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EBV Finance joins Mintos and you can now invest in low-risk VAT receivables

By MPI3rd May 2018News, Peer-to-Peer LendingEBV Finance, invest, loans, Mintos, portfolio, VAT receivables

The leading VAT refund provider in Central and Eastern Europe has joined Mintos. EBV Finance offers fast VAT and excise duty refund services to transportation companies in Europe. You can now invest in VAT receivables from European governments and earn returns of up to 9%.

Established in 2009, EBV Finance is an international company lead by a team of factoring experts. Based in Lithuania, it offers fast VAT and excise duty refund services to transportation companies, which have applied for VAT and excise duty refunds from governments in Europe. EBV Finance issues VAT refunds from 31 European countries, the main receivables come from Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Austria.

The process of tax refunds can be burdensome, taking up to eight months and can lead to frozen working capital. EBV Finance is a great solution to get access to the refunds in just two days. Once EBV Finance has approved the loan, it takes over the carrier’s application with the government. EBV Finance is a specialist in tax administration and is able to receive the tax refunds faster than it would have taken its clients.

“We are very glad to offer investors on Mintos the opportunity to invest in VAT receivables from European governments. EBV Finance’s loan portfolio is unique. Because the governments are legally obliged to refund the VAT and excise duties to the company, the risk of a default on the payment is virtually non-existent. This means investors can earn great risk-adjusted return,” says Martins Sulte, CEO and Co-founder of Mintos.

The average loan listed on Mintos is EUR 1 000 with a repayment period of up to 9 months. For EBV Finance loans you can expect a net annual return of up to 9%.

EBV Finance will keep 10% of each loan placed on Mintos on its balance sheet, to keep its interests aligned with those of investors. The company ensures a buyback guarantee for all loans that are delinquent for more than 60 days.

EBV Finance has the largest VAT refund portfolio in the Baltic states. Per year, EBV Finance has refunded more than EUR 80 million and this number is growing at a rapid pace. In 2017, the revenue for the company was EUR 3 million and the net profit was around EUR 1.5 million. The company has made a profit every year since its inception in 2009.

Since its establishment, EBV Finance has acquired more than 1 200 clients including DSV, DHL, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics and many others large international transport groups. EBV Finance works with well-known fuel suppliers such as Circle K, ESSO, Total and others.

Currently, EBV Finance operates in nine countries in Europe: Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and plans to enter new markets in the near future.

1pm now offers on Mintos p2p lending marketplace the chance to select loans based on risk categories

By MPI3rd May 2018News, Peer-to-Peer Lending1pm, investment, loans, Mintos, peer-to-peer lending, risk category, UK

1pm is the latest loan originator to offer Mintos investors the opportunity to select its loans for investment based on loan risk categories. The inclusion of the risk categories will allow you to make a more informed investment decision and, therefore, increase your chances of success.

1pm was the first loan originator from the United Kingdom to launch on Mintos, offering its business loans for investment. Now you can select your investments in its loans based on its five risk categories which assess the likelihood of the borrower defaulting on their loan. The link between the borrower default rate and the risk categories is based on real-world statistics collected by a variety of credit agencies. These agencies collect extensive global credit reporting information and compare the company’s who default based on industry and size amongst other factors to forecast which company’s are the most likely to default within the next 12 months.

Category	Scoring	EABDR*
Very low risk	71 – 100	0.09%
Low risk	51 – 70	0.30%
Moderate risk	30 – 50	0.46%
High risk	21 – 29	2.32%
Very high risk	1 – 20	8.37%

*Expected Annual Bad Debt Rate

1pm bases its risk categories on the size of the business determined by the criteria of Companies House – a United Kingdom government department which incorporates and dissolves limited companies, examines and stores company information and makes it available for the public. Other factors taken into consideration when assessing the creditworthiness of a borrower is information on the business, commercial track records, directors, consumer track records, financial trend information, payment performance, company size, age of business, industry sector, geographical region and management and owners of the business.

The inclusion of the risk categories will allow you to make a more informed investment decision and increase your chances of success.

1pm was founded in 2000 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. The company offers many finance solutions to SMEs within the United Kingdom including asset and vehicle finance, hire purchase, commercial loans and invoice financing. It is dedicated to helping the United Kingdom’s economy grow by providing finance to businesses. The company joined Mintos in February 2018.

