July 2020: crowdfunding profit evaporated on the stock exchange

I withdrew money from different platforms this month, because I had more money there than the limit I chose for myself last month. In order to ensure more spread, and to make rational and objective choices, I set the limit at 5,000 euros per crowdlending platform. If there is more (or it grows above it) then I withdraw money and deposit it to another platform where I have less funds (and if I feel comfortable with the platform of course).

Last month I invested more in something not on my blog: my home brewery. Brewing my own beer is satisfying and a lot of fun, and now I have the space in my utility room that I specially refurbished for this:

Yesterday, on the first of the month, I also planned a brewing day and that is why this update is a day later than usual.

To prevent this from becoming an update about a (nice) topic that not everyone might be interested in: I also made additional payments to a platform, because it has a cashback bonus at the moment. You can read more about this in the Reinvest24 update.

Last month I received a nice amount of interest through the crowdlending platforms. Unfortunately, the stock market was fluctuating considerably, and it ended very negatively at the end of the month. Together with the increase in my crowdfunding accounts, this still resulted in a slightly positive result.

Portfolio overview July 2020

Last month my portfolio increased by € 10.46 and my average rate of return over all platforms is 7.4%. The table below shows the details for each category.

Passive income per month

You can find my definition of passive income on my portfolio page.

Activities

To show you how little effort is involved when investion via crowdfunding and crowdlending I have added an overview of the manual actions in the last month:

I did check the platforms every now and then, but this was purely for fun. It wasn’t necessary to get these interest payments and return rates.

Crowdlending

According to an analysis by Robocash, 37.7% of European investors believe that the P2P market will have fully recovered by the end of this year, and back to pre-crisis levels. This means a recovery in payments to investors, a decrease in the number of withdrawals, and also a decrease in the number of defaulters. 36% think this will only happen in the first half of next year, and only 10.9% think the market will not recover until the end of 2021.

I hope that the crisis will not delay the introduction of regulation of the entire European crowd-lending market, which is expected next year. This is essential for the maturing of the market and for better protecting investor interests. Several platforms themselves take steps to ensure more transparency, but a legal obligation is necessary to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

 Bondora

Bondora has also released the annual figures for 2019. Turnover has risen to 20.3 million euros, and net profit has also risen sharply to 2.3 million euros. The volume of loans financed increased by 158% to 156.8 million euros. The number of employees increased by 11 to 65.

The number of investors has also risen, to 122 thousand. These investors jointly invested more than 371 million euros last year and received 44 million euros in interest.

All in all, these figures give the impression that Bondora is doing well. So I also have my money here. Investing is very easy, and everything is also in Dutch.

My investments at Bondora returned € 30.63 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.8%.

When you register through this link you’ll receive a 5 euro bonus. Just give their Go & Grow option a try for a few months, and don’t try the other advanced options.

 Brickstarter

Brickstarter has launched a website, where the apartments can also be rented (in addition to the usual rental websites): brickrenting.com . If you book through this website you will receive a 10% discount, for this you can use the code BRICKSTARTER. Even with that 10% discount, this is still cheaper for Brickstarter because of the high costs that the large booking sites charge. And that discount is of course double advantage if you invest here; discount on your stay, and a (small) part of the rental amount back as income from your investment.

At the moment there are no projects on the site to invest in, which is a pity because part of my money has not yet been invested there. I still want to invest that free amount, but for the time being I will not deposit any extra money. It is still a small and new platform, so I think it should prove itself a bit more before I put more money into it.

My investments at Brickstarter returned € 0.00 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.7%.

 Bulkestate

Bulkestate has improved security, it is now possible to enable 2FA (2-Factor Authentication). This provides better security for access to your account, because you have to enter a changing code when you log in, which you receive via an SMS or the Google Authenticator app.

Investor identification (required by law) has been improved using a specialized company (Onfido). Existing users are given a month to (re) verify their identity.

