What are the best and worst P2P loans right now? Edition #15

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 have recently sold out. If they have, it is likely that very similar opportunities are available on each platform. Our goal is to highlight the types of opportunities that have been available on various platforms recently, and which types of loans offer the best (and worst) risk versus reward right now.

Description

Why we like it

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Interest rate: 11% 
Term: 35 months
asset backed loan
LTV: 45%
LITHUANIA

This is a good example of the loans that are available on new P2P site HeavyFinance. It is a loan to a farmer that is being used to fund the purchase of a German built Deutz-Fahr tractor. The farm is profitable and the tractor will help it become more efficient. The loan is secured against the tractor (a 45% LTV), and is also guaranteed by the farmer. We think an 11% return for this type of risk profile makes is more than fair.

HeavyFinance logo

Deutz-Fahr loan

Interest rate: 12.0% 
Term: 24 months
Personal Loan
BUYBACK GUARANTEE
Latvia

Our Mintos selection this time is a loan from Delfin Group. Delfin is one of the very best loan originators on Mintos (see our ratings page), with a strong history of profits, and a sensible balance sheet. It is also based in the EU and Eurozone. It just doesn’t make sense to us to invest in much, much riskier loans, to try and earn 2-3% p.a  more. That strategy works until it doesn’t. A solid 12% return means you double your portfolio value every 6 years. That’s good enough for us. 

Loan 38291486-01

Interest rate: 11%
Term: 24 Months
1st LIEN Secured loan
LTV: 22% 
Jelgava, Latvia
 

We tend to not be the biggest fans of development loans, but we love simple, low-risk ones like this from LendSecured. The borrower is a self-employed builder, who is borrowing a fairly small amount of money to construct a house. At completion, the total loan amount will be €39k, with an estimated collateral value of €128k.  The project is very simple, making it unlikely to have significant construction delays or enormous cost over-runs (2 reasons why we rarely like development projects). An 11% return is more than satisfactory for the risk.

LendSecured logo

Loan 201026-605395

Interest rate: 10%
Term: 11 Months
Secured loan
LTGDV: 59%
UK

Last September we highlighted this development loan from Blend Network, which is funding the conversion of an old office building into residential apartments. The project has been proceeding right in line with the plan. Blend recently offered the final tranche of loans on this project and it sold out within 6 minutes of going live. If you are a British investor, or have GBP to invest, we suggest looking at this site. You will need to have an account opened and funded when loans go live if you want to purchase loans because of the strong demand. 

Blend network logo

Crown House

Interest rate: 7.8%
Term: 6 Months
1st lien Secured loan
LTV: 50%
London, UK

This loan comes from SoMo (previously known as Bridgecrowd). This is a 1st lien loan secured on a fairly new 3 bedroom apartment in a nice area of London that the Explore P2P team knows very well. The owner plans to sell the property, and the loan is for 6 months only. We really like simple, low risk P2P loans like this. SoMo is also offering a 2nd lien B tranche (9.6% interest rate) but the A tranche is our preferred selection. SoMo has been growing its deal flow a lot recently, so if you have large sums available (min £5k per loan) then we strongly recommend checking them out. 

Somo logo

Pulse Apartments

Interest rate: 6.91%
Term: 12 Months
2ND lien Secured loan
LTV: 36%
Tunbridge wells, UK

Like the SoMo loan above, this is another low risk P2P loan, in a nice location. Tunbridge Wells is one of the nicest towns in the UK, and the valuation report shows that 3 similar properties sold recently, which gives us confidence in the valuation. While this is a 2nd lien loan, the overall LTV is only 36%. The interest rate is just under 7%. We think being able to put cash to work at 7% with this very low level of risk is a strong option for many people. This loan is offered by Kuflink.

Kuflink logo

Pulse Apartments

And here are two loans we DON'T like....

Interest rate: 10.7%
LTV: 65%
Term: 12 months
1st lien 
Riga, Latvia
 
 

This is a type of loan we see often that looks OK when you first see the pictures and LTV, but when you get into the detail, it is much higher risk than it appears. It is offered by Crowdestate. One thing we pay attention to is whether the collateral is likely to be easy to sell or not, and how similar it is to other nearby properties. The primary reason for this is because it gives us confidence in the accuracy of the collateral valuation. If many similar properties have sold recently, it is unlikely that the value could be significantly lower than expected if the loan originator needs to sell the asset. Here, the collateral is a gigantic 326m2 apartment in Riga. The valuation is significantly higher than most other apartments in the city, and the valuation report notes that there is low demand for a property of that type. This means that the valuation given is only really a ‘best guess’, and the LTV may not be realistic. We would stay clear.

Crowdestate logo

Barona 55

Interest rate: 36%
Term: 6 months
unsecured
Country: ?
 
 
 

We have never outright called a P2P loan ‘garbage’ before but some of the recent loans offered by Crowdestor are coming close. We don’t even really understand what this loan is. Something to do with video games, Colin McGregor, acquiring customers something something. Don’t expect to see a balance sheet, capital structure, P&L, ROI, cashflow projections or anything similar. It’s not available. If you are looking to gamble your money and make high returns, it’s probably more sensible to see what’s in play on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets  right now than getting involved in loans like this.

Crowdestor logo

Dystopia User Acquisition 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 or should be considered to constitute financial advice. All content provided is for informational purposes only.

3 thoughts on “What are the best and worst P2P loans right now? Edition #15

  1. Matt Reply

    Interestingly the first loan you really like is from a platform you’ve recently reviewed and spoke very highly off…

  2. Lukas Reply

    Your Crowdestor articles sound quite biased, this one is a good example, basically you’re stating: I have no idea what this loan is about and I’m not interested to find out if it’s a good investment anyways because it’s Crowdestor and we don’t like them/ it’s something personal. And by the way: who the f*** is Colin McGregor? For people really interested in assessing return/risk of this loan, please watch what a 257k follower influencer has to say about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSg_nBQV1Kk&t=151s (it’s German though).

    And last but not least: interest rate is 36% for 12 months not 6.

    Please be less superficial and biased in the future.

    • Oscar Harrington Reply

      Lukas we know who Conor McGregor is. What we don’t know is any of the actually relevant information that anyone who takes investing seriously would demand to see.

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