PeerBerry Review
Table of Content
PeerBerry is a popular P2P lending platform from Lithuania (based in Croatia since 2021). The P2P lending platform is strongly focused on connecting investors with non-banking loan companies which are also called loan originators. In short, Peerberry allows you to invest in short-term loans and earn up to 12% interest per year.
PeerBerry’s unique selling point is the short turnover of investments. This means that in most cases you never lock your capital for more than 30 days. This gives investors the opportunity to withdraw money within a few weeks without any penalties, which is not the case on platforms such as EstateGuru.
You are eligible to invest on PeerBerry if you are over 18 years old and have a European bank account. If you are outside of Europe you can open a EUR account with TransferWise. I personally use my N26 account and the money transfer usually doesn’t take more than one business day.
Is investing on PeerBerry safe?
It’s safer than on other platforms that list payday loans as PeerBerry’s top priority is to meet its obligation towards P2P investors.
PeerBerry currently offers the following protection on your investments:
Buyback Guarantee: First we have the buyback guarantee. This means that the loan originator (loan company) will buy back your investment if the borrower delays its payments for more than 60 days. (So far this protection scheme has never failed any investor on PeerBerry.)
Additional Guarantee: New loan originators that aren’t financially as strong are backed up by an additional guarantee, provided by PeerBerry’s umbrella companies Aventus Group and Gofingo.
Collateral: Moreover certain loans are further backed by collateral such as the vehicle in case of leasing.
Personally I never had any issues with PeerBerry and I would not invest more than €10.000 into one platform if I would have concerns about the safety of my money.
When reviewing P2P platforms you should always have a look at the platform’s statistics. Statistics will give you an idea about the P2P platform’s performance as well as its growth.
| PeerBerry Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Operating since: | 2017 |
| Investor’s earnings: | + €10.8 M |
| Total loan value: | + €986 M |
| Amount of investors: | +50.000 |
Even though PeerBerry was founded in 2017, it could attract already more than 49.000 investors with little to no marketing efforts.
For more details and financial KPIs, refer to the PeerBerry’s annual financial report. PeerBerry is operated by PeerBerry d.o.o. in Croatia but the platform’s team is located in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Let’s have a look at the reasons why you should invest on PeerBerry as well as some of the potential issues that you should be aware of.
Pros
- 60 Day Buyback Guarantee + Additional Guarantee
- Stable interest rate
- Automated investments with Auto Invest or the Auto Invest Plans
- Easy Sign-Up and fast money transfer
- 0,5% Cashback bonus and Loyalty bonus up to 1% (from min. €10.000 of investments)
- The most reliable platform
Cons
- Not so many diversification options as on Mintos
- Occasional cash drag for smaller investors
- No instant cash out options like Mintos Invest & Access
PeerBerry Diversification
Even though PeerBerry is a rather small P2P lending platform, compared to the giant Mintos, it can still offer an interesting variety of diversification options.
PeerBerry offers you the following diversification options at the moment:
Loan Originators: short-term, leasing, installment, real estate, business
7 Countries: Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Republic of Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Sri Lanka
Min. investment amount: €10
Surety: personal surety, buyback guarantee, group guarantee, cars
Loan period: from 1 to 60 months
Interest: 9% – 13,7%
Buyback Guarantee: Yes
Auto Invest: Yes
When I started investing on PeerBerry the platform listed considerably fewer loan originators. Investors can tell that in recent months PeerBerry expanded its portfolio and started offering investment opportunities for leasing and installments.
In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction when it comes to diversification options.
Even though short-term loans are still dominating on PeerBerry, it is good to have the choice to diversify across multiple loan types as well. Keep in mind that the Lithuanian lenders are also way more conservative and their financials are also very healthy in comparison to start-ups in emerging markets. Investing in loans from the SIB Group or Lithome can be, therefore, a solid investment strategy.
PeerBerry Risk & Returns
PeerBerry collaborates with loan originators that list their loans on the platforms. This adds another layer of risk to the equation – the risk with the loan originator.
