NEO Finance review 2023
Is NEO Finance a great platform for P2P lending? Find out in our NEO Finance review below:
NEO Finance
Pros:
Cons:
Review summary:
NEO Finance is one of the best P2P lending platforms in Europe for investing in consumer loans. Compared to most of its competitors, NEO Finance’s transparency around its business is much better. The platform only has one major con, which is the fact that you can’t use the platform to invest in loans from Paskolų Klubas. We are surprised by the fact that so few use NEO Finance at this point in time, as we believe it is one of the absolute best platforms on the market.
It’s free to use the platform.
At P2PPlatforms.com, we strive to list only the absolute best companies in the P2P industry. Where appropriate, we also feature our partners. This doesn’t influence our evaluations. All opinions are our own.
Introduction to our NEO Finance review
Are you considering investing via NEO Finance? Then read on. We’ve written this NEOFinance.com review to help investors determine if NEO Finance is the right choice for them.
Below you will find an overview of the things that we will discuss more in detail in this NEO Finance review. Simply click on the links to jump directly to the thing you want to know more about.
Learn about this in our NEO Finance review:
- What is NEO Finance?
- Key features
- Who can use NEO Finance?
- How safe is NEO Finance?
- Our experience with NEO Finance
- NEO Finance reviews on Trustpilot
- Best NEO Finance alternatives
- Conclusion of our NEO Finance review
What is NEO Finance?
NEO Finance is the largest peer-to-peer lending platform in Lithuania. The platform is a middleman for consumer loans that connects lenders directly with borrowers. This makes it possible for lenders to earn larger returns and borrowers to get a lower interest rate.
NEO Finance is regulated by the Bank of Lithuania and has permission to operate in the P2P and consumer credit markets.
The NEO Finance team is made up of experienced banking professionals with extensive experience in consumer lending, bank management, and risk management. NEO Finance also provides Buyback and Provision fund services, reducing risk for lenders.
Since the platform was launched in 2015, NEO Finance has seen increasing growth on the platform – both in loans granted and in the number of investors.
Today, there are just over 14,000 investors on NEO Finance’s platform, who are benefiting from an annual return of around 12%. And on a daily basis, more new investors register on the platform, which accelerates NEO Finance’s growth further.
NEO Finance AB, which owns the P2P platform itself, NEO Pay, and Paskolų klubas, held a successful IPO from May 15 to June 4, 2019. It sold 192.907 shares and raised €605.728. The NEO Finance stock was first listed on Nasdaq Baltic First North and is available for public investment (see the latest share price and more).
With the minimum investment of €20, you can make an account and get started at https://neofinance.com/.
NEO Finance statistics:
| Founded: | 2015 |
| Loan Type: | Consumer |
| Loan Period: | 1 – 120 Months |
| Loans Funded: | € 100.000.000 + |
| NEO Finance Users: | 14.000 + |
| Minimum Investment: | € 20 |
| Maximum Investment: | € 500 |
| NEO Finance Interest Rate: | 12.00% |
How NEO Finance works:
The great growth that NEO Finance is experiencing is due to several things. One of those things is probably to be found in how the platform work.
Because contrary to what you see on platforms like Mintos, PeerBerry, and FAST INVEST, NEO Finance is not a P2P marketplace but a loan originator itself. This means that the loans you find with NEO Finance are some that they have issued to consumers directly.
A major advantage of NEO Finance itself acting as a loan originator is that there are fewer intermediaries who want to have a slice of the cake. Therefore, theoretically, you should also get a higher return on a platform like NEO Finance than on platforms that simply act as middlemen.
Another advantage of NEO Finance being the loan originator is that they have the opportunity to give you more information about the borrowers. It actually allows you to become very specific with whom you want to borrow money on the platform.
Frequently asked questions:
Key features
We have already taken a look at some of the reasons why NEO Finance has become a popular choice among investors. In the following, we take a closer look at some of the key features that make it easy to invest via the platform:
1. NEO Finance buyback guarantee
The buyback guarantee at NEO Finance works a little differently from what you can find on other platforms where 100% of the investment is guaranteed.
On NEO Finance you will only get a 100% buyback on loans rated A+.
For loans rated A-C, NEO Finance will offer to partially repurchase the loan when it enters default.
The final repurchase price depends on the rating and the offer expiration date.
If you don’t accept the buyback offer, the debt will be transferred to a debt collecting company or bailiff.
It can take up to 2 years for the loans to be recovered. But it is not certain that the loans will be recovered.
2. NEO Finance auto-invest
NEO Finance has one of the most comprehensive and detailed auto-invest features among P2P lending platforms. Yet, it is simple and easy to use.
To use the auto-invest tool, simply follow this process:
- Make sure you have signed up
- Log in to your account
- Click “Create Auto Investment”
From here you can set the criteria to match your investment needs:
As you can see, NEO Finance auto-invest is very simple to set up. If you choose to press “additional criteria”, you will, however, have a world of several options that you can choose to use or not.
Adding additional criteria is not necessary for most people, but for the more sophisticated investor, it opens up even more opportunities.
3. NEO Finance secondary market
At the NEO Finance secondary market, you can sell your investments ahead of time. You can do this with a discount or a premium, which opens up the possibility of extra profit.
