Moncera’s overview
Moncera offers medium and long-term P2P loans, with interest rates from 10% to 12.5%. A buyback guarantee is provided by the loan originator.
My opinion on Moncera
I appreciate the opportunity to build a diversified portfolio by investing directly in loans from a reliable originator without using Mintos. As such, Moncera is a perfect complement to Lendermarket.
Detailed ratings
Moncera’s pros & cons
Pros
- Very reliable loan originators
- Early exit options is available
Cons
- Small fee for early exit
- Lower interest rates than Lendermarket’s CreditStar
Loans characteristics
Loans duration
Loans kinds
Minimal investment
Buyback guarantee
Currencies
Overview of Moncera’s loans
Moncera offers only Euro loans. Unlike its direct competitor Lendermarket, interest rates on the platform vary from one country to another. As of August 2020, they range between 10% and 12.5%.
Many investors initially complained about a lack of short-term loans, as most were medium or long-term. However, in September 2020, a few loans shorter than one month were available, and 20% of the loans supply had a duration shorter than 6 months. The maximum duration is a record 90 months !
Geographically, borrowers are located either in Estonia or Lithuania.
Finally, the minimal investment amount is € 10..
Loans volume
Currently, there are around 600 loans for a total amount close to € 40,000. Although this loans volume seems rather low, it will be more than enough for most investors.
Buyback guarantee
The buyback guarantee A buyback guarantee is a guarantee provided by the platform or a loan originator.
If repayment of a loan is delayed by more than a given delay (usually 30 or 60 days),
the platform or loan originator will buy back the loan. The guarantee may cover only
part of the capital, or in a much more interesting case, both the capital and accrued
interests. As the conditions vary from one platform to another, it’s very important
to check this point. provided by Placet Group triggers after 30 days. This delay is shorter than for Lendermarket‘s loans, where buyback only happens after 60 days. Both principal and interests are covered.
Platform’s transparency and reliability
The financial solidity of the platform’s loan originators is excellent. I also appreciate the large volume of information available about the platform.
Moncera’s background and team
Moncera was founded in 2019 by two ex-employees of loan originator Placet Group.
CEO Dmitri Pavlov worked at CreditStar before joining Placet Group and subsequently founding Moncera. The other co-founder and CIO is Aleksei Telitsyn. Both are introduced on Moncera’s website, along with links to their LinkedIn profile.
Loans descriptions
Unlike most other P2P platforms, only very basic data is provided about the borrower.
However, it’s now a big deal, as P2P loans are rather standard.
Loan originators reliability
Placet Group and its subsidiary Nordecum UAB (which operates in Lithuania) are regarded as very reliable. As of October 2020, Placet Group is the highest rated originator on ExploreP2P’s ratings for Mintos originators, with a score of 79 out of 100. Mintos granted this loan originator a A- rating for Estonia, and B+ for Lithuania.
2019 financial reports for both entities are directly available on Moncera’s website. They were audited by Ernst & Young, which makes them reliable. They show that Placet Group has been profitable for several years. Additional data regarding the loan originators is available as well; I appreciate this large amount of information.
Reporting & statistics availability
Although the loans list is only available for registered users, Moncera reports the total loans volume funded and number of investors.
Moncera’s financial reports for 2019 are available; be aware that at that point the company was still called Bancera OÜ. They show a small profit, however it’s not very meaningful. Indeed, the platform only started operating in Spring 2020.
Track record
Moncera is only a few months old, so talking about a track record is rather meaningless. However, the financial solidity of Placet Group bodes well for the platform’s future.
Communication & support
Moncera is a small operation and communication obviously isn’t their main focus. Indeed, the platform doesn’t have a blog, and all e-mails I received were automated account summaries. Their frequency are configurable on the website; it’s also possible to enable or disable notifications on account change, as well as commercial information.
Support is available by phone or e-mail. Until now, I didn’t need to contact the platform so I can’t vouch for the support’s quality.
Moncera versus Mintos
Loans from Placet Group are still available on Mintos. Let’s review the pros and cons of investing directly through Moncera.
First, as of August 2020, interest rates on Mintos are substantially lower; they indeed range from 8% to 11%.
Secondary market on Mintos incurs a 0.85% fee. Using Moncera’s “One click Exit” will cost only 0.5% of the selling value, which is more interesting. However, Mintos will pay interests which accrued until the selling date, whether the seller will lose them on Moncera. One advantage of Moncera is that selling loans is instantaneous. On Mintos, the seller may have to wait until there’s a buyer.
