October has been one record month, with the highest return rate since I started investing on Crowd platforms (9.8% versus 9.2% in September), with a total of 325,000 euros invested. Interestingly, despite these returns record, there’s been a drop in the return rates of platforms P2B Crowdlending platforms (13.7% vs. 15.1%) and P2P Crowdlending platforms (4.3% vs. 7.7%), and here was an increase just in the return rate of my investment in Real Estate Crowdfunding platforms (8.6% from 5.1%).

The improvement of the results in real estate crowdfunding is due to the completion and payment of several real estate projects in CrowdEstate and especially due to a couple of very productive operations in the secondary market of Inveslar, which has meant a monthly return of 54.2%. On the other hand, the downturn in crowdlending P2P was mostly caused by the confirmation as defaults of two of the projects that were delayed in Flender.

Table of Contents

Portfolio Summary

The main News of the month can be summarized as follows:

• This month I reached a record profit with my crowd investments: 2,665 EUR, which puts me in second place in the passive income “race” of several bloggers.
• I also entered the list of top-20 P2P Portfolios
• The positive surprise of the month was undoubtedly Inveslar, which has reached the highest monthly return since using the platform thanks to a couple of very lucrative operations in the secondary market.
• As for disappointments, this month there are two. On the one hand Flenderwith the first two confirmed defaults that have led, for the first time, to monthly negative returns. On the other hand, Estateguru, the positive surprise in September, which rose from 1.4% to 3.3% of defaults in just one month.
• I reached 36 platforms, after starting to invest in Bondora (Go & Grow) and in Bondster.
• For my next addition, I am exploring platforms with a social component, development aid, or invest in environmental and clean energy projects (such as Trine). I’m looking at Agrikaab and LendaHand. Any experience with them? Any other such platform to consider?
• I continue with my divestment on platforms that I’m not completely convinced about (Fellow Finance and Finbee) in Mintos (overrepresented and offering very low interest) and in real estate platforms in Spain (Housers and Privalore). I increased my positions only on my most recent platforms.
• The best platforms in terms of XIRR are 1) real estate: Bricks & People (now operating through the SociosInversores.com platform) and CrowdEstate; 2) P2B: Envestio and Kuetzal (Which outranks Flender); and 3) P2P: Finbee, Grupeer and Twino.
• The best monthly returns were 1) real estate: Inveslar and CrowdEstate; 2) P2B: Envestio and Wisefund; and 3) P2P: Robocash, Peerberry and Viventor.
• To compare all platforms, check my Comparator.
• The AltFi awards are on. There you can vote for your favourite fintech platform, including some of the usual crowd-investment platforms: Grupeer, Swaper, Mintos, October, BulkEstate… It’s a good way to support whatever platform we think is best… Mintos, by the way, won the last three years.

1. All interests are calculated before deducting taxes.
2. For Mintos, I present the combined returns (all currencies, taking into account the exchange rate), as well as the return rate separately for each currency (without applying the exchange rate).
3. The yellow shading shows that the returns will surely end up being lower because there are unpaid or delayed projects without a final decision.
4. Gray figures for platforms that are still too fresh in my wallet to give a realistic idea of the ​​XIRR.

Delays and defaults

• Flender It is the negative news of the month, with 10.5% of delays and my first two projects officially considered defaults.
• CrowdEstate, from having all the payments to the day, it jumped in September to 9 delayed projects. In October there are still 8. Really worrisome. Some are different sections of the same project (before I stopped investing in multiple tiers).
• The situation in Estateguru has also worsened suddenly. From only 7 defaults to 18 in a single month (3.3%). On a positive note, Estateguru showed to be very effective when it comes to recovering them little by little: already four recovered …
• The situation in Housers is gradually improving despite the slow-down of the real estate market in Spain: 3 out of the 7 delayed fixed-rate projects have begun to pay again.
• Inveslar accumulates 2 delays of just a few months (compared to 4 last month); no defaults yet.
• Linked Finance increases to 11 defaults (vs. 9 last month) while delays stay at 7.
• The delays and defaults of Finbee are within the expected, being a platform without Buyback. The case of Fellow Finance is much more worrying, given that the defaults are not compensated so far with the profitability of the active loans. Luckily I do not have too much invested.
• 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 defaults) have improved compared to last month and red if they have worsened.

Real Estate Crowdfunding:

Brickowner

In Brickownersince 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). In April, I experienced the first two delays since I started investing.

You can read the profile card of Brickowner here. When registering, you will receive £ 50 (within 30 days after a project is financed) when you use this LINK.

Brickstarter

One of my August additions , Bricktarter is a Spanish platform that invests mostly in Andalusia, in properties for touristic rentals.

In October I invested in two projects and had my first payments.

Investors who use the code BRICKS during registration with this LINKwill get 15 EUR extra for investing and 0.5% cashback during 90 days. The code is valid until further notice.

BulkEstate

In Bulkestate, being all investments long-term and paying in full at the end of the project, I saw no returns until December, when my first two projects ended. The return rates are excellent (always above 13%) and historically there are 0% defaults, so my strategy my strategy is to continue investing in each new project (unfortunately not that many).

