Next investment – Mintos

This text post will introduce the next investment through FinTechs for DS: the platform Mintos. This marketplace offers something quite different than other crowdfunding platforms, and this is a report of my first experience investing with them.

First thing to know about Mintos is that it positions itself as a second-tier aggregator crowdlending platform. This means that you don’t finance projects directly, but rather choose from a huge number of projects brought by different providers with their specific regional and type of credit focuses.

This mights still sound very abstract, so let’s go through their main advantages and disadvantages, and before closing some more explanatory notes which can hopefully help you figure out if this is the best provider for you.

Mintos’ strengths

– Enormous number of projects;

– High yield returns in a good part of them, you often find higher risk projects offering 14-15% p.a.;

– “Buyback guarantee” option, reducing your credit default risk;

– Communication: Mintos emails clients every day to let them know every transaction on your account as well as the account balance before and after them, so you have your whole account history in your mailbox;

– International character of projects, borrowers from a wide range of countries.

Disadvantages

– As a downside of the international component is – given the limited number of partners in each location – multi-variable selectivity can be limited. If you want to choose one credit type, say mortgage financing, only in Euros and with Eurozone borrowers, you will still find a good number of projects in a few countries, but as soon as you filter out those not offering the buyback guarantee, then there will practically only be one provider in a couple of countries to choose from. This a small downside since it derives from the all encompassing character of this marketplace. Plus as more providers and countries join the platform, this disadvantage tends to be dissipated;

– Even using the above mentioned “buyback guarantee”, I can’t help but wonder how such a feature impacts the business model of Mintos and their partner providers. If for the aggregator there is no financial impact of the guaranteed default, and nobody really was looking into details of guaranteed projects, isn’t this just another way to finance the crowdlending partner themselves? If this partner takes the borrower’s risk and I only accept a credit with their guarantee, this becomes in my opinion a hybrid between peer-to-peer and peer-to-business-to-peer financing;

– I am already beyond this first impression, but find it worth mentioning that as soon as you log into Mintos for the first time and see a list with thousands of projects to choose from, it can be overwhelming. It would probably be best for Mintos to have a mask filtering different types before clients see the full list, or a small questionnaire to help users get started.

Financials and Conclusion

Hopefully by this section the platform Mintos is clearer. I don’t necessarily recommend it to anyone who wants to invest wth extreme simplicity, but if you want a larger spectrum of alternative projects to choose from, including in developing countries, you should definitely check their offer. Just to make sure this point is clear, even if you choose as we have described projects, providers and borrowers afterwards, you start the process by sending your investment amount directly to Mintos as a first step, to later distribute it through your account.

Generally, the platform manages to differentiate itself and has a clear selling point and reason to grow with its variety and multi-layer aspect. If I wanted for instance to discuss how to build a portfolio within Mintos, even if we’re not quite proposing that at this point – that is an altenative and can offer more detail on the multiple alternatives on offer. Finally, let me give you the basics of my investment through them so far (considering they vary slightly on a daily basis):

– Initial invested amount of 1000 Euros;

– Tenors are from six to 72+ months;

– Interests range from 5,5% to 15%, current average of 11,25%;

– Currently testing multiple variables, including providers, credit types, borrower’s country and so on. Making sure to choose those with “buyback guarantee”.

Finally, I also should note that Mintos is based in a small Eastern European country, which makes this by itself an international investment.

Get in touch with your comments and suggestions, and get investing!

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