Also at Bulkestate there are a few projects that are behind with payments. The communication about this is good and comprehensive. They also respond quickly to questions that are asked via the forum. For example, here you see one of the status updates on the forum:

Updates are also sent via emails, such as the one from 9 July:

On July 29 there was another email with the message that this project has been completely repaid, and that all investors have been repaid. Including penalty interest for late repayment.

My investments at Bulkestate returned € 0.00 last month, and my average return rate is now 3.7%.

 Crowdestate

Over 20% of my investments at Crowdestate currently have payment problems, but luckily this does not have a major effect on my return rate. That has dropped to 9.7%, but that is of course still very nice.

The largest amount is in the ‘Tammelehe’ projects, and the bankruptcy case for that company has been postponed until the end of August. In the meantime, attempts are still being made to sell the properties. Crowdestate has a good history of recovering investor funds, so I’m not worried yet.

My investments at Crowdestate returned € 29.42 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.7%.

 Crowdestor

Earlier this month, Crowdestor reported that the Buyback Guarantee Fund has now been renamed Provision Fund, and the calculation rules have been updated. If a loan cannot be repaid, part of the fund is used to repay investors. Not the whole fund, otherwise the investors could get nothing in a next case. Effectively, now 10 times as much is paid out on a case-by-case basis, which currently amounts to approximately 1/5 of the toppled loan. Of course, some could also be brought back by Crowdestor through legal actions, but this is never certain. Half a percent of each new project is deposited into the Provision Fund, so coverage will grow slowly. The fund was launched a little over a year ago.

At the beginning of this week there was a bit of a shock for Crowdestor investors. The platform was scheduled to go offline for maintenance on Tuesday morning, but afterwards it remained unreachable. According to the platform, the migration to AWS was successful, but they then faced massive DDoS attacks. Then, of course, doubts strike nowadays … The site remained offline the day after, but in the evening it slowly became accessible again from different countries. Since then I have also been able to log in a few times. Some investors have even been able to make a successful withdrawal afterwards. That sort of makes you feel better, and that the cause could indeed be an attack. But doubts remain. Last week I made a withdrawal myself, and it was in my own bank account the next working day.

Despite the fact that the platform continues to communicate sparingly, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Certainly in these uncertain times you can expect investors to be kept better and more frequently informed. That withdrawals are still possible is reassuring, but not as much as a well-functioning and accessible website. As I write this, the website is inaccessible again…

My investments at Crowdestor returned € 307.56 last month, and my average return rate is now 17.2%.

 EstateGuru

The completion of EstateGuru‘s crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs is expected at the end of next week. In addition, they are in a due diligence phase with several potential investors who are now engaging in discussions with all partners of EstateGuru to validate EstateGuru’s data. I must say that this sparks joy, because I think a business will only take those steps when they have nothing to hide.

After the crisis caused the number of loans to fall by 19%, it has since risen by 33%. In their own words, EstateGuru is already back to pre-crisis levels. Compared to the first half of 2019, the total amount of loans extended in the first half of this year increased by 30%.

EstateGuru has also released the audited annual figures. Revenue increased by 45% compared to 2018. There is a net loss, but for the most part this is due to doubled salary costs and consultancy fees. It looks like real growth financing.

My investments at EstateGuru returned € 39.54 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.0%.

 EvoEstate

At the moment there is plenty of choice at EvoEstate, you can invest in 14 projects. These projects are spread over 6 different crowdlending platforms. A Darvan is a ‘skin in the game’ project, in which the founders also invest in private money. I myself have also invested in that project, but then directly on Reinvest24.

My investments at EvoEstate returned € 5.53 last month, and my average return rate is now 2.4%.

 Fast Invest

At Fast Invest my free amount slowly increased to 60 euros. If this exceeds one hundred euros then I am going to withdraw this so that the value here is below my 5k limit. Last month I had not received any interest at all, but this has started again this month. So I hope to be able to withdraw money next month, and then I will turn on the auto-invest again.

