This has been a very difficult month. With everything that happened, I definitely won’t be forgetting this one for a while.
Nonetheless, welcome to my latest P2P lending income update for January 2020.
You’ll see exactly how much I invested on each peer to peer lending platform, my deposits and withdrawals, as well as my returns for the month.
More importantly, for the first time since starting this blog in 2018, this update will also include how much I probably lost because of a stupid mistake I made, by looking into my concerns only when it was too late.
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about:
Anyway, let’s take a look at everything that happened last month.
P2P Lending Income – January 2020 Overview
| Platform | Income | IRR | Invested | Value |
| Envestio* | 0* | -74,08%* | 2.807€* | 0 (-3.792€?)* |
| Iuvo Group | 32,76€ | 14,15% | 2.850€ | 3.463€ |
| Mintos | 70,52€ | 12,61% | 7.505€ | 8.299€ |
| Mintos I&A | 8,34€ | 10,28% | 1.000€ | 1.065€ |
| Bondora G&G | 12,94€ | 6,63% | 2.900€ | 3.050€ |
| Grupeer | 35,16€ | 13,96% | 2.825€ | 3.153€ |
| Crowdestor | 72,41€ | 12,53% | 5.400€ | 5.665€ |
| Monethera | 21,41€ | 23,38% | 1.250€ | 1.357€ |
| Wisefund | 19,82€ | 23,42% | 868€ | 975€ |
| Swaper | 18,74€ | 10,85% | 1.500€ | 1.551€ |
| Viainvest | 16,78€ | 9,89% | 1.500€ | 1.544€ |
| Lendermarket | 43,96€ | 13,41% | 3.000€ | 3.054€ |
| Total | 352,48€ | -0,93% | 33.405€ | 33.176€ |
*After what happened, we’ll have to wait and see if/when we get some of the funds back from Envestio. For now, I’m writing off the entire amount.
- Income from P2P Lending (Jan. 2020): 352,48€
- Potential Loss (Envestio): 3.792,10€
Total Earned: 3.562,79€- Total Lost: 228,95€
- Internal Rate of Return:
14,68%-0,93% - Start: 01.09.2018
If I’m unable to recover any money from Envestio (I’m of course hoping for the opposite!), that means I lost a total of 228,95€ since I started investing in P2P lending.
On a more positive note, that also means I should hopefully be back in the green by the end of February.
If it hadn’t been for Envestio, this would have been a great month with 352,84€ in passive income from the other platforms. That would put me at 23,5% (+1,5%) of my goal, which is 1.500€ monthly passive income from investments.
Let’s take a look at how each platform performed individually.
Envestio
As you probably know by now, my warning and decision to leave Envestio on January 15th was too late…
We later found out that the platform stopped filling withdrawal requests after January 12th, until it and the owners completely disappeared on January 20th.
Until we hear better news from the ongoing criminal investigation against Envestio, I will consider my entire investment lost.
- Based on deposits minus withdrawals alone, I lost 2.807€
- Including interest displayed in the account, I lost a grand total of 3.792€.
I’m of course hoping we’ll be able to recover some of it.
Nonetheless, that’s going to hurt for a long time, especially when I think about how many work hours it’s going to take me to earn that amount of money back.
I have no experience with dealing with a fraud case like this, as this is the first time this happened to me. Therefore, I’m sorry if I wasn’t able to provide you with more guidance over the past two weeks, as the whole mess unfolded. I still tried my best in my last video.
Here is what I did:
- Most importantly, I filled out a police report, which you should do as well if you haven’t already.
- I also joined Guillermo & Azucena’s lawsuit on Gofundme, as I figured it couldn’t hurt to try and my individual contribution was small (23€). I honestly have no idea yet if it will successful or if it’s a good idea in the first place. We’ll have to see.
One thing is for sure though. I will do everything in my power so that nothing like this ever happens again regarding any platform I talk about on this blog and my YouTube channel.
