P2P Lending Portfolio Update For May 2020

P2P Lending Portfolio Update For May 2020

 

Again very little has changed in the P2P sector since the April update. I’ve discussed the changes and updates from individual lenders below. 

At a high level, I’m still invested at about 50% of my highest number with around £110,000 in GB Pound P2P investments (from a high of £205,000) and I also have about €40,000 in Euro P2P (from a high of $54,000). I’m not ready to start increasing that yet but I’m watching for when the time is right.

Moving On

It’s interesting how some lenders actually seem to be thriving from this COVID19 situation, and some are struggling. And not necessarily the ones you would think in each case. I’ve outlined my experience with each in May below.

NOTE: I have labeled some of the updates as “Same as last month” which obviously means if you read the update last month, nothing has changed.

 

Disclaimers

The information below is comprised of my opinions on current investment market conditions and my personal actions with my investments. It should not in any way be construed as financial advice. Please do your own research before making investment decisions and do not base them solely on what you read on this website. Please read my full disclaimer of more information.

Some of the links on this website are affiliate referral links. For cashback offers, you’ll generally need to use these links to qualify for the cashback. If you use these links I can sometimes receive a commission, at absolutely no cost to you. This helps me to run the website, write new platform reviews and publish monthly portfolio updates. I don’t receive commissions from all lenders, and it has no effect on my ongoing opinions on platforms, which are entirely focused on generating Income from my investments and preserving capital

.

 

Individual Lender Updates 

 

GBP Lenders Small_UK_Flag

 

Ablrate 

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No change, same as last month (below). There were a couple more delayed loans in May but nothing that is too worrying.

Ablrate seem to be overall unaffected by this whole ordeal. I’m sure they have been affected but they are certainly not showing it like some of the others. Monthly payments on the whole seem to be coming in (there are some delays but not much it seems). I decided to sell a couple of loans with higher LTV’s and they sold quite easily so it seems like there is still investment capital coming in to Ablrate.

My Ablrate Strategy.

I’ll be leaving the rest of my capital with them for now as it seems Ablrate are handling things very well. I’ll reinvest payments as they come in.

 

Ablrate Signup & Cashback Offers

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Assetz Capital

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Assetz Capital are still allowing capital withdrawals in a queue system, but it is slooooowwww. Some of my 90 day withdrawals became available, but so far I only got a very small part of it. You can see by clicking on the images below, almost all of the £9k is due, but only about £350 has been paid thus far.

Assetz Capital Withdraw Screenshot May 2020 Assetz Capital Main Account Screenshot May 2020

My Assetz Capital Strategy.

My current Assetz Capital strategy is to draw down to about 50% of my overall investment as I have done with several other platforms.  Basically just reducing my exposure. About 50% of my overall holding is in the 90 Day Access account so that should be the easiest to get capital out of (in theory). In reality I think it will take a while. The rest is in the Great British Business Account and a little in the Property Secured Account however getting out of those now is nigh on impossible as loans have to be sold to other investors in order to exit early, and not many seem to be buying currently. So it will likely be a wait until the end of the loan terms (assuming they all get paid back of course) or the environment gives confidence to other investors to buy the loans.

 

 

CrowdProperty

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CrowdProperty are thriving in the current COVID19 climate. They offer property secured development loans, all with first legal charge and reasonable LTV’s. I continue to feel like the loans they have written are well vetted, and are some of the safer development loans available in the P2P market. In May, CrowdProperty wrote almost as many loans as they used to before the crisis, and their loans are filling up faster than ever! I used to complain that you had to be fast because loans filled up in a few minutes. In May, they were averaging 40 seconds! How are we supposed to get into those?

The good news is that CrowdProperty sent out an email last week saying that they have changed to rules for amounts per investor on initial investments. For the first 5 minutes a loan becomes available, each investor can only invest a maximum of £5000. This should allow more investors the opportunity to get into loans. This seems to have slowed things down a little, but the loans are still filling up inside that 5 minute period suggesting there are a LOT of individual investors trying to get in.

