Flender is a European peer-to-peer lending platform that offers business and SME loans. It is based in Ireland. You can invest with as low as €50 for an average duration of 36 months and start earning average interest rates of 9.9%. Flender has investment features like auto-invest known as AutoFlend. However, it does not have a secondary market or buyback guarantee.
Flender Review: Quick Facts
- Flender is a peer-to-peer lending platform offering business and SME loans for Irish businesses.
- You can invest as low as €50 on the platform and earn an annual average interest rate of 9.9%.
- Flender has investment features like an auto-invest strategy. However, it does not have a buyback guarantee and a secondary market.
Flender was established in 2017 and as of 2022, it had lent out over €41 million to businesses and had over 5.5k lenders. The default rate for loans at Flender stands at 1.8%.
Contents
- 1 Who Can Invest in Flender?
- 2 How Flender Works
- 3 How to Invest in Flender
- 4 Flender Features
- 5 Advantages of Investing in Flender
- 6 Downsides of Investing on Flender
- 7 Flender Supported Countries
- 8 Is Flender Safe?
- 9 Flender Customer Support
- 10 Flender Alternatives
- 11 Summary of Flender Review
- 12 Discover More
Who Can Invest in Flender?
To invest in Flender, you need to meet the following requirements:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid passport or driving license
- Have a bank account
How Flender Works
Flender works the same way as other investment platforms. Borrowers apply for a loan on the platform and then investors provide them with funding. Flender provides business funding to Irish businesses only but it is open to investors from all over the world.
You need to create an account to start investing. Once you have an account, you need to fund it and you can invest in loans of your choice. You can opt to use AutoFlend to find loans using certain parameters or you can opt to use personal loan selection. Through the manual selection, you manually select loans you want to invest in. Borrowers are then expected to make some monthly repayments towards their loans. The investor will start receiving returns from the loans they have invested in.
How to Invest in Flender
To start investing in Flender, follow these simple steps:
- Sign up. The first step is to create an account at Flender website. You will need to enter your personal details when creating an account. Select the “Start Investing” option to create an investor account.
Verification. The next step is verification. You will be required to upload your documents like your driver’s license or ID. You need to meet KYC requirements.
Fund your account. The next thing you need to do is to fund your account. You can fund the account through a credit card or a bank transfer.
Choose an investment method. You need to select either AutoFlend or manual investing. If you choose the AutoFlend option, you need to set parameters. This option will save you a lot of time and you don’t need to browse through the websites to find a loan to invest in.
Start receiving returns. Once you have invested, you will start receiving your returns after a month. You can withdraw funds once they are deposited into your account.
Flender Features
Flender has the following investment features accessible by investors:
Auto-Invest or AutoFlend
Flender has an auto-invest feature known as AutoFlend. The feature allows one to invest automatically by setting parameters like loan duration, amount to invest, and interest rates. The AutoFlend saves you a lot of time since you don’t need to browse through the website looking for a loan to invest in. When there is a loan that meets your parameters, the system automatically invests in it.
AutoFlend Cashback
Flender has AutoFlend cashback for some projects. As such, AutoFlend can invest a certain amount of funds into these offers and increase the user’s returns. You as the investor can reinvest the cash back into your portfolio.
Advantages of Investing in Flender
You get to enjoy the following benefits when you invest in Flender.
- AutoFlend. The auto-invest feature saves the investor time since you don’t need to browse through the website to find loans to invest in.
- No fees. Flender does not charge investors any fee to invest on the platform.
- High rate of return. Flender pays investors high returns of up to 9.9% annualy.
- Low default rate. There are low chances of borrowers’ defaulting on loan repayment in Flender. The default rate stands at 1.8% which is lower compared to many other platforms.
Downsides of Investing on Flender
- No secondary market. Flender does not have a secondary market where investors can sell off their portfolio in case they want to exit the platform.
- No buyback guarantee. Flender does not have a buyback guarantee that protects investors’ funds in case the borrower is late in repayment.
Flender Supported Countries
Only companies in Ireland can borrow money from Flender. However, Flender is open to investors from all over the world. To become an investor, you need to be at least 18 years old and have a bank account.
Is Flender Safe?
Flender is a safe investment platform. However, it is important you do due diligence before investing in it. The downside of the platform is that it does not have a buyback guarantee to protect investors in case borrowers default on repayment.
Flender has “Excellent” and “Bad” ratings on TrustPilot. People applauded the platform for its high returns and AutoFlend feature that makes it easy to invest. Those who didn’t like Flender complained about having made losses on the platform and poor customer support.
Flender Customer Support
Flender has supportive customer support. You can reach their customer support by phone: (01) 551 0716 or email: info@flender.ie.
Flender Alternatives
You can invest in these other investment platforms as an alternative to Flender:
Summary of Flender Review
Flender is a peer-to-peer lending platform for small and medium enterprises. It offers business loans to Irish companies. Investors earn an annual interest rate of 9.9%. The platform has an auto-invest feature known as AutoFlend that helps investors save time they would have otherwise spent browsing loans to invest in. The default rate on the platform is also very low compared to many other lending platforms. However, the downsides of the platform are that it does not have a buyback guarantee or a secondary market.
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