Swaper Review
Swaper is an Estonian Peer to Peer (P2P) lending platform that lists pre-funded unsecured consumer loans originated by the Wandoo Finance Group, which is the parent company of Swaper. Swaper offers a 30-day buyback guarantee as well as an Auto Invest feature. The downside of this platform is, however, the small availability of loans.
Find out more about whether this is the P2P lending platform for you in our Swaper review.
Swaper News
- 18/05/2020 - Swaper releases its latest update about the situation in market where the Wandoo Finance group operates.
- 17/05/2020 - Swaper inroduces its team on the website
Swaper in Numbers
Letâs dive right in and have a look at Swaperâs statistics. Fortunately, Swaper gives you the option to view relevant statistics right on their website. You, therefore, donât need to trawl the internet to find basic information about the total loan value as well as earned interest.
| Swaper Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Year founded: | 2016 |
| Investor's earnings: | + âŹ1.6 M |
| Total loan value: | + âŹ91 M |
| Amount of investors: | + 3,400 |
| Loss of investor's money: | not available |
| Average portfolio size: | âŹ5,500 |
| Latest financial report: | Report for 2017 |
Unfortunately, the only publicly available financial statement related to Swaper was the 2017 financial report of the Wandoo Finance Group. Swaper itself does not publicly share financial reports with their investors.
As an investor you want to invest on platforms that are transparent with their data. At the end of the day they manage your investments and you have the right to know how they operate.
Swaper Promo Code
Many P2P lending platforms offer a cashback bonus or promo code for new investors. Swaper chooses a different bonus structure, which is similar to the rewards PeerBerry investors receive.
Active investors, who have an average portfolio size of over âŹ5,000 over a three month period are eligible to receive a 2% loyalty bonus. This is more than youâll receive on any other platform at the moment.
You don't need any special Swaper Promo Code to get your bonus.
Is this ticking your investment boxes?
Swaperâs New User Requirements
In order to sign up on Swaper you need to be over 18 years old and reside within the European Economic Area. You also need to have a bank account from the country of your residence that is listed in your name. You can also open a business account with Swaper if thatâs something that interests you.
In order to verify your account with Swaper, you need to upload a copy of your passport or ID as well as a utility bill or bank statement with proof of your address. The verification process with Swaper is very fast: we received all notifications via email and it didnât take us more than one day to be verified.
Transferring money to Swaper is equally quick and easy; it only took us one day to transfer our money from our N26 bank account using a SEPA transfer.
Risk and Return
When investing in P2P lending you should be aware of the risks that come with it. Swaper has a very similar business model to Bondora and Fellow Finance. Both platforms list their own loans on the marketplace rather than working with other loan originators. The main way that Swaper differs from Bondora and Fellow Finance is that it offers a buyback guarantee.
Swaperâs Buyback Guarantee
In cases where the borrower is late for their loan repayment by more than 30 days, the loan originator (Swaper) will repurchase the claim that you (the investor) has with the borrower. This includes the invested principal and accrued interest.
Swaperâs buyback guarantee is basically the same protection scheme that Robocash offers, which follows the same business model but offers loans from different countries.
Is Swaper Safe?
Thatâs one of the most important questions every investor should be asking before signing up and transferring funds to Swaper. In this section of our Swaper review, we will conduct our own due diligence about the platformâs team and their terms and conditions.
Letâs jump right into it.
Who Runs the Company?
Swaper is run by Danija Misus, who joined the platform as a project manager back in 2017. Today her role is to lead the company as a âplatform leadâ.
According to Danijaâs LinkedIn profile, she worked for almost three years at the airline company AirBaltic, as a Sales and Service Specialist and Group Unit Supervisor.
Note that she isnât the owner or the CEO of the company. In our mutual dialogue with Swaper, we found out that Swaperâs team is very small, and currently, is downsized due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This might be a reason why there is no CEO and no introduction of the team anywhere on the website.
Danija promised us that they will add more information about their loan originator, Wandoo Finance, as well as more information about their team to their about us page shortly.
Who is the Companyâs Legal Owner?
Finding the legal owner of Swaper required quite some effort as their website doesnât provide any relevant information.
During our research, we found a name - Marina Tjulinova - in one of the Estonian business registries. She appears to be the owner of the platform and Danija confirmed this information.
Marina Tjulinova is the owner of Swaper Platform OU (Estonia) and an IT development company Neotech Development OU (Estonia).
The connection between Wandoo Finance and Swaper
Iveta Bruvele is the founder of Wandoo Finance SIA (Latvia) - the parent company of loan originators that acquire funding from Swaper.
