March has been a good month. The profitability has exceeded the levels of February with a 7.3% (compared to 7.1%). The P2P Crowdlending platforms and Real Estate Crowdfunding platforms have improved their profitability compared to February up to 11.3% and 4.8%, respectively, unlike those of P2B Crowdlending platforms that have dropped to 7.8%.
The main news of the month are:
- In February, I started investing in WhiskyInvestDirect, a very innovative platform that allows you to invest in Scotch whiskey in the process of maturation. In a couple of months, I will present my evaluation and data sheet.
- Also in February I added the technical profile of Brickowner, a real estate crowdfunding platform in which I have been investing for almost a year, but due to the long duration of the projects, it still does not offer any profitability. Soon I will also add the technical profiles of NEO Finance and Twino.
- I increased my positions in Linked Finance, Swaper, Viainvest, October, Flender, Estateguru and Housers.
- The best platforms in terms of XIRR are 1) real estate: Bricks & People (now operating through the SociosInversores.com platform) and Estateguru; 2) P2B: Envestio; and 3) P2P: Finbee, NEO Finance and Swaper.
- The best return rates in December have been 1) real estate: Estateguru and Privalore; 2) P2B: Envestio; and 3) P2P: NEO Finance, Finbeeand Twino.
- For Mintos, I present the combined yields (all currencies, taking into account the exchange rate), and for each currency separately (without applying the exchange rate).
- To compare all platforms, check my Comparator.
- The gray shading indicates inflated returns due to specific promotions, while the yellow shading shows that the returns are likely to be lower due to unpaid or delayed projects without a final decision.
All interests are calculated before deducting taxes.
As for delays and defaults, to highlight:
- Worrying situation in Housers, with one default and eleven delays.
- Also very worrying is the situation in Flender. There are already four defaults and three delayed projects.
- Delays in Estategururemain in their usual figures around 5% of loans, specifically 6.4%. And the number of defaults has fallen from three to just one.
- Linked Finance increases slightly to two defaults and four delayed projects.
- The delays and defaults of Finbee are within the expected, being a platform without Buyback. The case of Fellow Finance is a bit more worrying, given that the defaults are not compensated so far with the profitability of the active loans.
- The “delays” of real estate platforms as Inveslar are not surprising either – property sales take time and so far delays are only a couple of months late. In the case of Privalore it starts to be worrisome since they are already delayed for several months and affect 3 of my 6 active investments.
- CrowdEstate does not allow to easily check for delays. There are some, but it is difficult to define how many unless one consults each project one by one.
- To compare all platforms, check my Comparator.
* Variation in the number of active projects from last month; I only include platforms without Buyback; Green if the parameters (delays and unpaid) have improved compared to last month and red if they have worsened.
Brickowner
Since all the investments are long-term and paid in full at the end of the project, my profitability remains at zero (since I started operating with the platform in May 2018).
Since all my investments are long-term and paid in full at the end of the project (full bullet), I did not see any profitability until Decemberwhen my first two projects finalized. In January-Marzo no new project has been completed, which has reduced the XIRR slightly to 4.4%. The returns offered are excellent (always above 13%) and historically there is a 0% of defaults, so I will continue investing in all new projects. Unfortunately, the platform is not too active, with only one new project per month, so I have not been able to increase my position for months.
In March, returns have fallen drastically compared to February, when I reached the peak of profitability since I use the platform. The drop was due to the fact that there was no time for the funds reimbursed in February to be reinvested. The net annual return offered by the platform, taking into account only the returns of projects already reimbursed (17), is 14.1%. Some payments are delayed, but they end up arriving (plus a compensation for the delay).
A new feature of CrowdEstate (since November) is the possibility to invest (or not) in projects financed in several stages ( “Multiple rounds investing”). I decided not to invest in second rounds, as I believe it goes against the principle of diversification. Basically it would mean investing several times on the same project.
My strategy is to continue investing in each new project.
In February, CrowdEstate reached 28,200 investors, 140 projects, 58 million raised and a 19.2% historical return.
Good news in Estateguru this month. Profitability in March has taken an incredible leap with respect to February, from 5.3% to 11.6%. The net annual return offered by the platform, taking into account only the returns of my projects already reimbursed, amounts to an impressive 16.5%.
Also, two of my three defaulted projects were repaid to investors. EstateGuru had to waive claiming penalties, indemnities and partial interest to ensure the successful repayment of the loan, but it’s still very good news. Delays in Estateguru, se mantienen en sus cifras habituales alrededor del 5% de los préstamos, concretamente en un 6.4%. , remain in their usual figures around 5%, specifically 6.4%.