As of today, I have invested already in 42 projects , 19 of them already refunded.

You can read the technical sheet of Bulkestate here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

CrowdEstate

Up to now, in CrowdEstate, all projects were paid on time. However, from having all the payments up to date, they went to 9 delayed projects in August (8 in October). Some are different tiers of the same project (from before it stopped investing in multiple tiers). Worrying, but we’ll have to wait to see how they are resolved.

However, October coincided with the completion of several projects, which has resulted in my maximum historical monthly returns on the platform (29.1%), as well as accumulation of some Cash Drag, which I have tried to compensate by withdrawing funds. In addition, of the nine new projects offered by the platform in October, only two of them were not new tiers of existing projects.

The XIRR offered by CrowdEstate, taking into account just the return rates of already reimbursed projects (40) is 14.1%.

My strategy is to continue investing in each new project, except those funded in several stages ( “Multiple rounds investing”), as I believe it goes against the principle of diversification. Basically it would mean investing several times on the same project.

In November, CrowdEstate announced its first project in Romania.

In November, CrowdEstate has incorporated some new features: Now, payments that have been late for 1-90 days appear in yellow, and 90+ days in red. Also, as of September 2019, CrowdEstate has selectively imposed temporary transaction restrictions on the secondary market to the investment opportunities.

As of October, CrowdEstate has 39,600 investors, 197 projects worth $ 80 million and an average return rate of 17.6%.

You can read the technical sheet of CrowdEstate here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Estateguru

In EstateGuru, after the September record (15.6%), almost doubling the platform’s XIRR, the returns have returned to their usual values (7.4%). The negative news has been the defaults, which have gone from 1.4% to 3.3% in a single month.

Estateguru remains a tremendously active platform. I have already participated in 547 projects, of which 172 have already been completed.

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).

Estateguru published in August its 2018 annual report. To date, the volume of loans issued has been doubling every year, and EstateGuru has established itself in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Spain and Portugal, with more than 850 loans issued amounting to €133 million. EstateGuru has over 27 000 investors of varying profiles hailing from 106 countries. You can access the report here. here.

You can read the technical sheet of EstateGuru here. When registering, you will receive 1% cashback of the amount invested during the first month and 0.5% the two following months with thisLINK.

EVOEstate

EVOEstate is still too recent to present many results. I started investing in August. EVOEstate allows you to invest in loans and capital projects from real estate companies across Europe, including many of those I already use: Brickstarter, Reinvest24, Inveslar, Bulkestate and Crowdestor. I plan to use it only to diversify on other platforms not already in my portfolio without having to open a new account: Nordstreet, Bergfurst, Urbanitae, Norbalta or Re-Lender. Of all the opportunities, a small section includes those in which EVOEstate has invested its own funds (“skin in the game”), which are the most recommended. So far, the platform has offered projects in 10 countries (including in the United States), from 6 to 60 months and with annual returns between 6 and 16%.

In the three first months, I have already invested in 15 projects. Basically my strategy is to invest varying amounts in all projects except those of platforms on which I am already registered.

Register with thisLINK and you will receive EUR 15 gift after making the first investment.

Housers

The situation of Housers in terms of defaults and delays, has begun to improve. Most of the fixed-rate projects with defaults have agreed to new payment schedules that include late payment interests and several have already resumed monthly payments. Savings or investment projects that used to finalize even several months ahead of schedule are now systematically delayed. There are already 14. I attribute the situation to the cooling of the real estate market in Spain, especially in large cities such as Madrid, where Housers offers more than half of its projects.

Besides, my Housers position is widely overrepresented (34% of all my investment crowd). So from August, I decided to change my strategy: reduce my investments to 100 euros per project, and sell progressively fractions of some projects (mainly fixed rate) in the secondary market to reduce my positions. secondary market to progressively to reduce my position.

In November, Housers launched its first green project: Sun Energy, a Fixed Rate opportunity that consists of the granting of a loan to a developer to finance the acquisition of 6 rights equivalent to 6 megawatts (Mw) for subsequent construction, operation and sale in Poland. This project will save 2,489 tons of petrol per year in CO2. It is a very interesting novelty, which fits perfectly with my intentions to invest more in ecological projects and / or sustainable development.

In May, Housers turned four years old. Housers finances projects in three countries (Spain, Italy and Portugal), has more than 106,000 registered users on the platform from 155 different countries. Investors have invested in the platform more than 83 million euros and the promoters have returned more than 28 million Euro between yields and returns of capital.

You can read the technical sheet for Housers here. Register with thisLINK and you will receive 25 EUR Gift after making an initial investment of at least 50 EUR.

Inveslar

In Inveslar, most of the projects are 12 months or more in length, so the returns are mainly from rents. There are already 26 projects in which I have invested, 7 of them already completed. For a few months now, most of projects are also funded through EVOEstate.

Investing has been the positive news of October thanks to a really lucrative investment in the secondary market, which has resulted in a monthly return of 54.2% (outside the graph) that has had a considerable impact on the XIRR that increases to 5.1%, becoming the Spanish real estate platform with the best performance in my portfolio to date, ahead of Housers.

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.

