Seems it has happened again.
These are clearly extraordinary times with the coronavirus outbreak now affecting every walk of life and, as a valued customer of RateSetter, we wanted to communicate to let you know how we are responding.
As a responsible employer, we have already changed our working patterns and deployed our business continuity planning to keep things moving as normal. Normal means continuing to deliver stable returns to our investors and credit to borrowers ā stable investments and the supply of credit can play an even more important role in these times.
We have seen volatility in shares and interest rates cut ā our response is that RateSetter is uncorrelated to the stock market and we have kept our investor rates unchanged, allowing you to avoid volatility and keep your money moving forward. We are an investment, not a savings product, and that means capital is at risk and access not guaranteed ā our response in these times is keeping access open with the minimum delay and managing our Provision Fund and credit performance, as we have done for nearly 10 years. We have reduced lending to prioritise access.
This outbreak also coincides with the upcoming ISA deadline, the busiest time of year for investing on RateSetter. We remain focussed on servicing this ISA demand at this time as we are sure that, even now, many investors will be making the most of their tax-free allowance either side of 5 April.
Thank you for being a RateSetter investor and for your ongoing support. We will be posting updates, as we always do, on the RateSetter Noticeboard which is available in your account and our customer service team is available as normal for any questions you may have.
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Still waiting about a week for an RYI.
They say withdrawals will take more than a month now. However, it seems they have closed new registrations? I wonder if they are bust. They have stopped new lending, so effectively it is a Ponzi scheme now.
They claim to be still open for new investments. That doesnāt match up with the fact that registration of new accounts is closed. Since there are no new loans nor new investments, any āreinvestmentsā go to pay for someone else to exit.
Interest provision ration dropped below 100%, they are slashing everyoneās interest income by 50%, and are closed for new investors.
Well, I did not get out in time, I guess I lost my investment now. Cause actions they took will only accelerate the bank run rather than stabilise things.
They keep saying itās about a month, but Iāve been waiting on a withdrawal request for almost twoā¦
Had an email in response to an enquiry I made about how long withdrawals are taking. At the moment, itās looking like 3 months with the current situation.
Iād been waiting two months for a withdrawal so I raised a complaint yesterday by email. Lo and behold the funds cleared the next day.
Iām sure if asked theyād say that itās a coincidence of course but I doubt it. In any case, Iāll wait and see what the response is to the complaint.
When did you request and which market?
We are currently delivering release requests made on 12th March in Access, Plus and Max, and we are delivering requests made on 16th March in the 1 Year market and 17th March in the 5 Year market.
To be fair it was almost two months to the day since I requested it and it was in the Access market so the dates line up to add weight to the āpure coincidenceā argument.
I tend to err on the side of scepticism, which is why I assumed otherwise. Iāve certainly seen organisations who couldnāt do something until someone complained and then magically they could.
They are now being acquired by Metro bank, but it is not assuming any responsibility for the existing loan portfolio. Ratesetter will continue to operate the current loan book and the provision fund.
I guess we are all stuck with our loans/investments until maturity.
Glad I took the Ā£100 and ran when they forced everyone onto the Access/Plus/Max stupidity instead of letting you set your own interest rate.
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Considered investing with them until the virus started as its less risk than a stocks and shares isa but better returns than cash.
Guess iāll wait or jump for a S&S ISA
Iām currently waiting for a withdrawal and they have a lengthy waiting list. My request was submitted on 5 May and Iām currently number 13,805 in the queue.
Iāve kept a fairly close eye on this for the past month, on 15 July I was number 14,018 in the queue. Thatās a running average of 7.6/day (albeit calendar days) and at that pace itāll take almost five years to clear this backlog.
Full disclosure, Iāve raised a complaint about this with ratesetter and the response pointed to the terms and conditions and essentially said āsorry, itāll take as long as it takesā. Iāve now referred the complaint to the FOS because I donāt think itās reasonable to expect people to wait for years to withdraw funds.
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Well Iām still getting 3.2% on my Ā£1k so I think Iāll leave it where it is.