Moneybush.net -any views

I heard a discussion about these buys on the Business Program on TodayFM this morning. It's crowd funding and the give a return of 25%. I'd never heard of them before, I've been on AAM for going on 10 years now and the old adage "if it sounds too good to be true....blah blah..."

I've tried LinkedFinance and reasonably pleased with results to date but just wondering what views the community have on Moneybush? [broken link removed]

Thanks
Roy

25% return per annum seems very high

25% return per annum seems very high.
If the sme projects are so good that they can afford to pay 25% interest per annum why don't they get the finance off the banks a lot cheaper.?

RichInSpirit said:

why don't they get the finance off the banks a lot cheaper.?

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Simply because Banks do not want to lend to SMEs in Ireland. Have you seen the rates that they charge for borrowings , overdrafts and loans in this country ??

Crowd funding is gaining popularity mainly in the US. The concept is good and returns tend to be high because of the associated risk (if the SME doesn't repay you can lose your money). The main difficulty with investing in crowd funding is that you need to have a very good grasp of the businesses you are investing in. There is currently no crowdfunding company authorised by the CBI. There are good reasons for that!
I know nothing about Moneybush. However it appears to be a new company with no track record in crowdfunding. There are many existing reputable companies out there, where you can test the water in specific crowd funding projects.
The commentary re no regularisation by CBI would be a concern. By it's very nature crowd funding should require regularisation by a European Regulator (not necessarily CBI).
I would be wary of investing money in any organisation that was not properly regulated (acknowledging that Regulation may not be perfect, but it does ensure that the fundamentals of the investment business are correct).

I have no knowledge of Moneybush.

However, like 44brendan I would be a bit cautious of investing money using the services of an unknown and new entity until I found out a lot more about them. I'm happy to assume that Moneybush is 100% above board, but if I was considering investing, this is what I'd do: -

• Request and independently verify the credentials, experience and background of the people behind Moneybush. I couldn't see anything about the people on their website.
• Request detailed information as to how your money is protected against fraud by any of the parties involved. Make sure that you understand (and where possible, verify) the replies given - don't just accept everything you're told by the promoter.

To be clear - I'm not for a moment making any allegations or inferences about Moneybush as I know absolutely nothing about them. The above points are simply general advice about the sort of due diligence anyone should do when considering an investment with any unknown entity.

The very fact that they use a .net domain doen't sit right with me.

LDFerguson said:

....

• Request and independently verify the credentials, experience and background of the people behind Moneybush. I couldn't see anything about the people on their website....

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Entirely Agree. Very odd that there are not bio's on the website.

Whats more, I also thought it a little odd that they have not named the "external regulatory consultants" they engaged to consult with the Central Bank on the question of regulation. I would have thought there would be an underlying level of assurance here for potential investors, if the third party engaged by Moneybush were known and respected by all.

I'm in favour of the concept of Crowd Funding, but would want a lot of reassurances / further information before I'd personally be comfortable to use Moneybush.

MrEarl said:

Entirely Agree. Very odd that there are not bio's on the website.

Whats more, I also thought it a little odd that they have not named the "external regulatory consultants" they engaged to consult with the Central Bank on the question of regulation. I would have thought there would be an underlying level of assurance here for potential investors, if the third party engaged by Moneybush were known and respected by all.

I'm in favour of the concept of Crowd Funding, but would want a lot of reassurances / further information before I'd personally be comfortable to use Moneybush.

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Agree. While the concept of crowdfunding may well be outside the realms of the regulations, probably because it's fairly new, I think the onus must therefore fall on the promoters to go above and beyond the call of what's required to establish their credentials and convince potential investors that their scheme is safe.

Suffice to say I'll be sitting tight for some considerable time before dipping my toe in here - thanks for all the advice guys, in particular SAHD...that certainly rings alarm bells for me

Roy

I looked at their site yesterday and there are pics and bio's on it so I'm don't know what this comment is about?
I heard one of them on Dublin South FM a week or so ago, which is why I looked at their site and he was talking about 3 different types of investment with three different levels of return ............................wait for it...............with three different levels of risk! The highest return (25%) is for the riskiest projects, but they talk about "ringfencing the flow of funds throughout the project" ...........dunno what that means. Can anyone explain it?

I thought 25% was too high until my mate told me that he did a deal with a Bank to reduce a large debt he owed them and paid the new lender 24% over 9 months (until he sold a house). He said that there was lots of deals being done at that level. I just don't think that it's a good deal for him if he was putting up a house (or the sale of it) as security.