Loanpad - Risk and return review
Loanpad - Returns and loss rates
Investment maturity
Loanpad – Platform statistics 2026
5301
investors
Loanpad – Pros & Cons
About Loanpad
What it is
Loanpad is a British peer-to-peer lending platform, launched in 2018 and run by Loanpad Limited in London. Private investors lend on short-term loans secured on UK property. Its design is cautious: investors hold only the top, senior part of each loan, while a specialist lending partner funds the rest and takes any losses first. On 27 October 2026 the platform showed £257.3 million of live loans, of which investors held £140.5 million and lending partners £116.8 million.
How it works
You do not choose loans. Your money is spread every day across the whole loan book: bridging, refurbishment and development loans to property borrowers, running 3 to 24 months and mostly 12 months or less. Two accounts invest in exactly the same loans. Classic pays 5.2% a year with daily access and takes up to £20,000; Premium pays 6% a year with 60 days' notice and takes up to £250,000 (rates as of October 2026). Both come as Innovative Finance ISAs, a tax-free wrapper for UK savers. Interest is paid every day. There is no minimum; accounts open from 1p.
Returns
The rates are set by the platform and change over time, and Loanpad's yearly regulatory outcomes statement shows they have been paid in full. Premium paid 6.5% in 2024 and was cut in steps to 6.0% during 2025, which averages about 6.14% over 2025 (calculated from the platform's own rate schedule); Classic averaged about 5.14% in 2025 and paid 5.5% in 2024. Rates fell to 5.8% and 4.8% in February 2026 and were raised again to 6% and 5.2% by October 2026. These figures are before tax and before the small extra from daily compounding. Investors pay no fees, and no capital has been lost, so the rate shown is what investors received.
Losses and defaults
No Loanpad investor has lost capital since launch: the platform's outcomes statement says so as at 31 December 2025, and its home page showed capital losses to date of £0.00 on 27 October 2026. Defaults do happen. A loan counts as defaulted when it is more than 180 days late or the borrower is in serious breach and Loanpad is seeking full repayment. Three loans defaulted in 2025: one, 1.76% of the loan book, was repaid in full on 3 October 2025; the other two, together 1.85% of the loan book at 31 December 2025, were still being recovered, with no loss expected. On 27 October 2026 no loans were suspended.
Defaults in 2025 came where the platform had not expected them: development loans it had forecast at 0% defaulted at 22.49%, and its lowest-risk loans at 3.31%, again against 0% expected. Some category percentages in the statement do not add up with its own table. Losses taken by the lending partners on their junior part are not published.
What secures your money
Every loan has a first legal charge over UK property, held for investors by a separate group company, Loanpad Security Trustee Limited, so the charges stay in place if the platform itself fails. Investors fund only the senior part of each loan, up to about 56% to 60% of the property's value; the average across live loans was 47.09% on 27 October 2026. The lending partner keeps a junior part of at least about 20% of each loan and takes losses first, and when a property is sold, investors are repaid before the partner. Properties are valued independently. A discretionary interest cover fund, run by a group company, can help keep interest paid during a recovery, but it promises nothing and there is no provision fund for capital. Every default resolved so far was repaid in full. In plain words: a property would have to sell for well under its value, and the partner's slice be used up, before investors lost money. The lending partners are not named.
Who runs it and its licence
Loanpad Limited (company 09479658, London, registered on 10 March 2015) is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference 741576) and is an ISA manager approved by the UK tax authority. It belongs to a group of five UK companies, including the security trustee and the company that holds the interest cover fund. It publishes audited accounts and the yearly outcomes statement the regulator requires. No regulator action against it was found; in May 2022 the regulator warned the public about a fake copy of Loanpad's website. Invested money is not covered by the UK compensation scheme.
Fees
Investors pay no account, management, deposit or withdrawal fees; borrowers pay the platform. The one exception: Premium investors who want to skip the 60-day notice can pay a fee of up to 0.5%, when that option is offered.
Getting your money out
There is no market between investors. Instead, a withdrawal request joins a queue and is paid from new deposits, loan repayments and spare cash, first come, first served. Classic requests usually clear within one business day; Premium needs 60 days' notice. Access is not guaranteed: under the terms a request can wait in the queue for up to 24 months, money in a loan removed from the platform stays locked until it is recovered, and Loanpad itself says not to treat the account like an easy-access bank account.
Our view
Return: Low — the platform pays 5.2% to 6% a year, and Premium averaged about 6.14% in 2025. Risk: Very Low (higher means more risk) — no investor capital has been lost since 2018, defaults are defined, reported and so far recovered in full, and investors sit ahead of a partner lender on loans at under half the property's value on average. Risk-return: High — a modest return, paid in full every year, with strong protection beneath it.
Regulation
License / Regulation: Loanpad Limited (company 09479658, England) is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference 741576, to run a peer-to-peer lending platform, and by HM Revenue & Customs as an ISA manager. Invested money is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Yes. Loanpad Limited is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference 741576) and is an approved ISA manager. Regulation does not protect you from losses, and invested money is not covered by the UK compensation scheme.
Cash not yet lent sits in a ring-fenced client account at Barclays Bank UK, separate from Loanpad's own money. Once lent, your money is in property loans, and the charges over the properties are held for investors by a separate trustee company.
There is no minimum: accounts open from 1p. Transfers of an existing ISA need at least £500. Classic accounts take up to £20,000 and Premium accounts up to £250,000.
Premium pays 6% and Classic 5.2% a year (October 2026); in 2025 Premium averaged about 6.14%. No investor capital has been lost since 2018. At the end of 2025 two loans, 1.85% of the loan book, were in default and being recovered, with no loss expected.
Each loan has a first legal charge over UK property. You hold only the senior part, up to about 56% to 60% of the property's value (47% on average in October 2026), and a lending partner holds at least about 20% below you and takes losses first. There is no provision fund for capital; the partners are not named.
Yes, through a withdrawal queue rather than a market. Classic requests usually clear within a business day; Premium needs 60 days' notice, or a fee of up to 0.5% to skip it when offered. Access is not guaranteed: the terms allow up to 24 months in the queue.
None for opening, holding, paying in or withdrawing. The only investor fee is up to 0.5% to skip the Premium account's 60-day notice, when that option is available.
If a borrower fails, the property is sold under the first charge and investors are repaid before the lending partner. If Loanpad fails, cash is ring-fenced at Barclays, and the charges are held by a separate trustee company. There is no compensation scheme for lent money.
Both invest in exactly the same loans in the same proportions, so the risk is the same. Premium pays more (6% against 5.2% in October 2026) in exchange for 60 days' notice to withdraw.