My strategy is still to invest in each new project, except in those funded through several tiers (in which I only I invest in one, usually the first, of the tiers).
During 2018, EstateGuru financed 356 real estate loans worth € 52.5 million, an increase of more than 225% compared to 2017. Almost € 19 million were returned in issued loans, more than € 3 million were paid in interests and bonds, and generated more than € 73,000 in referral bonuses. The return on repaid loans was 12.02% in 2018. The investor base grew to reach 17,600 registered investors from 109 countries, while also attracting the first institutional investor to the platform.
Rather worrying situation in Housers this month, with one default and eleven delayed projects, especially in fixed-rate opportunities. Almost all the fixed-rate opportunities that ended in the last two months have been delayed. I have decided to reduce my investment in such projects. Fortunately, saving or investment projects are still very punctual and actually are usually paid several months before the estimated deadline.
Profitability, somewhat irregular this month, remains at 4.2%. I’ve reached the point where the benefits will allow me to invest on each project without further deposits. Although I don’t rule out making additional deposits if new projects became available, my intention is not to increase my position in the short or medium term, and perhaps even reduce it.
In February, Housers launched an excellent promotion: Housers Private Investment. This is a service for those who have completed a minimum investment of € 10,000 on opportunities for sale. Includes access to a manager, attending events … But by far the biggest advantage is the discounted fees (up to 100% for 24 months!): 1) SELECT (> 10,000 € à 50% off commissions for 12 months); 2) Private (> 20,000 € à 100% discount for 12 months); and 3) WEALTH (> 50,000 € -¿ 100% for 24 months). Considering that the commissions of Housers account for 10% of the profits …
The return rates of Inveslar, which remained constant at around 1.5% seem to have gone up one step in recent months (1.9% in February, thanks to a new sale – the second). Most projects are quite long term (7 of my 16 projects are 36 or 60 months), so the benefits are mainly for rentals. I trust that the rest of the projects (12-14 months) will start getting sold in the coming months (there is a couple that are already due).
Inveslar, like Housers, seems to have definitely shifted in terms of the type of projects offered to fixed rate mortgage loans, as opposed to the savings or investment projects they used to offer.
In March, one of the most delayed projects was sold (Parallel 182), generating a new peak in profitability. The benefit obtained is just 60% of that expected. In addition, as the sale has been delayed to 22.7 months, the annualized return has been reduced to a poor 2.2%. At least, Privalore has renounced to charge its usual commission.
Privalore, by offering only investment opportunities (rehabilitation), it translates in very unreliable returns. Since March 2018, the platform offers only opportunities in Madrid, whereas previously it focused exclusively on Barcelona. The biggest downside is that four of my six active investments are quite late (two of them 7 and 9 months late), so I have decided not to invest in any new project until the delayed ones catch up.
Envestio remains the platform with the best return rate (20.0%!). Until recently, all projects offered returns of over 20%. This has changed over the last few months to the current 15-16%. It’s not bad, but we all miss the previous return rates… Please note that almost all the new projects, are actually additional tiers of existing projects (up to thirteen tiers), so investing in them, does not increase diversification. With the returns offered and Buyback (!), I intend to increase my position in the coming months (hoping that the offer will increase).
The biggest drawback is that the success of Envestio translates in new opportunities being sold in a matter of minutes. So I have missed almost all the new projects in March. It seems that Envestio is considering adding an AutoInvest function in the coming months. It would be a very positive change.
There are already four defaults in Flender, plus three other delayed projects. The defaults are not yet recorded as losses. We will still have to wait (probably) several months before knowing how they resolve. Flender has started legal activities to recover them (estimated at a 35% probability). I understand that it falls within the norm, although we are already talking about a default rate of 7.4%, the highest of all platforms, not counting P2P platforms without Buyback.
In February, Flender added risk category to projects based on each company’s performance during the credit review process done by Flender, with a grade ranging from “A”, which represents the lowest risk, to “V” for young companies that have been operating for less than 2 years.
Throughout 2018, Flender had over 5.5 million EUR invested distributed in 6,400 investment.
The Irish platform is the most active by far of all P2B platforms Yields have been increasing progressively to stabilize around 8% in recent months. It is becoming one of my favorite platforms. Only two defaults (out of 412 projects!) and four projects with delays. I intend to continue investing in all new projects. In fact, I increased my positions by 10.1% since last month.
