Fund Ourselves

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

General

  • What do Fund Ourselves do?
    Fund Ourselves provides the platform for Peer to Peer Lending ("P2P"). We unite borrowers looking for loans with savers/lenders who are prepared to lend to them.
  • Is Fund Ourselves regulated?
    Fund Ourselves Ltd is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) to provide regulated products and services (FCA Registration Number: 729238). We are also regulated by the Information Comissioner's Office (Ref. ZA284582).
  • Where can I find your Terms and Conditions?
    You can find our Terms and Conditions here
  • How can a borrower or lender contact us?
    You can contact our customer services team via:
    Email - hello@fundourselves.com
    Telephone - 0800 368 9553
  • How can an investor contact us?
    You can contact our investor relations team via:
    Email – lender.support@fundourselves.com
  • How do I make a complaint?
    Our complaints policy provides further information on how to make a complaint.
  • Are my details safe with Fund Ourselves?
    Yes, we adopt a very high standard and ensure that we follow best practice to protect your data. Upon registration you must provide us with a username, email address, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures and you must treat such information as confidential. For further details please see our Terms and Conditions here
    If you know or suspect that anyone, other than you, knows your user identification code or password, you should contact us immediately at hello@fundourselves.com.
    You may also change your password from the user interface after trying a wrong one. We don't have your passwords, but we can generate you a new one.
  • What is your eligibility criteria for borrowers and lenders?
    In order to apply for a loan, you must:
    • Be at least 18 years old;
    • Have a valid UK bank account (with associated debit card for borrowers);
    • Be a resident of the UK;
    • Have regular income (for borrowers only)
    • Have a valid email address; and
    • Have a mobile telephone number.

Lending

  • Why should I use Fund Ourselves to invest?
    As a lender of Fund Ourselves peer-to-peer lending platform, you can get good returns on investment, which you're then able to reinvest again. You can invest from £1,000 and may earn returns of 5% to 15% (Please see key risks associated with investing in a peer-to-peer lending platform. Capital is at risk. No FSCS cover). Our platform is fully automated. Select your interest rate along with your risk appetite and we will auto match you with a borrower. See our returns based on risk estimates and actual P2P outcome statement.
  • Who will qualify as a lender as an individual?
    You must meet the following criteria:
    a. You must be an individual;
    b. You must be 18 years old or over;
    c. You must be a permanent resident of the UK (excluding the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man);
    d. You must have, and maintain, a valid UK bank or building society account; and
    e. Satisfy our customer due diligence requirements.
  • Who will qualify as a lender as an institution?
    You must meet the following criteria:
    a. If you are a limited company, you must be registered with Companies House and be incorporated within the United Kingdom (excluding the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man);
    b. If you are an LLP, you must have a permanent place of business in the UK (excluding the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) and be registered with Companies House;
    c. If you are a public body, you must be registered or formed with the relevant authority in the UK (excluding the Channel Islands and Isle of Man);
    d. You must have, and maintain, a valid UK bank or building society account; and
    e. Satisfy our customer due diligence requirements.
    To on-board as a company, or to convert an existing Fund Ourselves non-ISA investment account to a business account, contact our On-boarding Team at onboarding@fundourselves.com.
  • Who will I be lending my money to?
    Fund Ourselves has an Auto-Match™ system in place and this is where the saver/lender selects an interest rate for a portion of the funds that they wish to lend. The funds are then placed in a pool waiting to be automatically matched to a borrower based on the risk criteria selected.
  • Will the borrower know who I am?
    The platform is anonymous for both our lenders and our borrowers.
  • How long will my lending be in a queue for?
    We are unable to give you an exact timeframe as to when your lent amount will be allocated to a borrower, as it depends on the number of borrowers and whether there's a match found. You start earning returns as soon as your funds are lent out to borrowers and they start making repayments.
  • Which interest rate may I select?
