Income Marketplace Review – What you need to know about the P2P platform

Registration for investors

Registering on the P2P platform is not particularly complicated. In addition to your name and e-mail address, your physical address is also required. A further identity check will take place later on.

Incidentally, a very convenient feature of Income is that you can log in with your Apple, Google or Facebook account in addition to the classic email/password combination.

Registering on Income is quick and easy

By the way, always pay attention to bonus promotions of the platforms to get advantages. You can find a constantly updated list of all bonuses in my P2P platform comparison.

How do I deposit money?

Depositing money is, as always, the easiest step when investing money. In your account, you will see a small wallet next to your name. If you hover over it, you will see the “Deposit funds” option. If you click on this, you will be shown the transfer details that you can use after selecting the desired currency (currently only available in EUR) and the transfer type.

Please note that the first transfer must come from a personal bank account. This will also be verified for subsequent payouts.

Income’s account in Estonia.

How do I withdraw money?

If you want to withdraw capital or excess interest from the P2P platform, follow the same procedure as for depositing, but click on “Withdraw funds”.

You will not be charged a fee for withdrawing the funds. The funds can only be withdrawn to the bank account from which the deposit was made. If you wish to register a new account for the withdrawal, you must make a new deposit from a new personal account.

Geld auszahlen auf Income ist einfach und kostenlos.

How long does the deposit take?

From my previous Income experience, it takes around 1 – 2 days to make a deposit to the platform’s account. However, if you use services such as Revolut*, the transfer is often faster, but without guarantee.

Can I make deposits and withdrawals by credit card?

At the moment you cannot use credit cards for deposits and withdrawals. These must be made with a bank account. Depositing via a bank account is also used for identification purposes.

How does Income Marketplace work?

After registering on Income, you generally have 2 options for investing your money.

1. You can configure your own Auto Invest.
2. Or you can invest completely manually on the marketplace.

I would always recommend the first option, as I am an advocate of passive income. Manual investing takes time and will only improve your results in exceptional cases. We’ll take a look at auto invest later on.

Investing with the Income Auto Invest

As mentioned at the beginning, Income also offers an Auto Invest. This allows you to make detailed configurations as to what you want to invest in later. The most important things from my point of view are

• Remaining term = loan term
• Loan type = Type of loan
• Loan Originator = The company behind the loan
• Include already invested loans = Also invest in loans that have already been serviced by another strategy.
• Maximum portfolio size = The size of your portfolio
• Reinvest = Reinvest returns
• Investment in one loan = Maximum investment in a single loan

Example configuration from my own portfolio.

In which countries can you invest?

Income is still a very young marketplace and so there are not yet many loan originators. A total of 5 lenders from 4 different countries are currently active. These currently include:

• Indonesia
• Estonia
• Latvia
• and Bulgaria

As the platform continues to grow, more loan originators will be added. You can always view the current list directly at Income. Please note that this list shows all loan originators, but not all are active!

Which loans can you invest in on Income Marketplace?

Investors in P2P loans currently generate most of their returns from short-term loans and traditional installment loans.

How high is the return on Income Marketplace?

The return you can earn on Income is individual for each investor, depending on the settings you choose. You can always see the current average yield updated at the top of the platform factsheet or directly on the statistics page at Income. It is currently between 13 and 14 percent.

In August 2022, the cap on the yield was raised from 12 to 15%, which is why there was a nice increase. Lenders can therefore offer higher-interest loans, which could give the yield a further boost in the long term.

Will I also receive interest on late loans?

Yes, if a loan is delayed or defaulted on, you will also be credited interest for the delays. Regardless of the status of the loan, interest is calculated on a daily basis.

What is the minimum investment amount on Income?

You have to spend EUR 10 per loan to be able to invest.

Does Income offer a buyback guarantee?

Yes, all loan originators offer a buyback guarantee. However, unlike most marketplaces and classic P2P platforms, this is not a hollow promise. Because to really secure the buyback guarantee, Income uses 2 revolutionary techniques in this area. The “cash flow buffer” and the “junior share”. In the end, these make it possible to provide an actual buyback guarantee that is worthy of its name and to minimize risks on the loan originator side. There were various risks in the past:

• Regulatory risk (e.g. license revocation, which occurred with Varks, Mintos, 2020)
• Disruptions in operations (e.g. account blocking, occurred at Cash Wagon, Mintos, 2020)
• Crash (e.g. corona crisis, occurred in 2020)
• Problems with refinancing and liquidity (occurred with many lenders in the context of the coronavirus crisis)

Income also offers the so-called “early buyback”, which makes it easier for loan originators to make long-term loans more attractive. Let’s take a closer look at the techniques.

What is “early buyback”?

The early buyback feature allows loan originators to repay the loan early, allowing investors to recover their invested capital and accrued interest earlier than with a regular loan term. This option increases flexibility for both parties and allows investors to make their portfolio more dynamic by being able to access their capital earlier.

