LANDE Review
LANDE (formerly LendSecured) is a recently launched platform that allows you to invest in agricultural loans backed by grain. Investing in secured loans and earning up to 14% interest per year sounds like a dream, right?
In this LANDE review, we will dive deeper into various aspects of agricultural loans so you can better evaluate whether LANDE is a good fit for you.
Pros
- Secured investments
- Good risk and return ratio
- Secondary market
- Virtual IBAN accounts
- Low average LTV of 42%
Cons
- Not yet regulated
- Limited diversification
- Stock images for listed projects
Are you wondering how LANDE works? Watch our LANDE review.
LANDE in Numbers
Despite being a relatively new platform with low loan volumes, the platform does provide a statistics page where you can track the performance and review some of the relevant numbers.
LANDE provides an unaudited profit and loss statement for the company Secured Finance MGMT, which you can review in the statistics section above.
LANDE provides a dedicated statistics page, giving you insights into LANDE's loan portfolio performance. We highly recommend reviewing this page regularly to give you valuable insights into the development of LANDE's loan book.
LANDE Referral Code
When signing up to LANDE, you can type in an optional LANDE referral code HNFWI1Y. This code will give you access to an additional bonus of 1% for each investment within 90 days of your registration.
We have, however, negotiated a better deal. By not using the LANDE referral code, you can sign up with our link and get a 1% bonus on your investments within 180 days of your registration.
This is a better deal as your portfolio will grow over time, and the bonus will too. If you are keen on investing in high-yielding agricultural loans backed by grain, click the button below to redeem your bonus.
LANDE New User Requirements
To invest in agricultural loans, you must have citizenship in one of the countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). Another requirement is to have a SEPA bank account.
Further requirements are:
- Be over 18 years old
- Fill in the KYC questionnaire
- Provide a photocopy of your passport or driving license and proof of address.
The verification process on LANDE is extensive as the platform requires you to upload three documents to verify your identity.
You must verify your email address, add contact information, and a copy of your ID, but you are also requested to provide a copy of your passport or driving license as a residence permit.
Risk and Return
Investing in agricultural loans is certainly not risk-free. Typically, those loans are backed by heavy machinery, land, or crops.
LANDE is focusing on funding mainly grain-backed loans from Latvia.
The loans on LANDE are smaller in size. The loan amount ranges between €4,000 and €20,000, with a loan term of 4 to 15 months and a Loan-to-Value ratio between 10% and 58%.
The average LTV is currently at 43%.
When accessing the credit risk of individual loans, LANDE uses internal guidelines that include the following variables:
The creditworthiness of the borrower
- Reputation on the grain market
- Farming experience
- Credit history
- Tax debt
- AML & KYC
- Registered commercial pledges
- Ability to repay the loan according to financial ratios (liquidity, leverage, profitability, capital)
Collateral
- Planned harvest
- Previous harvest
- Grain price
- LTV
LANDE is also evaluating various conditions, such as the purpose of the loan, which needs to be relevant to the farming business (working capital or purchase of machines or land).
LANDE provides an appraisal report from an independent evaluation company in cases where the loan is backed by land or real estate. Like on other platforms, those reports are not translated into English.
LANDE also informed us that the platform currently receives 700 to 1000 loan applications per month, of which only 5% to 6% are considered. Those projects are then further evaluated, and if they match LANDE's criteria, they are placed on the platform.
Grain Buyers
Grain buyers play an important role when it comes to the protection of investors' investments. LANDE signs a 3-way agreement with the borrower and the grain buyer, where the amount of sold crop and the price is agreed upon in advance.
Thanks to this 3-way agreement, the grain purchase will be first used to repay the loan before the farmer receives the remaining amount for the harvest sale.
LANDE informs investors that the platform signs those agreements only with reputable grain buyers with a track record of more than five years.
Insurance
In addition to the protection mentioned above, 92% of the crop is insured against storms, hail, or heavy rainfall that could destroy the crop. This further increases the quality of the collateral.
Regarding the return, most loans generate a yearly yield of 11% to 12%, depending on the borrower's credit risk.
The majority of loans are bullet loans, meaning that the borrower pays out the interest every month but the loan principal at the end of the loan term when the harvest is sold to the crop buyer.
Project Overview
Every project description provides you with some basic information about the characteristics of the loan, including the loan amount, term, and interest rate.
LANDE will also inform you about the borrower, the loan's purpose, and the collateral's value.
While LANDE doesn't provide specific risk evaluation reports for projects backed by grain, you have access to some of the data they use to estimate the risk and price of the loan.
Is LANDE Safe?
When investing on any P2P lending platform, it's crucial to review the background and experience of those who run the company.
