Mintos Review: in this post we will learn more about of the most popular peer 2 peer lending platforms currently available
Are you considering investing in peer-to-peer lending? Learn more below in our Mintos review, one of the leading peer to peer lending market places in Europe.
Mintos Overview: What is Mintos?
Mintos is one of the largest peer-to-peer lending marketplaces in Europe. It was launched back in 2015 and has grown to fund over 3 billion Euros worth of loans to date.
The company has its headquarters in Riga, Latvia. It also has field offices in several continents, employing more than 50 members of staff.
The platform boasts of over 235,000 registered investors from over 68 countries, and also enjoys a large pool of loan originators. Investors are spoilt for choice with over 450,000 loans to choose from in the primary market in different currencies such as the Euro, British Pound, Russian Roubles, Polish Zloty, and others.
As a young company and platform, Mintos strives to provide innovative products and the best customer experiences. Their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
Mintos has won the AltiFi People’s Choice Award for four consecutive years since 2016. It has also attained profitability a few years after launch, owing in part to the marketplace model that has allowed it to solve some of the scaling problems afflicting other P2P lending platforms.
As a marketplace, Mintos works by directly connecting lenders and borrowers. It’s, therefore, easier to scale since they do not issue all the loans themselves.
Is Mintos Safe? Is Mintos Legit?
Mintos is definitely safe and legit. It is currently one of the biggest peer 2 peer platforms in Europe, both in terms of investors as well as in terms of loan originators. If you want to minimize your risks with investing on Mintos you can also prioritize loans with a buy back guarantee.
How to Open an Account on Mintos
Opening an account on the Mintos website is easy and straightforward. All you need is a valid email address and a strong password. It should take you no more than a few minutes.
Click here to open an account on Mintos and earn a 0.5% bonus
At one point, you’ll be asked to verify your account by supplying an ID or some other official documentation.
Once verified, which shouldn’t take long, you’re ready to deposit funds and start your investment journey.
If you use the links in this post to sign-up for Mintos you will get 0.5% of the total invested in the first 90 days on the platform. It is another great incentive to start using Mintos and the company has a number of ways to maximize your income, like loan cashbacks as well.
How to Invest in Mintos
Before you can start investing, you must deposit funds into your account. On Mintos, you can do that through a bank transfer or TransferWise. Your deposit should reflect in your account within at least one business day.
Using TransferWise
You can also use TransferWise to deposit funds into your account. Using the service eliminates the hassle of currency conversions and other red tapes.
Allocating Capital
Once the money hits your account, you’re ready to start allocating your capital among loans. You can either invest manually or through the auto-invest feature.
Click on the “Invest” tab on the website to view open loans on either the primary or secondary markets. You can whittle down the loans using a few criteria such as country of origin, type of loan, loan originator, among others.
Once you find a loan investment that fits your criteria, input the amount you wish to invest, and the funds will be debited from your available funds.
Read below to find out how to use the auto-invest feature to allocate your investment capital.
Types of Investments Available at Mintos
Mintos has a diverse offering of loans from a wide range of loan originators. The loans tend to come from different geographical locations and in different currencies.
The platform offers investment loans in the following areas/categories.
- Personal loans
- Short-term loans
- Business loans
- Invoice finance
- Mortgage loans
- Car loans
- Agricultural loans
As such, investors have an excellent diversification opportunity across asset classes and geographical locations.
Diversification spreads risk, thus reducing the overall impact of anyone loan defaulting.
Mintos Auto Invest Tool
Mintos has one of the most dynamic auto-invest features on the P2P lending market. As the name suggests, it lets you automate the mundane and manual selection of loans.
Using the functionality, you can create a Mintos auto-invest strategy that lets you select and invest in loans automatically. As such, you reduce your day-to-day investment management.
It’s easy to use the auto-invest feature. You can either use a Mintos predefined strategy or create your custom strategy. The platform offers three predefined plans, namely:
- Short-term strategy – Invest any amount up to 3M EUR at an expected return of 7% and above.
- Diversified strategy – Invest more than 25M EUR at an expected return of 8.5% and above.
- Secured loan strategy – Invest more than 40M EUR at an expected return of 7% and above.
The easiest is to go with a predefined strategy that meets your investment criteria.
Furthermore, you can specify a custom strategy by setting parameters such as loan type, loan originator, buyback guarantee, country of origin, among others.
How Much Can You Earn on Mintos?
According to the Mintos’ website, investors can expect to earn an average return of 12.26% p.a. Personal results will vary from each investor, depending on several factors. These include investment strategy, type of loan, base currency, and country originating the loan.
This return is in line with what you’ll get at other comparable platforms such as Grupeer, FastInvest, etc.
Taxes also weigh on your earnings based on your country of residence.
Who Can Invest In Mintos?
Mintos is open to both individuals and companies with a bank account in the EU. Members outside the EU can only invest if they come from countries with the equivalent of the EU’s AMl/CFT systems.
Additionally, for individuals, you must be at least 18 years and successfully verify your identity with Mintos.
Mintos Pros
- Secondary market available
- Buyback guarantee on most of the loans
- Large deal-flow of loans from diverse originators
- Availability of an auto-invest functionality
- Ability to invest in loans from Europe, Asia, and some African countries
- Attractive interest rates and yields for investors
- Android and Apple Minto’s apps readily available
- Excellent customer service
- Largest peer-to-peer lending platform by loan volumes in Europe
Mintos Cons
- Lack of a buyback guarantee on some loans
- Slow-acting auto-invest feature
- Currently not open to British residents due to regulatory reasons
- Poor reporting on the status of some investments, recovery activities and defaulted loans
- Charges fees for currency conversion
Mintos Verdict
Mintos is a reasonably stable peer-to-peer lending platform with a long profitable track record. The availability of a large pool of loans from diverse originators makes it vibrant and appealing to both new and seasoned investors.
Additionally, it offers both an auto-invest feature and a secondary market, ensuring unparalleled liquidity in the market.
We recommend Mintos for investors looking to diversify their investments, or those looking to test the peer-to-peer lending market.
Other Peer to Peer Lending Resources
Are you considering investing in peer to peer platforms? You may want to check out some of our other guides and reviews on this topic. There are many peer to peer lending and investing platforms currently available, and you can diversify your interest income by using several of them simultaneously. Check out our post on the best peer 2 peer lending platforms in Europe, and the best real estate crowdfunding platforms in Europe.
Are you already investing in Mintos or in any other peer to peer lending platform? Leave your thoughts and questions about this Mintos review below.
I’ve been using Mintos for almost 6 months and had no problems so far.
How in 2019?