TWINO Review

TWINO Review Summary

TWINO is a suitable P2P lending site for risk-friendly investors looking to invest in short-term loans. The P2P lending platform offers an auto investment and a secondary market. The user interface is very intuitive. You can expect to earn around 10% interest per year by investing in loans from the TWINO Group.

Key Takeaways From Our TWINO Review:

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What Is TWINO?

TWINO is a Latvian P2P lending platform founded in 2009. Since then, the P2P platform has paid more than €12 M in interest to more than 60,000 investors. By investing in unsecured loans with a duration of up to three months, you can earn up to 12% interest per year. Read our TWINO review to learn more.

Our Opinion Of TWINO

We have been actively investing on TWINO in the past and have been monitoring the platform over the last four years. While TWINO used to be a somewhat well-performing platform with a balanced risk profile, this isn't the case anymore in 2024.

Today TWINO is suitable only for risk-friendly investors, who don't mind the exposure in high-risk lending portfolios. Despite not offering a group guarantee, the platform made no effort to return the money from its Russian portfolio to investors. 

As of April 2024 13% of the entire portfolio under management is illiquid due to the regulations in Russia. Additionally, TWINO is expanding its portfolio in Vietnam, where many legitimate lending companies left the market due to extreme regulatory uncertainty. 

Experts view the Vietnamese market as one of the riskiest markets for lending businesses worldwide. 

Despite the new regulatory change in Poland, which prohibits the funding of a lending portfolio with funds from investors, TWINO decided to exploit all workarounds available to continue its current funding practices. This increases the risk for investors who continue investing in consumer loans from Poland on TWINO. 

Should potential risks materialize in the upcoming months, it would put 79% of TWINO's current loan book at risk, resulting in potential losses for investors. This is also one of the reasons why we have recently decreased the Risk & Return rating for TWINO. 

User Requirements

There are only a few requirements that you should keep in mind when investing on TWINO:

You can also sign up and invest with your business if that’s something that interests you.

The process is very simple. You only need to answer a few finance-related questions and upload a valid identification document.

It shouldn't take you more than five minutes.

No EUR bank account? No problem

• 💳 Open a free N26 bank account
• 💳 Open a free Wise bank account

Risk & Return

Earning more than 10% interest per year by investing in unsecured consumer loans isn't risk-free.

This is why you should always get familiar with the protection scheme that the P2P lending platform offers.

First of all, let’s have a look at the loan types that TWINO funds.

93% of the loans on TWINO are unsecured short-term consumer loans.

7% of the investment opportunities are business and real estate loans.

Financing for small and medium enterprises is mainly secured by the personal guarantee of the borrower. 

If a private borrower decides not to repay the loan, TWINO will take care of the debt collection.

To protect your investment, TWINO introduced two protection schemes:

TWINO's Buyback Guarantee

If you have invested in loans on different platforms before, you might be familiar with the buyback guarantee.

Investments that are marked with the buyback guarantee badge (which looks like a shield with a ‘T’ on it) are secured by TWINO.

This means that, if your loan is delayed for more than 60 days, the platform will repurchase your investment and pay you the outstanding loan amount as well as the accrued interest and late payment fees.

It’s important to highlight that TWINO will also refund the accrued interest. The loan originators cover the buyback guarantee on those P2P marketplaces. TWINO isn't a marketplace but a finance group with several loan originators.

You can learn more about TWINO's loan originators directly on TWINO's website.

TWINO Payment Guarantee

TWINO fully secures investments marked with the payment guarantee badge (PG). This means that if the borrower fails to repay the loan, TWINO will pay back the interest and the monthly principal amount as per the original loan repayment schedule. This also means that you don’t have to wait 60 days.

Remember, however, that during black swan events, TWINO won't be upholding the buyback guarantee. The financial group doesn't offer a group guarantee, meaning if a lending portfolio suddenly becomes inaccessible, you will need to wait until it is recovered, which may take several years.

Is TWINO Safe?

If you have been following our work on P2P Empire, you know by now, that we read the terms and conditions of every platform and do our own little background check about the key management of the company. Here are our findings of TWINO.

Who Runs the Company?

TWINO used to be operated by its CEO Anastasija Oleinika who also joined one of our podcast episodes. The role of the CEO is currently occupied by Helvijs Henšelis.

Who is the Company’s Legal Owner?

TWINO is founded and owned by Armands Broks. Armands got his MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.

According to the financial report 2019, Armands Broks owns 100% of the company. He regularly appears at fintech conferences and networking events. To get an idea of what Armands day looks like, you can view this short video by Forbes Finnland.

Are There Any Suspicious Terms and Conditions?

TWINO's user agreement is only 11 pages long, so let’s dive right into it.

Clause 4.14 - Withdrawals

In section 4.14, you learn that TWINO needs to process your withdrawal request within two business days.