When investing on EstateGuru you don’t need to be worried about loan companies as the borrowers work directly with borrowers.
Nevertheless, PeerBerry offers certain guarantees that help decrease the risk. All of the loans are secured by a buyback guarantee. Some of the investments are further secured by collateral. This is mostly the case for investments into leasing.
The average interest on PeerBerry is 10.97% per year. I myself manage to achieve on average 11,44% per year. Compared to other P2P lending platforms, listing similar loans, this is an average performance.
PeerBerry Functionality
PeerBerry is very simple to use. There aren’t as many options as on Mintos, however, there is an Auto Invest feature that allows you to define your preferences and invest for you automatically. This is a good way to let your money work for you without login in continuously and investing manually.
Compared to Mintos, where the supply of loans can turn short sometimes, PeerBerry manages to always list enough loans on the platforms so investors won’t experience any cash drag (although it can happen).
What’s worth mentioning is that investors with a higher investment amount are being prioritized when it comes to investing through the Auto Invest. That’s another reason, why it could be worth it to invest a higher amount on PeerBerry. You will get a higher priority with your Auto Invest and hence reduce the cash drag.
A disadvantage might be that there is no secondary market at the moment, meaning you cannot withdraw your money instantly as it’s the case with Mintos.
Investors that set up their Auto Invest to invest only in short-term loans can, however, withdraw the money at the end of the loan period, which is in most cases shorter than 30 days.
PeerBerry Support
PeerBerry doesn’t offer a live chat yet but you can reach their support via email. Just send your questions to info@peerberry.com and you should get a reply within 24h. The reply I received when asking some investor’s specific questions was, however, always to the point. I have been investing on PeerBerry since 2018 and I have to say that the platform offers by far the best support amongst all P2P platforms in Europe.
My portfolio on PeerBerry
I started investing on Peerberry in February 2018 and since then I have built a portfolio worth more than €10.000 without any loss and annual interest of around 11.2% per year.
This screenshot is slightly outdated. My portfolio size on PeerBerry is in 2022 well over €18.000.
The four things I like the most about PeerBerry are:
- You have a very good overview of your investments and can automate everything with the Auto Invest feature
- You get a buyback guarantee that increases the protection of your investment with a good return of more than 11% per year
- There is always enough loans that match my criteria – I (almost) never experienced any cash drag
- You can access your money fast – I could withdraw 50% of my portfolio within 14 days when I tested the liquidity of my portfolio on PeerBerry
I believe that particularly when there is an uncertainty in the market about future economic performance, it is good to be invested in platforms that allow you to act fast if you need to withdraw your money.
If you want to follow along and get a sneak peek into my P2P portfolio on PeerBerry, join over 5000 subscribers and get notified about the latest events from the industry on my main YouTube channel.
FAQ
Is PeerBerry safe?
I have been investing on PeerBerry since 2018 and I have never had any issues withdrawing my investments. PeerBerry cares about the safety of the investor’s capital. So far I haven’t had any loss.
How does PeerBerry work?
PeerBerry is a P2P lending platform that lists loans of loan originators. Investors invest in those loans for an average interest of 10,97% per year. Your investment is protected by a buyback guarantee or collateral.
Where can I find statistics about PeerBerry?
You can find the PeerBerry statistics on their homepage. For further data please have a look at the my PeerBerry Review Statistics section.
PeerBerry Review Summary
PeerBerry is a very good platform for anyone who is looking for short-term capital commitment. Each investment takes no longer than one month (in most cases) which means you can withdraw all your money from the platform within 30 days unless you have delayed loans – in that case, it can take up to 60 days longer.
This is an amazing benefit that most investors overlook.
On many other platforms, you lock up your capital for several months. This can be avoided with PeerBerry. If you are looking for short-term gains, PeerBerry is worth a try.
I use PeerBerry to diversify my platform risk and increase the liquidity of my investments. I know that I will be able to access my capital in a very short time frame if I should need it.
