Esketit Review 🎖️ Is Esketit Safe?

Esketit Review

Esketit is a newly launched P2P lending platform owned by the multinational lending company CreamFinance. Currently, you can invest in loans from Mexico, Jordan, the Czech Republic, Latvia, or Sri Lanka with an average annual return of 13.36%. Is Esketit worth your investment? Find out in our in-depth Esketit review.

Risk and Return

Investing in loans is risky, and you might lose your money. Esketit offers a 60-day buyback obligation for all its loans. Loans from the lending companies in the Czech Republic, Spain, and Mexico come with an additional group guarantee.

Buyback Obligation & Group Guarantee

The buyback obligation represents the promise of the lending company to repurchase your loan after the borrower has delayed repayment for more than 60 days.

The group guarantee represents the promise of the financial group to fulfill the obligation of the lending company in cases where the lender cannot cover the buyback obligation.

Keep in mind that the group guarantee does not affect all loans on Esketit and that Creamfinance only offers a group guarantee for its lenders. The lending companies in Sri Lanka and Jordan are not part of the Creamfinance group but the same owners own them.

The buyback obligation and the group guarantee are directly related to the financial situation of the lenders or the finance group.

Let’s look at some of the reports from Creamfinance Holding Ltd.

It’s worth noting that BDO audits all the reports in Cyprus where Creamfinance Holding is legally based.

However, the Esketit platform is legally registered in Ireland but based in Latvia, with bank accounts in Latvia.

Creamfinance’s Portfolio

Creamfinance also funds its loan book from Mintos and another crowdfunding platform in Japan. The company lists loans from its lenders from Latvia, Poland, and Spain.

Creamfinance has recently ended its operation in Denmark, where the regulator has imposed new rules on the maximum interest rate that Creamfinance can charge to borrowers (APR).

When reviewing the Mintos evaluation of their lending partners, Creamfinance doesn’t get the best scores. The “cooperation structure” of their lenders in Spain and Poland is considered to be highly risky. The same is valid for loan performance in Spain.

During our talk at Creamfinance's headquarters in Riga, we learned that Spain is certainly a challenging market for Creamfinance. However, the lender does see good potential in Spain, which is why it's going to put more effort into improving its portfolio quality in this market. 

What's important to highlight is, how CreamFinance handles its portfolio quality. In most European countries, the company sells bad portfolios to collection agencies with a 50% discount.

The default rate of the lender's portfolio in established markets is typically below 10%. If we assume that 10% of the loans default, and the company is selling the bad loans with a 50% discount, the net loss is around 5% from the loan book covered by the lender’s profits.

Selling bad-performing loans is a standard process in the lending industry. It helps to keep the portfolio healthy.

Investing in Jordan

Jordan is an attractive market with interesting returns for P2P investors. Esketit currently offers 14% interest on investments in loans from Jordan. Let's have a closer look at this market.

On Esketit, you can invest in unsecured consumer loans from the lender Money for Finance, which the founders of Creamfinance and Esketit own.

The lending company is issuing loans to new borrowers of up to €130, and repeated borrowers can get up to €240 for 30 days. It's worth pointing out that more than half of the borrowers extend the loan repayment period.

Money For Finance has been operating on the market for 1 and a half years and has built up a portfolio of €10 M.

The default rates in Jordan are lower than in some European markets, where Creamfinance has been operating for years. This is due to the strict payment morals in the country.

Jordan is, without a doubt, an emerging market that always comes with certain risks. The company is following rules from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and it doesn't need a lending license to issue loans in the country. Most of the loans are issued in cash to borrowers with regular income. The effective APR charged to borrowers is around 200%.

Regarding the country's risk, there is no currency fluctuation as the Jordanian dinar is pegged to the US dollar. Currently, there is no elevated political risk, and the lender is expecting some regulation within the next 2 to 3 years.

While investing in Jordan isn't risk-free, it can certainly be an attractive opportunity for many P2P investors to increase their return from P2P lending.

Is Esketit Safe?

Investing on newly launched platforms with no track record is always riskier than joining more established platforms. Esketit’s business model is similar to Moncera, Lendermarket, or Afranga.

The platform funds loans within the financial group to which it belongs to. Let’s have a closer look at the people behind Esketit and Creamfinance.

Who Leads the Team?

Vitālijs Zalovs is the CEO of Esketit and therefore in charge of the platform's operations. He has previous experience working at Mintos.