Inveslar announced in August that they are in the final phase to be able to publish projects with regulatory coverage within the framework of participatory financing platforms. As of August 30, all the projects published will already be regulated by the law that protects the PFP.

You can read the Inveslar technical sheet here. Register with thisLINK and you will receive 25 EUR Gift after making an initial investment of at least 1000 EUR.

Privalore

Privaloreoffers only investment opportunities (rehabilitation), which translates into very unreliable returns. The platform hasn’t commercialized any new project since February, so I suspect that they have stopped their crowdfunding activities and will focus on other financing modalities. So the only thing left is to wait for the refund of my last three active investments (all delayed for more than a year) and say goodbye to Privalore.

Reinvest24

Reinvest24 is a real estate crowdfunding platform, whose projects generate benefits for both rent and capital gains when selling (none yet).

It is too early to judge (I began investing in May 2019). Generally satisfied, although I managed to invest in just 4 projects, which are financed very slowly (2-3 months). To accelerate the process, the most recent projects are also funded through EVOEstate. Some of the more recent projects generate profits from the time of investment before the project is fully funded. Nor is there a large supply of new projects, although the platform has already financed 9 projects in its short history with estimated return rates that range between 11 and 15%. Another downside is the 2% commission charged by investing, meaning I currently have negative returns (-3.8%).

In October, Reinvest24 successfully completed a project obtaining an 18.76% return: 12 rental payments, which generated a yield of 5.65%, plus a capital gain of 13.11% (Kreutzwaldi 3).

When registering, if you use this LINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Crowdlending P2B:

Crowdestor

In Crowdestor, after 6 months, I have invested in 30 projects, with returns between 12.8 and 20.7% and periods of 2 to 24 months. Projects are financed quite quickly, between a few hours and a week. Payments are punctual. I’m very satisfied. In fact, I regret not having started investing before. The only downside is perhaps that its growing popularity results in projects being financed in a few hours sometimes, which together with the lack of Autoinvest makes it easy to miss them if you are not very attentive. Luckily, several of the projects are funded in multiple tiers, so there are usually second chances to invest.

When registering, if you use this LINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Envestio

Envestio remains the platform with better rate of return (18.1%!). Please note that many of the new opportunities that are appearing are actually new funding tranches of the same project (to thirteen sections), so investing in them, we are not diversifying.

In recent months, the platform offers 2-3 new projects every month. With the returns offered and Buyback (!), I intend to increase my position (hoping that the offer will increase).

You can read the Envestio technical sheet here. Register with thisLINK and you will receive a bonus of EUR 5 to 24 hours of the first deposit of at least 100 EUR, plus an additional bonus 0.5% of the amount invested during the first 270 days.

Flender

Bad month in Flenderwith the first two defaults confirmed and accounted, which has resulted in negative monthly returns for the first time (-25%). In addition, the platform accumulates another 8 delayed projects (10.5%) not yet listed as losses. We will have to wait (probably) many months before knowing how they are resolved. Flender has started legal activities to recover them (estimated at a 35% probability).

The monthly returns, until the October breakdown, ranged from 7 to 10%, with some peaks for really generous specific promotions. The XIRR of Flender has also been affected: from being the second highest of P2B platforms with 14.9% (only behind Envestio), it has dropped to 11.8%.

You can read the Flender technical sheet here. Register with thisLINK and you will receive 0.5% of the amount invested during the first 30 days.

Kuetzal

In Kuetzal, since April, I have invested in 16 projects, with returns between 14 and 21% and periods of 12 to 36 months (mostly 12 and 24). Some take a little longer to finance, but for now payments are timely and monthly returns are clearly on the rise. It is still too early to evaluate the platform, but for now I am very satisfied. My intention is to continue investing in each new project.

In November, Kuetzal informed the investors in Marina Code SP company (loan no #0010) that they found out negative information on the company’s current business activity, namely lack of communication and reporting, unprofessional approach, and bad expertise with current partners. Even though all the payments by the company were made on time, all the mentioned points forced Kuetzal to stop cooperation with Marina Code SP. Kuetzal has taken a decision to return invested funds from the company and return the invested funds to Kuetzal investors. Despite the negative news, I believe this is a good sign of Kuetzal’s transparency and proactive approach.

When registering, if you use this LINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Linked Finance

The Irish platform is the most active by far of all P2B platforms I use. At least it was until August. With the summer, the number of new projects fell radically (only seven in August). In September and October the situation has improved (15 new projects per month), but still far from the 28 a month that the platform averages since I started using it. The returns are really regular, around 8%.

Linked Finance is one of my favorite platforms. 11 defaults (of 572 projects) and 10 delays. My intention is to continue investing in all new projects.

In June, Linked Finance announced that they had reached €100 Million in total lending. The first half of 2019 was a record period for the platform. Here are some of the key market place metrics: total lending 23.7 Million EUR; 325 loans; Average loan: 72,834 EUR; Average return rate: 9.6%.

Monethera

Monethera was one of the August additions to my portfolio. It is a platform similar to Envestio, Kuetzal and Crowdestor in terms of performance and profitability. Monethera started in 2017 as a private investment fund. It was launched in 2019 as an online crowd-investing platform. Their projects focus in four core areas: Real Estate, Business Growing, Organic Farming & Green Energy, Logistics and Technologies. Projects offer very attractive returns (18-21%) and 3-12 months long. The platform will buy back your projects with a 5% penalty.