It remains to be seen whether that withdrawal will succeed, because I hear that some investors have been waiting for the payouts for a long time. I hope to be able to test this myself soon.

My investments at Fast Invest returned € 5.74 last month, and my average return rate is now 12.8%.

 Flender

Flender has released some figures for the first half of this year. There is 78% more money deposited and 98% more loan activity. It is clear that the impact of Corona this year is limited. In May, 40% of borrowing companies received deferments, in June 26%, and in July this had already decreased to 13%. The number of projects and investments has also increased by 32% since May.

Furthermore, the average return of all investors is just under 10%. The default rate is only 1.1%. It is fortunate that the default rate is so low, because Flender has no buyback guarantee. If you invest here, it is therefore important to ensure a good spread, which is very easy with the auto-invest. Any problem projects will not have a major impact on your return.

My investments at Flender returned € 15.61 last month, and my average return rate is now 6.7%.

 Funding Circle NL

At Funding Circle NL, 1 loan is in arrears (Buyer trader pre-financing). Every month you will receive an email with an overview of the loans with payment arrears, and a short update. The intention is that the backlog will be cleared within 12 months.

Every month the interest and repayment is deposited directly into my bank account. The outstanding amount of loans is now less than half of the amount that I originally deposited, and that will not increase. Funding Circle NL normally handles the current loans for private investors, but it is no longer possible to invest via this platform. They only focus on large institutional investment companies.

My investments at Funding Circle NL returned € 25.58 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.7%.

 Grupeer

Grupeer has again posted an update on their blog, including the results of the audit they say has been carried out.

They indicate that they are going to make changes to their business processes and structure, and that they still plan to restore payments as soon as their bank accounts are released. They also indicate that this is only possible if investors have completed the KYC.

All in all, this is of course better than the website going black, as happened with Kuetzal and Envestio. But it is not clear to what extent this is just stalling. Maybe they are trying to make the best of it and restore things. In any case, the legal actions against Grupeer will continue.

My investments at Grupeer returned € 0.00 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.6%.

 Iuvo

Also this month I was able to withdraw a small amount of 300 euros at Iuvo, and this was quickly in my own bank account. Furthermore, everything runs smoothly, but it is still well above my set limit.

My investments at Iuvo returned € 33.26 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.3%.

 Lender & Spender

Lender & Spender remains unchanged and stable. This Dutch platform is supervised by the AFM and is licensed for offering loans in the Netherlands. The platform offers 4.1% interest, which is not very high compared to the foreign platforms. But it is a lot better than the savings accounts, of course. Moreover, this is also because they do not ask the borrower the highest interest rates, which also feels good. And it is ‘close to home’, so it also feels like a safe (er) place to invest your money.

Your loans are automatically spread over many loans. For me it is currently spread over 1554 loans, which means that I invest an average of € 1.81 in a loan. Problem loans therefore have only a limited effect on your return. The amount of loans in my portfolio with payment arrears of 3 months or more amounts to € 18.35 on an invested amount of more than 2800 euros.

My investments at Lender & Spender returned € 9.11 last month, and my average return rate is now 4.5%.

 Mintos

Mintos has also published the annual figures for 2019, which have been audited by Ernst & Young. Income has doubled since 2018. In 2019 alone, 136,000 investors have already joined, and more than 2.8 billion euros in loans have been financed. Mintos now has 234,857 investors from 91 countries, who have invested an average of 4,724 euros each. In total, 45 million euros in interest was paid to investors in 2019.

Nevertheless, Mintos is still making losses, partly because the number of employees tripled in 2019. So they are still quite committed to growth, even though they control almost half of the entire European market (46%). For comparison: number 2 TWINO serves almost 6% of the market.

This openness is an example for all platforms. Of course there are more platforms that publish the figures in such detail, i hope that more and more platforms will follow suit. Despite the loss, this openness does give confidence, and more insight.