Get to know him better in our latest interview:

Who Owns the Platform?

Esketit is owned by the co-founders of the Creamfinance Group, Davis Barons, and Matiss Ansviesulis. Both gentlemen have an impressive track record in growing their company year after year.

Are There Any Suspicious Terms and Conditions?

When using a P2P lending platform, you should always review the terms and conditions to make sure you know your rights and obligations.

Storage of Funds

By using Esketit, you will have to send your funds to Esketit’s bank account. The platform doesn’t provide you with individual IBAN accounts. According to the T&C’s, your funds on Esketit are stored separately from the platform's funds.

Amendments

Esketit reserves the right to amend the terms and conditions at any time. The platform will inform you about any changes via email; however, it does not state anything about the time frame you have to accept or decline those amendments.

Access to Loan and Assignment Agreements

The assignment agreement is not available for unregistered users; however, if you sign up, you will be able to review a sample of that agreement by navigating to it on the primary market.

What’s our Opinion of Esketit?

As we write this Esketit review, there are currently only loans available from the Czech Republic, Jordan, and Latvia.

We suggest you check the loan availability before you sign up and invest so you get an idea about the diversification options on Esketit.

We do not like that the site makes it appear like it's being operated from Ireland, while by using the platform, you agree to the terms and conditions of the Latvian Esketit company. The bank account to which you are depositing your money is also based in Latvia, where the core team of Esketit is based.

While Creamfinance is a well-established player in the global lending market, keep in mind the countless risks associated with investing in unsecured loans.

Regulatory changes might lead to losses for the company, which may negatively impact the performance of your portfolio.

A positive event for the investors on Mintos was that Creamfinance repurchased all the claims from investors before they shut down any new loan originations in Denmark. 

If you decide to join Esketit, you should understand the lender’s loan performance in dedicated markets.

During our visit of Esketit, we had a chance to chat with the CEO, the two founders, and the team in charge of the operations in Jordan.

We gathered in-depth information about the lending business in Jorden, which convinced us to expose our portfolio on Esketit as well.

We are earning 14% per year by investing in well-performing loans from Jordan. Keen to join as well?

Usability

In terms of usability, Esketit provides an Auto Invest feature, saving you some time when investing on this platform.

Auto Invest

The Auto Invest feature allows you to define essential loan characteristics such as the loan amount, interest rate, remaining loan term, countries, loan types, or loan originators.

If you have invested on other P2P lending sites before, investing on Esketit will be very straightforward. The platform also offers you the chance to invest on the primary or secondary market.

Keep in mind that the diversification, as well as the loan availability, is minimal.

Liquidity

Esketit does provide a secondary market that increases the liquidity of your investments. We have not tested it, so we cannot comment on the time it takes to sell your investments.

The secondary market allows discounts that should help you sell your investments faster.

As we conduct our Esketit review, there are plenty of loans on the secondary market with a discount of 20%. If you feel like taking the risk and investing in loans from Jordan backed by a buyback guarantee, Esketit’s secondary market is the place to go.

Esketit Automated Strategies & Instant Exit

Esketit currently offers three automated pre-defined investment strategies that help you diversify your portfolio with just one click.

• The Diversified strategy allows you to distribute your investments to all available loan originators.
• The Jordan strategy allocates your investments only into loans from Jordan.
• The CreamFinance strategy diversifies your investments across lenders that belong to the CreamFinance Group and offer the group guarantee.

All three strategies offer an instant exit option. You can create a strategy, click on “edit,” and use the “cash-out” option to withdraw your funds, should you need it.

Remember that the “cash-out” option is meant to work mainly during normal market conditions. Other investors will have to have the same strategy activated for the feature to work. So, in short, other investors will take over your loan investments when starting the “cash-out” option.

Esketit Review Summary

Esketit is similar to many other smaller players who decided to leave more prominent marketplaces like Mintos and create their platform to fund its loans. What you should always keep in mind is the diversification of your portfolio. If you are willing to invest in loans from the Czech Republic, Mexico, Spain, Jordan, or Latvia, Esketit could be an option.

Main Takeaways From Our Esketit Review:

• 60-day buyback obligation
• Higher interest rates as on Mintos
• Operating from Ireland and Latvia
• Limited diversification

If you believe that Esketit is a good fit for you, sign up with our link to get yourself a 1% cashback bonus.

Ready to let your money work for you?