Here’s a screenshot of my account currently (click to enlarge).

CrowdProperty Main Account Screenshot May 2020

My CrowdProperty Strategy.

My capital will be staying with CrowdProperty. I’ll probably add more capital as things progress if the loans continue to be filled quickly and loans continue to be paid back on time. Of course I’ll keep an eye on things and this strategy could change at any time.

 

CrowdProperty Signup & Cashback Offers

No current cashback offers from CrowdProperty.

Use this link to go to CrowdProperty’s website and check for new offers, or to open an account >>> 

 

 

Funding Circle

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Same as last month:

My Funding Circle Strategy.

My Funding Circle strategy for the COVID-19 situation is the same as it has been since July 1st 2019 – trying to sell out and get my capital back. Nothing has changed, they still have no liquidity and all I’m doing is receiving monthly loan repayments (sometimes).  I would not recommend investing new capital with Funding Circle.

Here’s a screenshot of my account with the “mess” that is Funding Circle.

FundingCircle Account Screenshot - May 2020

 

 

Growth Street

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Funds in Growth Street are still locked up as they are still in the midst of the “liquidity event”. They have sent out several emails saying they are working to resolve the situation so lenders can withdraw their capital. They are working with other organizations to try and refinance some of the debt, among other things. Currently they are about two thirds the way through their 90 day “liquidity event” which if not resolved before, will turn in to a “Resolution Event” which will then mean they request that all borrowers repay their loans and could put them in to bankruptcy. Growth Street regularly send out emails updating investors on their situation. They try to be positive, but reading between the lines, I’m not so sure. Time will tell.

My Growth Street Strategy.

Once I get my remaining capital back (about 13k), I will likely have to consider seriously if I ever invest with Growth Street again (assuming they are still around). 

 

 

Kuflink

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Kuflink is another platform that seem to be benefiting from the COVID19 situation. They are still bringing new loans to the platform, and they are still being filled very quickly . This shows that investors still trust Kuflink enough to invest with them. Kuflink are going from strength to strength. It’s nice to see them doing well. They offer a fair return for the risk. 

My Kuflink Strategy.

I initially sold down just a few of the higher LTV loans on the secondary market, just for piece of mind as we don’t know how bad this situation might get.  Much of my capital is still with Kuflink though. I’ll be leaving it there for now and probably also lending into new lower LTV loans as they become available. Of course I’ll keep an eye on things and this strategy could change at any time.

 

Kuflink Signup & Cashback Offers

Kuflink have a great cashback offer right now which is well worth taking advantage of if you are thinking of investing with them. You can get up to £4000 in cashback bonus (depending on how much you invest).

New Kuflink customers receive the following Kuflink cashback on an investment of £1000 or more when they use signup links from obviousinvestor.com. Must invest into loans within 14 days of first investment to qualify for cashback.

   Investment amount Cashback
       £  1,000.00 – £  5,000.00 2.50%
       £  5,000.01 – £25,000.00 3.00%
       £ 25,000.01 – £50,000.00 3.50%
       £ 50,000.01 – £99,999.99 3.75%
       £100,000.00 4.00%*

*Cashback capped at £4,000.

Use this link to signup & qualify for the Kuflink cashback offer >>>

 

 

LendingCrowd

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Same as last month:

I decided to retrieve capital (where possible) from lenders who have unsecured loans to reduce my overall exposure to Peer to Peer lending. Although LendingCrowd do have some secured loans, many just have directors personal guarantees. Historically, trying to recover from just these personal guarantees has been hit and miss. So, I made an early decision to withdraw my capital. I was able to sell about 75% of the loans as I was early to start selling in March. I still have about 2.5k left in there and I’ll just draw that down as payments are made as the secondary market has now frozen up it seems.

My LendingCrowd Strategy.

Everything worked out (almost) as expected with LendingCrowd when I started to sell loans. Although I still have a little money with them, I am still receiving payments monthly (although not as much as it should be as obviously some borrowers are not able to pay).  I’ll have no hesitation about investing with LendingCrowd again once things normalize, but for now, I’m happy to stand on the sidelines with most my capital in the bank. 