Unfortunately, there is no mention of segregated bank accounts in TWINO’s T&C. The only mention of how TWINO is storing your funds is found on TWINO’s FAQ page.

This means, that TWINO stores your funds on the separated bank account which belongs to SIA TWINO. Those funds may be distributed to other TWINO Group accounts for the purposes of funding loans.

From our dialogue with TWINO we learned that TWINO's account balance is always at least twice the amount of investor's uninvested funds. Any withdrawals should be therefore covered within two business days.

TWINO is currently in the process of obtaining the IBS license in Latvia, which will make the storage of investor’s funds on TWINO even more transparent and secure.

Clause 11.7 - Liability

Every investor is liable for their own actions and there is no guarantee that the borrower will be able to repay your investments. This is specifically mentioned in section 11.7. As with every P2P investment, you as the investor bear the full risk.

Clause 14.2 - Amendments

Unfortunately, TWINO reserves the right to amend the T&C at any time without prior notice, unless the changes refer to changes around the claim servicing charge. Those will be announced 10 days in advance.

We are not big fans of this clause. You should be always notified about any changes in advance.

Do Investors Have Access to Individual Loan Agreements?

If you have registered or invested you do have access to TWINO’s assignment agreement. If you're using TWINO’s Auto Invest you have the chance to view the assignment agreement before activating the Auto Invest. You can also view the template here.

You can view the assignment agreements for all active and repaid investments under My Investments → Agreement Number.

Curious about what else we look at when conducting our research?

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Usability

Regarding usability, TWINO is fairly easy to use. You can count on features such as the portfolio builder, secondary market, cash flow forecast, and income statement reports.

Compared with other European P2P platforms, TWINO has one of the most aesthetic dashboards.

It also shows you your interest income, information about your investments, and the portfolio state that displays data about your assets protected by the earlier-mentioned protection schemes.

TWINO Auto Invest

One of the most useful tools any P2P lending platform can have is an Auto Invest feature.

P2P lending doesn’t need to be a time-consuming task. You can automate most of your investments with TWINO's Auto Invest feature. Define your investment strategy, and the system will invest your funds in loans that match your preferences.

Most of the P2P lending platforms that offer investment opportunities in personal loans have a similar feature.

We suggest setting your Auto Invest settings broadly otherwise you might encounter cash drag. This means that your criteria wouldn't match the currently available loans which results in uninvested funds on your TWINO investor account.

TWINO's App

TWINO is also one of the few platforms that offer a fully functional native mobile app for Android and iOS.

The app gives you exactly the same functionalities you’ll get while using the browser web app. Additionally, you can set up notifications and track your portfolio from anywhere.

Liquditiy

When investing in P2P loans, you should keep in mind that some P2P platforms, particularly those in the real estate or business loan niche, might lock your capital for an extended period.

This isn't usually the case with TWINO, as most loans are short-term.

With TWINO, you also have the option to sell your investments on the secondary market without any additional fees or discounts.

Selling back your investment is possible for the face, discount, or premium value of the asset.

Withdrawing your money from TWINO shouldn’t take longer than a few days, however, the exact time depends on the size of your portfolio.

If you are looking for instant withdrawal options, look at features such as Mintos’ Invest & Access or Bondora’s Go and Grow.

However, note that neither feature will allow you to control your investment preferences, and the withdrawal function only works during "normal market" conditions when the demand for investments is higher than the supply.

Support

TWINO's support is semi-responsive; you can expect to receive an answer within three business days of contacting them.

We have been in touch with TWINO several times, and the support has always been on point.

TWINO's interface is currently available in three different languages - English, German, and Latvian - and if you struggle with English, don’t worry, TWINO has international customer support.

The easiest way to get in touch with the team is to send an email to info@twino.eu

TWINO Alternatives

While TWINO used to be a popular choice for investors, the risk has increased in the past few months. If you don't want to give control over your funds to a company who is willing to expose your investments to high-risk lending markets, then you better look elsewhere.

Esketit

Esketit is one of the best alternatives to TWINO. The platform has an excellent track record, no funds in recovery, and an instant exit option, which increases your liquidity. You can expect to earn between 10% and 12% interest on Esketit, slightly higher than on TWINO.

The platform is straightforward, making it suitable for beginners and more experienced investors. Learn more about how Esketit works in our Esketit review.

Income Marketplace

Income Marketplace offers investments of up to 15% annual interest. The platform isn't as well developed, but the loan availability is higher, meaning you won't suffer much cash drag.

A buyback guarantee covers your investments on the Income Marketplace, and specific lenders even pledge their loan book as collateral. Learn more about how you can earn income in our Income Marketplace review.

Fintown

If you are looking for a suitable alternative platform that generates interest similar to TWINO, Fintown might be a good fit. The yield you earn is generated from rental properties from short-term rental units in the city center of Prague.

So instead of funding payday loans in Vietnam, your money is used to finance rental properties in Europe. Learn more about this platform in our Fintown review.