The main problem of October to this day are the two projects in the process of judicial recovery from August and November: Technofirst (interestingly my first project) and A&A Marketing Service. Although this is normal, these incidents have decreased my XIRR to practically nothing after almost a year of investing in the platform (1.7% to be precise). However, to clarify that, unlike other platforms, October provisions 100% of the amount (since the judicial recovery processes take a long time and the result is unknown). Provisions are potential losses and over time some or all of the amount due may be recovered. The rest of the platforms do not consider such losses until the judicial recovery process ends. Hopefully there will be no more setbacks and my XIRR will gradually recover.
My intention is to continue investing in all the new projects and trust that returns will come back to the expected levels. Since there is no AutoInvest, you must be really alert.
In March, October launched a new version of the mobile app that includes a new investment process to manage loans more efficiently. From now on, all loans will be queued following the order of requests and a notification is sent as soon as the operation has been executed.
Excellent news in Dofinance this month! After 6-7 months with loans at 9% maximum, loans at 11% are back. VIP Dofinance investors can get up to 12% (1% extra) during the first 90 days (10% VIP status) using my promotional LINK . In my case, unfortunately, I will still have to wait a little over three months for my current investments at 9% to end to renew at 11%.
Dofinance represents the maximum of simplicity in the way it operates. Once the target profitability and term have been chosen, our inputs end and there is nothing left to do but wait.
Dofinance in numbers: At the end of 2018, there were 3,514 registered clients, 40% of German investors, followed by Spain (22%), Italy (11%) and the Netherlands (10%). The average investment amount was 2,695 euros and an average period of 6.8 months investment, with a 9% automatic investment as the most popular investment program.
Fast Invest is one of my favorite platforms. Since February, unfortunately, we have stopped seeing loans at 15% as we used to.
Throughout 2018, the average interest rate grew from 12.78% to 14.3%. Accumulated turnover increased from € 5.2 million to € 54 million (02/15/2019). The volume of investment grew from € 1.4 million in 2017 to € 8.1 (up to 1/12/18). Now Fast Invest has over 30,000 client (15/02/2019).
In March, Fast Invest released a new version of its website. No major differences, but more intuitive.
Very disappointing results for the moment. Interest rates are really attractive (up to 55%!), but withoutBuyback, so I’ve been a bit more cautious investing than with other platforms. As of today, the many defaults do not compensate for the higher returns offered, leaving me at the end with negative returns, at least for now. As to my strategyas they offer no Buyback, I have invested only in loans with interest rates above 48% and always the minimal amount, which in the case of Fellow Finance is quite high (25 EUR). I must say that there are other less risky loans, which surely would have resulted in a better performance than my (so far) failed investment strategy. It is a complex platform, and customer service is not particularly good, so I have many doubts about how it works. Surely studying it further can result in better results. I’ll keep playing around without increasing my position hoping to be able to offer a more positive review in the coming months.
Although the current yields are excellent (an IRR of 17.4%), being a platform without Buyback, I am still waiting to see how the platform evolves in the medium-long term once the (numerous) defaults stabilize. Delayed and unpaid loans represent 12.7% and 11.7% of my portfolio, respectively. My AutoInvest selects only loans above 18%. For me it makes no sense to invest in loans without Buyback below that figure, considering there are other platforms that offer up to 14-15% with Buyback (Mintos, Fast Invest or Grupeer). For the moment my strategy is to keep my position (reinvesting profits). In a couple of months, once I see at what levels returns stabilize, I will decide whether to increase my position or start withdrawing funds.
In February, FinBee annouced their recovery rates on defaulted loans: 56.15% of the invested money from the insolvent clients from 2016, and 40.21% from 2017 (see graph above). The collection process is not over, so these indicators should continue to grow in the future. This piece of information was missing (in fact I asked about it just few weeks ago), which will be key to evaluate what to expect in the coming months and decide my future investment strategy.
However, one month later, FinBee announced that they decided to compensate 30% of defaulted loans. What it is no clear to me now is if investors will no longer get back their investment if defaulted loans are eventually recovered at a later stage.
FinBee has announced that they have been working since early 2018 on DESICO, a collective funding platform for worldwide companies to market their converted titles into tokens.
During 2018, Finbee lent over 8 million EUR to Lithuanian residents and companies, earning 1.4 million euros for investors. Also, Finbee successfully passed the annual inspection of the Bank of Lithuania and established itself as the only P2P finance company that lends to small and medium enterprises. And it seems that business is going well for Finbee. January was a record month, when private and commercial loans issued amounted to 980.795 euros.
