Robocash Review 2022 - Invest In Short-term Consumer Loans With Up To 12% Yearly Returns
Contents
What Is Robocash And What Are The Returns?
The Robocash Group originated in Russia in 2013, but Robocash as a P2P platform started operations in 2017 with its headquarters in Croatia. It is similar to VIAINVEST in the sense that Robocash is both the loan orginator as well as operating its own marketplace. It offers borrowers micro consumer loans in Europe as well as Asia, both off- and online. For investors, the main products to invest in are short-term and installment loans with a buyback guarantee, and a fully automated process. Annual rates range from 11 to 12 percent. You can invest as a private individual or as a company.
Is Robocash Safe?
As an universal rule: with investing comes risk. Be aware that past performance is no guarantee for future results. Having said that, Robocash is a safe and stable P2P platform to invest in backed by the Robocash Group. For the year 2019 the Group is profitable as a whole, with 19 million EUR profit on a 308 million EUR turnover, which is a neat result. The Group employs over 1000 people and has issued over EUR 600 million in loans as of 2013. Summarized, these are very solid results when one wants to consider investing in a P2P lending platform.
COVID-19 And Robocash: Measures Taken
COVID-19 is affecting the economy significantly, and Robocash no exemption. Typically, investors will pull back (parts of) their funds in these uncertain times whereas borrowers ultimately need money in order to meet ends. Interest rates have risen accordingly, from 12 to 14% on the Robocash platform. This also raises the question what Robocash will do in order to ensure the interests of its investors.
Generally speaking, the financial situation of the Robocash Group is very strong. The debt-to-equity ratio is 30%, and the net profit of the Group in the first two months of 2020 amounted 4.9 millon USD, where the net profit of 2019 equaled 17 million USD. On the other hand, Robocash is aiming to cut costs by 30% to get more liquiduty on a daily basis. When it comes to borrowers not being able to pay in time, depending on their situation can offer payment extensions and debt restructuring. On the other hand Robocash has tightened the scoring of lenders in order to reduce risk even more.
Concluding, Robocash has a strong financial track record, is cutting costs even more and is more strict on lenders to reduce risks. In our view, these are sound measures and are reassuring for investors.
Getting Started
Getting signed up at Robocash is rather easily done by taking the following steps:
- Go to www.robo.cash and click on the orange “Start Investing” button;
- Fill out the first form as shown below;
- Continue to the second form and fill out this form as well;
- You have to get your email and identity verified before you can start investing.
Registering at Robocash:
Investment Opportunities With Robocash
The main difference between Robocash and other P2P lending platforms is that the actual investing itself is a fully automated process. So unfortunately, the fun of picking loans yourself it not an option here. On the other hand, if you are an investor with little time this is an excellent platform without any hassle.
The available investment opportunities on the marketplace mainly consist of microloans. For example, a borrower applies for a loan with one of the subsidiaries of the Robocash Group. This can either be a microloan which is issued for a period from 7 to 30 days ranging from EUR 14 to EUR 420, or an installment loan which is issued for a period from 1 to 12 months, varying from EUR 353 to EUR 14 120. The loans are placed on the Robocash platform, where investors can buy them. You can invest in loans from Russia, Singapore, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Spain.
Take note of the repayment terms for both types of loans as they differ significantly. Determine whether you want to invest for a short or slightly longer amount of time where the borrower sometimes has a significant longer time span to repay the loan.
- Spain: the repayment period may take up to 30 days;
- Kazakhstan: up to 45 days;
- Singapore: between 90-365 days;
- Vietnam: 180 days;
- Russia: 180 days.
When you set up your auto invest portfolio and decide upon your best investment strategy, you can actually see when the loan has to be paid back. See also the graph below.
Buyback guarantee
You’d rather avoid a situation in which a borrower is not capable of paying back the loan in full, but what happens if they don’t?
Robocash has a buyback guarantee. It is a safety net which guarantees that Robocash will repurchase the loan if delayed for more than 30 days after its original due date, at the nominal value of outstanding principal plus accrued interest income and late payment fees. All loans on the Robocash P2P platform come with such a guarantee.
Additionally, the Robocash Group ultimately ensures the obligations of the buyback guarantee are fulfilled. For instance, if Robocash Vietnam for some reason cannot pay back the full amount of the loan, the Robocash Group as a parent company will ultimately do that. The only question that remains to be answered is whether the Robocash Group can actually uphold and honour the buyback guarantee.
Essentially, the buyback guarantee is as strong as the company is – otherwise it could not provide the buyback for the investor. Based on the latest financial figures, the Group has been very profitable over the last few years, has a strong balance and good net profit margins. Consequently, the Robocash Group is very well capable of upholding the buyback guarantee.
Next up is the process of setting up the auto investment feature.
Setting Up The Auto Invest Tool
Setting your auto investment portfolio is rather easy. When you create a new portfolio, Robocash automatically sets the portfolio on “maximize profit”. This means that Robocash has set the framework for you, in order to get most out of your investments. The only thing to do is to deposit money and you’re good to go.
If you want to set the auto investment portfolio yourself and change one of the settings, the “maximize profit” automatically switches off. Also, by changing the parameters, you can see how many loans are available based on the framework just set (12,808 in the example below).