Watch our visit to LANDE'S headquarters in Riga, Latvia to learn more about who is running the organization.
Who Runs the Company?
LANDE is a brand of Secured Finance MGMT that Ņikita Gončars and Edgars Tālums own.
Nikita is also the co-owner of SIA Latvijas Hipotēka, which has received bad press in some of the media outlets in Latvia. The company was accused of unfair practices. We have reached out to Nikita for a comment. The company used the service to restructure high-interest payday loans and was successful in 90% of the deals. In cases where clients could not repurchase their houses, fair compensation was paid out. The service is not provided since 2018 and is not planned for the future. The media coverage is a result of organized competitor blackmail.
The CEO expanded on that topic and provided more clarification during our visit to LANDE's office in Riga.
Are there any suspicious Terms and Conditions?
Reviewing and understanding the terms and conditions and evaluating your risk using a dedicated P2P platform is essential.
Storage of Funds
LANDE offers a personal Virtual IBAN for every user that signs up on LANDE.
These accounts are stored at BNP Paribas and operated by the payment institution LemonWay. The beneficiary of all payments is LemonWay which executes the payments between investors and borrowers.
This is a better setup than transferring money to the platform's accounts which is then allocated to the investors' accounts.
Amendments
LANDE does not specify in their T&Cs the number of days before which you are notified about upcoming changes to terms and conditions.
LANDE informed us that you would receive an automatic email once the terms changes are made.
Loan Agreements
LANDE allows you to review a loan agreement template before registering on the platform. As soon as you invest in a project, the loan agreement is generated automatically, and you can review it in your "Portfolio" section.
Potential Red Flags
- LANDE may amend the T&C without prior notice.
What's Our Opinion About LANDE?
LANDE does a lot of things right. It provides a dedicated statistics page with some basic financial information.
Implementing virtual IBAN accounts for its users is also a good feature that will protect your uninvested funds.
Since the platform is relatively new, investors cannot evaluate the long-term performance of LANDE 's loan book as on EstateGuru.
Investing in loans backed by an insured crop provides an excellent risk and return ratio. The platform also signs a three-way agreement with the crop buyers to ensure that the crop will be sold (we have not reviewed those agreements).
A downside of LANDE is the usage of stock images representing the currently available projects. The crowdfunding platform could replace the featured images for the listed projects with real photos, making the offers more authentic.
While there is room for improvement, the platform makes a solid impression on newcomers in the crowdlending space.
The CEO and his team also made an excellent impression during our visit to LANDE 's office in Latvia. The CEO is very receptive to feedback, which means the platform will only improve in the future.
Usability
LANDE is a relatively easy-to-use platform. You can get a quick overview of your portfolio performance with basic information such as the earned interest, your bo, and the number of current vs delayed projects.
Auto Invest
LANDE has also launched Auto Invest, which allows you to automate your investments based on your preferences.
On LANDE, you can use the "basic" auto invest, which allows you to define the minimum investment amount or use the "advanced" auto invest with slightly more options.
If you are new to LANDE, it's also a good practice to manually invest in a few loans to understand how the platform works.
This allows you to review additional information about the borrower, loan terms, and collateral.
The platform uses stock photos for some of its project descriptions, which is something that could be avoided to represent the collateral better.
You can currently start investing from €50 on the primary market and only €2 on the secondary market.
🧾Does LANDE deduct taxes?
LANDE does not charge any taxes on your profits in Latvia. When you file your taxes in the country where you are a tax resident, you can download income statements from your dashboard, which you may submit to your tax authorities as required. Simply navigate to "Balance" in the menu and download the income statement.
How Fast Can You Withdraw Your Money?
Liquidity is certainly something you should remember when investing in loans.
LANDE offers a secondary market. where you can sell your investments before the end of the loan term. The liquidity on the secondary market isn't as large as on more prominent platforms, which you should keep in mind when trying to exit your investments before the loan term.
While we have not tested the secondary market, you will be able to exit your investment in a matter of days.
Customer Support
We exchanged a few emails with LANDE, and the CEO was able to answer our questions within two to three business days. The quality of the answers was sufficient.
If you have any questions, you can contact LANDE directly at info@lande.finance
LANDE Review Summary
LANDE is a smaller crowdlending platform offering investment opportunities in Latvia agricultural loans. The loans are secured by either land, crop, or real estate, which decreases the default risk. LANDE is suitable for you if you are looking for a higher-yielding investment with a lower risk.
Main takeaways from our LANDE review:
- VIBAN accounts for increased protection
- Secured agricultural loans
- Newly launched platform
- Unique protection mechanism
Happy to invest in secured P2P loans from Latvia? Sign up, invest and get yourself a 1% bonus from your investments within the first 180 days.