One of my favorite platforms, with consistent results and return rates always between 13 and 15%. There was a small problem of Cash Drag in November that is definitively solved, although the average interest of loans has decreased and we no longer see loans at 14 or 15% as we used to. In March, I increased my positions by 0.5%.
As of 10th of January 2019, the owner of Grupeer platform is Grupeer Limited, which is registered and based in Ireland (instead of Alla Kisika).
In January, Grupeer announced that it will soon present the Grupeer Stability Fund, which will literally allow to buy a square meter on a real estate property. In this way, an investor will own a fraction in an office building or any other development project that already generates income. After investing in this product, the client will receive a stable rental income of 4% to 8% per annum. It is aimed at investors with a very long investment horizon who wish to receive stable income over a prolonged period.
Since March, there are three new loan originators:
- A24 Finance, which offers loans that are fully covered by collateral. These loans will be marked by the “umbrella” icon, meaning that besides the BuyBack guarantee there will be an additional protection against defaults.
- Polish Mikrokasa, a micro crediting company founded in 2006.
- Ibancar has been operating since 2010 offering business loans to buy cars in Spain, with BuyBack Guarantee, at a 11-12% return rate and 24-37 term.
When presenting my results, Mintos is more complicated since I invest in five different currencies. The graph shows in red the combined results of the platform (converting each currency to EUR according to the exchange rate of each month). This means that monthly profitability is very susceptible to variations in exchange rates.
The best XIRR (at the moment) for my investments in Georgian lari (GEL – 16.6%) and EUR (16.5%, thanks still to the excellent promotions from February to May of Mogo, Getbucks and Lendo).
The maximum yields offered by loans in EUR each day continue to oscillate from month to month between 12 and 14%. Since October, I invest manually, both in the primary and secondary markets. Since December, anyone can invest with AutoInvest in the secondary market.
The interest offered by loans in Tenges (KAZ) and rubles (RUB) remain stable between 17 and 18.5%. Usually there are always available both in the primary and secondary markets.
The loans in sterling pounds (GBP) and Georgian laris (GEL), are scarce lately in both the primary and secondary markets, particularly in pounds, which has translated into a lower return rate this month.
Also, Mintos continues to increase the number of originators, countries and products. During February, Mintos welcomed the following loan originators:
- Gofingo.kz from Kazakhstan joined the list of originators, offering short-term loans from 16 to 350 Euros up to 12%, all with 100% Buyback. Gofingo.kz operates successfully in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Lithuania and Ukraine since 2015.
- Dineo, a company based in Spain and founded in 2014, which offers short-term loans issued in Spain (from 5 to 30 days) from 50 to 500 EUR and Buyback at 60 days.
- Plazo, which is part of ID Finance, offers long-term loans of up to EUR 3,000.
- Alibaba-backed consumer finance platform Akulaku from South East Asia offers Indonesia-issued short-term and instalment loans available in EUR.
Finally, also in February, EuroOne changed its name to Rapido Finance and Cashwagon, which was the first loan originator to offer investment opportunities from the Philippines on Mintos, has expanded its presence on the marketplace by adding short-term loans issued in Indonesia from 30 to 300 EUR with a maturity of up to 40 days.
In March, the Mintos Rating has been updated for six loan originators on the Mintos marketplace: Aforti Finance, Capital Service, AASA Sweden, Hipocredit Latvia, Hipocredit Lithuania, ID Finance Georgia and Lendo based on 2018 third-quarter results and industry insights.
Mintos has announced that in the future, they will offer personal accounts (with IBAN) and debit cards. The personal account can be used to make and receive payments around the world, or receive the salary directly into the account by Mintos.
Mintos has exceeded 1,790 million EUR in investments (March 2019) to become the largest market for investment in loans in Europe (according to P2P-Banking), they have hired 28 new workers to almost double their workforce, they have reached 116,000 investors ( March 2018), have raised 5 million EUR in a round of financing, have incorporated 31 new originators from 13 new countries, and investors have received 20.9 million in interest.
Without offering spectacular returns, Peerberry compensates it with its amazing regularity (return rates always between 11 and 12% – and up to 12.3% in March), minimum follow-up needed and zero Cash Drag. I intend to keep my position as long as everything stays like this.
In February, Peerberry announced the addition of new originators:
- Slon Credit from Ukraine (Aventus Group) was established in October of 2018. It offers long-term instalment loans from 1000 UAH to 20000 UAH (from 33 EUR to 656 EUR) of 3 to 12 months at a 12.2% interest rate.
