Mintos is not your traditional peer-to-peer lending platform. It is a leading global online marketplace for loans. RewardExpert spoke with CEO and co-founder, Martins Sulte, about the uniqueness of Mintos and how the company has grown.
Investing at its Finest
Mintos is the only marketplace that connects investors and numerous loan originators from across the globe in a single marketplace. “We are the world’s largest marketplace of its kind,” said Sulte. Mintos currently has 28 loan originators in 15 countries and more than 40,000 investors from 64 different countries.
While Mintos gives retail investors the opportunity to capitalize on loans originated by a variety of alternative lending companies, they do it in an easy and transparent way where individuals can earn great returns.
“Our marketplace provides loan originators with flexible funding and access to thousands of investors through the world instantly,” said Sulte. “We do not issue loans. Instead, a variety of alternative lending companies place the loans they have already issued for investment on the Mintos marketplace.”
No Fees Required
One of the other unique aspects of investing with Mintos is that there are no fees. Recently, the company removed the secondary market fee for investors. “It will benefit our investors as we expect the secondary market to become even more liquid now. This is especially beneficial for investors who want to pursue a long-term investment strategy and invest in loans with a longer maturity.”
Getting Started
To begin with Mintos, follow these steps:
- Register as an investor at mintos.com
- this will take less than 5 minutes to complete
- Transfer funds to your investor account
- move your money from your bank account to your Mintos account
- Build your investment portfolio
- you can browse loan listings or use the Auto Invest tool
- Receive monthly payments
- you will get payments from borrowers that consist of principal and interest payments and you can reinvest them in other loans or transfer them back to your bank account
The diversification opportunities on Mintos is “a great mitigation for risk. Investors can diversify their investment portfolio across different loan types, maturities, amounts, currencies, geographies, loan originators and risk levels–all in one marketplace, which is very convenient and efficient for the investors,” Sulte said.
One other important requirement to note, however, is that in order to participate in investing on Mintos, an individual must have an active bank account in an eligible country. These currently include European countries, as well as Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Mexico and Singapore. “We are constantly looking to explore new markets and countries, and also increase our presence in the countries we are already in,” he noted.
Looking to the Future
The Latvian-based company offers investors rates between 7 to 17%, which Sulte said is very competitive in the current financial environment. “Because Mintos has such a large range of opportunities, investors can have a completely diversified portfolio, and these opportunities will continue to grow as we add more loan originators with different offerings onto our marketplace.”
Latvia, in particular, Sulte noted, has been an attractive location as the country provides a rare mix of reasonable start-up costs, start-up friendly regulation and access to international entrepreneurial talent and capital. Since Mintos launched in 2015, more than 400 million euros have been invested in loans through Mintos.
“We are constantly looking for new markets to enter,” she said. “Growth is currently our main goal. In five years, we see ourselves becoming a truly established and global marketplace for loans that facilitate the free movement of capital.”