My investments at Mintos returned € 61.02 last month, and my average return rate is now 10.7%.

When you register via this link you’ll receive a 1% cashback bonus over all your investments in the first 90 days.

 NEO Finance

NEO Finance has indicated that all filter options for the loans will be available to everyone. Several criteria were only available to VIP investors, and VIP investors also had priority when investing. This has been found to be in violation of Lithuanian law and the platform no longer distinguishes between investors in this area.

They have als updated the secondary market: it is now possible to sell overdue loans on the secondary market at a discount.

My investments at NEO Finance returned € 8.96 last month, and my average return rate is now -6.0%.

When you register via this link you’ll receive a 1% cashback bonus over all your investments in the first 3 months.

 Reinvest24

Reinvest24 is making considerable progress. A while ago you sometimes had to wait a long time for a project to become available again, and this month there are just 5 projects in which you can invest. So plenty of choice:

It is good that there are now several projects to invest in, because Reinvest24 now has a cashback promotion:

Existing and new investors receive a 2% cashback bonus if they invest 500 euros or more. This promotion runs through August 10, and you will receive the bonus within 24 hours of the promotion ending. You do not have to invest this all in a single project, the total of all your investments in the promotional period must be 500 euros or more.

I immediately deposited 1000 euros on the first day of the promotion. I wanted to do this before as part of my new policy to better spread my money across the platforms, but so far the costs have held me back. There are costs associated with investing, which are used to cover the costs associated with purchasing the property in question. These costs are now nicely compensated by this cashback bonus.

The next morning at 10 a.m. I received an email that my deposit had been received. The same day I invested in 4 of the 5 available projects, because I invested in the 5th project earlier. When investing you clearly see the costs and estimated returns in advance. Below you see the details of the 4 investments:

You clearly see the 2% transaction costs, but these are now fully compensated by the cashback bonus.

It is a pity that the cashback bonus is only paid after the 10th, so now my return has turned negative. But with the next update this will be positive again.

My investments at Reinvest24 returned € -14.18 last month, and my average return rate is now -1.0%.

 Robocash

This month I received the highest interest payment from Robocash. Last month I had received no interest, so this amount is actually for two months. My return has also increased to the highest value since I started here: 11.1%. This comes pretty close to the ‘average interest rate’ that I have on my Robocash dashboard (12.2%).

My investments at Robocash returned € 30.37 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.1%.

 TFG Crowd

TFGCrowd has updated the website and added TFGcrowd Marketplace. Not for investors, but for companies to sign up and get financing. More automation will also make more projects available to invest in.

As many as 30 projects were published in July, and 26 were already fully funded. 6 other projects have been fully paid back this month. According to the platform, all interest payments are made on time, and there are no defaults.

I have also received news from Edeland, but they have decided not to give them access to their data:

So this platform will continue to make significant progress in terms of platform, website and projects, but there is still some shortcomings in terms of openness. So I do have a double feeling about it, and on the other hand the platform is still up in the air and working without a hint of trouble. That can no longer be said of all platforms. But still..

My investments at TFG Crowd returned € 19.91 last month, and my average return rate is now 17.5%.

 TWINO

At TWINO I now have enough uninvested funds to be able to withdraw and thus fall below my limit of 5000 euros. I will do this in the coming days, and then I will also turn on the auto-invest again.

In July, EUR 12 million in loans were financed and 500 investors were added. The number 2 in this market, after Mintos, therefore continues to grow. Unlike Mintos, TWINO does not work with loan originators, but instead handles all loans themselves.

My investments at TWINO returned € 39.24 last month, and my average return rate is now 9.5%.

 Viainvest

Just like TWINO, Viainvest works with its own (subsidiary) companies: the loans are provided by companies from the VIA SMS Group, which also includes Viainvest.

This platform is not in the news a lot, and you could see that as good news. This is one of the platforms you don’t have to worry about, and it does not require regular attention. The return rate fluctuates a bit between 10-12%.