Wandoo Finance SIA (Latvia) was looking for investments back in 2017, and Neotech Development OU (Estonia) was willing to provide it, for which the company became a shareholder of Wandoo Finance SIA (Latvia).
Marina Tjulinova is, therefore, a partial owner of Wandoo Finance.
Wandoo Finance launched Swaper SIA (Latvia) to provide funding for its loans. The company moved to Estonia due to regulatory reasons, and thatâs how Swaper Platform OU (Estonia) came into place.
Are There Any Suspicious Terms and Conditions?
Letâs have a look at what we found when reading Swaperâs terms and conditions.
Clause 3.10
In section 3.10, you can read how your funds are kept. We were not content with the way Swaper phrased this clause as it was not clear that the funds are kept in segregated bank accounts.
We reached out to Swaper and Danija confirmed that Swpaer has two bank accounts. One for the funds of investors and the second for operational purposes. From an accounting perspective, investorsâ funds appear as Swaper liabilities on its balance sheet.
Clause 3.11
In section 3.11, you learn that Swaper shall at any time fulfill the withdrawal request of your positive balance. This means that in case Swaper should encounter âproblemsâ with withdrawals, they are legally in trouble.
It takes a maximum of two business days to process your withdrawal request with Swaper.
Clause 4.4
As any P2P platform, Swaper isnât responsible for any losses that might occur as a result of investing in loans through the platform.
This is a standard clause that you will find on any P2P lending site. There is always a chance to lose all of your investments.
Clause 6.9
Swaper gives you a sixty days notice before changing any T&C. This should give you enough time to review the amendments and evaluate how it can impact your investments.
We see this clause as something positive, as many platforms reserve the right to amend any T&C without prior notice which puts the investors at a disadvantage.
Do Investors Have Access to Individual Assignment Agreements?
You can only view the assignment agreement before you invest manually or setup your Auto Invest portfolio.
After you have invested in one loan, you will be able to view the assignment agreement under My Investments. You need to click on the small red arrow and download the document.
Unfortunately, Swaper does not provide a template of the assignment agreement to unregistered users, so you arenât able to review it before creating and verifying your account.
Also, the platform doesnât offer the availability to view loan agreements for already repaid investments, whereas other platforms give you this flexibility.
Swaperâs Finances
Swaper isnât transparent when it comes to the sharing of financial reports. This isnât only valid for the platform itself but also for Wandoo Finance. The reason for this appears to be the losses in the first two full years of operation in 2017 and 2018. It is no secret that many P2P lending marketplaces and P2P lending platforms are losing money in the first few years of operations. Itâs not clear why Swaper is so secretive about it.
Here is an exclusive sneak-peek into Swaperâs finances from 2019.
This image has been provided to us upon request. As you can see, this data isnât audited and we hope to get access to the full report soon.
We have learned from Swaper that Wandoo Financeâs unaudited sales for 2019 were âŹ11.8M with some profits. The final reports should be submitted by 31st July 2020. We will update our Swaper review as soon as we get access to the reports.
So whatâs our take on this?
Swaper has been able to address our questions for which we are very grateful. The company promised to publish information about the team as well as the financial reports on the platform in the near future. We will monitor whether Swaper is able to meet the promises and update our review accordingly.
However, at this point, Swaper isnât able to provide any trust factors mentioned in our due diligence guide to potential investors. The lack of transparency, particularly during the times we are facing, is something that needs to be addressed immediately.
While we were able to obtain data that isnât publicly available, the average investor wonât spend hours doing their due diligence, which is why our rating in this category isnât as optimistic.
Potential Red Flags
- The team behind the platform isn't presented on the website
Usability
In terms of usability, Swaper did a great job. The platform is aesthetically pleasing, with a modern look and all the basic features youâd expect. The navigation is very intuitive and you can find everything you need within just a few clicks.
The sign-up process is fairly easy when compared to competitor platforms like Crowdestate or Fellow Finance, where you need to provide a full financial overview before being accepted as an investor.
Auto Invest
Swaper, similarly to many other P2P lending platforms, gives you the opportunity to automate your investments. Setting up your Swaper Auto Invest feature takes no more than one minute. You can choose the following diversification options:
- Portfolio size
- Investment period
- Interest
- Investment amount per loan
- Minimum account balance
- Countries (Poland, Georgia, Denmark, Spain, Russia)
- Loan characteristics
You can also choose whether to reinvest your returns. After you have defined your preferences, simply save your settings and let Swaper do the rest.