    Borrowers are assigned a risk band classification when their loan request is processed. The interest rate you select depends on your own risk appetite. You may select to receive the interest rate between target 5% and 15% on the amount lent. Please see estimated return based on risk and actual from P2P Investment Outcome Statement. The amount lent goes to an investment pool which is sorted by the interest rate selected and matched with borrowers using the Auto-match™ system based on the risk profile selected. One lender can assign an acceptable range of interest rate to the maximum of 10% of a single investment to the same loan.
    Your investment will not be available to borrowers that are over your selected credit risk appetite. The provision of a risk band classification is intended to be informative only and you must form your own opinion regarding the interest rate you wish to select. Highest return carries highest risk. Capital at risk as unsecured investments are not covered by FSCS.
  • How much can I lend and for how long?
    You must invest a minimum of £1,000, however there is no maximum limit. Also, there is no limit on the duration, feel free to keep your investments at our platform for years.
    You may earn from 5% to 15% interest on the active investments if you selected to receive 15% return and the whole investment was continually lent to borrowers over a 12-month period without any defaults.
    Actual returns may vary depending on the pool time and loan defaults.
  • Can I assign the amount lent to multiple investments?
    You can assign the amount lent into one single investment or multiple investments. Please note that the platform does not allow partial investment withdrawals which means that you can only request to withdraw the whole investment amount. Therefore, you may want to split the amount lent into multiple investments in order to manage or withdraw at different times with ease.
  • How do I withdraw funds from the platform?
    At any time, you can create a withdrawal request which will result in the withdrawal of all your investment (the investment unallocated and waiting in the lending pool as well as the investment lent out to borrowers). It is not possible to withdraw the pooled amount only.
    The unallocated and pooled amount get processed within a few days, however withdrawing your investment lent-out to borrowers may take some time to complete. You will start receiving the investment back once the lent-out investments are completed, transferred to another lender or purchased by the provisional fund.
    Please note that you will become ineligible to earn interest after making the withdrawal request.
    You log into your online account and following the steps below to withdraw investments on the portal:
    1. Select the "Investments" tab which is located towards the top of the page.
    2. Press the "Withdraw Investments" -button. The page will give you an option to "Withdraw Investments" by way of a tab towards the bottom of the page. There'll be an option to withdraw the funds.
    3. Tick the box which refers to the funds to be withdrawn and then select the "Create Withdraw Request" button.
    4. There'll be a pop-up titled "Make a withdrawal request" - please do not tick the "Reinvest" box and simply select the "Create Request" button. Once selected, a pop up should appear confirming that your request has been completed.
  • How is my investment allocated to borrowers?
    We use Auto-Diversify™ which means that one investor can assign a maximum % of a single investment to the same loan. Auto-Diversify™ is initially set at 10% but the user can modify the selectable figure, depending on the investment sum, to be between 5% and 20%.
  • What is ISA & IFISA?
    An Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA) is a type of Individual Saving Account (ISA) which allows UK residents and tax payers to earn tax free interest on peer-to-peer investments. Each year, you can invest up to the tax-free allowance limit (£20,000 for 2022/23), and you can also build up your ISA balance over the years.
  • What is the difference between Fund Ourselves Standard Investment and Fund Ourselves ISA Investment (Innovative Finance ISA offered by Fund Ourselves)?
    Fund Ourselves is approved by HMRC as an ISA manager to offer Innovative Finance ISA. Therefore, you can invest up to your annual tax-free allowance (£20,000 for 2022/23) in Fund Ourselves ISA on our lending platform and transfer your existing ISAs from current and previous years to us. Fund Ourselves ISA has the same features, risks and rewards as our standard investment apart from tax free advantage under ISA. See Key investment risks here. Please note that these are unsecured investments not covered by FSCS and Capital is at risk. Actual interest can be higher or lower than estimated. Please note that the tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. Please check the HMRC Website or seek professional advice.

