Hello Everyone,
It has been a couple of turbulent months in the p2p lending scene. With Kuetzal folding last December, and Envestio(a platform that I enjoyed and was very successful) folding a couple of weeks ago, I don’t know what to think of this situation. On the one hand, I blame some people for causing panic and a bank run that could have caused the collapse of Envestio, and on the other, Envestio handled the situation so scummy that it doesn’t leave any room for doubt. I really hope that some of my portfolio will be recovered but it is highly doubtful. As of right now I took a 917.74€ loss. That is a substantial percentage of my p2p income gains.
From the get-go, when I first got involved with p2p lending, I knew that sometime I would face defaults and some lost capital. That’s why I made sure I always invested funds I was comfortable losing. Don’t get me wrong; I hate losses and defaults, but when you are investing, especially in high-risk asset classes, losses are to be expected. I will put these losses in the failure pile and continue to invest in other platforms that I feel are safe and a good match to my investment profile.
Also, I would like to make a shootout to Viventor. Although my account is at 0€ they sent me a nice RFID-blocking wallet as a gift. I was also looking for one to put cards that I don’t put in my wallet and store them at my car’s center console like the gas cards that I have. Between these and some other cards I put in there, the center storage space was a mess. Thank you Viventor.
Anyway, we will have to wait to see how this situation is going to be played out. In the meantime, let’s take a look at this month’s income.
Lendermarket
Lendermarket is the latest addition to my p2p lending portfolio. I have been using it for the last two months (started late November 2019), and I can say that this a platform I am comfortable investing in since it is backed by a large group.
I also got the cashback deposited this month, which pushed my earnings to 25.49€. The cashback promo is 1% of the net deposits you make during the first 60 days. So, I got 13€ cashback on my 1,300€ deposit.
You can click here to sign up to Lendermarket and get a 1% bonus for any investment you make during the first 60 days.
To read my Lendermarket review click on this link.
Mintos
Things on Mintos are much better lately. Rates have gone up, and cashback campaigns appear often. There is one that started just today from Wowwo, a car lending company from Turkey. They pay 1% cashback if you invest 100€ total in their loans for the entire month of February.
My profit from Mintos in January 2020 was 56.55€. A pretty nice amount equivalent to an average rate of 12.31% and an APY of 13.1% (compounded).
A full review of Mintos is also available here.
Grupeer
For some reason, Grupeer has locked my account. I have completed their AML/KYC since the day I have started investing with them around one year ago, and now it says that it will take around 2 business days to review my documents. Btw, I have not uploaded any since last year and have not submitted any applications like it says.
I just sent them an email asking them about it. It is pretty frustrating if you think about it, but I am sure there is a reason for it, and it will clear up soon.
The platform returned 11.25€, which is a 12.08% average rate and an APY of 12.77% (compounded).
Click here to sign up to Grupeer.
You can read my Grupeer review here.
ViaInvest
This month I received €50 from referral bonuses and kept them on the platform since I like it even if they offer a lower rate than other alternatives.
I also got 5.84€ interest from ViaInvest, which is a 10.64% average rate and an APY of 11.18% (compounded).
Check my ViaInvest Review here
Crowdestor
Crowdestor released a statement after what happened to Envestio and Kuetzal explain why they have no connection and why they are a different and a more transparent platform. You can read the statement here.
Again, Crowdestor is not paying interest monthly an all projects so in some months income is going to be higher than others. Income was 3.29€ representing a 9% APY but again, this is to be expected during months that projects don’t pay interest.
You can sign-up here and get a 0.5% cashback bonus for any investment you make during the first 180 days on the platform. (the link is not working with ad-blockers)
Read my Crowdestor Review here as well.
FastInvest, Bondster, and PeerBerry
FastInvest: 3.07€
Average rate: 12.88, APY: 13.72%
Click here to sign up with FastInvest.
A full review of FastInvest is also available here.
Bondster: 1.07€
Average rate: 12.12%, APY 12.87%
You can sign-up and receive 1% cashback for any funds you invest during your first 90 days. You also need to enter the promo code “P2PIncome” to be eligible for the offer.
Peerberry: 2.27€
Average rate: 9.50%, APY 10%
Click here to sign up with PeerBerry.
A full review of PeerBerry is also available here.
Monethera
Monethera (and WiseFund) made an announcement limiting the option of the repurchase of any investment on the platform. That was made to avoid a bank run and the unavoidable collapse of the platform. I believe that this is an appropriate measure given the circumstances but they still have to prove that they are a legitimate platform and the projects are on the up and up.
Income was the standard 1.47€ as every month from the only project I am invested in yielding 18.2%.
You can click here to sign up to Monethera and get a 5€ bonus and a 0.5% cashback on any investment you make during the first 360 days. The standard cashback period is 90 days but if you use promo code “p2pincome” it will be extended to 360.
Read my Monethera review here.
Bondora
This month I will add Bondora to my monthly income reports. I started investing a couple of months ago with about 250€ but I added to this. I didn’t include them earlier because I didn’t know if I will keep the money but now that I know I am I will start reporting that too. I have invested 755€ in their Go&Grow plan. This plan pays an annual 6.75% interest. It is completely passive and you can withdraw at any time. You have to pay a small 1€ fee every time you want to make a withdraw but still.
My total deposits are 750€ and then I received 5€ from their referral promo.
The reason I started with Bondora was because I was looking for a platform that can provide instant liquidity and Go&Grow was the perfect fit. You don’t have to worry about the notoriously high defaults either. They also run some promotions that you can win up to 12,000€ so I figured this is as good as time as any to start.
Income from Bondora was 3€.
You can sign up here and receive a 5€ promo right after sign-up.
Summary
For the month of January 2020, I invested €800( €750 on Bondora and €50 from the referral bonus at ViaInvest), and the total return from interest, late fees, and secondary market transactions was €113.27 that represents a 18.80% increase from last month (€93.80). That is substantially higher even though I lost the income from Envestio and Kuetzal mainly because of Lendermarket’s cashback bonus.
Overall, my portfolio yielded 1.10% of the starting balance, which means around 14% annualized return. The total portfolio value has risen to €10,294.06 (virtually unchanged even with the defaults because of the monthly gains and the Bondora deposit)
P2P Income 
It’s sounds like you are in denial. Envestio was a classic Exit Scam. A German Investor went to the house of the new “owner” and no one had heard of him. The housing was not where you would expect someone who buys a platform to live either.
I’ve noticed you’ve not shown your Kueztal or Envestio losses. That’s very dishonest.
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Hello Steve, and thank you for your comment. I don’t think I am in denial of the situation since I am not really counting on getting any of the money back as I said in the first paragraph. I said I hope that a part of my portfolio can still be recovered, but if you think that puts me in a denial phase, you could be right.
Regarding the Kuetzal and Envestio losses, in the first paragraph, I say that the losses are 917.74€. On top of that, I used to publish my account balance from both of the platforms each month on my income reports, so the figures regarding my losses are out there anyway.
I am curious why you would say that it’s dishonest
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Haters are going to hate Peter! The write-up looks pretty clear to me.
Hope you keep the income reports going. I solely invest in UK P2P platforms but its interesting to read about the ROI offered by the European lending platforms.
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Nice report. I like the look of lendermarket. Will add through your link later. Don’t you think you need a real estate platforms or two, something like EvoestateBonus which comes with a nice €15 bonus would be a great edition. I firmly believe they will become the mintos of real estate. Them along with Estateguru would give your portfolio a more solid spine.
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