Encash (YES-secure) has confirmed today that it is to close at the end of March. This is not unexpected as the company had not made any loans in 2014 and only made three in 2013. They are still servicing £40,000 worth of peer-to-peer loans which they have agreed to buy lenders out, including loans which are classed as late.

The following message was posted on the website:

Dear Members We are writing to advise you that YES-Secure.com has decided to stop its Peer to Peer lending business from 1 April 2014. From that date, Peer to Peer lending will become regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Although Yes-secure has enjoyed offering this service, the number of members we have is relatively small. We have taken the opportunity of the change in regulation to review our business strategy and concluded, with some sadness, not to continue with Peer to Peer lending. We have a plan to run-off this business which will ensure all our existing members are looked after appropriately and treated fairly. All our existing members have been written to explaining what will happen next. If you are an existing member who has not received a letter please contact us immediately. From 31 March 2014 the YES-secure.com site will be rebranded and only be available to existing members to allow them to continue making payments to YES-secure.com.

The following email was sent to lenders:

We are writing to advise you that YES-secure.com has decided to stop its Peer to Peer lending business by 31 March 2014. From 1 April 2014, Peer to Peer lending will become regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Although YES-secure.com has enjoyed offering this service, the number of members we have is relatively small. We have taken the opportunity of the change in regulation to review our business strategy and concluded, with some sadness, not to continue with Peer to Peer lending. As a result of this decision, we will be paying to you an amount equal to the full amount of any loans due, plus any outstanding YES-secure.com fees (if any), and all interest payable up to the date of payment. According to the Loan Agreement, upon this payment, those loans will be automatically assigned by you to YES-secure.com. This payment will equal your "Customer Funded Lending Net Balance" plus your "Customer Funded Lending Default Balance", less any amounts which relate to loans declared default and in connection with which a County Court Judgment has been received against the borrower (as indicated under "Get Status" on your "My Funding Lending Details" page, "Late Payers" tab). You will see that this means we have included overdue balances, even though the older balances would probably not have been recovered had YES-secure.com continued with its Peer to Peer business. We have also included balances subject to IVAs and already passed to the Collections Agency which again may not be recovered in full. This payment will be made to the YES-secure.com Client Bank Account, and YES-secure.com will reduce the balance on relevant loans to zero, as it would have done in the event of early full repayment by a borrower. These sums will then be transferred to your Nominated Account within 7 days. In making this payment to your Nominated Account, we will use the bank details you have previously provided to us. In the event that these details have changed, please let us know promptly as otherwise your payment may be delayed and in some circumstances we may not be able to make a payment at all. As a reminder, it is your responsibility to inform us of those changes. You also have a "My encash Account Balance", an "Auto Lending Balance" and a "Withdrawal Request Balance" outstanding. These sums will be paid to your Nominated Account in addition to the sum mentioned above.

We welcome the fact that Encash (YES-secure) have decided to buy out lenders as otherwise lenders could find themselves in the position of having money owed to them and not having the ability to chase borrowers as they don't know their identity.