Lendo has published its latest operational results

By MPI2nd May 2018News, Peer-to-Peer Lendingcashback, consumer loans, investing, Lendo, Mintos

Georgian non-bank loan originator Lendo has published its operational results for the first quarter of 2018. According to the figures, Lendo is now the leading non-bank lender in Georgia in terms of loan volumes and portfolio size. As of the first quarter of 2018, Lendo disbursed more than EUR 90 million worth of loans since its inception.

Due to the changes in regulation in Georgia in 2017, Lendo focused on instalment loans, which has provided the company with a steady growth of its loan portfolio and income stream. As a result, the company’s revenue has exceeded levels reached before the interest rate restrictions were implemented.

Lendo offers its unsecured consumer loans through its established network of branches across the largest cities in Georgia. Lendo is a well-known brand in Georgia and employs almost 200 employees. The company prides itself on its friendly customer service and as a result had more than 130 000 active clients as at March 31, 2018.

Lendo will publish its audited 2017 financial statements in June 2018.

Lendo has also reactivated its cashback campaign on Mintos peer-to-peer lending marketplace. If you invest on Mintos in Lendo’s loans with a maturity of 9 months or more between May 2, 2018, and May 16, 2018, you can earn a cashback of 1.5%.

If you want to earn the cashback, you need to be enrolled in the campaign before you make the investment. Only investments made on the Mintos primary market qualify.

Bondora introduces fractional calculation starting 27 of april 2018

By MPI23rd April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer LendingBondora, compensation, distribution, fractional calculation, fractional ownership, investor, update

What is it?

This is a major update to Bondora system which will ensure an equal distribution of a loan repayment to investors. It’s easy to forget that the loan you funded with your investment is likely to be jointly funded alongside the investments of thousands of other investors – when a borrower makes a repayment to this loan, it’s important that each investors receives an equal amount of that repayment based on their total share of the loan. Even more so, this applies to payments received from our collection and recoveries process too.

What are the benefits to you?

The even distribution of debt servicing fees – Making it easier for you to manage and keep track.
Faster website and services – More specifically the overall speed of reporting, especially for users with a large number of loans.
More precise calculations – With results calculated up to 10 decimal points, ensuring fairness for everyone.

Why have Bondora changed this?

You may notice that from time to time, the debt servicing fees applied to your investments in recoveries may not show an even amount each month. The Bondora engineering team has been working hard on an update to the system called ‘fractional ownership’ which will now make all loan repayment distributions equal across all payments for each investor.

Currently, the distribution is equal but the equality is achieved over multiple payments (by recording how ‘unfair’ the previous payment was and then correcting it the following time for the customers who received more or less). Now, such fluctuations with payments will be eliminated.

How does it work?

All calculations regarding past and future investor shares in the cash flows will be based on a loan schedule multiplied with their share (known as fractional ownership) with results calculated up to 10 decimal points. Payments to your Bondora account will also be made in amounts with up to 10 decimal points, however withdrawals to real cash are still limited to 2 decimal points as smaller increments are not yet supported by the traditional banking system (Not surprising…).

Thanks to this, even investors who own a €1 part of a €10,000 loan will always get their fair share of the repayment.

How will this affect your portfolio?

For a small number of investors, the present value of their portfolios will slightly change due to the added precision of the calculations. These changes are extremely small, nevertheless for those whose portfolio value decreases by any amount, Bondora will compensate them the difference.

The average compensation amount will be €0.25 and the largest being €25. With this in mind, the planned principal and interest amounts will also be recalculated in the cash flow reports to reflect these changes. This will be done automatically, so no action is needed from you.

The estimated release date for this update and the compensation is Friday 27th April.

Update 3 on Eurocent loans on Mintos peer-to-peer lending marketplace

By MPI19th April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer Lendingcompulsory administrator, Eurocent, investors, Mintos, money

Due to Eurocent’s complex property and legal situation, and its inability to obtain an investor, as of March 20, 2018, Eurocent has ceased its operations. According to the compulsory administrator of Eurocent, continued operating activity is economically unjustified and there are no real prospects for the implementation of the arrangement and restructuring of the company.

Mintos says it is their priority to protect the interest of the investors and they are currently doing everything possible to ensure this. Their lawyers are now reaching out to the administrator and the board of Eurocent to see how they can recover the money owed to Mintos investors as soon as possible.

You can read the previous update on Eurocent here.

