button to open (explode) each discussion thread, so I can go though the lot just pressing PgDn; mouse clicks and laptops are not the best of partners
We will look into this
Tax report with user definable dates
We will look into this
5 When clicking on an email link, forward me to the relevant page (after logging in ) - it doesn't work properly
A known issue in teh development pipeline. On a laptop (doesn't work on an iphone/ipad) once logged in you can then click "back" on your browser and it will take you to the linked page you clicked on originally.
6 When buying a number of microloans show the total spend alongside the BUY NOW button
A known issue in the development pipeline.
7 Be quicker AND MORE ACCURATE in processing deposits and withdrawals (and empower somebody else as well as the Lord High Financial Controller to supervise and rectify this)
We are developing automated systems to assign deposits/withdrawals but in the meantime it is a manual process. We use 3 part matching i.e. Amount, Date and Reference to match the bank to the amount deposited/withdrawn on the platform. When a user deposits the day after or before clicking the DEposit button on the site it won't match. When the reference doesn't match the user ID it won't match and when the amount is different it won't match at this point it needs manual intervention and hence requires a level of authority to sign off because of course it isn't our money it is client account money.
baldpete: subscribe all functionality
We are aware of this bug and in fact I was discussing it today myself with a developer. With improving communication a current focus, this is being investigated asap.
I hope I've addressed everything and I will also circulate a link to this thread to the senior team to ensure that the relevant teams pick up the actions committed too.