Summary of returns August 2020

Thank you for stepping by and having a peek on how I have been doing in August 2020. Feels like the rainy season has started and today is the first day I need to put my rain trousers before jumping on the bicycle.

Lots of uncertainty and ironic comments in Telegram groups about different crowdlending platforms. Nevertheless, this month is a turning point when I start to invest again. Later about that, now the returns for August 2020.

My humblest thank you to all of you who decided to join the journey of investing through my blog.

It is not a surprise, my returns for August 2020 was 3.89 EUR. With my current investments, I do not expect higher returns in the next couple of months.

Highlights for August 2020

Started investing with EstateGuru

Placed 501 EUR in the platform. I deposited to EstateGuru 1 EUR from my regular bank account and then used Revolut to add additional 500 EUR to save some currency exchange costs in the future.

EstateGuru has long been on my radar. They have one of the most transparent overviews about the offered loans I have seen in crowdlending platforms.

I previously mentioned I do not like two things (or rather they could be improved). Firstly, EstateGuru hides the information from non-investors after the loan is fully funded. Secondly, auto-invest basic filter does not include the security filter to choose the collateral rank.

1st rank mortgage discussion between PeerDuck and Janis Timma

Janis Timma (CEO of Crowdestor) and anonymous whistle-blower PeerDuck had an interesting discussion in Telegram.

Conclusion is that for short period of time for loans with 1st rank mortgage using the same realestate as collateral would mean an unsecured loan. However, EstateGuru and Crowdestate uses personal surety (personal guarantee) towards a private person which usually covers the full mortgage amount.

Viventor suspends Monify and recalls late fees

Viventor’s loan originators continue to struggle

Monify is the latest suspended loan originator in Viventor platform. Adding to the list of already suspended – Twinero, Presto, MyCredit and CbC (ex. KFP).

Dear Investors
 
I want to update you on the emerging situation regarding Monify’s delayed payments.
 
We have been in contact with the company this week and have been informed by the Head of the Board, Geisari Artūrs, that Monify is currently undergoing core changes in management. As a knock-on effect, some settlements have been postponed for several weeks.
 
In light of the somewhat unclear circumstances surrounding these actions, ViVentor has decided to suspend Monify loans on the primary and secondary market until the company has fulfilled its obligations and the situation has become clearer.
 
In the meantime, you can be rest assured that we will continue to update you of all actions undertaken on our behalf, as well as any results that such actions may yield. Protecting the interests of our investors remains our prime concern, and we will continue to work to preserve the funds of our investors. 
 
Sincerely
Andrius Bolšaitis

Letter from Andrius Bolšaitis – CEO of Viventor about Monify’s suspension

Note that opposed to Mintos, looks like suspension in Viventor does not implicitly mean that you can not sell the loans in secondary market. Mine are in the market at par value.

As per loan originator overview page, total outstanding amount for Monify is only 4% from total outstanding loan volume in Viventor.

Viventor recalls late fees

Recently, they have also announced the reversal of miscalculated late fees. Interesting to see different reactions to this. From Viventor’s side – an honest mistake wrapped in “we come forward as transparent as possible (with sorry cashback bonus on top)”. From investors’ side its all starting from “did not affect me much” to “how do I redo my taxes now” ending with “never investing there again”.

To be honest my attention is at their biggest loan originator – Atlantis Financiers and how will it perform.

Mintos owners’ ties with various loan originators

This is no news for the most attentive investors, however, for me it was interesting to re-cap and maybe inform others to whom this might slipped by.

Here is a forum thread which describes links between Mintos owners and various loan originators in the Mintos’ marketplace. List includes Mogo, Delfin Group, Finko, Sun Finance and others.

Crowdestate project with -73.7% IRR exit

This is the latest exited project on a hot spot right now for the Crowdestate platform:

…

The sale price received from the auction (EUR 300,000), less the bailiff’s costs (EUR 4,392), was distributed proportionally among all project’s investors on 04.09.2020. In accordance with the terms of the loan agreements, the loans granted by the Project Sponsor were excluded from repayment (these loans represented 25% of the capital originally invested in EDH, ie a total of EUR 375,500). The repayments were made through Crowdestate’s sub-accounts in accordance with the procedure agreed in the loan agreement concluded with the investors.

Thus, out of the initial investment of EUR 1,124,500 invested in the project, EUR 295,608 was returned, as a result of that the investors lost 73.7% of the invested money or EUR 828,892, the internal rate of return (IRR) f this investment is -64.33%.

With respect,
Ülo Adamson
The President
OÜ Estera Development Holding

Part of the letter to the Estera Development Holding project investors

Reminder to all investors that the risk reality is brutal.

I found a message in Telegram that the deal was achieved by sole key investor who decided to exit the opportunity. Looks like that Crowdestate terms seem to allow doing that.

Be careful with these type of loans even though the returns (19%) seem very tempting.

Conclusive status on my crowldending exit by end of August 2020 (after 5 months)

In total before starting the exit on 29th of March 2020 I had 4075.95 EUR deposited.

The current total deposit volume is 1273.36 EUR (excluding the new platform’s EstateGuru investment). I reduced the portfolio value by additional 55.36 EUR in July 2020 which is about 69% in total.

Here is my top of platforms for withdrawing (no change in ranking).

1. Twino – Exited in less than 2 months.
2. Mintos – in April 2020 sold 62.05 EUR, in May 2020 sold 33.63 EUR, in June 2020 sold 204.47 EUR, in July 2020 sold 154.17 EUR. In August 2020 I could not sell any because all are suspended.
3. Viventor – made 1 sale on May 2020 at par value for 1.89 EUR, in June 2020 sold 2 loans of total 13.78 EUR, in July 2020 sold 2 loans for 19.63 EUR. In August 2020 sold none.
4. CrowdEstate – in August 2020 received some late principal repayments in total amount of 55.04 EUR.
5. Reinvest24 – as previously, also no changes in August 2020.

Summary

In the winds of turbulent times I decided to restart the investing gradually. I chose EstateGuru because most loans are backed by first rank mortgage. When it comes to other platforms I still continue to withdraw because I feel there are still too many uncertainties regards loan originators.

I wish you have (had) a great weekend and week ahead of you. Thank you for reading and let me know if you have anything on your mind or I have missed something important.