How Returns, Interest & Risk Work at Lendahand
Investing at Lendahand is done to achieve a combination of social and financial returns. Read more about how your financial return is generated, how the interest rates of our projects are structured, and what risks are involved.
Returns
At Lendahand, you can invest in (micro-)entrepreneurs in emerging markets. These entrepreneurs repay your investment and pay interest on the loan provided. Thus, the financial return on your investments is a simple calculation: repayments plus interest minus any write-offs.
The average interest rate on our current projects is 6.28%. The historical write-off percentage of projects with a credit score of A or B is 0.37%. That brings the expected net return to more than 5%. On top of that comes the social return on your investment.
Curious about the interest rates available today? Check out the crowdfunding projects here.
Interest
Most loans you provide with your investments have a maturity of 24 months. Typically, you will receive a repayment of part of the loan every 6 months. An interest payment occurs at the time of each repayment.
Interest rates vary by project and currently range from 5% to 8% on an annual basis. The differences in interest rates result from several variables. The most important variables are international and regional interest rates, risk, maturity, currency fluctuations, and the popularity of the borrower/competition with other lenders and negotiations with the borrower.
Do you see the variation in interest rates between different crowdfunding projects?
The interest the borrower pays for the loan is higher than what you, as an investor, receive. For a direct loan, the borrower's interest rate equals the interest rate you receive plus the interest Lendahand charges as a fee. On average, this fee is 3% annually and allows Lendahand to pay its expenses.
For a loan to a local (micro)financial institution, the interest rate paid by the borrower is equal to the interest rate you receive plus the Lendahand fee plus the costs charged by the financial institution. The financial institution charges a mark-up to cover costs (such as currency conversions and operating expenses) to absorb write-downs in their portfolio and have a reasonable profit margin. Lendahand only collaborates with financial institutions that make a positive social contribution and, therefore, charge justifiable costs to make only modest profit margins. We consider working with profitable financial institutions important, as this increases the likelihood of repaying your investment.
Risk
Investing involves risks, also at Lendahand. It is possible that a borrower cannot repay their loan (in time). In that case, you will get the loan repaid later or lose some or all of your investment.
The risk of investing with Lendahand is best explained by looking at past figures (2013 to 2024). Note: Past figures are no guarantee for the future. When compiling these figures, we only look at investments with a credit score of A or B. These are the only investments Lendahand currently offers.
- 97.4% of the investments are repaid on time. We consider a payment 'on time' if it is received no later than 30 days after the due date.
- 0.37% of the investments are written off. This means that the loan will not be repaid.
With the projects on our website, we always seek a healthy balance between social and financial returns. We want your investment to make an impact and to be repaid. That is why all projects you currently invest in have at least a credit score of A or B.
Have a look at the credit scores of available crowdfunding projects in which you invest from €10.