Our pick of the best P2P loans
This post is part of a regular series where we highlight what we think are some of the best P2P loans available in the UK and Europe. These loans may sell out very quickly. Even if they do, it is likely that similar opportunities are available on each platform.
Our goal is to help highlight the types of opportunities that are available on various platforms, and which types of loans offer the best balance of risk and reward.
Description
Why we like it
Link
Interest rate: 12%
LTV: 53%
Term: 8 Months
secured loan
milan, Italy
One of the best things about this loan is the location. Most secured P2P loans tend to be found in either the UK or Central Europe. A project in Italy will provide some nice geographic diversification for many investors. This loan funds a property conversion project in a very central part of Milan. The developers have a successful track record and have already pre-sold 2 of the 3 apartments in this development. That significantly reduces the risks and helps provide some verification of the value of the properties. We also like the high level of detail that Crowdestate provides about its projects, including video content. This is one of the best P2P loans we have seen recently, and has not been fully sold out (yet!).
'Visconti di Midrone' loan
Interest rate: 14%
LTV: 59%
Term: 12 Months
First Lien mortgage
Riga LATVIA
Sometimes we like to highlight loans that sold out almost instantly. We do this to highlight the types of opportunities that are available on certain sites that can offer good investment opportunities, but require you to act fast to receive an allocation. This is one of those types of loans. It’s a refinance of an existing Bulkestate loan. The collateral is located in Riga, Latvia, and consists of 17 apartments. The term has been extended to complete renovation works and allow for the sale of the properties. The photos provided by Bulkestate show that it is a contemporary, high quality project. We think the combination of 14% interest, 59% LTV, high quality project and reasonable collateral valuation makes this one of the best P2P loans we have seen recently. If these types of loans are of interest, you will need to open a Bulkestate account and wait for the new deals like this to come along, as they sell out extremely quickly.
'Vilipa Street' loan
Interest rate: 11%
Term: 36 months
personal loan
BUYBACK GUARANTEE
Latvia
This loan can be found at Mintos. It is an unsecured personal loan from Latvian lender Banknote. The parent company of Banknote (Delfin Group, formerly named SIA Express Credit) recently released their results for 2019 and they were very good. Delfin have been consistently profitable, provide some of the best financial disclosures of any Mintos loan originator, and a suitable balance sheet structure. Our Mintos lender rating is 77/100. The 11% yield, combined with strong continued financial performance of the loan originator, makes this one of the best options available on Mintos right now.
Loan 31419473-01
Interest rate: 9%
LTV: 63%
Term: 12 months
1st lien mortgage
London, England
Bridgecrowd usually offer second lien bridge loans at interest rates of 10-12%. However this is a first lien loan that looks interesting to us. Although the yield is slightly lower, the first lien ranking makes it makes it less risky. The loan is secured on two residential properties. One of the properties is a new luxury apartment located in the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ district of London, and it is currently being sold by the borrower. The other property is located slightly further away, but in an attractive and popular area. We like the 9% yield, combined with an LTV of only 63%. Another positive is that the borrower (who provides a personal guarantee) also owns other assets including a house that is unencumbered (no mortgage), and a business. The one downside of Bridgecrowd is that the minimum investment in each loan is £5,000, so it suits investors with larger sums available to invest.
'Carrara' loan
Interest rate: 8%
LTGDV: 62%
Term: 21 months
1st lien mortgage
Bournemouth, England
Blend Network funds smaller developers in the UK. These developers often find it hard to obtain bank finance, even if they have very successful track records. This loan from Blend is a good example of this. The developer has completed a long list of successful property conversion projects in the area. This project is for the conversion of a care home into 4 apartments. We like these types of conversion projects because they tend to be faster than the construction of new buildings, and less risky. The valuation report lists several recent property sales near this location. We think the interest rate of 8% is a good return relative to the risk.