On Mintos, the grace period for Nordecum Lithuanian loans is 2 days; this will reduce returns if many borrowers are late. Funds in transit may also decrease your portfolio’s performance slightly. On the other hand, when investing on Moncera, there’s no grace period, and reimbursements are credited without delay.
The buyback guarantee delay is 30 days on Moncera, but is twice as long when investing at Mintos ! In all fairness, it’s not a big deal, as interests get paid by the loan originator in both cases.
Overall, there’s little incentive to invest on Placet loans on Mintos. The only advantage is to manage a diversified portfolio from different originators using a single platform.
Platform’s features
Early exit
Investing methods
Manual investing at Moncera
For peer-to-peer loans, I advocate using auto-invest in order to save time. However, investors who want to invest manually at Moncera can easily do so.
Available loans can be filtered out using various criteria.
- Interest rate
- Borrower’s country
- Remaining loan term
One additional available criterion is the borrower’s rating. This makes sense when the buyback guarantee doesn’t exist, or doesn’t cover interests. For example, Iuvo‘s buyback guarantee only covers the principal. Defaulted loans won’t yield interests, and thus it may be interesting to focus on the highest-rated borrowers in order to preserve the performance. However, as Placet Group’s buyback guarantee covers both capital and interests, it doesn’t make much sense to focus on the rating. In consequence, I include all of them when investing at Moncera.
Auto-invest
Setting up Moncera’s auto-invest is easy. The available filters are the same as when investing manually.
In addition, it’s necessary to indicate the target portfolio size, the maximum investment in a single loan, and enable or disable automatic reinvesting.
One handy feature is that the screen displays how many loans match the current criteria.
Secondary market
Investors who want to sell all or part of their portfolio can use the One click exit feature. Loans will be bought back directly – and immediately – by the platform. The associated fee is 0.5%, and the accrued interests will be lost.
An interesting Moncera feature is the cooling-off period. It allows to resell loans during 14 days after buying them; there’s no incurred fee. However, accrued interests will be canceled, just like when using the One click exit.
Website’s ease of use
Languages
Funding methods
Moncera’s registration process
Registering my Moncera account was very quick.
Account funding and funds withdrawal
Account funding is done via a SEPA transfer. Funds are processed by the platform immediately; as a result, they’re typically available the next business day after I transfer them.
Website’s design and ergonomics
In a purely subjective way, I’m not a big fan of Moncera’s color scheme. But that’s a minor detail; it’s well designed and easy to navigate.
Available languages & translations quality
Moncera’s website is available in several languages : English, Estonian, German and Lithuanian. The English translation is excellent.
Reporting
The dashboard display the usual array of statistics about the loans portfolio :
- Account value
- Loan statuses and remaining duration
- Total income and accrued interests
In addition, a handy cash flow forecast – broken down either by year or month – is available.
Unfortunately, Moncera is among the many platforms which don’t display a XIRR. It still puzzles me why such a useful figure isn’t widely available !
The account statement can be filtered and downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet. The same features are available for the list of loans in portfolio.
Documentation
The FAQ A FAQ is simply a compilation of Frequently Asked Questions contains few items, but its contents is well detailed. In contrast, the “How it works” page is rather succinct.
Actual performance of my Moncera portfolio
9,30%
At the end of August 2020, the XIRR for my Moncera portfolio was 9,30%.
The current performance for my Moncera portfolio is lower than expected, but should reach its theoretical value in August.
Don't hesitate to read my most recent crowdlending portfolio review for detailed platforms performance comparison as well as historical performance.
Portfolio creation date
I created my Moncera portfolio in May 2020.
Moncera's main competitors
For a detailed comparison of the different p2p-lending marketplaces, check out this article.
Moncera's facts & figures
Location
Founded in
Number of investors
Loans amount financed
As of August 2020
Who can invest at Moncera
Moncera's FAQTo become an investor you need to be at least 18 years old, be a resident of a European Economic Area (EEA) country and have a bank account in your name opened in an EEA country. An individual is recognized as a resident if he or she is a citizen, has a residence permit or is registered as a tax payer in an EEA country.
In conclusion...
Moncera's website is less user-friendly than Lendermarket's, and offered interest rates are lower. However, it still offers an interesting way to diversify a portfolio with P2P loans from a reliable originator.
Disclosure
Please note that this review may contain affiliate links. It means that I will earn a commission if you decide to invest after clicking through the link – at no additional cost to you, of course -. Please understand that I have experienced all of these companies, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the commissions I make if you decide to invest through my links.