My investments at Viainvest returned € 18.51 last month, and my average return rate is now 11.9%.

When you register via this link you’ll receive a 10 euro bonus if you invest 50 euro or more.

Crowdfunding

 CrowdAboutNow

The Beer in a Box campaign has been successfully completed on the Dutch crowdfunding platform CrowdAboutNow.

When the minimum was reached, I received an unofficial certificate from Beer in a Box during the campaign, a nice gift to celebrate that I will become a shareholder in Beer in a Box:

A total of 304 investors have invested in Beer in a Box, with an average amount of 1,038 euros. It is also nice to see that there are three other investors who have opted for the ‘lifetime’ subscription:

My investments at CrowdAboutNow returned € 0.00 last month, and my average return rate is now 0.0%.

 Seedrs

Seedrs has adjusted the secondary market, and it is now possible to adjust the price yourself when selling. Until now, the shares could only be traded at the fixed price, now a seller can set the price 30% below or above the regular price.

The secondary market is also only open to a limited extent, always a week a month starting from the first Tuesday. After that week they prepare the paperwork, and they also need some time to prepare for that ‘trading week’. Apparently a large part of those activities are manual work. I don’t know if I mind that much, after all, these are actual shares in companies. But it would be nice if this is broadened, so it is easier for you as an investor to monetize your investments.

My investments at Seedrs returned € 103.87 last month, and my average return rate is now 8.1%.

When you want to try Seedrs for yourself, you can register via this link and you’ll receive £25 free investment credit after investing £150 or more within 30 days of signing up to Seedrs (around 175 euros).

Stock

This month my total stock portfolio has decreased in value. It seems substantial, but unlike crowd lending, it is quite normal at the exchange to have large fluctuations. One day your wallet drops by a few hundred euros, and the next day it can turn out hundreds of euros higher. And with more than five thousand euros in profit since I started in March, there is no reason to complain.

 BinckBank

The biggest loss comes from BinckBank, but here I also made the biggest profit so far. The unrealized result is more than 1800 euros, so it is profitable.

My investments at BinckBank returned € -847.17 last month, and my average return rate is now 197.7%.

 DEGIRO

The day before yesterday I received an email from DEGIRO that my standing sales order for my 40 ‘AB InBev’ shares had been executed. I had bought them mid-May at a price of € 39.50, and I had created this sales order on June 10 with a sales price of 51 euros as this seemed a nice rate to cash in on the profit. Quite a few weeks had passed since the order was created, and most of the time I have several open. I had not watched the prices, so the sale came as a (pleasant) surprise. At the end of the day, the price had dropped again to € 48.45. Still a lesson learned: check your standing orders regularly.

In early June, I had also bought 2 Tesla shares at $ 980.00 and less than a month later the price had gone up to nearly $ 1,400. I also cashed in on that profit by placing a sales order at a price that was slightly higher than the market price. I thought it was such a big increase that I thought there was a good chance that it would drop again. Now, however, the price has risen about 90 dollars higher, it is not always predictable. But real pocket winnings are of course also worth a lot.

My investments at DEGIRO returned € 19.08 last month, and my average return rate is now 51.9%.

 ING

With an increase in value of more than 68 euros, my ING investment account is also doing well. I invested here in 2 ETFs: one in the AEX (Dutch stock exchange) and the other in gold.

I mainly have this for the long term, because I am not satisfied with the ING website and app for investing. But as long as you have a limited portfolio, and invest once a month or once in a fixed set of shares or ETFs, then it is doable.

My investments at ING returned € 68.87 last month, and my average return rate is now 7.5%.

And finally…

That was it for this monthly update. You can subscribe via the contact page and you’ll receive an email the moment a new update is published. Or just visit again next month, that’s up to you.

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Below you can also find the link to my previous posts, where you can find my tips and results of the previous months.