An example: A loan from the loan originator ITF has a term of 3 years. With the early buyback, ITF reduces this term to 1 year, buys it back and puts it back on the market with a term of 2 years. For the loan originator it is the same loan 3 times, but for the investor it is 3 shorter-term loans.

The repurchase date is always visible in the loan and there is also a filter for these loans in particular.

An example loan with the “Early Buyback” function.

Can you invest money in other currencies?

No, on Income you invest exclusively in euros.

Is there a tax statement on Income?

Yes, on Income you can create a tax statement with all the important figures yourself. To do this, go to “Account statement” in your profile, filter the desired data and have a PDF created.

The tax statement is quickly created on Income.

Income risk

From my previous Income Marketplace experience & research, the Estonian P2P marketplace is certainly one of the most exciting opportunities we currently have on the market. The cash flow buffer and junior share are designed to protect the investor side in a way that no platform has done before.

But of course there are also operational risks with the Income marketplace itself. And it is also questionable whether the security techniques really work.

How does Income earn money?

Unlike many traditional P2P platforms, Income does not earn from the spread between the loans shown to the investor and the actual interest rates for the borrower. Income is a marketplace, which means that the lenders pay a corresponding fee to Income in the background for placing the loans (approx. 2.5% of the outstanding balance per month).

In addition, there are costs for the initial setup on the marketplace + basic fees for the security structure. Apart from this fee model, which is the main source of income, there is currently no other source of income as far as I know.

Is Income profitable?

As a recently launched P2P platform, it is not yet operating profitably. However, as soon as the first audited annual report has been published, you will find it here. At the moment, the decision has been made not to have this prepared. However, as Income is an Estonian company, you can access this data publicly from the Estonian company register.

In order to be able to operate at all, Income is working with the money from several crowdfunding rounds (several million euros). The aim is to achieve profitability.

Excerpt from the unaudited annual report for 2023..

What happens if Income becomes insolvent?

In the event that the P2P platform gets into financial difficulties or has to file for insolvency, the company will be wound up as planned by a third party (the insolvency administrator). Existing loans from loan originators will continue to run. The insolvency administrator will take care of the transfer of all investments and loan servicing.

How reputable is Income?

Income is still a young marketplace. I have already spoken to CEO Kimmo very often and from what I see and hear, I consider the platform to be absolutely reputable.

How secure is Income?

Like all P2P platforms, Income is as secure as your diversification. This will also be the key to your success on the platform if more lenders come onto the platform (as is the case with Mintos). However, there is a much higher certainty that you will get your money back, even if you bet on the wrong lender.

In addition, as with any P2P platform, there is of course the risk of the platform itself becoming insolvent. Income Marketplace lenders and their business figures are listed in our Premium Rating. This should make your research a little easier.

Is there deposit protection on Income?

No, definitely not. Income is not a bank and is therefore not covered by any European deposit protection scheme. All funds that you invest on the platform are exposed to a high risk of default.

Advantages and disadvantages of Income

Before we come to a final conclusion about the P2P platform, here is a summary of my pros and cons based on my Income Marketplace review.

Disadvantages ➖

• Income is still a young marketplace.
• Only a few loan originators compared to Mintos.
• Not yet profitable.
• No audited annual report has been published yet.
• As a marketplace with different countries, it is often more affected by economic downturns than traditional P2P platforms.
• Not yet regulated.

Advantages ➕

• New security system for loan originators that does not yet exist anywhere else.
• Diversification across several countries possible.
• Comparatively high returns.
• Passive income virtually from day one.
• If something goes wrong with a loan originator, Income represents the interests of investors.
• All loan originators offer a buy-back guarantee.
• Income is a very transparent platform right from the start.

Conclusion of my Income review

Income was initially an exciting new contender in the “P2P sky”, but also struggled to grow like most other platforms. The Cashflow Buffer and Junior Share in particular still have to prove themselves. Unfortunately, the problem cases that Income has had in the past could not be used for this.

However, I hope that many investors will support the marketplace because of this security concept alone, so that Income has time to grow.

P2P platforms simply need to understand that the buyback guarantee is only worth something if it is structured as such. Otherwise, it is at best a promise, which does not necessarily have to be kept.

With the Cash Flow Buffer & Junior Share, Income puts investors in a contractually privileged position, which should have a clearly positive impact in the event of lender insolvency.

As I myself would also like to support this concept as a signal to other platforms, I started an investment with Income myself at the time. In the meantime, this has become a five-figure investment.

Is there a Income forum where you can exchange ideas?

There are various places where you can exchange ideas with other investors and gain Income  experience. The first address for this is the international Income Marketplace Telegram Community.

Is there a bonus or refer a friend program to start on Income?

You can refer friends to Income or have them refer you. Both partners benefit from a 1% cashback of the new investor’s invested funds after 40 days, but they both get at least 10 EUR, no matter what is invested (at least 1 EUR).

I would of course be very grateful if you would use my link to appreciate the information you have found here. Alternatively, you can also use the registration code “HKJWPH”. This will only give you advantages, not disadvantages!

1% cashback after 30 days (at least EUR 10 guaranteed!)*