Mintos Alternatives with Higher Interest Rates ft. Bernhard Hummel

Update: I edited this article in light of recent events regarding Grupeer

Interest rates have sharply dropped since around mid July on Mintos, the platform with the largest allocation in my P2P portfolio. As a result, in this post I would like to talk about some Mintos alternatives that are still offering higher interest rates and show you where I’ve added more funds recently.

In addition, I thought it would be interesting to ask my good friend Bernhard Hummel, who has over 153.000€ invested in P2P lending and more experience than me in the market, about his opinion. You’ll find out what he’s doing in this situation and what he would do as an investor looking for alternatives to Mintos right now.

The current situation on Mintos

Mintos is still the largest position in my P2P portfolio, with an account balance of 7.958,98€ in my main account, plus 1.026,67€ invested via Invest & Access, for my Mintos Invest & Access vs. Bondora Go & Grow experiment.

Sadly, since around the middle of July, the interest rates have been on a slow decline on Mintos. While I was able to invest into loans offering up to 16% per year in July, the highest available interest rate at the moment is less than 11%.

However, we shouldn’t forget that the same thing happened last year. When I started my investment journey on Mintos last year, interest rates were at a similar level, but then started increasing again by the end of the year. I’m assuming this year will be similar, so I’m personally waiting it out and not moving any funds that are already on Mintos to other platforms. I’m not adding new funds to the platform at the current rates though.

My Primary- & Secondary Market AutoInvests are re-investing my funds at 11% interest into buyback loans from loan originators with an A to B- Rating, excluding Dinero. I’m still ok with that interest rate on a diversified platform like Mintos, but I wouldn’t go much lower than that.

Mintos Alternatives

Luckily, there are other peer to peer platforms that are still offering higher interest rates at the moment. Let’s take a look at some Mintos alternatives and where I recently added some funds. You probably already know most of these if you’ve been following my blog or watching my videos.

Iuvo Group

Iuvo Group still offers plenty of personal loans with interest rates of up to 15% per year on its platform, in addition to KFP business loans with interest rates around 13,3%. All of them come with a buyback guarantee. If you can’t find any right now, just wait until Thursday. I noticed that that’s when new high-interest iCredit loans are added to the platform every week.

I think Iuvo Group can be a great addition to Mintos in the current low-interest environment. I currently have 3.361,67€ invested on the platform, with an internal rate of return of 15,39% (including the 90€ Bonus) since October 2018.

• Don’t forget to take advantage of the 30-90€ Refer-a-friend Bonus, if you’re interested in Iuvo Group.
• My Iuvo Group review

Crowdestor

Unlike Mintos, the loans on Crowdestor don’t come with a typical buyback guarantee. Instead, the platform has a buyback fund since the 1st of March, which is supposed to serve a similar purpose in case of a loan default (which hasn’t happened yet).

Crowdestor keeps publishing interesting business and real-estate loans on a regular basis, with interest rates up to 21% per year. That’s why I recently added 750€ to Crowdestor, raising my account balance to 3.582€.

I split the 750€ into these projects:

• Mafia Stars: 18% interest + up to 14% success fee
• Bounty Resort: 19,5% interest
• Timberland Investment: 16% interest + up to 5% success fee

I’m currently looking forward to these two projects, with interest rates of 21% and 16,5%:

• Crowdestor Review: My Experience after 4 Months

Bernhard Hummel’s take on the current situation

Ok, now you know some of my Mintos alternatives and where I’ve been adding more funds lately. I decided to ask my good friend Bernhard Hummel about his opinion of the current situation on Mintos, what he’s doing right now and what he would do as a new investor looking for Mintos alternatives.

After all, he has already been in the P2P market for 3-4 years and has over 153.000€ invested on 8 platforms. The biggest chunk, 53.000€, is invested on Mintos, so I though he would be the perfect candidate to ask. You can watch his entire video response here.

Stay calm, this happens every year

According to Bernhard, this cycle repeats itself every year, with interest rates on Mintos decreasing in the end of summer and going back up in spring. He’s not worried about the current situation and not withdrawing funds, as he still considers the current interest rates of 11% on a diversified P2P platform like Mintos to be a good investment.

His favorite P2P Platform right now

His favorite P2P platform right now, especially as the interest rates are lower on Mintos, is SWAPER. The platform has been around since October 2016 and offers personal loans with a buyback guarantee and interest rates up to 14% per year.

Bernhard also visited their office in Riga last year and interviewed the previous CEO on YouTube. Furthermore, he’s planning to get a closer look behind the scenes and interview the Wandoo Finance Group CEO, the company behind SWAPER, during his trip to Spain this week. I’m sure he will publish the videos on his YouTube channel.

• New investors that register on SWAPER via this link, receive an additional +2% interest on all of their investments made during the first three months. That means that you receive 14% interest instead of 12% on your loans on the platform. If you have an account balance of 5.000€ or more after the first three months are over, you will keep the +2% loyalty bonus for future investments as well.
• Bernhard’s investments page
• Read: 150.000€ P2P Lending Portfolio: 1.500€ Monthly Passive Income

That’s it, I hope you enjoyed the article! Where are you investing your funds right now, during this period of lower interest rates on Mintos?

Video of the article