Lonvest Review Summary
Lonvest is a Croatian-based P2P platform offering high-yielding investments of up to 15% per year from loan originators issuing loans in Poland and Vietnam. The platform offers an auto invest and all loans are backed by a 60-day buyback guarantee.
Main takeaways from our Lonvest review:
- Above average return
- In-house loan originators from Poland and Vietnam
- Limited diversification
- New platform
Lonvest suits investors seeking to invest in South East Asia or diversify their portfolio in Poland.
Ready to earn up to 15% interest?
What is Lonvest?
Lonvest is a newly launched P2P lending platform offering investments in loans from Vietnam and Poland. Lonvest offers a 60-day buyback and group guarantee for all the listed investments on the platform. Investors can earn between 12% to 14% by investing in loans on Lonvest.
Continue reading our Lonvest review to find out more.
Pros
- High yield
- Low debt-to-equity ratio
- Owned by a reputable finance group
- No third-party lenders
- Good loan availability
Cons
- Limited diversification
- No secondary market
- Investments in only two countries with elevated regulatory risks
Lonvest in Numbers
Lonvest is a very young platform with less than 500 registered investors and less than €500,000 in assets under management.
As of conducting our initial research about Lonvest, the platform doesn’t publish performance-oriented data.
Currently, the platform has a €10 M portfolio in Vietnam and a €2 M portfolio in Poland.
During our face-to-face discussion with the CEO, we learned that only about 10% of the Polish portfolio is funded via P2P investors. This share is even lower in Vietnam, where just about 5% of the portfolio is funded via retail investors.
This means that the lenders in both countries have a low ratio of debt to equity, which is a good metric for P2P investors.
Many other lending companies in the industry have a much higher ratio, which increases the risk for investors during black swan events.
Lonvest Promo Code
Lonvest offers a 1% cashback bonus for our readers on P2P Empire. There is no need to type in any Lonvest promo code as long as you register via our partner link.
The bonus will be calculated based on your investment during the first 90 days of registration.
User Requirements
Lonvest is available worldwide except for a few countries in Africa and South America. Users from Russia and the USA can also not earn interest on Lonvest.
To create an account, you have to fulfill the following requirements:
- Be over 18 years of age
- Pass the KYC and AML questions
- Verify your identity
During the verification process, you are required to take a selfie and a photo of your passport or ID. The verification takes no longer than 2 minutes.
After you have completed the verification, you can top-up your Lonvest account by transferring funds to the Lonvest Platform, which operates a Revolut account in Euro.
It can take up to 3 business days until your money is deposited on Lonvest.
Does Lonvest deduct taxes?
Lonvest does not deduct taxes from your interest or bonus payouts. Investors can download an account statement, which can be submitted to tax authorities in their respective countries.
Risk and Return
Since Lonvest is a very young platform with a limited track record, there are additional risk factors that you have to consider.
Lonvest Portfolio Performance
During our recorded interview with the CEO, we obtained additional information about the performance of the lending portfolios in Vietnam and Poland, the only countries where you can invest on the platform as of writing this Lonvest review.
Investments in Vietnam come with regulatory risks connected to the collection practices of money lenders.
As of late 2023, the Vietnamese lender is maintaining the lending volumes.
OnCredit in Vietnam currently has 85% of repeat customers, which indicates that the loan originator focuses on serving only those for whom the company doesn’t need to spend resources on collections.
The default rate of the Vietnamese portfolio is reported to be below 10%.
The loan originator in Poland has been launched in 2022. Currently, the lender has a portfolio of €2 M with a 16% default rate.
According to the CEO, the portfolio has to increase to €7 M to generate good unit economics and lower the default rate. The Polish lender mainly focuses on users from Ukraine who relocated to Poland in 2022.
Buyback & Group Guarantee
Lonvest offers a 60-day buyback guarantee and a group guarantee from the Space Crew Finance group of companies.
During our research, we did not receive the group guarantee agreements. The platform informed us, however, that the agreements will be available to review on their website soon.
As an educated P2P investor, you should inform yourself about the platform’s plan to recover the funds if a lending company defaults.
Space Crew Finance’s lenders will never fund more than 50% of its portfolio via P2P investors, meaning should a lender default, the losses will be covered by the lender’s capital.
Interest Rates
Lonvest offers above-average interest rates for investors in Vietnam or Poland. You can earn between 12% and 14% interest by investing in loans backed by a buyback guarantee.
While the interest rates are higher, one should remember that the lending business in Vietnam is facing regulatory uncertainty this year, and the Polish regulator is also revising its rules from 2024.
Is Lonvest Safe?
Investing on a newly launched platform is always connected to elevated risk. As an investor, you must evaluate the risk and decide whether it is worth taking.
Who Leads The Team?
Lonvest is founded and managed by Roman Katarynchyk, the founder of Space Crew Finance, the financial group listing loans on Lonvest.
Space Crew Finance is headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine. Since 2018, the finance group has expanded operations to Vietnam and Sri Lanka. In 2022, Space Crew Finance launched a loan originator in Poland.
Space Crew Finance also has experience in Ukraine's bond issuance in the local currency. The majority of Space Crew Finance’s lending portfolios are funded from its equity and profits generated in local markets.
