Moncera is a new site that offers loans from the Placet Group
Over the last few years we have seen the launch of many P2P sites that offer loans from just one loan originator. Examples include Lendermarket, Robo.cash, Viainvest, Peerberry (initially) and many others. To this list we can now add the new site Moncera.
Moncera only offers loans from one loan originator – Placet Group. Many of our readers are investors on Mintos, where Placet Group loans can also currently be found. So why would Moncera potentially be of interest to them? Firstly, as Dmitry Pavlov, CEO of Moncera explains below, Moncera investors receive extra benefits and returns compared to Mintos investors. Secondly, in our experience, loans can become very difficult to find on Mintos, once a loan originator starts to work with a preferred platform. We saw this with Aventus Group, which stopped offering loans on Mintos shortly after it set up Peerberry.
Interest rates available are around 12%. We have been testing the site, and found it possible to quickly invest €10,000 at those rates, with no subsequent ‘cash drag’. The on-boarding process was fast and efficient, and deposits were credited quickly. Unusually for a P2P site, Moncera has opened offices in Tallin, Estonia that are open to the public (see pictures below).
Who are the Placet Group? Are they solid?
Placet Group has been operating since 2005. Its two key markets are Estonia and Lithuania. It offers a variety of loans including installment loans, and mortgages. We have been tracking the performance and results of Placet Group for years, as part of our Mintos Lender ratings. Over the last three years Placet Group has made profits of €3-3.5 million per year. In Q1 this year it made €1 million. Our current rating score is 74/100, making them one of the highest rated loan originators on Mintos. The latest financial reports and presentations of Placet Group can be found here.
One of the things that we most like about Placet Group is its conservative balance sheet structure. Around 50% of its assets are funded with equity. This means that Placet Group is less reliant on P2P and other funding sources than many other loan originators. In uncertain times like now, this low funding risk is very positive for P2P investors. The €20m of equity held by Placet Group also gives it a big cushion to absorb any unexpected future losses.
The CEO of Placet Group has told us that they remained profitable in Q2 2020, and expect their profit for this year to be similar to 2019. If they can achieve this, it will be a very good performance given the disruption that Covid-19 has caused. The percentage of Placet Group customers that have received payment holidays is currently 8-9% of the portfolio, which is not a significant increase on the typical pre-Covid level of 4-5%. This is a significantly lower proportion of customers than we have seen in other markets such as Spain, Poland and Russia.
The combination of profits, resilience against Covid-19, conservative balance sheet, and regular financial reporting, makes Placet Group one of our preferred loan originators in Europe currently.
Interview with Dmitri Pavlov, CEO of Moncera
Moncera is now profitable and we have enough capital to be a self-sustaining platform. Our revenues are coming from service fees to loan originators. At the end of May 2020 company equity was 40’700 EUR. We will publish our financial reports on our homepage in the future. (Note – the pre-launch 2019 financials can be found here).
We are doing everything to meet our investor’s expectations and be as much as transparent and reliable for them. The status of all funded loans will be published to all investors as well.
Placet Group is offering better conditions on Moncera, such as:
- Bank settlements each day, i.e. that no Pending payments
- One click exit – instant liquidity for 0,5% from outstanding principal
- 30 days buyback
- Better interest rates
Within 4 months of activity we have almost 1500 trusting investors, who invested more than €1 million.
Yes, the uninvested balance is always in a separate bank account and those funds can’t be used for covering Moncera’s costs.
Our office is situated at Kaupmehe str. 6, Tallinn, Estonia, which is open for our customers each working day from 10am to 7pm Estonian time. Each investor is very welcome to step by at working hours.
We launched Moncera in March 2020, right before the crisis began and of course it was difficult for us to attract investors in this difficult time. Despite this, we were able to convince our trusted investors, who joined us in the fact that we can be trusted. Of course, Covid-19 affected the entire P2P market as a whole, but also exposed scammers.
1 Click exit is an opportunity provided by Placet Group. This feature gives to our investors a possibility to SELL a loan for 0.5% cost (during 14-days cooling period this is free) of outstanding principal amount and get funds immediately in their Moncera account. One of our missions is to offer a service that allows our investors feel safe and comfortable. We believe that having an instant liquidity gives the investor confidence in the future, especially in such a difficult time.
Buyback and 1-click exit guarantee is provided by Placet Group. To avoid having any pending payments and ensure that investors money is always on Moncera account, we have agreed with Placet Group to do bank settlements each day and if the situation is required to, we can even do this twice.
2 JMN: In fact their offer 1-click exit. That is the same like bondora Go&Grow. Smart investor can understand there is no difference, to invest in short or long periods, until they have such perfect option to get money back.
Their one-click exit makes you drop all interest +0.5%. Go&grow provides daily accrued interests, minus 1€ of fees.
Hence I rely on short term Mintos loans instead.
You misunderstood how ONE CLICK EXIT works. In case of selling the loan back to LO, investor pays only 0,5% commission from outstanding amount of his investment and lose accrued interests, which was calculated since the last payment date. All received interests since the purchase date of the loan remain Yours.
For example:
You have invested 100€ on 01/01/2020. According to the payment schedule you are getting principal and interests each month and:
On 01/07/2020 you have already received back 30€ principal amount and earned 10€ as interests, which was paid to your account and belong to you.
Next payment on 01/08/2020, but on today’s day calculated (accrued) interest is 2€ and remaining principal 70€. In case of SELL loan today – the math is the following:
70€ x 0,5% = 0,35€ (Selling fee)
2€ accrued interests will be cancelled
70€ – 0,35€ = 69,65€ will be paid out to You in case of SELL today.
Got suspended there because making too much Deposit/Withdrawals, they even dont answere me anymore.
I was Not sure to Invest there or Not so i deposit some Money and withdraw it instantly, done it 4 Times and got suspended. ?
User Account has been blocked due to violation of the terms of using the platform for the incorrect purposes.
Thank you!
What are the loans durations?
I still didn’t create an account. But I saw 63 months loans… Which is too long for me.
Are there shorter loans?
About the auto-invest : what are the fields available in the filter?
Thank you
Same opinion. While it’s an improvement compared to their Mintos loans, i’m not ready to have money blocked for a long time on an unregulated (yet legit) platform at 12%, having to drop accrued interrests + 0.5% to quit. I invested in LO bonds instead. Better XIRR, regulated, for similar durations.
What would super-motivate me is a Bondora-style Account: lower rate like 7% but daily interrest and instant cash in-out. Create such a product and i drop K€€ into it. If Placet has liquidity to fulfill the instant buyback, it should be possible.
I’ve invested in 7 month loans and there is some of 1 year. My auto invest is always looking for the shorter duration loans. I think I have 25% of my portfolio with maturity more than 12 months.
Thank you Luis !
Nice Interview. They should throw a welcome bonus to lure our money, in my opinion.