Topic: BTCjam - Any Thoughts or Experiances - page 11. (Read 57514 times)

BTCJam is going worse day by day!

They way they deal with scammers are pretty derogatory and they don't have any radical policy towards the defaulters.

That's why I stopped investing there from now on.

It's best to provide loans on Bitcointalk with a valid collateral rather than investing on a site where the support team has no role in supporting the lenders.

Highly Disappointing!

The credit rating system over there is laughable. Case in point, take a look at this loan: https://btcjam.com/listings/49296-credit-card-debt---trusted-borrower-

A- Rating on the loan given by BTCJam let's go through the specifics:

late on 12 of 20 payments on loans prior
0 equity in the site - 100% debt, no investments in other listings
this loan is by a multiple larger than any of his previous loans
borrower takes out a loan for credit card debt but does not verify a credit card. hmm, i wonder why that would be?
borrower's prior loans are for repayment of student debt, fix transmission on a car, and security deposit on a rental unit.

think about that last item for a second. assuming he's telling the truth, we know:
1. he has additional debt on top of his monstrous credit card debt,
2. his car is a pos,
3. and he doesn't own real property.

what does that mean?

he's judgment proof. i.e. it means he's broke, he has no assets. so, in the event that he does likely default, and a borrower wishes to try and recoup, they'll get nowhere, because the guy, while he might not be a scammer, clearly does not have the means to pay these loans off. if it goes to court, there will likely be nothing to liquidate to pay off the loans because he owns no assets. thus, judgment proof. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

these are your A- listings at BTCJam folks.

so, if you're on the conservative auto invest, these are the types of loans that btcjam puts you in. loans that that no reputable financial agency or lender would consider "A-."

so what happens when btcjam negligently (although much more likely, recklessly, worst case, fraudulently) assigns these A- ratings to people who would otherwise get laughed out of a loan office or bank?

some poor sap, with no chance of ever seeing a dime of this money should this loan go into default, kicks the guy 18+BTC. don't get me wrong, i'm not about protecting people from themselves. and what is that about a fool and their money? my sympathy is muted. however, if jam is going to post these ratings, they owe it to the people who use the site to back these ratings with some sort of credible criteria. to echo the point above, it's like they're throwing darts at a wall, although cynics might think that they're purposefully pumping up these ratings to get people to invest because listings for borrowers has dropped off precipitously. clearly the 18+BTC sap was not expecting this payment to be late as evidenced by his numerous consecutive comments on the listing. maybe if jam had put some thought into their credit rating it could have given some users a second thought before investing so much, when they are clearly not in a position to invest such amounts in what in reality is a very risky loan to a very risky borrower. but as it stands, there is no counterbalance to some of these so called respected lenders who post crap on the site like they know a borrower is trustworthy because they spew BS about being late on payments better than some other late borrower.

bottom line, if for whatever reason, you do feel the need to invest in BTCJam, NEVER trust a rating on BTCJam. rating methodology has not been released and likely never will because, apparently, there is none. NEVER trust other investors who invest in these loans. they have just as much knowledge, and very possibly, less expertise than you, and the folks at jam, at assessing risk.

peace.

Actually, no it's not. It's a very legitimate concern and will eventually come back to haunt you and your colleagues on your BS business practices.

The whole incentive structure at BTCJam is warped. Jam receives their fee once a loan is funded, paid for by the lenders.

BTCJam are not lenders. They provide a platform, and this fee is paid for by the lenders, not the borrowers. The way the fee structure is set up is such that Jam maximizes their profitability when borrowers have the most loans funded.  NOT when borrowers repay the loans. They have no interest in providing credible credit ratings, and to actually expend funds to do research to provide such ratings reduces BTCJam's profitability.

If you are a lender in BTCJam be well aware:

YOU ARE NOT OUTSOURCING ANY CREDIT RESEARCH OR RISK ASSESSMENT TO BTCJAM. THEIR FEE STRUCTURE IS SET UP SUCH THAT THEY GAIN THE MOST WHEN THE MOST LOANS ARE FUNDED. NOT WHEN LOANS ARE PAID OFF. THEY HAVE AN INCENTIVE TO GET AS MANY LOANS FUNDED AS POSSIBLE. TO ACTUALLY EXPEND RESOURCES TO PROVIDE ACCURATE CREDIT RATINGS OR SEE LOANS PAID OFF, LIKE ACTUAL LENDERS, REDUCES BTCJAM'S PROFITABILITY.

One day, someone smarter than you or myself is going to figure out a way to make this work, and they're going to put you and your ilk out on the fucking street.

EDIT TO ADD:

If you don't believe me, ask a BTCJam employee to enlighten you on how they apply credit ratings. See how far that question gets you.

Also, BTCSupport does not even attempt to dispute the claim from the poster who addressed such concerns. Maybe BTCSupport is right, the fee system does not make the business sustainable alone. But then, the question remains how do they make money or keep the business sustainable? They certainly do not profit from loans being paid off. Hmmm.

Have you ever lent from here? I am planning to ask a loan but im afraid of uploading my personal id. How trustworthy they are?

It is the best lending site ever. Nevertheless you need to research the people who you do business with because there are a lot of scammers using the site.

Yes, we know that hurts international guys and it's why we are looking at other options. We are thinking about this daily and are testing new services/connections daily to try to configure a process that would help intl borrowers. Tricky thing is that services that offer such an integration dont have a lot of international coverage to date. The ones that are best in the industry (that also pass our security tests) generally dont have the coverage in international countries that would really help our borrowers. Turkey for example, is a very tough country to cover with the above being said. I know it can be frustrating with the ratings on the side, that is one reason that we limited both the bank and CC to give you guys a fairer assessment.

the ridic fact about that is, we have to pay more % since we don't get B+ or A Rating because of Missing Credit Card Verification.

We are working towards lowering defaults, that is part of the business in many ways. Being transparent about screening is tricky because we are then providing a lot of details about how we screen etc. Not sure that is the best idea at this time, but your comments are noted. We are trialling out some different collection methods/tools but aren't at a point to comment about that any more at this time. Thanks for sharing this.