I have managed to invest in all but the first (12 in total). For now, projects are funded in a couple of weeks and payments are timely. My intention is to continue investing in each new project.

Register with this LINK and you will receive a bonus of EUR 5 plus 0.5% of the amount invested during the first 180 days (an improvement over 90 days offered so far).

October

The only problem of October to date are the seven projects in the process of judicial recovery (3.2% of the total), on top of two delayed projects that seem to be following the same path. Monthly returns continue to vary greatly from month to month depending on when the delays and defaults are computed, and the returns remain (marginally) negative (-0.15%). On a positive note, 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.

I have decided to stop making new contributions until I have a clearer picture how the defaults evolve. Until returns do not become positive. I will just reinvest the principal returned and interest. I have also reduced each investment to the minimum allowed (20 Euro).

The Euro amount of each project tends to be quite high, so, despite the absence of AutoInvest, there is more time to invest.

You can read the technical sheet of October here. Register with thisLINK and you will receive € 20 to lend on projects when investing at least 500 EUR.

TFG Crowd

TFG Crowd is the latest addition to my portfolio (in early September). It is a platform similar to Envestio, Kuetzal, Monethera, Wisefuld and Crowdestor in terms of performance and profitability. TFG Crowd has been involved in commercial financing since 2015, but the crowd-lending platform is still very young: 2019. In this short period, they have already financed 19 projects with very attractive returns (8-19%, almost all with 17% returns) , 6-24 months, and very informative descriptions of the projects. And they offer Buyback guarantee!

I have invested in six projects. The payments are punctual and I have already reached 13.2% of XIRR. My intention is to continue investing in each new project.

When registering, use this LINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Trine

Trine is one of the latest additions to my portfolio (August). It’s probably one of the most original and exciting platform to invest in. It allows people to invest in solar energy in growing markets, i.e. the developing world. This allows you to earn a profit while making social and environmental impact. Trine partners with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA), which, to my eyes, adds much credibility to their proposal. Indeed, Trine, through its partnership with UNDP contribute towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7- affordable and clean energy, and improve the quality of life in rural communities. Read more here.

Basically, you choose a loan to invest in, or set up Monthly Investments. Each loan is a bit different in terms of impact, location, size and risk. You decide how much to invest from €25 minimum. When the loan is fully funded, your money is transfered to the borrower, i.e. solar partners, who sell and distribute solar products to their customers. If the solar partner succeeds to repay the loan you’ll get back your investment with interest. You can expect repayments approximately every three months. A big plus is that some loans are partly covered by Investment Protection in case it fails (provided by SIDA). So far, Trine has funded projects in 14 countries.

So far, I’ve invested in 6 projects in Guatemala, Kenya and Nigeria, with interests up to 8% (or even higher when you invest over 1000 EUR). While the interests are not that high compare to other platforms, at least for me, that’s compensated by far by the good feeling of investing your money in a good cause, while reducing my carbon footprint. In my case, my footprint will be 20.3 Tons of CO2 once the projects get operative!

If interested, you will get 10 EUR back when registering through my LINK.

Wisefund

I started investing in Wisefund in August. It is a platform similar to Envestio, Kuetzal and Crowdestor in terms of performance and profitability. It started operating in 2019 in Estonia. So far, they have already funded 8 projects with very attractive returns (17.3-19.7%), some in more than one stage, 4-10 months in duration … and Buyback! The platform will repurchase its projects with a penalty.

I have already invested in 10 projects. Payments are punctual. My intention is to continue investing in each new project.

Register with thisLINK and you will receive 0.5% of the amount invested during the first 180 days.

P2P Crowdlending:

Bondora

In October, I started investing in Bondora. It has taken me several years to decide it, but in the end I decided to try the most senior of P2P platforms. It is possibly one of the most controversial platforms, with vehement detractors and defenders. I understand that by investing time in analyzing the platform’s numbers, you can achieve really attractive returns, above 20%. For now, I’m going to focus on Go & Grow. I think it is a very attractive option to obtain a fixed return of 6.76% and absolute liquidity. My idea is to use Go & Grow for the part of my funds that I want to have quickly available for contingencies or investment opportunities.

In November, Bondora has launched a beta version of an app for Go & Grow. For the moment, the beta version of the app will only be the overview screen: the added, gained, total balance figures, and your progress tracker. But in the near future, Bondora will include the add and withdraw money functionality. In 2020, the app will contain all the functionality available on the desktop site and more.

When registering with this LINK you will get 5 EUR.

