INDEPENDENT NEWS

Calling all lenders - P2P Squirrel Money wants you

Published: Mon 2 Nov 2015 10:43 AM
Calling all lenders - P2P Squirrel Money wants you
2 November 2015
Squirrel Money, New Zealand’s first true person-to-person lender, is looking for investors to connect with borrowers.
At Squirrel Money we connect individual lenders with individual borrowers and don’t fund our loans through investment banks at all.
For many people, investing their savings is a difficult call to make but in this economic climate, leaving the money in the bank just isn’t an option.
For those on a fixed income, such as retirees in particular, the decision around how to handle sav-ings will have a direct impact on lifestyle and just how much money they have to live on each week.
Term deposits deliver a low rate of return, the stock market is difficult to understand and has high risk. With Squirrel Money we take the hassle out of investing by making it as transparent and as simple a process as possible, says CEO John Bolton.
“You decide on the interest rate you want to make on your money. You decide how long you want to invest for. Our priority is keeping your money safe.”
Instead of three per cent or four per cent that’s typically offered by banks today, Squirrel Money investments range from six per cent up to ten per cent.
“We manage the risk of a borrower defaulting through a reserve fund we call Loan Shield. Essen-tially we take a part of each borrower interest payment and put that into Loan Shield to cover any expected credit losses.”
Should a borrower defaults on a loan, Loan Shield will cover the payment to investors provided there are sufficient reserve funds.
Borrowers submit an online loan application for anything between $3,000 and $70,000. Squirrel Money will run checks to make sure they are creditworthy. Once they are approved Squirrel Mon-ey will match the borrower with investors offering the lowest interest rates until the loan is fully funded.
“This means you don’t have to worry about trying to micro-manage your investment. You can trust us to do the hard bits while you sit back, safe in the knowledge that your investment is working for you.”
As an incentive for the month of November, Squirrel will give new investors $50 when they invest $1000 or more.
Bolton says Squirrel Money is the first true person-to-person financial service on offer in the New Zealand market.
“At Squirrel Money, our objective is to match real investors with real borrowers in a transparent and secure manner. We want to be be grass-roots and make sure real people benefit on both sides. As a result we haven’t gone down the route of using investment bankers or banks. It’s better for both parties that way and lives up to the ethos of person-to-person lending.”
ENDS

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