- A few things you should know, as you can choose from a few options what to do with your money once your loan has matured:
The first option: If you want to reinvest the full amount, all funds will be reinvested, either funds you added, the returned loans and accumulated interest. In other words: all your funds will continously be invested and reinvested. - Secondly, there is also the possibilty just to reinvest principal amount. The principal amount is reinvested, the accrued interest will be placed on your balance.
- Thirdly, money that is not invested appears on the balance.
Lastly, if you have reached EUR 50 on your balance, and you want to withdraw your funds, opt for pay out. Your funds will be transferred to your bank account automatically.
Whether you let Robocash set your portfolio or you do it yourself, using this platform is very easy. Although all loans are guaranteed by a buyback, we prefer the short terms loans as you as an investor can opt out early. This is all the more important as there is no secondary market available yet.
Setting of an auto invest portfolio of Robocash:
Use Of The Platform
Who can use Robocash?
You can only use Robocash if you are a citizen within the European Union, a resident of Switzerland or if you own a company within the EU or Switzerland. If you’re doubting whether you qualify, you can check the list of countries here.
There are some additional requirements though:
- You should be at least 18 years old;
- You need a bank account in one of the EU countries;
- Your identity needs to be verified due to anti-money laundering regulations.
Once you fulfill all the conditions above, you can start investing with Robocash, all you need to do is depositing money.
Depositing money
If you qualify, all you need to do is to transfer money from you personal IBAN bank account so that you can be identified. Adding funds can only be done by transferring money to the bank account of Robocash which will usually take up to two working days.
At this moment, no other depositing options are availabe like Transferwise or Trustly (which would speed up the process). Still, when we transferred money to our account this went rather fast and we got notified by email as well. When opening an account the only currency you can use is the euro, which is also is the currency you use when investing.
The minimum investment per loan is 10 EUR, the maximum amount you can invest on the platform is 180.000 EUR a year, with a maximum of EUR 15.000 a month. For companies the limit is EUR 10.000 a year. If you do reach the threshold, you can continue investing and also reinvest the (compound) interest above 10.000 or 180.000 EUR. The only limitation is that there is no possibility of additional deposits.
Withdrawing money
You can withdraw your funds once your identity has been verified and you’ve deposited money whereas your bank account has been verified as well (when you deposit money, your bank account is verified automatically). Withdrawing money is free of charge, but the minimum is EUR 50, and it can only be done automatically once you’ve set the parameters of your auto investment portfolio right.
While we understand that there are costs involved when it comes to transferring money, especially internationally, we do feel that EUR 50 is a little bit high. No minimum would be better and would enhance the user friendliness of the platform (note that other peer-to-peer platforms like VIAINVEST or Lendermarket do not have a minimum for withdrawing money). Withdrawing funds is only possible in euro, not in other currencies.
Fees
There are some peer-to-peer lending platforms that make you pay to, for instance, withdraw your funds or that charge fees when using the platform. This is not the case with Robocash. Using its services is completely free of charge, which is definitely a big plus.
Taxes
Robocash is not deducting any taxes on its platform. However, as an investor you are subject to tax in accordance with the legislation of your country of residence.
Other P2P Platforms Similar To Robocash
Obviously, Robocash isn’t the only peer-to-peer platform available. Every platform will have its strong points, and it could be useful to invest with more than one in order to diversify your investments.
A few options which we thoroughly reviewed and that you might want consider are:
- VIAINVEST; with a fixed annual rate of 11%;
- Lendermarket; with a fixed rate of 14% on a yearly basis;
- Mintos; with a rate of around 12% annualy;
- PeerBerry averaging 11,5% yearly.
If you click on the link above, you get to the platform right away, or you can read the full reviews of these P2P platforms here.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, Robocash has no referral or sign up bonus. You can open an account using this link.
The majority share holder of the Robocash Group is founder and CEO Sergey Sedov.
Robocash won’t reveal any personal data of the borrowers to make sure that they comply with data protection laws.
Robocash has a secondary market, but only for long-term loans issued by RC Riga Singapore. An additional requirement is that an investor has invested in such a loan for at least six months. After this period, the loan can be sold on the secondary market.
Overall Conclusion On Robocash
Robocash is a solid peer-to-peer platform and the Robocash Group has a decent track record over the last couple of years. Therefore, we rate Robocash 3.9/5 as they are stable although there is some room for improvement:
- The amount and type of loans available varies, which means you might have uninvested funds from time to time;
- There is a maximum amount of EUR 180.000 to invest for natural persons per year, but companies are limited to EUR 10.000 a year;
- Robocash offers loans from regions in Asia other competitors don’t offer, making Robocash an interesting P2P platform to consider for diversification reasons;
- The buyback guarantee ensures you get your investment back – covered by the financially powerful Robocash Group;
- There is no secondary market available yet, so you should take into consideration how long you want to invest with Robocash and when you want to get your money back when choosing to invest in particular loans;
- Returns are competitive and give you a stable cashflow once you’ve started to invest;
Robocash has the advantage of being a fully automated P2P investment platform and once you have set the parameters of the auto invest tool right and deposited your money, Robocash will do the rest and you can reap the benefits.
If you want to start investing with Robocash, you can sign up using the link below.
Summary & Overall Rating
We summarized the main characteristics of Robocash here:
Pros
- Solid performance and track record
- Fully automatic investment tool
- Buyback guarantee on all consumer loans
- Collateral on all business loans
- Backed by parent company, the Robocash Group
Cons
- Layout website is dated
- Limited amount of loans available