Bondster

In October, I started investing in Bondster, a P2P platform established in 2017 and based in Prague, Czech Republic. Bondster connects retail investors looking for alternative investments and microfinance institutions searching for flexible funding through an online marketplace. Bondster is the first marketplace of its kind in the Czech Republic that cooperates with microfinance institutions from all over the world. It has over 7,000 investors and 15 loan originators. The average annual return for investors has recently increased and amounted to 12,5 % on Euro short term investments and 8,5 % on Czech investments (most of them being secured by real estate). Bondster offers various diversification possibilities. You can invest into loans of different maturity, country of origin, type of loan, size and collateral. You can also benefit from a user-friendly autoinvest tool with various filters and diversification settings. Majority of loans are offered with a buyback guarantee that will be activated in case the borrower is past-due with the scheduled repayment for 30 or 60 days (you will also earn interest during this period). Bondster is the first platform to introduce the so called Smart Reserve that is a great option for those who want to invest for a short period of time with a possibility to exit from the investment any time and for free without a necessity of selling loan in the secondary market.

In November, Bondster announced that Singapurian provider Right Choice Finance has recently joined the platform. The company was established in 2016 and since then has issued over 1000 loans. It focuses on unsecured and secured business and personal loans. Right Choice Finance loans will have an interest rate from 10,5 up to 14 % p.a.

When registering with this LINKand after you invest 1000 EUR, you will receive 10 EUR.

Dofinance

In Dofinanceafter 6-7 months with loans at 9% maximum, loans at 11% are back since April. VIP Dofinance investors can get up to 12% (1% extra) during the first 90 days (10% VIP status) using my promotional LINK .

Dofinance may not be the platform with the highest profitability, but it represents the maximum of simplicity to operate. Once the objective profitability and the term have been chosen, there is nothing left to do other than wait for the interests to arrive. In addition, monthly returns have followed an upward trend that started in January, and since July, they exceed 10% (11.2% in October).

In September, Dofinance shared the latest Alfa Finance Group management report, where you will find the results and achievements of the first half of 2019 and plans for the next reporting period (here).

Dofinance in numbers: In June, there were 3,900 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.

You can read Dofinance’s technical sheet here. Register with this LINK and you will receive an extra 1% return during the first 90 days (VIP status).

Fast Invest

Fast Invest is one of my favorite platforms. Despite that since February there are no 15% loans, the returns keep an amazing regularity, although declining slightly.Fast Invest is one of my favorite platforms. Although, since February, unfortunately, we have stopped seeing loans at 15% as we used to, return rates keep an astounding regularity at around 14%.

Fast Invest has added a new originator: EUR loans issued in Russia by Kviku. Loans will be available with up to 12% interest rate and will be secured by the 15-day BuyBack and covered with the MoneyBack Guarantee – if you decide to terminate the loan agreement prematurely, you will receive the full principal back in a day.

In November, Fast Invest announced that they are extending the loan originator list: The Danish company eCommerce 2020 will offer short-term EUR loans to private individuals in Iceland with up to 11% interest rate and secured by a 7-day BuyBack.

You can read Fast Invest’s technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Fellow Finance

Very disappointing results for the moment. Interest rates are really attractive (up to 55%!), but without Buyback, 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.

Since May, I no longer invest in new loans with the idea of decreasing my position and eventually leave Fellow Finance. Since July, I’ve started withdrawing funds. I will still have to wait until the beginning of 2022 to completely empty my account.

You can read Fellow Finance’s technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Finbee

Although the yields obtained with FinBee are so far excellent (a XIRR of 16.2% selecting only loans above 18%), being a platform without Buyback, I am still awaiting how the platform will evolve medium-long term once the (many) defaults stabilize. Delayed (0-90 days) and defaulted (>90 days) loans account for 16.4% and 11.9% of my portfolio, respectively.

The recovery rates of loans in arrears are 56.15% as of 2016 and 40.21% as of 2017. The collection process has not ended, so these indicators should continue to improve in the future. However, for investments after March 2019, FinBee announced that it will compensate 30% of the loans in arrears. Doing a quick calculation, this implies that profitability, once the defaults begin to realize, will be reduced considerably below what’s currently offered by platforms with Buyback (7-8%?), So since June, I have stopped reinvesting profits and started to withdraw them from the platform.

You can read Finbee’s technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Grupeer

Grupeeris one of my favorite platforms, with return rates always between 13 and 15%, although loans’ average interest has decreased and we no longer see loans at 14 or 15%.

In November, Grupeer announced that ”Monify JSC” will terminate their Loan offering with immediate effect.

In September, a new loan originator joined from Kenya. e-Mkopo is a Kenya based pay-day loan provider operating fully online. It has been founded by DoZarplati. You will get 1% CashBack instantly from all investments you make in e-Mkopo until October 8.

In September, Grupeer has included the option to invest on projects without Buyback due to the possibility of placing such projects on the platform because in the future some loan originators might prefer not to offer BuyBack guarantee, instead, they would like to offer a higher interest rate. However, currently, all development projects and loan deals published on Grupeer platform are protected by BuyBack guarantee.

You can read Grupeer’s technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK, there is a 1% refund for all new customers who invest at least 100 Euros (only until November 17!).

Mintos

To clarify that I invest mainly manually, both in the primary and secondary markets. Partly because it seems to me that the AutoInvest tool doesn’t work too well… I don’t use Invest & Access either.

