Introduction to Peer to Peer Lending and this Blog

Welcome! This is the place to come to if you want to know more about Peer to Peer (P2P) lending in the UK. If you don’t live in the UK then please don’t leave just yet. Some of the information here will also be applicable worldwide.

Note that everyone still talks about ‘Peer to Peer lending’, a bit of a mouthful, so PRENDING is my contribution to simplifying things.

The UK arguably leads the world in prending with a wide range of platforms and rapidly expanding scope of loans both in terms of size, value and range of lending models.

Who is my Target Audience for this Blog?

Typically, someone relatively new to prending. This is a ‘Peer-to-Peer-Lending-made -easy’ site. An idiots guide, if you like; the idiot being me, not you, dear reader! I decided to start this blog because much of the information on the web relating to prending is either biased, superficial or unnecessarily complex.

Why Prending?

Peer-to-peer lending is a simple, alternative approach to investing in bank accounts, bonds or shares. Typically an on-line platform matches lenders with borrowers and offers far better returns than a traditional bank. 

 

Interest rates for savers are at a record low and, whatever those with an interest in selling shares or funds tell you, the stock markets are notoriously risky, particularly in the short term. In recent times the UK markets have suffered from a UK general election and a Scottish independence vote while the whole Greek exit thing rumbles on and the future UK EU vote casts a large shadow across the UK shareholding horizon. 

 

Of course, prending is not without risks, but it does offer a regular return of between 5% per annum (fairly safe) and 12% or above (more risk). Whilst I wouldn’t recommend cashing in all your shares and funds and putting 100% into Peer to Peer, there is an obvious advantage in diversifying your portfolio (if you have one) with, for example, 50% invested in the stock market and 50% in prending.

What to Expect

In this blog, I will share my experiences of different platforms, give an unbiased view of the current prending scene and provide links to useful resources that go far deeper than this site can.

Along the way I’ll also include regular explanations of prending jargon as well as a simple explanation of interest rates, loan types and topics such as diversification, risk management, and liquidity.

In order to successfully manage your prending, you will need to be computer literate and able to handle online banking. The ability to set up a simple spreadsheet would also be useful so you can keep track of your investments on different platforms.

Finally, you need to know I’m not a finance guru; just an ordinary guy with some cash to take care of. Anyway, I’d love you to share the prending journey with me. Peer to Peer Lending is interesting, sometimes fun and generally financially rewarding!

Please note:

I am totally unqualified to give financial advice and you must make up your own mind about where and how to invest!