You can also make use of the secondary market to buy discounted loans and thereby increase your overall return.
If you are not satisfied with your investments in NEO Finance, then you can at any time get rid of the loans you have invested in. So in the case that you find better investment opportunities elsewhere, you can move your money there in no time.
Who can use NEO Finance?
Both individuals and organizations can invest via NEO Finance.
Individuals
If you want to invest as an individual, you must at least meet the following requirements:
- Being at least 18 years old (or have your parents invest on your behalf)
- Having a valid passport or ID card
If you live up to these requirements, then you can start investing via the platform.
Organizations
If you would like to invest in NEO Finance via an organization then this is also possible. During the sign-up process, you simply choose to create an account as a legal entity.
Available countries
At this time, investing in NEO Finance is only possible if you are a citizen of the European Union.
If you don’t live in the EU you can look into some of these alternatives.
How safe is NEO Finance?
To determine if NEO Finance is safe, we have taken a look at some of the potential upsides and downsides of investing with NEO Finance.
1. NEO Finance profitability
NEO Finance has experienced tremendous growth in loans granted over the last few years. This has led to NEO Finance being a profitable business.
According to the latest annual report for the year 2021, NEO Finance AB ended up with a profit before tax of €179,054.
You can see all the financial reports on NEO Finance here.
2. Main risks
In the following, we go through some of the main risks of using NEO Finance that we have considered:
Loan default risk
When you invest in P2P loans, there is a risk that the borrower will not be able to repay the loan.
But even if the loan defaults, investors can hold on to their investments and expect a successful recovery of the loan.
The company has 8+ years of experience in delinquent loan recovery, which ensures the speed and quality of the service. Around 65% of debts have been collected within two years.
If you want to be as safe as possible, you should only invest in loans rated A+, as they are covered by a 100% buyback guarantee.
NEO Finance bankruptcy risk
Of course, there is also a risk of NEO Finance going bankrupt. Like many other P2P investing platforms, NEO Finance has also made measures against such an event:
If NEO Finance faces financial challenges, then the funds cannot be frozen by third parties such as creditors or bailiffs. This is due to the fact that both borrowers and investors at NEO Finance are assigned a personal IBAN account.
So every time there is a transaction on the platform, it actually happens via your personal account. In this way, NEO Finance separates its activities from both the borrowers and investors on the platform.
Financial turndown risk
As P2P investing is a newer thing in the investment world, it can be difficult to predict how a financial turndown would affect this form of investment. As a starting point, it is, therefore, a really bad idea to invest your entire investment portfolio in P2P investments.
Therefore, many investors also choose to diversify into more traditional forms of investment such as equities, bonds, and traditional real estate.
Since investing is an individual thing, we obviously do not know what will be best for you. But if you put together your investment portfolio, make sure that it reflects your knowledge of the investments in it, as well as your own risk appetite. If in doubt about how to do so, make sure to seek help from a professional investment planner.
Is NEO Finance safe?
Since NEO Finance is a profitable company and is currently experiencing great growth, we do not consider NEO Finance to be a major risk in itself.
Should NEO Finance experience financial difficulties in the future, measures have been taken to protect you as an investor.
If you are considering investing via NEO Finance, you should be aware that it is rather uncertain how a financial turndown will affect the P2P lending industry. This is also a risk factor that is worth considering.
Our experience with NEO Finance
After playing around on the NEO Finance platform for quite a while, we have to admit that we are actually quite fond of it.
Especially the auto-invest feature appeals to us because of the fact that it enables us to make very precise settings.
The sign-up process itself was also easily done, which meant that we quickly got to the point where we could start investing via the platform.
NEO Finance reviews on Trustpilot
Trustpilot is a great place to learn what other people think of NEO Finance. We have collected some good, some average, and some bad NEO Finance reviews from Trustpilot for you to take a closer look at:
Best NEO Finance alternatives
Not sure NEO Finance is the right choice for you? Then there are also some good NEO Finance alternatives to consider. The following are some of our favorites:
- Mintos (available in more countries)
- PeerBerry (highly rated platform)
- Debitum (P2B lending platform)
- EstateGuru (real estate lending platform)
Even if you use NEO Finance, it might actually be a good idea to take a closer look at some of the above platforms.
By using multiple crowdlending platforms, you can reduce your platform risk and diversify your portfolio further.
Conclusion of our NEO Finance review
NEO Finance stands out from a lot of P2P platforms by being a loan originator itself.
This leads to a number of positive things, such as fewer middlemen wanting a piece of the cake – which in theory gives you a higher return.
At the same time, you can also get more control over the platform as to whom you are lending.
Among the negative things about NEO Finance being a loan originator itself is that you only get access to loans from Neo Finance. This makes it more difficult to achieve proper loan diversification compared to multi-lender platforms.
With that said, NEO Finance is one of the most transparent P2P lending platforms in the industry.
NEO Finance is considered a safe place to invest as the company behind the platform has years of experience. NEO Finance is also profitable.
If you look from the investor’s point of view, you get a high return on NEO Finance – even if you see it in relation to the risk you run. It’s probably also why a lot of investors on forums, Facebook, and other social media seem to like the platform.
In our opinion, the risk/reward level on NEO Finance is appealing.