When presenting my results, Mintos is more complicated since I invest in six different currencies (in September I started to invest in Mexican pesos – MXN). 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 maximum interest rate offered by loans in EUR have fallen dramatically during August and September. Compared to the 15-16% offered since April by about ten originators, the maximum returns fell to a sad 10-11% in September. In October it seems that return rates begin to recover up to 11.5-12%.

The interests offered by loans in Tenges (KAZ) and rubles (RUB) fluctuate a bit between 16 and 20%. They are usually always available both in the primary and secondary markets.

Loans in Georgian lari (GEL) are in short supply lately in both primary and secondary markets, but 2-3 times a month a few new ones appear, bringing the problem of Cash Drag is not important. On the other hand, there have been no loans in pounds sterling (GBP) since September, so Cash Drag begins to be a problem.

The best IRR (at the moment) are my investments in Kazakh tenges, Georgian laris and Russian rubles (17.0%-18.0%).

In November, Metrokredit, a loan originator that joined Mintos in July 2018, temporarily stopped issuance of new loans to borrowers. According to the statement of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued on 6 November 2019, Metrokredit has been excluded from the State Register of the Microfinance Organizations of the Russian Federation. As a result, Metrokredit’s Mintos Rating will be downgraded for now from B- to C, as the company has a limited competitive position and will not issue new loans. The new rating will be effective on the Mintos marketplace from 12 November 2019 until further notice. Mintos assured that Metrokredit will continue serving existing loans, and investors will continue receiving repayments and interest, but there was some panic and loans have been sold in the secondary market with up to 10% discount. I sold mine at 0.5% disccount. Better safe than sorry. In any case, looks like they’re being repaid punctually and Mintos issued a statement on 15 November that Metrokredit loans performing according to schedule (here).

Mogo has issued corporate bonds, available on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company will use part of the bond’s proceeds to refinance some of the loans funded through Mintos Marketplace. From 15 November 2019, over the following two weeks Mogo is considering to repurchase up to EUR 25 million of loans (both performing and non-performing).

Also in November, Mintos published the statistics for the period between 1 January 2019 and 31 October 2019 (here).

New originators in September:

• The Bulgarian loan originator Stikcredit launched on Mintos: Net annual returns of up to 12%; Buyback guarantee; Skin in the game of 10%; Loans listed in EUR ranging from EUR 100 to EUR 2 550; Loans issued in Bulgaria; and Mintos Rating of B-.
• Ukrainian loan originator E-cash: Mintos Rating of C+; Ukraine-issued short-term loans listed in EUR; Loans ranging from EUR 17 to EUR 400; Net annual returns of up to 11%; Buyback guarantee; Skin in the game of 10%; E-cash pays interest on delayed payments.
• Zenka Finance, one of the fastest growing digital lenders providers operating in Kenya. Zenka Finance in Mintos: Loans in EUR currency; Loans ranging between 12 and 182 euros, with a maturity of up to 61 days; Buyback guarantee; 10% skin in the game; Expected annual net return of up to 12%; Interest on late payments.
• ESTO from Estonia, a provider of point-of-sale (POS) purchase financing for merchants. ESTO from Estonia on Mintos: Average loan of EUR 600 with an average maturity of 10 months; ESTO only lends to near-prime and prime borrowers; Net annual returns of up to 10%; Buyback guarantee; Skin in the game of 10%.
• In September, Mogo has expanded the investment opportunities by placing its car loans issued in Belarus – Mogo’s 10th country on the marketplace. They are listed in EUR, range from 50 to 15 000 EUR, with a maturity from 1 to 84 months. Expected net annual return of up to 12%.

New originators in October:

• ExpressCredit has launched a new country on Mintos – Namibia. Express Credit Cash Advance (PTY) LTD was established in 2016 and is licensed and regulated by the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA). At present, the company has 7 branches in the major cities of Namibia. Characteristics: Personal loans listed in EUR; Loans range from EUR 150 to 1300 with a maturity of 5 months; Net annual returns of up to 12%; Buyback guarantee; Mintos Rating C+.

In October, Mintos announced that they are downgrading the risk ratings for two loan originators on Mintos: Aasa Poland (from A- to B+) and Rapido (from B- to C). Rapido was suspended only a couple of days later from the Mintos Primary and Secondary Markets (read more here).

Auto Invest (used by 83% of investors) was upgraded in September. Now it works faster and they also brought back the loan counter.

In November, I became a Mintos BETA tester. I will have the chance to see, test, and comment on the newest products through interactive usability tests.

In October, Mintos published a report on the secondary market that you can access here.

In October, Mintos announced that they will introduce in the coming months the Pending payment description – a payment status functionality that will provide investors with clarity over the status of borrowers’ payments in the funnel from loan originators to the Mintos marketplace. Besides enhancing the transparency, this functionality should also provide a more detailed status of each borrower’s payment.

And in September, Mintos has announced some updates to Invest&Access:

• Lending companies will become eligible for Invest & Access 1 month after joining Mintos.
• The maximum portfolio size will be increased to € 200,000.

Mintos has reached 3,780 million euros in investments to become the largest market for investments in loans in Europe, has reached 204,000 investors, and has distributed 67 million in interest to investors (October 2018).

You can read Mintos’ technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK you will receive 0.5% of the amount invested during the first three months (up to 1% if you invest before November 18).