 

 

Lending Works

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Same as last month:

I’m lucky as I was able to sell almost all of my Lending Works loans and get out right before the liquidity run came and everyone was trying to withdraw. I still have about £300 stuck in the account but considering that it was 30k at one point, I’m not sweating it.

My Lending Works Strategy.

One thing that irritated me and got a lot of investors upset in March: Lending Works had sneakily slipped in to their T&C’s back in December that people withdrawing loans early are now not only subject to a .5% fee (which I always thought was acceptable), but they are now subject to a shortfall in any loan rates. It really wasn’t clear to most people that they had done this, so when I withdrew my funds, there was another few hundred I had to pay in order to get out. Irritating and reduced the returns on the account, and I will have to really contemplate if I ever want to invest with them again as my trust for this company is weak now. It amazes me that companies like this do underhanded things and expect people will still invest with them.

 

 

Loanpad

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Loanpad are another company that is thriving from the COVID19 situation. Loanpad offer property secured loans, all with very low LTV’s (all below 50%, and many between 5% and 15%). These kinds of LTV’s mean even if UK property values take a huge nosedive because of the recession, even in the event of a default, lenders would probably get their capital back. In the last few weeks of the COVID-19 panic, Loanpad, although a smaller company, have been able to survive and fulfill capital withdrawal requests even from their “Classic” instant access account without having to declare a “Liquidity Event” and suspend capital withdrawals. Even today it is still possible to get capital out without a problem.

At the beginning of May, Loanpad did send out an email saying they are reducing return rates on their accounts by .50%. So they are still paying 3.5% on their classic account, and 4.5% on the Premier account. We really shouldn’t complain about that when we consider RateSetter (one of the largest lenders) still has many investors capital frozen, and on top of they they just reduced rates on their “Access” account to 1.50% and on their “Max” account from 4% to 2%.

In May I did try a test by withdrawing some of my capital (just to test if the liquidity really was there). Sure enough I was able to transfer capital out just as normal so I feel comfortable leaving investments with Loanpad.

My Loanpad Strategy.

Capital will be staying with Loanpad. I’ve really liked the safety aspect of Loanpad since I started investing with them and it looks like, so far at least, I was correct with this one. They are still getting new investors at a high rate so they are one of the lenders who actually seem to be benefiting from this situation.

 

Loanpad Signup & Cashback Offers

Loanpad have a great cashback incentive for readers of ObviousInvestor.com if you’re thinking of joining:

  • £50 bonus if you invest into a lending account a minimum of £1,000 within 4 weeks post registration and keep this invested for 365 days.
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Use this link to signup & qualify for the Loanpad cashback offer >>>

 

 

Mintos 

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Mintos has had several loan originators go into default or liquidation over the past few months. See the image below for the current status. I was able to draw out about 50% of my Euro  investments over time, but Varks Armenia (part of the Finko Group) lost it’s lending license in March, and guess who most of my short term loans were with 🙄 Not the end of the world though as because Varks are part of the Finko group, there is a group guarantee in place on the Mintos platform. This means that Finko will have to honor the Varks loans. Providing Finko stay in business, capital should be returned eventually. I’ve been getting small amounts each day so I’m quite confident that eventually I should get this capital back. 

I sold down many of the Mogo GBP car loans just because they are finished anyway (no new GBP car loans on Mintos now), and I thought better to reduce exposure to Mintos as a whole. I still have about £1,000 in Mogo loans which are paying back slowly.

Mintos Default/Liquidation Loan Originator Status (click to enlarge).

Mintos Default

My Mintos Strategy.