'Richmond Park' loan
Interest rate: 12%
Buyback guarantee
Term: 1 Months
Short term Personal loan
Poland
We listed Lendermarket loans in our last list of favourite P2P loans and we have decided to list them here again because we continue to think that they are still one of the best options for P2P investors right now. This loan (and many like it) can be found there currently. Lendermarket is the new funding vehicle of lending group Creditstar. Creditstar have decided to fund their loans directly now, rather than place loans on the Mintos platform. Creditstar have one of our highest loan originator ratings – 79/100. It is almost impossible to find loans on Mintos currently with that yield and high rating level. Lendermarket are also currently offering a 1% bonus on funds deposited and invested in the first 60 days after opening an account (just click on the logo link and you will qualify).
Loan PL-1081999011
And here are two loans we DON'T like....
Interest rate: 10.75%
LTV: 69%
Term: 12 months
1st lien mortgage
Near Tallinn, Estonia
We are big fans of Estateguru, but have always said that it is important to select the better quality loans. The risks can vary a lot from loan to loan. We feel a little nervous about this loan. The main risk we see is the collateral valuation which is over €700,000. Yes, the value came from an independent valuation firm. That doesn’t mean that the valuation can’t be too optimistic or wrong. €700,000 is a very high value for properties in this region. There are relatively few potential buyers. It is difficult to value properties at the high price range end of property markets as there are few comparable sales and it is harder to compare properties. We also think this property is not particularly attractive from an architectural view (which matters at the top end of the market). The landscaping also seems to be overgrown and in poor condition. We think it is worth waiting for better quality loans to become available at Estateguru.
Loan 1012
Interest rate: 17.5%
Term: 12 months
Unsecured business loan
latvia
One of the positive developments of the fraud at P2P sites Kuetzal and Envestio is that investors have demanded better quality financial disclosures from other sites. Crowdestor is one site that in the past we have criticised for providing insufficient financial information to investors. We are happy to report that they seem to be listening and for this loan, they have provided significantly more information than they have in the past, including past and projected financial information. We applaud them for making this improvement. However, unfortunately we still don’t think there is sufficient information provided about this borrower to make it ‘investable’. The borrower is a pet food and accessories retailer. We can see from the P&L that the business is not really profitable right now, and revenues have been declining since 2015. There are also disclosures about a shortage of working capital and unpaid tax liabilities. Our biggest concern though is that no balance sheet is provided. How can investors lend money to a company without seeing what the company assets are, and what other debts it has? Even though Crowdestor are improving disclosures, it still seems as if they are relying on ‘dumb money‘.
'Pet food' loan
If you are interested in any of the loans above, please make sure to read all the information provided by each investment site and make sure that they are suitable for you. While we aim to highlight potentially interesting opportunities, you must perform your own assessment of the risks and make your own independent decision on whether to invest, and whether these, or similar loans offered on each site are suitable for your investment objectives. All information is supplied in good faith based on information which we believe, but do not guarantee, to be accurate or complete; we are not responsible for errors or omissions contained therein. Explore P2P is not a financial advisor and no content can be considered to constitute financial advice. All content provided is for informational purposes only.
The bad EstateGuru loan #1012 was not funded and is cancelled \o/.
They seem to have relaunched it now at a higher interest rate and lower LTV because take-up was very slow for some reason….
Hello,
Just curious, any reason why you don’t show crowdestate on the compare sites section but show a loan here?
Thanks!
Great question Nuno – the simple answer is that we planned to add them some time ago, and will do this week. While they don’t have a perfect lending record, we like the level of detail they provide on each loan, which is one of the best we have seen in European P2P.
Hello, what about Bondster and its loan providers, it seems quite a good marketplace to complement Mintos.
What are your thoughts on this platform and its originators?
thanks
Thank you Oscar 🙂
Thank you !
As I am considering investing on Viventor, are there good loans there ?
Or you don’t cover this site in your best loans reviews ?
Thanks !
Hi. We have included Viventor loans in the past but didn’t find anything exciting this time. Our favourites have been mortgages from Lenno, but there was no supply. Also worth checking out our Viventor lender ratings.