NEO Finance

I’m not very satisfied with NEO Finance as anyone can deduct from the graph. After some really positive beginnings, the high number of defaulted loans has ended up causing negative returns in the last six months, and the XIRR since September is negative (-0.91%).

My investment strategy has been so far to invest only in loans from the primary market above 17% (and up to 27%) and without a provision fund. Too many late loans (36%) that end up defaulting (after 90 days) and from which only a variable part that is usually around 30-50% is recovered depending on the yield of the loan. The last weeks of June I stopped reinvesting the benefits. And since July, I have decided to try a new strategy using the provision fund (which is basically like paying for Buyback). This provision fund must be paid in advance, when making the investment, which means starting with losses.

Besides, since October, I have stopped using the repurchase option for unpaid loans after 90 days and rely on the recovery procedure of NEO Finance. According to its statistics, after 24 months, the lender will recover 53.6% and 73.8% after 33 months (statistics on slide 11 of the report). So, in theory, with some patience, it should work better than the 90-day buyback option. Looks like I won’t be able to let you know if it works better as a strategy until two years time.

In October, my loans with a provision fund increased to 20% (17% in September). Seems like return rates are starting to recover (-1.4% in October). When registering with thisLINK, you will get 25 EUR when opening an account.

Peerberry

Without offering spectacular returns, Peerberry compensates it with an amazing regularity, minimum follow-up needed and zero Cash DragI intend to keep my position as long as everything stays like this.

In September, the return rate plummeted to 8.2%, but October has offset it with above-average returns (16.5%, the highest since using Peerberry).

In October, Peerberry launched a new feature: a live chat from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., both through the website and Facebook. They also updated all the originator information here.

Peerberry in figures: In September, Peerberry achieved a loan volume of 14.2 million and exceeded 14,500 investors from 64 countries that can invest in loans from 18 originators in 8 countries. Most loans last less than 40 days.

You can read Peerberry’s technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Robocash

Return rates have increased since April with the payment of interest on longer-term loans (180-365 days), which are charged at the end, so the XIRR does not reflect the real performance of the platform (which should be 12.0% in my case).

Robocash had overcame the problems with Cash Drag of last summer and was maintaining a relative regularity. However, October has been a strange month. On the one hand, Cash Drag problems of up to 10% have arisen again. On the other hand, the payment of several of the long-term loans (bullet) has caused a peak of profitability of up to 30%, the highest monthly return by far since using Robocash.

For the moment, my strategy is to maintain my current position.

In November, Robocash reached the milestone of $ 500 million issued loans.

In April, Robocash announced a Loyalty Programme for investors. Investors with ID>1,000 will receive increased interest for 3 months (from 1 September to 30 November 2019) given that they keep from 1,000 EUR on the platform from June 1, 2019 to August 31, 2019. The bonus will be accrued according to the investor’s category, which corresponds to the investor’s minimum balance as of June 1, 2019.

The first 1,000 investors who joined the platform (not my case) will receive a guaranteed bonus of 0.3% from 1 September 2019 to 31 January 2020 regardless of their balance.

You can read Robocash’ technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Swaper

In Swaper, Cash Drag problems of up to 10% have arisen again, but monthly return rates continue to be excellent.

New investors who sign up by using my Affiliate LINK will get a Swaper Loyalty Bonus (+2%) on all investments made during the first three months. This means that instead of a 12%, investors will earn 14%! The bonus will be activated after the first successful payment. If the account value drops under 5k after three months, the bonus will be revoked.

In September, Swaper has added a blog and video with instructions on how to set up the AutoInvesthere). Apparently, it is no longer necessary to have ten active strategies as it was generally recommended when I first opened my account.

It’s been 3 years since launching of Swaper (October 2016). Swaper in figures as per the end of September: Total Cumulative Lending Volume = 87,720,961 €; Number of Active Investors = 2,691.

You can read Swaper’s technical sheet here.

Twino

I began to invest somewhat reluctantly in November 2018, in view of the negative comments about Cash Drag and low returns. Almost a year later, Twino has become one of my most profitable platforms (14.1%), thanks largely to the positive fluctuations of my investments in rubles.

After such a good year, I’ve decided to increase my positions in October by 22%.

In November, Twino announced that, after analyzing their BuyBack Guarantee, they will adjust it by changing the day of buyback from 31 days past due to 61 days. The decision was made based on the increase in debt collection efficiency after 31 days, as a result of improved internal debt collection processes. Twino will still pay interest to investors for each of the delay days. The new adjustments of the BuyBack Guarantee will take place starting from 13 November.

In November, Twino informed of the establishment of a Group Council, as well as changes in Board of Directors. The Council is the highest decision-making body in Twino Group and has the ultimate responsibility for setting company’s strategy, business objectives and risk management framework.

Also in November, Twino published its Consolidated Financial Statement for year 2018 (here). The audited financial results for 2018 show Group’s consolidated net profit nearing €9 million, the best in history: Revenue: €90.5 million; Equity: €15.5 million; Cash and cash equivalents: €8.1 million; Strong liquidity ratio of 1.26; Operational cash-flow positive, which indicates that Twino is generating positive cash-flow to maintain and grow its operations.

