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Choosing a P2P platform

5 Tips For Choosing The Right P2P Platform

With so many P2P platforms to choose from, how can you make sure you choose the best one?

There are quite a few things you want to look out for when picking a P2P platform, and it’s always best to do a bit of research before registering an account – yes, even for ourselves at Swaper.

Here are 5 tips to consider when choosing a P2P platform.

1. Experience

The first thing to look up is the background of the founders of the P2P lending platform.

Ideally, the founders have some sort of experience in the banking, investing and credit world. This means they come with relevant experience, credentials and authority, and aren’t just new to the world of online lending. Head over to the about section of the P2P website to learn as much as you can about the founders.

In Swaper’s case, our CEO has over 10 years of experience in finance, gaming and cryptocurrencies, and our product owner has worked in both the Fintech and investment banking industry.

2. History and track record

The older and more established the P2P platform, the better. A proven track record means the company has a working business model. The top platforms have usually been operating for at least 3 years, paid out at least €1M to investors and are profitable.

The easiest place to find this information is in the “statistics” section of a website, where you’ll see the total numbers of investments and payouts a platform is making. You can head over to our Statistics page where you’ll see our total cumulative investments, total amount paid to investors and our monthly values.

(We’ve also written about the latest P2P investing statistics and trends, too).

3. Transparency

The best peer to peer platforms are transparent about their business model and their investment numbers. They publish regular updates on the company’s position and provide information on how the platform operates and makes money. As an investor, it’s always good practice to read the terms and conditions of the P2P platform you’re investing in.

At Swaper, we strive to be as transparent as possible. We offer regular company updates on our blog, our FAQ covers many common investor questions and you can read through our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions if you want to read the details.

4. High liquidity

With P2P investing, there are two main ways to withdraw your money:

  • Waiting for your loan terms to finish
  • Selling on the secondary market

Ideally, you want to invest through a P2P platform that makes it easy to liquidate your investments. If you’re investing in long term loans, you need to make sure the platform offers a secondary market so you can sell and liquidate whenever you want to. Bear in mind that many platforms also charge a fee when selling, which will eat into your earnings.

With Swaper, our loans are all 30-day consumer loans, which means you’ll usually receive your money within a month. If you want to receive your money earlier, you can also always sell on our secondary market for no additional fee.

5. Buyback

A good way to reduce the risk of investing in P2P loans is to pick a P2P platform that offers buyback. This means the platform will refund your payments if a borrower does not pay back their loan.

Buyback terms vary from platform to platform; for example, many platforms will refund your investment but not the interest, which means you could be losing money on unearned profits.

At Swaper, we offer buyback on all loans with payments that are more than 30 days late. We also refund any interest earned, so you won’t be losing money when a borrower defaults.

Bonus: Easy to use

With P2P investing, you want a platform that is straightforward: easy registration (no manual contracts!), fast verification and a simple auto-invest function.

We built the Swaper dashboard with this in mind: a clean and straightforward design that makes it easy for anyone to get started with P2P investing. We’ve also made it easy to download your account statements so you can easily pay for taxes and track your investments.

The right P2P platform for you

Swaper was founded in 2016 and we’ve since paid out almost €3M in interest to our investors.

We meet every single one of the above criteria and are considered one of the more established P2P platforms in Europe. Our hard work has paid off: we’ve won several P2P awards, and accumulated nearly €2M in cumulative investments.

Some of the main reasons to register with Swaper are:

  1. 14% investment return
  2. Buyback
  3. No fees
  4. Sell immediately
  5. Straightforward to use
  6. Auto-Invest
  7. Invest in-app

Signing up is also easy:

  1. Set up a Swaper account
  2. Verify your identity (takes 1 business day)
  3. Deposit your funds
  4. Create an Auto-Invest Portfolio and let it re-invest
  5. Sit back and watch your investments return 14% per year

It’s always good to do your due diligence when it comes to P2P investing. The good news is that whether you’re a P2P beginner or veteran, we’ll offer you the tools to lend money online using a platform that you trust and know.

And if you ever have any questions, you can easily contact us at info@swaper.com and we’ll respond right away.