I’ll withdraw capital from Mintos as and when able. I have no problems with Mintos though and as soon as things stabilize, I’ll likely reinvest with them as I still think Mintos is one of the best platforms “under normal market conditions” 🙂

 

 

Octopus Choice 

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Same as last month:

I exited Octopus Choice in March.  Even though they have well asset secured loans, I decided to exit this account anyway for now as 4% is just not worth the risk, and there was no penalty for withdrawal. I was early in making my withdrawal request so was able to get all of my money out (except for a couple of hundred that were in late loans).  My feeling is that it’s better to have the capital in a government protected bank account for now, while things calm down. It’s always easy with Octopus Choice to get back in to the loans when things settle down.

 

RateSetter

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Same as last month:

I decided to exit RateSetter March and I was lucky to get out before the liquidity problems set in (still have about £20 stuck in late loans, but considering the account was once £30k, well, you get the picture).  A couple of days after I made my withdrawal, RateSetter started to have liquidity problems and now there is quite a long wait to get loans sold and capital out. I think I made the right decision.

To top this off, RateSetter in May sent out the following email saying they are reducing interest rates AGAIN for the rest of the year. 2% for the Max account now? and 1.5% for Access? We can get 1.5% in a FSCS backed bank account with instant access!!! Why the heck would we want to invest with RateSetter? Of course, for the folks that have capital stuck there, not a great update. I read on some of the P2P groups there are some unhappy investors who were (until now) still RateSetter fans. 

 

RateSetter Rate Reduction Notice

 

My RateSetter Strategy.

I am just happy I was able to get out of RateSetter. Unlikely I will ever invest with them again after this. I’ll actually be surprised if they are still in business in a year.

 

 

Unbolted

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Unbolted are still humming along and doing very well. Even better than before it seems. I keep getting repayments as agreed and defaulted items are still being sold. As I had thought, Unbolted are one of the companies that are benefiting from the COVID 19 situation.

Unbolted offer pawnshop style loans to the general public with very liquid assets. These types of assets can be sold very quickly upon default. Pawnshops typically do better in economic downturns than they do in times of prosperity as people will borrow against personal assets when they are unable to get an unsecured personal loans. LTV’s are usually very low as defaults can be high, so pawnshops need to make sure they can always recoup capital.  I have been lending with Unbolted for a couple of years now, and although there have been many defaults, assets have always sold at more than the outstanding loan principle and I have always been paid back both principle and interest very quickly. Loans are short to medium term in nature so a complete exit can be had by turning off auto-invest within 3 to 12 months.

My Unbolted Strategy.

I’ll keep investing with Unbolted as normal as I expect them to be one of the most lucrative investments throughout a recession. Still averaging around 8% returns so no complaints here.

 

Unbolted Signup & Cashback Offers

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UOWN

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UOWN are an interesting company and off the usual Peer to Peer lender “track” for me. They are not a Peer to Peer lender but a crowdfunding platform where investors own shares in the properties. Although they haven’t put out any new development loans since the beginning of the COVID 19 situation, payments on rental properties are still being received as normal. I did have an email conversation with Haaris (the CEO) and he said that things seem to be progressing well, they are being cautiously optomistic and hopefully will be itroducing some more development projects in the coming weeks.

My UOWN Strategy

I decided to stay fully invested with UOWN. As we actually own shares in the properties (not loans) there can be no defaults. The risk here is that developments might not be sold at the same value (if property prices crash), or perhaps a renter can’t always be found for rental income properties. Either way, even in the worse case scenario, I think most of my capital should be recoverable. 

 

UOWN Signup & Cashback Offers

No cashback offers currently. 

Use this link to learn more or signup with UOWN so they’ll know I sent you >>>

 

 

 

EURO Lenders Update Small_Euro_Flag

 

Individual Lender Updates 

 

Crowdestor

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Crowdestor actually seem to be doing quite well in spite of the situation (or at least that’s what their communications are saying). I have seen a couple of developer jobs they have posted so they can’t be struggling too much. 

Crowdestor made the decision to pause all repayments from borrowers (and to investors, which upset a few of them as you can imagine) for 90 days to give them breathing space while the COVID-19 is in the initial stages. So there have been very few payments made to investors within these 90 days. I guess we’ll see what happens when the 90 days are up (should be in June I think).