ExpressCredit now offers investment opportunities in personal loans from Zambia on Mintos p2p lending marketplace

By MPI19th April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer LendingEUR, ExpressCredit, investment, Mintos, peer-to-peer lending, PERMIC code, personal loans, Short-term loans, Zambia

Following a successful launch of ExpressCredit Botswana on Mintos, ExpressCredit now offers you investment opportunities from Zambia as well, through its local company YesCash Zambia Limited. Now you can invest in its Zambia-issued personal loans and enjoy returns of up to 14%.

ExpressCredit prides itself on its customer service and endeavours to give its clients a personal approach through its seven branches and two sales offices in Zambia, with more branches to be opened in 2018. It was incorporated on May 11, 2016, and obtained a non-deposit taking microfinance institution licence on December 23, 2016, from the regulatory governing body, the Bank of Zambia. Some of the equity investors in ExpressCredit and Mintos overlap.

Currently, ExpressCredit primarily offers short-term loans to its customers and matches the repayment dates of the loan to their salaries. It also offers instalment loans to employees of institutions from the Government of Zambia. The company has received a PERMIC code from the Office of the President under the Public Service Management division which allows the company to directly debit repayments from the borrower’s salary. For borrowers who are not employed by the Government, the repayments are directly debited from their bank account. As a result, ExpressCredit loans from Zambia have one of the lowest default rates on Mintos. Initially, the loan originator will place its short-term loans for investment on Mintos, which it issues to non-Government employees.

“ExpressCredit is pleased to expand our presence on the best marketplace for loans in the world. Our mission is to deliver accessible and affordable financial solutions through superior customer service and technological innovation to become one of the top microfinance organisations in Zambia. Our partnership with Mintos and continuous investments in technology, branch network and people will ensure that we follow our mission,” says Chilufya Mutale, CEO of ExpressCredit.

The average Zambia-issued short-term loan from ExpressCredit is around EUR 137 and you can expect a net annual return of up to 14%. Borrowers repay the loan in a single instalment after 30 days.

All loans from ExpressCredit on Mintos are secured with a buyback guarantee and will be bought back by the company if it becomes delinquent for more than 60 days. In addition, the company will maintain 15% of each loan placed on the marketplace on its balance sheet as its skin in the game.

As of February 2018, ExpressCredit had a total loan book size of more than EUR 3.6 million. After its business launch in the fourth quarter of 2016, the company reached its first positive EBITDA in November 2017, while recording its first net profits after tax in February 2018. The company achieved EUR 164 thousand of total profits in its first two months of operations in 2018. The company is continually looking at opportunities for innovation and increasing its ability to cater for all of its customer’s needs.

EcoFinance now offers investment opportunities in Russian rubles on Mintos p2p lending marketplace

By MPI13th April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer LendingEcoFinance, investment, Mintos, personal loans, RUB, Russian rubles

Investors on Mintos can now invest in online unsecured personal loans issued by EcoFinance in Russian rubles (RUB). This new investment product will allow Mintos investors to earn much higher rates of return and increase diversity.

EcoFinance was the first loan originator from Russia to join the Mintos marketplace and now offers its RUB loans for investment with annual returns of up to 17%. Russia-issued EcoFinance loans listed in RUB range from around RUB 5 000 to 30 000. The repayment period is up to 30 days.

There are two ways to invest in RUB loans on Mintos: transferring RUB directly to your investor’s account on Mintos or by converting your primary currency into RUB on the Mintos marketplace. For EUR to RUB conversions on Mintos, there is a market-level fee of 0.7%. Find out more details on “Deposit/Withdraw/FX” section in your investor’s account.

Taking into consideration the legal requirements and investors’ interests, investors are able to obtain exposure to EcoFinance loans by investing in loans issued by Mintos OU to Mintos Finance SIA, both Mintos Group companies.

EcoFinance joined Mintos in November 2017, initially offering its unsecured personal loans for investment in euro (EUR). Already, the company’s turnover through the Mintos marketplace is more than EUR 400 000.

ID Finance now offers loans for investment from Kazakhstan on Mintos p2p lending marketplace

By MPI12th April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer Lendingbuyback guarantee, EUR, ID Finance, investment, Kazakhstan, KZT, Mintos, peer-to-peer lending, personal loans, Solva

ID Finance now offers even more investment opportunities on Mintos by launching its Kazakhstan-issued personal loans listed in Euro (EUR) and Kazakhstani tenge (KZT) on the marketplace under its Solva brand. This is in addition to the loans already available for investment from Georgia and Spain.