Additionally, investors earn more than 11% of interest on their investments, which is a solid return considering you are investing in loans with a very reliable buyback guarantee.
The mix of the mentioned benefits with a variety of protective measurements to keep your money safe makes the PeerBerry a trustworthy alternative to Mintos and other P2P lending platforms.
If you sign up on PeerBerry and invest you will get a 0.5% bonus on your investments within 90 days from registration. The PeerBerry bonus goes up to 1.5%. Check out the latest news surrounding PeerBerry on P2P Empire.
For now, I am very interested and satisfied about PeerBerry. But what I am mlst curious of, is how the tax is paid. It is said that PeerBerry does not charge tax. What about that? Do I pay tax to Lithuania, or my home country
Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. Yes, you are right. Peerberry doesn’t charge you any tax. This remains the obligation of the investor, based on his tax residency. Meaning wherever you reside (tax residency) you need to pay the tax from capital gains there. The process is simple, download the income statement under https://peerberry.com/en/statement and add it to your annual tax report.
Here is a list of countries with the tax you need to pay from capital gains: https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Croatia/capital-gains-tax
Hello, I’ve recently picked up peerberry and started investing small amounts to try out the platform and verify the very good reviews I’ve read about it. However, I still have a question, do you happen to know if it is possible to completely lose the money on guaranteed loans? Isn’t this too good to be true? Additionally, does the guarantee cover both the principal and interest?
Hi Alesandro, thanks for reaching out. I started exactly as you, investing small amounts and increasing as I gained trust towards the platform. I will try to answer your questions to my best knowledge, you can also reach out to PeerBerry directly (info@peerberry.com), they are usually very responsive.
Is possible to completely lose the money on guaranteed loans? Everything is possible, but it’s highly unlikely. The Buyback Guarantee is something the Loan Originator needs to fulfill as stated in the Assignment Agreement. Even if the Loan Originator would go out of business the company is backed by the holding company (Aventus Group or gofingo), meaning that the holding company will pay back the outstanding amount. If you diversify properly, I don’t think there is a chance that you would completely lose your investment. I haven’t lost a single cent with PeerBerry so far.
Isn’t this too good to be true? I don’t think so. There are huge margins on short-term loans. The Loan Orginator might lend the money for 20%-40% APR, you get a cut of 11-12%.
Does the guarantee cover both the principal and interest? It covers both -> https://nimb.ws/sHCXJM
Hope this helped.
Hey Kuba! First of all it’s great to see people from my country (Slovakia) being financially literate! 🙏🏻 I checked the list of capital return taxes and it seems like I would have to pay the highest tax (34%) as I’m a permanent resident in Finland. I think it’s just ridiculous.
I wanted to ask if it would be possible to start investing now through Mintos and EstateGuru from my Finnish account as I don’t want to keep my savings just lying around, but withdraw the profits (or just keep reinvesting them back) once I’m a resident of another country (I do plan to relocate anyways soon).
Or if you have some other tips what I could do please let me know!
Dakujem za odpoved ! 😊
Hi Monika,
I am not a tax advisor, but even if you invest on EstateGuru or Mintos, you’ll need to pay the same tax rate (if your tax residency will reimain Finland).
A friend of mine (who comes from Finland) uses the Estonian e-residency and invests in P2P through his Estonian company (he does have a valid physical address in Tallin I believe). That’s one workaround to avoid high tax rates. You can also set up your residency in Malta or Cyprus (they have lower tax rates). It all comes down to your preferences but it’s not as easy.
Hope this helps :)
Hello Kuba. Just started with PeerBerry … an hour ago. I now need to transfer money into my account. I had heard before that you must transfer via Sepa/from Europe. But from what I see now, they indicate their bank details with no particular limitation so it is ok to transfer via Transferwise, money from overseas, right ?
Hi, no. You should only send money from your own bank account at Transferwise. If you send it from overseas via Transferwise’s transfer service, it won’t show up on PeerBerry as an incoming transfer from your account. Meaning, you open a bank account at Transferwise and send the money from your “balance”.