My Crowdestor Strategy

As Crowdestor don’t have any option for early withdrawal (except selling some of the loans at a large 20% discount, which I’m not willing to do), I’ll be riding out the COVID-19 downturn with them until things stabilize. They have been very professional so far so I see no reason I won’t keep investing with them in the future.

 

Crowdestor Signup & Cashback Offers

No cashback offers with Crowdestor this month

Use this link to check for new Crowdestor cashback offers or to open an account >>> 

 

 

Envestio

In January I did a full write up on the Envestio situation (was a scam). If you missed that, you can read it here in the January update

The law suite is progressing aggressively and the group released some interesting information about the owners of Envestio they had uncovered. Very interesting and all seem to have been in some kind of trouble before.  I read they have over €10 million in claims against Envestio from a few thousand investors. I’m obviously skeptical about getting anything out of these investments, although most were asset secured so time will only tell. 

 

 

Grupeer

Grupeer are either doing a very good job of scamming people, or they are trying to put things right. In April I first mentioned that it appeared like Grupeer are some kind of scam. They had not been replying to investors questions and it looked like some of their projects were fake. In May though, we have seen on the Grupeer Blog statements on how they are going to fix this. The lawsuit is still moving forward though with some of the investors (here’s a link to a website specifically about Grupeer and the legal action).

I guess time will tell what happens next. Perhaps they just panicked when the crisis hit, and now they are trying to patch things up, or perhaps it was a scam  

My Grupeer Strategy

I’m not convinced I’ll ever see my investment in Grupeer again, and if I do, I definitely won’t invest with them again after this. 

 

 

Mintos (Euro Account) 

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See Mintos update in the GBP section.

 

 

PeerBerry

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PeerBerry really have turned out to be one of the most reliable Euro lenders so far. They are still communicating and managing their loans, and the situation well. Capital has been easy to withdraw from the platform and most of it arrives in my bank account the next day.

My PeerBerry Strategy

I have drawn down my account about 50%, but I’ve decided to stay invested with what’s left for now and I’ll keep a close eye on loan delays etc. PeerBerry thus far have shown they are one of the better (if not the best) Euro Peer to Peer lenders. As soon as things start to pick up, I’ll have no hesitation at all in increasing my investment again with PeerBerry. 

PeerBerry Signup & Cashback Offers

No cashback offers with PeerBerry this month, however if you would like to take a closer look at their platform, please;

Use this link to go to the PeerBerry website and check for new offers >> so they’ll know I sent you.

 

 

Robocash

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Robocash are communicating well and truth be told it appears to be pretty much “business as normal”. So far capital has been easy to withdraw from the platform and most of it arrives in my bank account the next day.

Robocash put out their financials to investors in May and frankly they don’t look too bad at all. The platform is part of the larger overall Robocash group which gives all of the subsidiaries strength.


My Robocash Strategy

As most of the loans on Robocash are unsecured, I’ve decided to switch off reinvestment for now and withdraw capital as it is paid back. Robocash has both short term and long term loans. I’ve already managed to withdraw capital from a lot of repaid short term loans. The longer term loans are up to 1 year so I’ll just withdraw that capital as it is paid back until I reduce my overall exposure to about 50%.

 

Robocash Signup & Cashback Offers

No cashback offers with Robocash this month

Use this link to check for new Robocash cashback offers or to open an account >>> 

 

 

Swaper

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So far capital has been easy to withdraw from the Swaper platform as it is repaid, and most of it arrives in my bank account the next day. I’m not concerned about Swaper as a company, but short term, unsecured payday & personal loans will be the first to default if this lockdown is sustained and people can’t work. So I’m not sure how much pressure mass defaults would put on Swaper.

My Swaper Strategy

As most of the loans on Swaper are short term, unsecured loans; I’ve decided to switch off reinvestment for now and withdraw capital as it is paid back in order to reduce exposure.  Once I get to about 50% of my original investment, I’ll reassess. 

Swaper Signup & Cashback Offers

No current cashback offers.