Solva Kazakhstan specialises in issuing personal online loans to individuals and small and micro-entrepreneurs. The company offers borrowers fast access to funds, an online application can be made in less than eight minutes and borrowers receive a decision instantly. Since its establishment in 2016, it has funded more than 6 100 loans worth around EUR 4 million. The operations of Solva Kazakhstan are regulated by the National Bank of Kazakhstan. ID Finance Group has two fully-owned lending companies operating in Kazakhstan – Solva Kazakhstan and MoneyMan Kazakhstan.

The average Kazakhstan-issued loan on Mintos from Solva Kazakhstan is EUR 650. You can expect an average net annual return of up to 11% for the company’s loans listed in EUR and 17% for KZT loans.

Solva Kazakhstan loans are secured with a buyback guarantee and will be repurchased if they are delinquent for more than 60 days. In addition, the company will retain 10% of each loan placed on the marketplace.

Established in 2012, the ID Finance group is a pioneer in the fintech industry in emerging markets. It is a fast-growing data science, credit scoring and digital finance provider. It is the largest online consumer lender in the CIS region and a leading one in Europe. Headquartered in Barcelona, the company operates in Spain, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Poland, Russia, Brazil and Mexico. The Research and Development centre of ID Finance is based in Minsk, Belarus. So far, the group has originated loans worth more than EUR 275 million and it had a net loan portfolio of around USD 77 million, as of December 31, 2017.

ID Finance joined Mintos in 2017 and has since funded EUR 21 million worth of loans. Kazakhstan is the third country the company offers investment opportunities from on Mintos and it currently lists loans in three currencies – EUR, KZT and the Georgian Lari (GEL).

Investment opportunities are now available in USD on Mintos p2p lending marketplace

By MPI10th April 2018News, Peer-to-Peer LendingBotswana, GetBucks, investment, Martins Sulte, Mintos, peer-to-peer lending, Short-term loans, Tim Nuy, US Dollar, USD

You can now invest in 11 currencies on Mintos as loans listed in the US Dollar (USD) are now available on the marketplace. This is thanks to GetBucks, which now also lists its Botswana-issued consumer loans in the USD, in addition to Euro (EUR).

“We enjoy offering investors the ability to diversify their portfolio, whilst at the same time ensuring our funding matches some of our external exposures. The addition of the USD to Mintos is a great way to achieve diversification for all parties,” says Tim Nuy, CEO of MyBucks.

GetBucks loans listed in USD will be the same as all Botswana-issued consumer loans on Mintos from the company. These loans are issued by three subsidiaries of the company, Cashcorp (Proprietary) Limited, GetBucks Botswana and TU Employee Benefits (Proprietary) Ltd (TU). On Mintos, Cashcorp offers investors short-term loans, whereas GetBucks Botswana and TU place their long-term personal loans for investment on the marketplace.

The average short-term Botswana-issued loan from GetBucks is USD 300, with a repayment period of 30 days. You can expect an average net annual return of up to 11%.

Botswana-issued long-term loans from GetBucks range from around USD 100 to USD 50 000 and the repayment period is from 6 to 36 months. The expected annual net return is up to 13%.

“The addition of the USD to our marketplace is a great achievement. One of our aims at Mintos is to give our investors many opportunities to achieve their investment goals. Now, investors have the opportunity to invest in 11 currencies on the marketplace- and this will only continue to grow. We hope investors will enjoy investing in loans listed in USD, which is the most commonly traded currency in the world,” says Martins Sulte, CEO and Co-founder of Mintos.

GetBucks offers a large range of products on Mintos, including consumer loans in Botswana, Poland and recently added investment opportunities in Kenya and Zambia. The company now offers loans for investment on Mintos in three currencies – EUR, Polish zloty and USD.

MoneyMetro changes its name to VIZIA

By MPI10th April 2018NewsExpressCredit, Mintos, MoneyMetro, peer-to-peer lending, VIZIA

As of March 26, 2018, the brand MoneyMetro has changed its name to VIZIA. The name of the brand was changed because its consumer lending operations were moved into a fully online environment.

The company believes that brand VIZIA has a better position in the competitive online lending market in Latvia. The name change of MoneyMetro to VIZIA will have no effect on loans issued under the MoneyMetro brand.

If you currently invest on Mintos peer-to-peer lending marketplace in loans from MoneyMetro your investments will automatically update with the new name.

VIZIA (previously MoneyMetro) is fully owned by ExpressCredit Group, the leading consumer financial services chain in Latvia. ExpressCredit was founded in 2009. Operating under different brands, including Banknote and VIZIA, it has become a trusted partner for more than 300 000 borrowers across Latvia.

Source: Mintos.com