Seasons Greetings – And Early New-Year News
- First, we wish or lenders borrower and readers a very happy festive period – if festive it is – and a prosperous 2021. We’ll be blogging our predictions for that year here shortly. Meanwhile, we bring an early snippet of news for next year (see below).
The resurgent Bitcoin is having its own second wave. Indeed, like Covid, its price and prevalence have surpassed earlier milestones.
It’s now possible to do Bitcoin transactions in the UK via cash machines. That’s a novelty over here – but not in countries such as Switzerland, where you can buy train tickets in Bitcoin, or Japan – which has for many years allowed employee to take a percentage of salary as Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrency holders can now cash out their bitcoin at 16,000 ATMs across the UK thanks to a collaboration between East London-based Cryptocurrency company BitcoinPoint and independent cash machine opwerator Cashzone.
With interest in bitcoin surging, user-friendly processes to securely buy, sell and use cryptocurrency have long been a hurdle to widespread adoption.
BitcoinPoint has been working to break down these barriers with a mobile app that makes it possible to buy and sell bitcoin at a network of agents, from Bureaus de Change to newsagents, as well as online through an instant bank transfer solution via Open Banking.
“When we started the service early 2018, there was not enough emphasis on making it easier for people to simply buy £5 of bitcoin,” says BitcoinPoint CEO and former Credit Suisse VP Benoit Marzouk. “Since registering on a crypto exchange could be a complex process for non-tech savvy people, the scarce availability of bitcoin ATMs made accessibility of bitcoin problematic.“
The company, which has so far handled 20,000 transactions online and in store, believes the collaboration with Cashzone will finally deliver on the potential for mass adoption that will allow bitcoin to compete on a level playing field with fiat currencies.
To withdraw cash, bitcoin holders download the app, enter the amount desired to be withdrawn, scan a QR code, and receive an SMS message with a pin code to be entered at the ATM — no card or bank membership is required and the transaction is processed within seconds.
Historical Performance And IFISA Process Guide
- Money&Co. lenders have achieved an average return of more than 8 per cent gross (before we deduct our one per cent fee).
That figure is the result of over £20 million of loans facilitated on the site, as we bring individuals looking for a good return on capital together with carefully vetted small companies seeking funds for growth. Bear in mind that lenders’ capital is at risk. Read warnings on site before committing capital.
- Money&Co. has been lending for over 5 years and has only had two bad debts so far, representing a bad debt rate of 0.03 per cent per annum.
All loans on site are eligible to be held in a Money&Co. Innovative Finance Individual Savings Account (IFISA), up to the annual ISA limit of £20,000. Such loans offer lenders tax-free income. Our offering is an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) that can hold the peer-to-peer (P2P) business loans that Money&Co. facilitates. For the purposes of this article, the terms ISA and IFISA are interchangeable.
So here’s our guide to the process:
- Step 1: Register as a lender. Go to the login page, and go through the process that the law requires us to effect. This means we have to do basic checks on you to comply with money-laundering and other security requirements.
- Step 2: Put money into your account. This is best done by electronic transfer. We can also process paper cheques drawn in favour of Denmark Square Limited, the parent company of Money&Co.
- Step 3: Buy loans in the loan market. Once you’ve put cash in your account it will sit there – and it won’t earn interest until you’ve bought a piece of a loan. It’s this final step that requires lenders and IFISA investors to be pro-active. Just choose some loans – all loans on the Money&Co. site can be held in an IFISA – and your money will start earning tax-free interest.
The ISA allowance for 2019/20 is unchanged from last tax year at £20,000, allowing a married couple to put £40,000 into a tax-free environment. Over three years, an investment of this scale in two Money&Co. Innovative Finance ISAs would generate £8,400 of income completely free of tax. We’re assuming a 7 per cent return, net of charges and free of tax here.
Once you have made your initial commitment, you might then consider diversifying – buying a spread of loans. To do this, you can go into the “loans for sale” market. All loans bought in this market also qualify for IFISA tax benefits.
Risk: Security, Access, Yield
Do consider not just the return, but the security and the ease of access to your investment. We write regularly about these three key factors. Here’s one of several earlier articles on security, access and yield.