I’m sick of getting pennies worth of interest on my saving accounts. Rates have got so low that under the mattress looks like a suitable alternative to the bank almost. Sometimes it seems like it’s not so cheap to borrow either. The truth is that the banks are there to make money and they have a large infrastructure to support, so they have high costs too. That said I know a lot of us like the reassurance and safety of a bank account. There are a number of safe guards that make you feel happier about your money being in good hands.
There is an alternative. The name for it is peer-to-peer lending. It’s a way of savers and borrowers getting better rates, but I think what’s put me off trying it in the past is worry about the risks. There’s a risk to everything and I’m not against taking a few chances is the return is greater in the long-term, but I don’t want to take on too much uncertainty. You lend to people and they pay you back. It’s like you are acting as the bank. This means you can take a slice of what the bank would normally take – that sounds attractive I think.
Lending Works are very thorough about making sure your money is as safe as it can be. Their Lending Works Shield offers threefold protection including a meticulous underwriting process (this is the bit that checks out a borrower and makes sure they are a good risk), a Reserve Fund which covers missed loan repayments and a unique insurance which protects if the borrower should default on their loan for any reason. All this to protect you and interest rates of up to 6.4% sounds good to me.
If you need to lend money Lending Works can offer lend you money from as little as 5% and that’s fixed too. If you can pay off the loan early you won’t get penalised which is good news if your circumstances change in a good way. It’s great to be able to apply for something easily online too.
I’ll be keeping Lending Works in mind when I’m looking to find a suitable place to invest my cash or if I am looking to borrow money.
For hints on how to save money from your income, try these handy savings hints.