I won’t ever be this naive again about any concerns I start to have, assuming everything is fine in the background, just because of other blogger’s positive feelings or personal relationships with any platform.
Iuvo Group
- Income (Jan. 2020): 32,76€ (+1,35€)
- IRR: 14,15%
- Invested since: 05.10.2018
My income from Iuvo Group slightly increased last month. However, I did notice a slightly smaller number of 14% interest loans being added once to twice a week in January – hopefully that was just temporary.
I’m still very happy with Iuvo Group.
On a side note, Iuvo Group recently won the Company of 2020 award in the Finance category at the Forbes Business Awards in Bulgaria.
- Don’t forget to take advantage of the 90€ Refer-a-friend Bonus, if you’re interested in Iuvo Group.
- My Iuvo Group Review (incl. Auto Invest settings)
Mintos
- Income (Jan. 2020): 70,52€ (-4,33€)
- IRR: 12,61%
- Invested since: 27.09.2018
My Mintos income decreased slightly, but since interest rates are rising again on the marketplace, I’m expecting to see an increase in earnings in the coming months.
- You can use my link to get a 0,5% Bonus on your investments on Mintos.
Mintos Invest & Access
- Income (Jan. 2020): 8,34€ (+0,54€)
- IRR: 10,28%
- Invested since: 12.06.2019
The average interest rate of my Mintos Invest & Access Portfolio dropped further, to 9,43% per year.
Not only that, but 23,5% of my funds in Invest & Access are currently invested in loans from Indonesia, which seems a bit much for my taste, as I was expecting more diversification.
28,61% of my funds on Invest & Access are currently unavailable for cash out, as they are either late or in grace period. That’s a couple percentage points more than on my main Mintos account.
If being able to withdraw your investment quickly is a priority for you, you should take a look at the next platform.
Bondora Go & Grow
- Income (Jan. 2020): 12,94€ (+7,2€)
- IRR (incl. withdrawals): 6,63%
- Invested since: 01.09.2018
I added 2.000€ to Bondora Go & Grow on January 12th.
For me, Bondora Go & Grow is still the best platform for short-term investments in P2P lending. It enables me to withdraw the full amount of my deposit, including the daily interest I earned at any time (-1€ flat withdrawal fee).
Because of the extra flexibility, I’m ok with the interest rate being slightly lower at 6,75% per year.
- You can get a 5€ Bonus on Bondora when you sign up via my link.
Grupeer
- Income (Jan. 2020): 35,16€ (-2,06€)
- IRR: 13,96%
- Invested since: 02.10.2018
Grupeer has been running smoothly as usual.
Because of recent events causing a lot of uncertainty in the P2P lending space, Grupeer’s co-founder Alla Kisika, who I met in person back in June last year, recently published a statement addressing investors.
- You can read Grupeer’s statement here
As much as I like the platform, I won’t increase my investments on Grupeer beyond 10% of my P2P portfolio until I see an audited financial statement from Grupeer or its biggest, affiliated loan originators Finsputnik Platforma and Primo Invest.
My good friend Bernhard is planning a trip to Minsk in the coming months to check out one of Grupeer’s large development projects in person. I’m looking forward to that!
Crowdestor
- Income (Jan. 2020): 72,41€ (+39,57€)
- IRR: 12,53%
- Invested since: 03.04.2019
My earnings from Crowdestor more than doubled last month. With that, my internal rate of return is slowly catching up with the average interest rate of loans in my account – many of which start paying interest only after 6 months or more.
One of my Crowdestor loans, Refinancing of existing loan with a 17% interest rate, was fully repaid in January.
I added 1.200€ to my Crowdestor account over the course of January.
Crowdestor is the business loan platform I trust the most and the only one I’m going to focus on in the near future.
That of course doesn’t mean that the individual loans themselves don’t carry risks, especially when they come with high interest rates.
I invested my money into these projects in January:
- Limp Bizkit summer tour: 21% interest p.a.