Use this link to check for new Swaper cashback offers or to open an account >>> 

 

 

Viventor

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Viventor are communicating and managing their loans well. They’ve done a couple of webinars for investors to explain the situation and how they are handling it which was well accepted. Many loans are delayed of course but so far capital has been easy to withdraw from the platform when it is repaid and it arrives in my bank account the next day.

My Viventor Strategy

Again, most of the loans on Viventor are unsecured, so I’ve decided to switch off reinvestment for now and withdraw capital as it is paid back in order to reduce exposure. 

 

Viventor Signup & Cashback Offers

No current cashback offers.

Use this link to check for new Viventor cashback offers or to open an account >>> 

 

 

 

Summary

Things seem to be easing up a bit now (or at least people are getting used to the new reality). It’s still interesting to me that it’s the smaller platforms are showing they were well prepared for a downturn whereas larger platforms really seem to be struggling. The most positive thing about this whole situation as far as the P2P lending space is concerned is; when we come out the other side of this situation, the lenders that are still in business will be much safer investments having been through this whole ordeal.  

If you do decide to invest in P2P in the current environment, I suggest you stick with lenders with good asset security and low LTV’s like Kuflink, Loanpad, CrowdProperty, UOWN & Unbolted. Or Euro platforms like PeerBerry, Robocash, Swaper & Viventor Do not take my word for it though, do your own research and make your own investment decisions. For some it will be better just to keep all of your capital in a FSCS insured bank accounts for now. 

Good luck with your investments for June!

My best to you and your families. Stay safe and I’ll post an investment update again soon.

 

 

Disclaimers:

This page is presented for informational purposes only. I am not a Financial Adviser and therefore not qualified to give financial advice. Please do your own research and make your own investment decisions. Do not make investment decisions based solely on the information presented on this website.

*   My opinions, reviews, star ratings and risk ratings are based on my personal investing experience with the company being reviewed. These ratings are personal opinions and are subjective. 

**  Some of the links on this website are affiliate referral links. When you click on these links, I can sometimes receive a commission, at absolutely no cost to you. This helps me to continue to offer new reviews & monthly portfolio updates here on my website. I don’t receive commissions from all platforms and it has no effect on my ongoing opinions on investments & investment platforms. Income from my investments and capital preservation are my main motivations.

Platforms reviewed on this website I am currently investing with, or I have invested with in the past. You can see with full transparency on my Portfolio Returns page which assets & platforms I am invested with (or have previously been invested with) at any point in time. I am not paid a fee by any of the companies to write reviews, so the reviews are unbiased and purely based on my own personal experiences.

Please read my full website Disclaimer before making investment decisions.

 

 

 

4 thoughts on “P2P Lending Portfolio Update For May 2020”

  1. I noted from my Lending Crowd email that the second % figure which is the return taking into account defaults, has plunged to 0.8%. It was consistently 4.8 prior.

    Also, you might have noticed Grupeer are resetting the balance figure to March 31st (in next 3 days) which should restore your lost payments out. We’ll see!

    1. I noticed that too from Lending Crowd. I remember they sent out an email a while ago saying they are changing the way they forecast returns, so that may have something to do with it as well as the current environment.

      I actually already got the credit back in to my Grupeer account. Not sure if we will every get the money out of there though.

  2. Hey Mark!
    I’ve started to read your blog recently, and I have to admit that it’s really cool! Keep it up because you are doing a great job.
    Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you can recommend an online wallet for this kind of P2P loan investing? I have been thinking about choosing one but before I do that, I would like to know your opinion. I’m not sure how you do that in the least expensive way.

    Take care of yourself!

    1. Hi Adrian,

      Thanks for the compliments.

      I’m not sure what you mean by “online wallet”? If you mean P2P Platform then I really don’t make recommendations but you can see by my website the platforms I’m still invested in personally. So you could always start there and then do your own due diligence on each platform to see if the risk/reward ratio is right for you. Please don’t invest just based on my site though, do your own research, as what’s right for me, might not be right for you.

      Good luck!

      Mark

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