Swaper App
If you prefer to use native apps for Android and iOS, you can download the Swaper mobile app and manage your investments from anywhere. Swaper and Twino are two of the only P2P lending platforms that offer an intuitive mobile app for their investors.
Liquidity Rates
When it comes to P2P lending, many investors aim for the highest returns on platforms and end up choosing the likes of Crowdestor and Monethera, where you can earn up to 20% in interest each year (This isn't the case with Monethera anymore). Many investors, however, donât take into account the liquidity rates of these platforms. High yield investments are usually not known for high liquidity.
Secondary Market
Swaper makes withdrawing your money easy. You can simply sell your investments on the secondary market if you wish to withdraw your money before the end of the loan period. Note, however, that trading on the secondary market isnât something that you should be practiced on a regular basis as often youâll be selling your claims for a discounted price.
Swaper's Customer Support
Swaperâs customer support is very responsive. When we contacted the team, they got back to us within one hour.
The best way to contact Swaperâs customer support team is via the live chat on their website browser or by sending them an email on info@swaper.com. If you prefer to chat over the phone, give them a call from Monday through to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm.
Swaper vs. Mintos
Swaper is most often compared to Mintos, however, when we look at the details, it becomes clear that the platforms are fundamentally quite different.
- With over 220,000 active users, Mintos is one of the largest P2P lending platforms in Europe.
- The Mintos buyback guarantee doesnât often cover the loss of accrued interests and it doesnât get activated before the loan repayment is delayed for more than 60 days.
- Mintos also lists loans from over 60 loan originators compared to Swaper which originates its own loans.
See the below table to compare the main differences between Swaper and Mintos:
| Swaper | Mintos | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of investors: | + 3,400 | + 280,000 |
| Min. investment amount: | âŹ10 | âŹ10 |
| Protection scheme: | Buyback Guarantee (30 days + interest) | Buyback Guarantee (60 days + interest for some of the loans) |
| Average interest: | 12% | 11.96% |
| Features: | Auto Invest | Invest and Access, Mintos Investment Strategies, Auto Invest |
| Countries you can invest in: | 5 | 33 |
| Number of loan originators: | 1 | 68 |
While you can compare certain key differentiators, at the end of the day it comes down to two metrics: the availability and yield for the currently listed loans.
The historical average interest doesnât mean anything as the supply of new loans as well as their interest varies regularly.
Swaper Review Summary
Our Swaper review should give you a good idea whether Swaper is the right P2P lending platform for you. Here is a brief summary of important points, that you should be aware when investing on Swaper.
Ease of Use
Overall, we really enjoy using Swaper. The platform is very easy to use, especially when compared with Fellow Finance or Mintos, and it wonât take you long to become familiar with the features.
Cash Drag
There is, however, one major downside - cash drag. Similar to many other P2P lending platforms, Swaper suffers from cash drag. At the moment, the only platform we havenât experienced cash drag on is PeerBerry.
If there arenât enough available loans that match your investment criteria, your money will remain uninvested on your Swaper account. Unfortunately, thereâs not much you can do about this other than wait or invest elsewhere.
At the time we created this Swaper review, there were no loans available, meaning youâre unable to invest on the platform. We hope that the cash drag problems will be resolved soon, and if they are then weâll be sure to update this review.
High Yields
Swaper is one of the leading P2P lending platforms when it comes to generating the highest yields for short term loans. This is especially true when you receive an additional loyalty bonus of 2% and itâs the reason why the average portfolio size of most Swaper is above âŹ5,000.
Does Swaper sound like your kind of platform?
FAQ
Whatâs the minimum investment amount on Swaper?
The minimum investment in one loan is only âŹ10, which makes it very easy to achieve good diversification.
How is my investment protected?
The only protection on Swaper is the buyback guarantee. The buyback will be activated when your expected loan repayments are delayed for more than 30 days.
Is there a secondary market on Swaper?
Yes, the Secondary Market on Swaper allows you to sell your investments which increases the liquidity of your portfolio.
Does Swaper offer an Auto Invest feature?
Yes, Swaper has an Auto Invest feature which will help you automate your investment strategy based on your predefined preferences.
| Company Information | |
|---|---|
| Company: | Swaper Platform OĂ |
| Address: | Viru valjak 2, 10111, Tallinn, Estonia |
| Phone: | +372 600 0393 |
| Email: | info@swaper.com |
| Live Chat: | Yes |
| Opening Hours: | Weekdays from 9AM to 6PM |
| Social Media: | None |
