[butterflylady]

Hi HPC, newbie here. I'm after some info and wondered whether any of you guys might be able to help. Here are the tedious details... Husband and I own a company that's 22 years old and going strong. We own our own home outright, albeit, it's of lowish value (100k max). I have no debt and no credit cards - and have never owned either in all of my 40+ years. Husband has a couple of cards. We have seen a small commercial property that we would like to buy, to run our business from. Currently, we rent our work premises. The property was on an auction and didn't sell. Problem is, we are roughly 25k short of what the auctioneer has advised us would be an acceptable offer. We would like to go back to the seller next week with a cash offer - so this weekend, we are looking for ways of raising the shortfall of 25k. Relatives and savings etc are all maxed out to get us to where we currently are with what we can offer. I found a site called zopa, P2P lending. I was declined. Feedback from zopa is kinda pointing to the fact that I don't really have much of a credit history....which is true. My question is: are there are any P2P lending options out there for people like myself...people who have been really careful with their money and haven't turned to credit as a general lifestyle choice? Thanks in advance, Jo.

[porca misèria]

butterflylady, on 20 April 2012 - 07:09 PM, said:

Hi HPC, newbie here. I'm after some info and wondered whether any of you guys might be able to help. Here are the tedious details... Husband and I own a company that's 22 years old and going strong. We own our own home outright, albeit, it's of lowish value (100k max). I have no debt and no credit cards - and have never owned either in all of my 40+ years. Husband has a couple of cards. We have seen a small commercial property that we would like to buy, to run our business from. Currently, we rent our work premises. The property was on an auction and didn't sell. Problem is, we are roughly 25k short of what the auctioneer has advised us would be an acceptable offer. We would like to go back to the seller next week with a cash offer - so this weekend, we are looking for ways of raising the shortfall of 25k. Relatives and savings etc are all maxed out to get us to where we currently are with what we can offer. I found a site called zopa, P2P lending. I was declined. Feedback from zopa is kinda pointing to the fact that I don't really have much of a credit history....which is true. My question is: are there are any P2P lending options out there for people like myself...people who have been really careful with their money and haven't turned to credit as a general lifestyle choice? Thanks in advance, Jo.

Heh. Saw your topic title, thought I'd be reporting it as spam!

If your company has been going for 22 years then its accounts will tell your bank manager that it's creditworthy - your personal records are secondary (unless there's something serious like a bankruptcy or fraud conviction). And zopa is for personal loans, and you might do better with a business-oriented version like funding circle if looking in that direction.

Another possibility: find out whether you can structure your investment in this property as an EIS. The tax breaks might stretch your funds to cover that £25k gap without borrowing anything! Though you might need someone in a sharp suit and fee to structure the deal to be eligible, depending on your line of business.