In October, Twino announced changes in the investment structure for the Russian loan originators. Now you can invest in loans issued by TWINO (instead of TWINO FINANCE as until now) to Russian loan originator that gives you the exposure to the end borrower’s loan. The changes are introduced to further optimize the product profitability. The new user agreement is also into effect to better define our Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) best practices.

In September, Twino announced the next version of of the Currency Exposure (CE) functionality, which lets you invest in loans that are pegged to the local currency of the specific loan originator. Starting from June, part of Russian loans will be listed with the Currency Exposure functionality and return of 14% p.a., while another part will be listed without it and return of 10% p.a. Meaning that it will not be possible to invest both with and without the CE functionality in one specific loan anymore. The loans that come with CE will be marked with a special icon near the interest rate.

Twino’s latest figures: 1) Loans financed in September: € 16,015,183; 2) Average interest on September loans: 10.47%; 3) Loans financed at all times: € 564,777,000; 4) XIRR to date: 10.50%; and 5) Number of investors (as of October 1): 18,736.

Viainvest

Viainvest is a platform with excellent regularity, no Cash Drag, that requires a minimum follow-up and return rates around 13% since January 2019. Unlike other platforms, Viainvest withhold taxes. I present tax-free results to facilitate comparison.

In September Vianvest announced that the platform is now also available in Spanish. They have also published the results of their annual survey here). Finally, they have also announced an update of the platform and the user interface.

You can read the Viainvest technical sheet here. When registering, if you use thisLINK I’ll receive a small commission.

Viventor

Viventor is a platform with excellent regularity, no Cash Drag, that requires a minimum follow-up and return rates around 13% since January 2019. In November, Viventor provided an update on the situation of loans issued by Aforti Factor S.A. and Aforti Finance S.A. regarding the repayment of loans, including the buyback guarantees, which were put on hold from the 6th of August. On August 12th, ViVentor negotiated and signed Settlement Agreements, which contain a daily payment schedule designed to ease up the cash flows of the companies and make it easier for them to repay their outstanding debt at that time. Both agreements expired on 13 September. By then, Aforti Factor S.A has managed to pay all of their outstanding debt and Aforti Finance S.A. settled their debt on 5 November. However, new debt has been growing for both companies ever since Viventor is planning once again to meet with the management of Aforti Finance S.A. and Aforti Factor S.A. to continue to work out the details and find solutions to resume transferring borrower repayments to us for distribution among investors.

Since October, the platform is also available in German.

In November, Viventor has added a new originator in Bosnia: Kreddy.ba. They will offer consumer loans with maturities from 3 to 12 months, loan amounts of 300 to 1000 euros. The company will maintain 5% skin in the game and start by offering an introductory projected return of around 12% p.a. For the company’s 2019 financial year, DFI Bosnia (the parent company), reported a revenue of EUR 2 million, which represents an increase of more than 50% year-on-year. DFI Bosnia is also a part of Finstar Financial group – an international private equity firm operating in Europe, the US, Asia, Latin America and the CIS. The Group has 20 years of operational experience launching new projects in developing markets, restructuring existing companies to become more competitive, as well as sealing M&A deals and building greenfield start-ups.

You can read Viventor’s technical sheet hereWhen registering, enter the code TN4687, invest at least € 500 for 30 days, and we will both receive 5 EUR.

Other Fintech tools:

Whiskey Invest Direct

WhiskyInvestDirect is a very innovative platform that allows to invest in Scotch whiskey in the process of maturation. I started investing in March and I made two contributions with which I invested in thirteen different whiskeys. So far I’m quite happy with it, with a 6.6% XIRR.

Register with thisLINK and you will receive 1 liter of pure alcohol (1 LPA) and 2 pounds (GBP).

Indexa

Still really satisfied with Indexa. My portfolio is at the fifth level of risk (of 10) and 2019 has been a great year.

They have just announced that they have become the first profitable automated manager in Europe (and perhaps the world) and will lower the management fee from 0.45% to 0.43% for fund accounts from 10 to 100 thousand euros from from 01/01/2020. In addition, Vanguard, the manager of most of the funds included in Indexa’s portfolios, has again lowered the commissions of its funds. The average cost of Indexa portfolio funds falls -0.04% (from 0.19% on average to 0.15%), which is equivalent to 85 thousand euros of annual savings for Indexa customers.

Finally, Indexa continues to grow exponentially. They already manage more than 270 million EUR invested from almost 12 thousand customers.

You’ll get € 10,000 free of management fees for 1 year by contributing more than € 1,000 to the fund portfolio or more than € 50 to the pension or EPSV account when registering with thisLINK.

Also, I use N26 and Revolut for my bank transfers. These two online banks do not charge fees for transfers, charge minimum fees for payments in foreign currency, and allow you to open an account within minutes.

Evolution of my positions

As for the evolution of my positions since January 2018 depending on the type of investment, they’ve remained more or less constant until August, when I sold my most important investment fund for the purchase of an apartment.

And the evolution of my income from crowd investments (thanks to Eelis, the Wealthy Finn!) compared to other bloggers (second this month!):