Borrowing

  • What information do I need to provide when applying for a loan?
    You must provide us with the following information:
    • Employment details;
    • Bank account/debit card details;
    • Financial Commitments (income and outgoings) to assess your affordability;
    • Email address; and
    • Mobile telephone number.
  • Can I apply for a loan to repay my existing debt?
    Yes, you can apply for a loan with us to repay or consolidate your existing debts. However, we strongly recommend that you use this option only if it is financially beneficial to do so. For example, only if you will be paying less interest and charges with us than you existing debtors.
  • How do you assess affordability?
    When applying for a loan, you are required to provide accurate information about your monthly financial commitments (income and expenditure). We use the services of a national credit bureau to validate the accuracy of the information provided, however, we cannot be held responsible for lending to you on the basis of the incorrect or incomplete information you provided to us.
  • Will you ask me for any additional paperwork?
    In most cases, we will be able to make a decision without additional paperwork. However, there may be instances where additional information is required in order to progress your application.
  • What are the chances of being accepted for a loan if I don’t have a perfect credit history?
    Our lending criteria considers several factors such as your credit score, your affordability and recent borrowing history as well as our credit policy rules.
    We understand that all applicants may not have the best credit history, but this does not necessarily mean that your application will be declined. If we can see that you have been, and are, actively trying to improve the way you manage your finances, we may be able to approve your application for a loan.
  • Why was my application declined?
    We have an obligation to lend responsibly to our customers. Fund Ourselves considers various factors to assess the loan application including, but not limited to an applicant's borrowing history, credit report, identity verification, number of outstanding loans, income and existing financial commitments. If you do not meet our lending criteria, then we may decide not to approve your application. However, you may reapply in the future if your financial circumstances change.
    As a peer-to-peer platform your loan application may also be declined if we are unable to match you to an investor using our Auto-Match™ and Auto-Diversify™.
  • Why should I borrow from Fund Ourselves?
    Fund Ourselves may offer cheaper rates than most short-term lenders depending on your financial circumstances. Please see independent comparison here. You can choose the repayment frequency, first payment date and repay your loan early without incurring any penalties.
    Unlike most short-term lenders, there are no hidden charges (for example, a charge for making a late or early repayment).
  • How much money can I borrow and for what duration?
    Fund Ourselves offer loans ranging from £100 - £1,500. Loans of £100 - £800 are offered to new customers and loans of £100 - £1,500 are offered to existing customers. The minimum loan duration is 4 months and the maximum loan duration is 6 months.
  • Why you may request linking a bank account?
    We request linking the bank account to look at your recent transactions, to make sure the loan is affordable for you, and in line with our responsible lending practices. This is done securely via Open Banking, and we will not have visibility of your login details. We cannot operate or control your account.
  • How many loans can I take out at one time?
    You can only have one active loan at any time.
  • How does Fund Ourselves collect payments?
    Payments are collected via Continuous Payment Authority ("CPA") which you agree at the time of the loan application. CPA is an automatic payment method that authorises a lender to withdraw sums from your nominated bank account using your debit card details in accordance with the loan agreement and Terms & Conditions.
    A reminder email is sent at least 3 days before each payment date.
    If you wish to make an early repayment, you can do this manually via your online account or by contacting our customer services team.
  • How can I cancel the Continuous Payment Authority (CPA)?
    If you would like to cancel the CPA, you can do this by contacting us directly. You can also cancel CPA by contacting your bank, if you do this you must inform us immediately.
    You must contact us to arrange another method of repayment as the missed payments can negatively impact your credit file.
  • Can I cancel my loan agreement?
    You have the right to cancel your loan within 14 days of signing the agreement. If you cancel the agreement, you must return any funds we have provided to you, plus accrued interest.
    You can request to cancel your agreement by emailing us at hello@fundourselves.com or by calling our customer services team on 0800 368 9553.
  • How much will the loan cost?
    The total cost of the loan may differ, it is based on factors such as the loan amount and the number of monthly repayments. The number of monthly repayments depends on loans amount. You can estimate the loan cost from our calculator on our "Apply for a loan" page. Please note, we will only charge a maximum daily interest of 0.80% on your principal per day.
  • Will the investor know who I am?
    The platform is anonymous for both lenders and our borrowers.
  • How long do I have to wait for the funds after my loan has been approved?
    We anticipate that the loan amount will be transferred to your bank account on the same day if your application has been approved and completed before 10 pm.
    Funds will be transferred the next working day for loan applications approved and completed after 10 pm.
    Please note that the transfer of funds also depends on your bank’s capability.
  • What happens if I am having difficulty in repaying my loan?
    If you are having difficulty in meeting your loan repayments, please contact us immediately.
    We will review your current financial circumstances (income and expenditure) along with any other documents requested and consider various options to help you repay your loan which may include rescheduling your payments over a longer period in order to lower the monthly payments which is not subject any administration charges. Although the rate will remain the same, the interest will be recalculated which means that you will pay more for your loan in the long run. This may also affect your credit file.
    You can contact several independent organisations who can provide free advice and guidance.
    • StepChange - https://www.stepchange.org / 0800 138 1111
    • National Debtline - https://www.nationaldebtline.org / 0808 808 4000
    • MoneyHelper – www.moneyhelper.org.uk / 0300 500 5000
  • How does Fund Ourselves carry out credit approval?
    You will be assessed and offered an interest rate based on your
    (i) loan amount request,
    (ii) term for repayment,
    (iii) affordability results and status;
    (iv) specific credit data gathered from credit reference agencies.
  • How do I update my personal details?
    You can amend your debit card and/or personal details via your online account. Our customer services team cannot update your details for you.
  • Do I have to pay anything when applying for a loan?
    There is nothing to pay when you apply for a loan and no hidden fees or charges. The loan cost is all included in the loan interest.
  • How do I repay my loan?
    When you set up your loan you can select the date each month for the repayment to take place. Loans are paid by debit card. You can also make an early repayment from our website.
  • Can I pay off my loan early?
    You can pay off your loan early, and with the benefit that there are no early repayment fees. You may also save on interest compared to what you agreed in your loan contract as you will only pay back a maximum of 0.8% interest per day.
  • Why are all the short term-lender annual percentage rate (APR) interest so high?
    When comparing loans you must understand how much interest you will pay as actual pounds and is it affordable for you.
    In line with the FCA requirements, we will never charge you more that 0.8% per day or no more interest rate including any charges than 100% of the loan given. Representative APR is calculated by FCA official formula. It has division by time range. If the loan duration is less than a year, the divisor goes exponentially up. That explains the exponential difference of APRs.
    The interest provided by Fund Ourselves very competitive APR among short-term lenders. For comparison, see https://www.clearandfair.co.uk/.