Get to know the founder of Lonvest in our exclusive interview.
Are There Any Suspicious Terms And Conditions?
Let’s review some of the terms you should know before investing on Lonvest.
Amendments
The platform reserves the right to amend any terms and conditions without notice.
As Lonvest is registered in Croatia, the platform has no reporting duties to the regulator, making it easier for the company to change terms sporadically.
Inability to transfer funds
In 5.21 Lonvest describes the scenarios where the company may not be liable to transfer funds to investors.
One of the cases where the platform won’t be liable for funds transfer is technical failure that may result in the complication and/or impossibility of performing all or particular transactions in funds.
This is a very vague term that could be potentially used against investors.
Fees
Lonvest also reserves the right to deduct Service Fees from investors as described in section 6 under the terms and conditions.
While conducting our Lonvest review, we could not locate any fee list on the platform.
Freeze of User’s Funds
In 7.2 Lonvest reserves the right to freeze users' funds if the information by a User is false/not up to date/wrong. A User may be held personally and criminally liable for providing false or misleading contact details (telephone, email, and residential address) and/or documents to pass the verification process on the Platform and further requests.
So, if the investor changes his home address and does not report this information to Lonvest, the platform might freeze the account.
Lonvest’s terms and conditions are formulated to benefit the platform rather than the user. There are also no group guarantee agreements available publicly.
Potential Red Flags
- Lonvest can change terms and conditions at any time before informing investors
- Lonvest shall not be liable for the inability to transfer funds due to technical failures
- The terms and conditions give little rights to investors
What’s Our Opinion Of Lonvest?
Lonvest can potentially become a solid choice for investors in the future.
As the platform just launched its operations in early 2023, it’s impossible to predict how it will perform in the long run.
While the platform offers competitive rates, it offers only investments in Poland and Vietnam.
Many top-performing financial groups are downsizing their operations in Vietnam, whereas Lonvest’s lender is expanding their portfolio steadily.
The regulatory environment in Poland is changing in 2024, which will eliminate investments in Poland in the future. Investors will not be able to invest in loans from Poland from 1.1.2024.
During our interview, the CEO shared that the lender is self-sufficient and could operate without funding from P2P investors.
With the currently low debt-to-equity ratio, investments in Lonvest may seem attractive to some investors.
The buyback guarantee should be honored during normal market conditions as the funding volumes are relatively low.
If you decide to invest on Lonvest, you must accept the regulatory risk in Poland and Vietnam. Both markets are not suitable for risk-cautious investors.
Outside of the higher interest rates, the lower debt-to-equity ratio is likely the main benefit on Lonvest.
We have submitted our concerns regarding the terms and conditions, and the platform promised to revise the text to make the terms fairer to investors.
Usability
Lonvest offers a very intuitive investment dashboard. After you have deposited money into your account, you can take advantage of the investment calculator, which represents the auto invest.
You can set up your investment amount, select the country and period, and the option to reinvest your funds. After you have read and agreed with the user terms, you can activate your auto-invest.
During the auto investment setup, you will be limited to investing a maximum amount of €5,000 into loans from a single country.
The platform doesn’t currently offer the option to invest in loans manually.
On the left-hand side, you can review your transactions as well as your active investments with information about the loan status and investment period.
The platform doesn’t offer account and income statements yet, which decreases the usability of Lonvest
Liquidity
Lonvest offers investments in payday loans, meaning the maximum loan term is limited by typically 30 days.
As the platform doesn’t offer any secondary market, you cannot exit your investment before the end of the loan term. There are no early exit options available.
Support
The support of Lonvest is very responsive, and the platform gets back to us with answers to our questions typically within two to three business days. You can use the contact information at the end of this Lonvest review should you need assistance investing on Lonvest.
Lonvest Alternatives
Lonvest offers investments in payday loans from Poland and Vietnam. The best alternative platforms would be Esketit, PeerBerry, and Robocash, all top-performing P2P lending sites in Europe with limited loan availability.
Esketit
Esketit is a P2P platform founded by the founders of Creamfinance, a reputable lending group in Europe. The P2P lending site lists funds from selected Creamfinance lenders and a lending company from Jordan, which is owned by the same management as Esketit.
The platform offers convenient investment strategies that minimize cash drag and maximize liquidity. On average, investors can expect to earn between 10% and 12% interest, depending on the individual loans. Learn more about this platform in our Esketit review.
PeerBerry
PeerBerry is a Lithuanian-based P2P marketplace, mainly listing loans from lenders operated by the Aventus Group trademark.
PeerBerry is the only platform that activated the group guarantee to repay investors’ money from war-affected countries.
While the loan availability on PeerBerry is somewhat limited, investors can still invest in loans manually for an average return of 10% per year. Read our PeerBerry review to learn more about this P2P lending platform.
Robocash
Robocash is one of the most reliable platforms on the market, offering investments in loans from UnaFinance, a reputable Asian lender.
Robocash may not be the largest player in the industry, but so far, none of the investors ever faced any pending payments or delays from non-performing loans, as on other platforms.
Unfortunately, the loan availability is limited on Robocash, meaning it is unlikely that investors can deploy a large sum of money quickly. Read our Robocash review to learn more about the platform.