- Kredit7.kz is one of the fastest growing short-term consumer lenders in Kazakhstan. Launched in October of 2017, during 2018, Kredit7 issued short-term Kazakhstan-issued loans of up to 352 EUR at up to 12% return.
- Auto-leasing company Automoney.kz, which operates in Kazakhstan since October 2018. The company issues car loans between 500 Eur and 12,000 Euro, terms from 3 to 36 months and a return rate between 12.2% and 13%.
In February, Peerberry launched two new originators: 1) Credit7 (Aventus Group) from the Republic of Moldova and established in 2017, which is a short-term loan provider with 12% annual return; and 2) Gofingo.com.ua (the private holding company – Gofingo, LLC) from Ukraine, which offers loans in Euro with a net annual return of 12%. Peerberry offers loans from 18 originators in 8 countries.
On 31 October 2018, Peerberry celebrated its first anniversary. Peerberry in figures: In February, Peerberry achieved a volume of loans of 7.7 million and reached 5,000 investors (500 more than last month) from 59 countries that can invest in Polish, Czech, Danish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Russian loans . Most loans last less than 40 days. Finally, also in February, Peerberry changed CEO.
Robocash continues with its excellent regularity after overcoming the problems of Cash Drag of last Summer. Since November, all loans are offered at 12%, compared to 14% previously. Another important point is that the interests of the longer term loans (180-365 days) are paid at the end, so the return rate does not reflect the real profitability of the platform (which should be in my case to 11.5% ). For now, my strategy is to maintain my current position.
Swaper seems to have definitely solved the problems of Cash Drag, so I hope that returns will reach beyond 14% next month. Moreover, in March I increased my positions by 12.6%. My strategy consists of maintaining my current positions or even increasing them if the Cash Drag problems do not return.
Until now it was a platform of moderate returns with excellent regularity, without Cash Drag that required a minimum follow-up. During the last few months, on top of this, there’s been a gradual improvement in the return rates, reaching values of over 13% since January. So this month I have decided to increase my positions by 9%, which has translated into a small decrease in the return rate of March, until all the new funds invested begin to generate interest.
Unlike other platforms, Viainvest withhold taxes. I present tax-free results to facilitate comparison. From 1 December 2018, Viainvest has announced that such tax withholding is no longer automatically applied to the income of loans originated in Poland by VIA SMS PL Sp. For investments in loans originated in Spain or the Czech Republic, withholding will continue to apply.
The VIA SMS Group unaudited consolidated financial report for the year of 2018 has been published! You can browse through the report on VIA SMS Group website, or you can take a look at it on the website of Nasdaq Baltic.
Loan browsing filters have been upgraded. There is now an option to filter all available loans based on the remaining loan term, and from now on, the loan term will be displayed in days instead of months. This also applies to auto invest settings.
The situation is similar to that of Viainvest. In recent months, return rates have continued to grow: up to 14.1% in January, although it has fallen a bit for the past two months, partly due to the new funds invested in February, which have not yet begun to generate interest.
In February, Viventor added two new loan originators:
- Kviku. Founded in 2013, the Cyprus-based company provides instant credit solutions to consumers in Russia, Kazakhstan and Spain. Loans are 15€ up to 1500 € with a term of 2 to 12 month, 8-10% return rate and 60-day Buyback. Currently the company has issued and serviced more than 400’000 loans, worth more than EUR 20 million.
- MyCredit from Kazakhstan. Established in 2018, MyCredit offers loans from 50€ to 350€ with the term from 7 to 30 days.
And in March, the number of originators continues to increase until reaching 17 originators in 10 countries with the addition of the Polish KFP24. Established in 2014, KFP24 offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses from 2,300 to 23,000 EUR and a term of 3 to 24 months.
Also in March, Twinero has begun offering loans in Spain at 14%, the highest interest since using the platform.
From April, in cooperation with Spanish lenders (Twinero, Presto and Seymoure), taxes on interest earned will be withheld at source (19%), meaning that you will receive net interest. When reporting your taxes, you can generate a Tax Report under your Account Statement. The bottom line “Taxes Withheld” indicates the cumulative withheld amount for the period. This will be deducted from your total earnings and it will indicate what is the remaining gross amount you have received and on which you have to pay the taxes on.
Evolution of my positions
The evolution of my positions since January 2018 by type of investment remains more or less constant.
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