Headquarters London, England, UK Products Financial Services | Area served UK Founded 2009 | |
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Founders Rhydian Lewis, Peter Behrens Profiles | ||
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RateSetter is a British peer-to-peer lending company, originally based in Southwark, London. The company is known for having introduced the concept of a "Provision Fund" into peer to peer lending. Launched in October 2010, the company has matched more than £1.75bn in peer to peer loans and has over 1,000,000 registered users.
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History
RateSetter's holding company, Retail Money Market Ltd, was incorporated in October 2009 by Rhydian Lewis, an investment banker from Lazard, and Peter Behrens, a lawyer turned banker formerly of Royal Bank of Scotland. The company was privately funded from the start by angel investors, and raised £20m in its most recent funding round.
In July 2014, it was announced that the British Business Bank would begin lending through RateSetter to support individuals, sole traders or partnerships borrowing for business purposes.
RateSetter opened a site in Australia in November 2014.
On 7 December 2015, RateSetter moved from Southwark to new offices in Bishopsgate, London.
Products
RateSetter is based on the principle of an exchange, with borrowers and lenders competing for matched loans based on price, with both sides of the market specifying the rate they will accept. The firm has four markets for lenders to participate in: Rolling, 1 Year and 5 Year.
Borrowers can apply for a loan for between 6 and 60 months. The company has strict lending criteria, accepting between 12 and 15 per cent of borrower applications.
The firm introduced to consumer finance the concept of a "Provision Fund" to reimburse lenders in the event of a late payment or default. This is a capital sum (over £17,000,000 as of September 2016), generated by borrowers' payment of a "credit rate" fee based on their credit profile. As of September 2016, RateSetter claims that none of its individual investors have ever lost money.
Awards
The firm won the Moneywise Most Trusted Alternative Financial Provider Award 2013. In May 2013, it won the Credit Today Award for "Best Alternative lender of the Year - Consumer". It has been awarded 4 Stars by Defaqto in the Crowdfunding (Loan based) category.
The firm is a founding member of the P2P Finance Association, the first trade association for the peer to peer finance industry.