JustUs raises investor and borrower rates
Peer-to-peer lending platform JustUs has increased its investor and borrower rates by 0.5 per cent and one per cent, respectively.
The rate hikes have come in response to the rising base rate, which was today increased for the tenth time in a row to four per cent.
A number of other P2P platforms have also increased their investor rates in recent months, including Kuflink, CrowdProperty and Loanpad.
In a note to investors, JustUs chief executive Lee Birkett said that rising interest rates had been keeping him up at night.
“One headache keeping me up at night is interest rates,” he said.
“Last March we increased our platform interest rates to borrowers by two per cent, and a 1.5 per cent increase to investors. Following this decision many of you agreed with our rational and increased your investment levels onto the platform.
“Since March 2022 The Bank of England base rate has increased from 0.75 per cent to a very uncomfortable four per cent. This 3.25 per cent base rate rise in such a short period is not welcome, however we need to manage the savings and investment environment.
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“With the above in mind we have increased the borrower rate by one per cent across the board on all new loans completed from today. This increase will result in a 0.5 per cent increase in investor yield with most new loans now yielding an increase to 8.5 per cent, per annum.
“For us, retaining 0.5 per cent satisfies the ongoing financial resilience of the platform.”
Since inception, the platform has returned an average annual return of 8.01 per cent with no lender losses to date.
Birkett added that he remains “cautious but positive throughout 2023”.
“The plan is to continue delivering robust, profitable asset backed lending opportunities to the platform,” he said.
“The outlook for JustUs, our borrowers and investors is one of cautious optimism.”
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