FundingSecure administrators recover £23.5m as fee dispute continues
The administrators for collapsed peer-to-peer lending platform FundingSecure have recovered almost £23.5m to date, amid a court battle regarding the payment of investor fees to the defunct lender.
This includes total gross loan realisation of just over £11.9m, which was recovered in the six months between April and October 2020. A further three loans have completed but the funds cannot be released to investors at present.
In a report covering the period between 23 April and 22 October 2020, administrators CG&Co confirmed that the administration process will last for several more years.
“It is not possible to provide an estimate on timing for dealing with the remaining assets, in particular the property assets, given the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on the property market and the ability of the joint administrators to take certain actions,” the report said.
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At the date of the report, there were 119 remaining defaulted loans, and no performing loans remaining. The total capital invested amounted to £56,689,498.56.
CG&Co said that £606,500 of the overall loan portfolio has now been written off as bad loans.
This latest administrator report also confirmed that there had been an expression of interest to purchase the company’s bespoke software. However, the initial offer was deemed “derisory” and the administrators have concluded that there will be “no realisation from this source.”
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The administrators also provided an update on an ongoing fee dispute which has been brought before the courts.
“In addition to the asset realisations, there is a matter of concern by the investors, which relates to the fee that is levied by [FundingSecure] in accordance with the terms and conditions between [FundingSecure] and the investors,” the administrators said.
“In accordance with the agreement, the company is entitled to levy a five per cent charge of the loan value from the net redemption in priority to the repayment of investors.”
Some investors have claimed that they were not aware that such a fee existed, while other investors have stated that the company had on various occasions waived this fee.
The next court hearing has been scheduled for 19 January 2021.
So far, administrator fees have totalled £390,206.52 plus VAT.
The administrators added that they have received claims totalling £755,479.65 from 18 unsecured creditors, but they are yet to receive claims from approximately 29 unsecured creditors whose debts total around £273,075.69.