- Fertilizer Export Financing: 21% interest p.a.
- Renewable energy (53.19ha): 18% interest p.a.
- Fur processing company (II): 26% interest p.a.
- Meat Chef in Old Town: 14% interest p.a.
Monethera & Wisefund
I won’t spend much time on these two, which is why I grouped them together for this month’s update.
- Income (Jan. 2020): 41,23€
- Invested since: 16.08.2019 and 21.08.2019
I decided to leave Monethera and Wisefund on January 15th, 2020.
I’ve been slowly withdrawing the interest and principal payments I receive from my investments there ever since. Both of them have been trying to be more transparent to calm down investors, after what happened with Envestio.
While I was happy to see that, I still have my doubts, so I won’t be changing my decision. I’m also considering selling my loans if early exits become available again on the two platforms.
Swaper
- Income (Jan. 2020): 18,74€ (+5,24€)
- IRR: 10,85%
- Invested since: 02.10.2019
My Swaper income saw a nice increase last month. Sadly the +2% interest bonus period from my registration ran out, so all new loans I invest in now come with 12% interest per year.
I will think about whether or not I’m going to increase my investment on Swaper to 5.000€ over the coming months, to get the loyalty bonus with 14% interest on all my loans.
Either way, I’m happy with the passive income the platform has been earning me and I haven’t seen much cash drag in January.
Viainvest
- Income (Jan. 2020): 16,78€ (+4,34€)
- IRR: 9,89%
- Invested since: 11.10.2019
Viainvest may seem less exciting at first glance, but I’m very happy with my experience so far on the platform. I’m thinking about increasing my deposit here over the coming months.
Lendermarket
- Income (Jan. 2020): 43,96€ (+34,19€)
- IRR: 13,41%
- Invested since: 21.11.2019
I can now confirm that I received my 1% cashback after exactly 60 days on the platform last month, which gave my Lendermarket earnings a substantial boost.
It was calculated based on my entire deposited & invested amount after precisely 60 days. For me, that resulted in a 25€ bonus based on a 2.500€ deposit at the time.
I’ve been very happy with my investments at Lendermarket, which is why I added an additional 500€ to my account on January 20th.
- You can also get 1% Cashback on all your investments on Lendermarket after 60 days by using my link here.
- Lendermarket Review: 12% Interest by Creditstar?
That’s all for now!
Thank you for taking the time to read my latest monthly update.
With everything that happened, I’m still excited about the P2P lending space and its future. I won’t let a couple of criminals change how I feel about other platforms that have been doing honest, transparent work for many years.
I’d love to know your own opinion in the comments.
You might find this useful:
- Current P2P Lending Bonus and Cashback Offers (February 2020)
- My Entire Investment Portfolio
- 230.000€ In P2P Lending: Bernhard Hummel’s Portfolio
- How To Track Your Investments In P2P Lending
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Thank you Angelo for your monthly update !
– Iuvo – as you know I registered 2 weeks ago; but could not find any 13%+ loans; so I’m gradually withdrawing money to move them to other platforms;
– Grupeer : they just announced a referral program : https://www.grupeer.com/blog/new-referral-program/
Cheers 🙂
– I registered to LenderMarket !
Interesting as always. Would be even more interesting if you’d give an outlook on your further plans for each platform in your monthly reports. Even if it’s just like “I’m glad with my investment so far, but I’m just going to reinvest interest, because…” e.g
Hi Mario, thank you! That’s a great idea. I’ve actually been thinking about that – like adding a short line on whether or not I’m planning to increase my investment, reached my max. allocation for a platform or if I’m planning to reduce a position.
Hi, appreciate your blogging about P2P but…
You say you trust Crowdestor the most right now, explain please?
Why do you trust them more then say Envestio 3 months ago when all was looking good and you where happy?
Since they only have their own “buyback fund” under 400 000 Euros = if 1 or 2 projects fails they are out of money in a heartbeat, if you can do some math.
