Prestadero, a p2p lending service in Mexico, has raised a first funding round for 400,000 US$ led by Venture Partners Mexico. Prestadero was founded in 2011 by CEO Gerardo Obregon. Read selected press coverage about the service: 1, 2, 3, 4 during the past months. Continue reading
Latin America
Recent News from P2P Lending Blogs
Here are some recently published articles on several p2p lending topics:
Sociallending.net: The Best Day to Borrow Money at Lending Club
P2P Lending News: Prosper and Lending Club Compete for Investor Market Share
CreditUnionTimes: Consultant Warns Banks and CUs Risk Becoming Passé
DoughRoller: Lending Club Investment Strategy (Update)
Janari Rahablog: Omaraha.ee laenude vahenduse portaal
GlobalVoices: Brazil: Crowdfunding Potential
Fairplace Faces Investigation by Federal Police
Fairplace, the first p2p lending service in Brazil, faces an investigation by the Federal Police (PolÃcia Federal). Launched in April Fairplace so far facilitated 2.5 million BRL (approx. 1.5 million US$) loans. Apparently the Central Bank requested an investigation as early as August 10th, claiming that Fairplace violates laws that prohibit companies that are not financial institutions to operate in financial markets.
In December then the Federal Public Ministry of St. Paul (Ministério Público Federal) asked the Federal Police to open an investigation. According to press coverage penalties for the possible violations range up to four years imprisonment.
Separate investigations are undertaken by the Brazil Securities Commission (Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM)).
Founder Eldes Matiuzzo says his company does not provide loans but only offers a platform to match lenders and borrowers. He added that the company checked the legal situation before launching.
Nevertheless Fairplace suspended the auction of new loans on the site on Dec. 15th.
Fairplace – P2P Lending in Brazil
Fairplace.com.br recently launched the first p2p lending service in Brazil. With approx. 190 million inhabitants Brazil could prove an interesting market for peer to peer lending. While financial institutions are the most common source for loans, consumers face lots of paperwork and high interest.
Founder Eldes Matiuzzo knows that, for he worked 14 years for Unibanco. He says user response since the launch is promising with about 25 registrations per day.
Each loan application undergoes risk assessment (Fairplace uses Seresa Experian Data) and only about 20 percent of applications are approved.
Loan requests are listed for a 14 day auction. Borrowers pay fees only if the loan is successfully funded. Fees listed are 5% for one year loans and 8 percent for two year loans. There are additional fees for credit assessment and each repayment installment. Lenders are charged 2% of each repayment (repaid principal + interest).
Currently the average interest rate at Fairplace is 2.99 percent per month, which is much lower than the average for the Brazilian market.
MyMicroCredit – P2P Microfinance to the Needy
Karl Rabeder was a successful entrepreneur and rich. But being a millionaire did not make him happy and he was seeking a purpose in life. So he sold his villa in Austria, his house in France and his 5 sailplanes and moved into a small 1 room apartment in Innsbruck.
Now he dedicates his time to the p2p microfinance non profit he founded: MyMicroCredit.org. MyMicrocredit enables lenders to fund loans to needy persons in Latin America, Asia and Africa with the objective to become self-employed. Currently MyMicroCredit partners with the MFI Apoyo Integral in El Salvador, Nicaragua, concentrating on funding education projects for agriculture teachers.
I contributed 25 EUR towards a 24 months loan. The website display of projects (see left) bears resemblance to Kiva. No registration is necessary to lend. This allows fast and easy funding but has the disadvantage that lenders cannot login to see a portfolio of what loans they did fund.
Lenders will by notified be email upon repayment of a loan and can then decide to reinvest or withdraw their money.
(Sources:Â Chrismon, P2P-Kredite.com)
My Myelen Loan was Repaid Early
Last year I lent via Myelen.com to an entrepreneur in Mexico.
In the Myelen p2p microfinance concept the lender signs a contract with the MFI and the MFI takes the default risk of the individual borrowers. The lender carries the market risk that the MFI does not repay the loan. Furthermore at Myelen the MFI covers the currency risk – but for most lenders there is still a currency risk because the loan currency at Myelen is Czech Koruna (CZK).
My 5,000 CZK loan was repaid early by the Mexican MFI since it stopped accepting foreign currency loans to change its legal status. I was repaid 5,115 CZK the total amount plus the accrued interest. The initial 187.50 EUR invested brought back 196 EUR on my account after 7 month – not a bad results.
I did invest in this loan mainly to test the service, since Myelen was previously unknown to me. The experience was good – everything went smoothly. I was notified of the early repayment via email and the money arrived automatically in my bank account.
Note that there were no fees at all for me involved – neither banking fees nor any fees my Myelen.
Currently there are several Mexican loan offers listed on the platform. Offered interest rates range from 4 to 7.5 percent (depending on amount).