When lending to businesses, it’s important to remember that your capital is at risk. Find out more at our Risk matters page. Borrowers need to be mindful that defaulting might lead to the debt being passed to an agency for collection. LendingCrowd and its products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
If you want to take a more hands-on approach to peer-to-peer lending – and want the opportunity to earn higher returns* – a Self Select Account could be just right for you.
At a glance:
Open an account with as little as £20
Transparent fees – 1% of the amount lent
Monthly repayments of interest and capital
Lend to credit-assessed businesses at rates from 5.95% to 14.25%
*When lending to businesses, it’s important to remember that your capital is at risk. LendingCrowd and its products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
How it works
With a Self Select Account, it’s up to you to choose the businesses you lend money to. Please remember your capital is at risk, so it’s important that you diversify by lending to a wide range of businesses. Remember that diversification is key to mitigating risk.
There are two types of loan:
- New loans — bid in an online auction where you decide how much you would like to lend to each borrower, and at what interest rate. You can bid from as little as £20 and rates start from 5.95%*.
- Existing loans — you can buy loans from other lenders on our Loan Market. There is no bidding involved and you can lend instantly.
To access your money, you can choose to list your loans for sale on our Loan Market. All sales are subject to a fee of 0.5%.
If you want to earn tax-free returns** on your Self Select Account, find out more about the Self Select ISA.
*Lend at rates between 5.95% and 14.25% based on LendingCrowd’s Risk Bands. Interest rates are guided by the credit grading allocated to each loan. Higher-risk loans may yield greater returns but can also lead to lower returns if the business can’t fully repay its debts. This is known as bad debt. Find out more at our Risk matters page.
**When lending to businesses, it’s important to remember that your capital is at risk. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each lender and may be subject to change in future. LendingCrowd and its products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Accessing your money
Your peer-to-peer lending portfolio with LendingCrowd is fully flexible. You can cash in all or part of your Self Select Account balance by selling your loan holdings on our Loan Market. There’s a 0.5% fee for selling your loan parts. The time taken to access your funds depends on how quickly your holdings are sold. The ability to sell depends on other lenders buying your loans.
It's easy to get started

Open an account
It’s fast and simple to do online



Add funds to your account
You can open an account with £20 and add to it at any time

Build your portfolio
Choose from new or existing loans on the Loan Market


Watch your portfolio grow
Keep up to date with your loan holdings and returns on your account page
Open an account
For peer-to-peer lending that puts you in control, it’s time to Think Outside The Bank.
ContinueIf you invest through LendingCrowd you should understand that your capital is at risk.
LendingCrowd is the trading name of Edinburgh Alternative Finance Limited, Company Number SC468392, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm reference number 670991). LendingCrowd and its products are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Read more about the risk involved when investing and borrowing.
The company's registered office is 23 Manor Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7DX.
Copyright © LendingCrowd 2021. All rights reserved.