Even if they also say they have collateral in project owners agreements. Over 6 projects are listed on Crowdestor by Crowdestor ( like the fur deal you are invested in which plan to require lending much much more before its over) if you haven’t seen that already. Does that give you any concerns?
Hi Jonas! Of course, here are some of my personal reasons:
I trust Crowdestor the most for business loans, not for all platforms overall. I still think business loans carry more risk on a per project basis, also because the investment/loan is typically larger, meaning less diversification.
Here is why I personally don’t have doubts about Crowdestor:
– The loans are real, there isn’t a single project that didn’t make sense, even though a lot of people have been looking closely into the loans over the past weeks. Plenty of borrowers confirmed their funding via Crowdestor as well.
– The buyback fund, which takes 1-2% from each projects funding makes way more business sense than a 100% buyback guarantee on high-interest loans and doesn’t put the platform itself at risk.
– The two founders are experienced entrepreneurs who enjoy what they do and have been successful in the past, I don’t have doubts in their skills. They never hid the fact that they’re also involved in a lot of the loans that are offered: “In every project that we offer on the platform, we take part in it as co-financiers and/or co-developers.”
– All the loans come with some form of collateral/security, which can also be used in case of a loan’s default. And I have no doubts there will be a default sooner or later, as that’s completely normal.
– The founders are very active in the community, show themselves often, never avoid difficult questions/interviews and are always open to providing more information or updates about loans on the platform.
You should of course always make your own decision, this is simply why I would never compare them to Envestio and why I feel good about my investments there.
Hello Angelo, thanks for the report! Do you have any plans replace Monethera and Wisefund with new platforms or you will just distribute the funds across the ones you are already using?
Thank you Miky! I’m distributing the funds across platforms I already have in my portfolio and added a bit more to Crowdestor. I also deposited 300€ on EvoEstate (real-estate platform), to test it out.
Hi Angelo, I requested withdrawal from Monethera on Monday and still have not received my money. Are you having the same issues?
Hi Ka Tia, I also asked for a 21€ withdrawal on Monday afternoon – today it was filled and back on my bank account on Revolut.
Absolutely heartbreaking to read about what’s happened with the Envestio and Kuetzal platforms in Europe.
My personal feeling is that I lack total trust in any platform which pays interest rates of over 10.0%. The underlying loans are always going to be extremely risky and the credit underwriting teams assessing them need to be very on the ball!
Shows the importance of diversifying your funds too. Good job your cash is split across multiple platforms with no particular overreliance!
Hello Angelo, and thanks for your report, informative as always.
What do you think about recent news on the Georgian lending market shared by Iuvo?
https://www.iuvo-group.com/en/iuvo-ceases-work-with-bbg/
Will this affect significantly the business of eastern european p2p lending platforms?
Thank you giacal! No not at all, that was just a small loan originator from Georgia – a market that Swaper for example left as well a while ago.
Hi Angelo, could you post a more detailed info about your Mintos auto invest settings? Im currently struggling to pas 8.5%. Thanks!
Hey Angelo ,
Enjoying the blog. I’m curious to know how you choose which LO on mintos. How many LO in your auto invest ? Do you split it evenly between them . I’m thinking to take the best 30 paying 10% + and split it 3.33 % each one.
William Birchwood
Hi Centrino,
I’ve recently started investing in iuvo, and continue to see 14%+ loans coming in once or twice a week.
The below is from yesterday 2020-02-19
EUR Personal Loan Romania iCredit 882 7.0 – 14.3 % 296160 EUR
@SavvyWolf : this is good news. And indeed, in the meantime, my auto-intest picked several loans. Thanks for your reply 🙂
Hello Angelo,
From what you know are there any withdrawal issues with Monethera? I have tried to make small withdrawals stating with the beginig of March but it is still pending and I don’t have any answer from their side aprt that they serve the first requeats
Thanks and keep safe