I just invested some funds through two P2P lending companies, Monestro and DoFinance. I already had a DoFinance account but never funded it, while my Monestro registration is new. It’s obviously too early for me to write a full review, however I’ll give you my feedback on these two offers !
Monestro
I recently registered with Monestro; it’s an Estonian P2P lending company focusing on loans to individuals.
Registration
I found the registration process to be a bit painful. The website is not very user-friendly, and you’ll need a webcam to take a live screenshot of you and your passport. Other than that, my registration was quickly processed and I could fund my account the next day.
Investing process
There are currently few loans available at Monestro, commonly less than five. They’re usually live for less than a week, so you’ll find new loans several times a week.
Just like Omaraha, the investing process is a bit complicated at first. There’s a credit score for each application (the lower the score, the better), and you have to bid during an auction process.
You’ll have to choose to amount to bid, and, depending on the auction kind, the interest rate. Indeed, there are either “fast auctions” where you only bid for size, and “terminal auction” where you compete for both size and interest rate. Terminal auctions last for a specific duration (usually a few days), then get resolved. Fast auctions, on the other hand, may be closed earlier if the maximum amount specified by the borrower is met.
The auction kind is displayed for each loan application in the “Load and auction data” tab. For detailed information about auctions kinds, you may check Monestro FAQ (especially this topic and this one)
Here’s a screenshot showing the two current loan applications.
Once expanded, you can see the details for each loan
Loans are not secured by a buyback option; the credit score computed by Monestro is supposed to reflect how risky the loan is.
Note that signing the loan agreement will require to receive SMS, as the website will provide you with a confirmation code.
Conclusion
Monestro really feels like Omaraha to me; it provides the same loans profiles, and the interface is just as painful. However, the loans volume at Monestro really can’t compare with Omaraha for now.
DoFinance
DoFinance is located in Latvia, and is part of Alfa Finance Group. It mostly focuses on short-term loans.
Registration
The website is easy to use and registration is quick and easy. Compared to Monestro, it’s a much more pleasant experience !
Investing process
Just like registering, investing with DoFinance is incredibly easier; however, this is mostly due to the lack of options and flexibility.
In its most basic form (auto-investing), you just choose an investment duration and the target return.
In theory it’s also possible to invest manually, but this option actually shows you many pages of loans without even an opportunity to filter them out, so it seems pretty useless.
It’s possible to withdraw your money before the investment term, but it you choose to invest your money for 6 months or more, you won’t get any interest and the reimbursement will take 28 days. You thus should make sure that you won’t need the invested money !
One large difference with other P2P offers is that the interests are only credited at the end of the investment term. That means you won’t get monthly interests !
Conclusion
DoFinance seems to be a nice choice for those who want a hassle-free investing experience. Choose the desired duration and interest rate, and forget about it for the whole length of your investment term !
