🏦 Iban Wallet Review 2021 – An Alternative Investment Platform

Item: Iban wallet
Rating: 4
Author: Jean Galea

Last updated: February 15, 202129 Comments

Contents

Are your bank’s savings accounts returning close to zero returns? Are you concerned about your money sitting idle at the bank while other people put their money to better use? Let me then introduce you to Iban wallet, a new kind of online investment platform where you can earn between a projected 2.5% and 6% yearly on the money deposited.

❔ What is Iban Wallet?

Iban Wallet is a European fintech company that provides an online investment platform that allows users to invest in several products with different interest rates and terms by offering a hassle-free, passive management experience. Iban’s projected returns range from 2.5% to 6%.

Iban is a global online marketplace for investment. They provide investors with a transparent way to get a return on their funds. Their mission is to facilitate the free and efficient movement of capital. With Iban, investors can invest in different types of asset-backed investment products with different terms and returns.

Iban acts as an intermediary to the lending process, providing the tools and security for all involved. Borrowers can easily apply for a loan, supported by their credit information and collateral. Loan originators working with Iban will select only the best applicants and present these loans to Iban. Instead of allowing you to invest in a specific loan, they do the hard work for you and aggregate many loans together – you have access to a much simpler approach: an iban account.

👥 How do users become investors with Iban wallet?

This platform boasts a sleek design and seamless experience across all devices (web, android, and iOS). Iban wallet has country-specific websites with an experience tailored to the user’s nationality and account currency. Customer support is offered in more than 3 languages and they are aiming to expand to even more.

Creating an account in less than 5 minutes:
Requirements: to be at least 18 years old and be a resident in one of the countries in which Iban offers its services.
Adding funds to your account:
The minimum investment amount is as little as 1€/$ !
To fund the account the investor can either use debit/credit card (only needs to insert card details) or choose a SEPA transfer.
Iban currently offers accounts in EUR, USD, and MXN.
Platform experience:
The investor can select one of the four products available. These accounts have different expected projected interest rates (up to 6% AER), minimum investment amounts and terms.

As is customary with online investment platforms, movements from and to an Iban Account can only occur if the Iban Account and the bank account share the same holder name.

This means, for example, that the user cannot receive or transfer from another person directly in an Iban Account. They would have to receive that amount to their own bank account, and then invest it themselves with Iban Wallet.

Click here if you want to go ahead and sign up. By using the code JGALEA you will get 1.5% extra projected interest with an Iban Account.

How is Iban Wallet Different Than Others?

On the surface, the model seems quite similar to P2P lending.

Lenders provide funds, the platform intermediates the process, transferring the funds to loan originators that underwrite loans and issue them to borrowers.

Did you spot the difference already? It’s easy to miss.

Let’s say this again: loan originators underwrite loans and issue them to borrowers.

When you or anyone invests through Iban Wallet, the loans have already been issued. The loan originators are already contractually bound to the loans, they are not waiting for enough capital to be raised to fund a specific project.

Moreover, each investment is diversified and associated with several aggregated loans.

While this may result on a lower interest rate than one might find on P2P platforms, it also enables Iban Wallet to offer a higher degree of liquidity to investors, as they are able to request a withdrawal of their funds at any time (keep in mind that an early cancelation fee may apply if funds are withdrawn before their term on some products).

And that explains where the loan originators’ motivation lies: they typically charge higher interest rates to borrowers than the ones available through Iban Wallet. It’s in this differential of interest rates that marketing and operational costs are covered, as well as their profit margin.

💶 What are the fees?

There are no fees for you as a user, including transfers and withdrawals. This is great news, as we are seeing lots of banks nowadays trying to fleece their clients with monthly fees, set up fees and penalties for closing their account. You’ll get none of that crap with Iban wallet.

🤺 How is the user protected?

Iban wallet protects users’ funds via 3 methods:

Your funds are deposited in an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) regulated by the European Central Bank.
All investments are backed by collateral (asset/property).

Let’s get deeper:

We can start with the concept of diversification – Iban wallet works with an extensive pool of
loan originators from various geographies, who offer multiple types of loans, return rates and
deposit terms. Iban also checks, through an extensive due diligence process that every loan originator follow strict risk standards.

On top of that, when you invest with Iban, all of the funds are automatically deposited in an EMI (Electronic Money Institution) which complies with the corresponding European Regulations.

Another way to mitigate risk is by reinforcing and building new investor protections. All of the loans Iban invests in are asset-backed. What does this mean? It means that Iban only invests in loans that have collateral – if the borrower were to fail the repayment of the loan they hold, the loan originator would redeem the property (collateral) in order to settle the debt.

Iban Wallet facilitates access to a marketplace that allows you to contract credit rights holders from previously granted loans. The Investor users can invest, that is, acquire or buy such credit rights with the right to subrogate themselves in the creditor position of the granted loan, acquiring the right to receive the principal and the interests agreed in such granted loan, subject to the conditions that the User has agreed with the credit grantor, either directly or through the computer applications that systematize and make efficient such purchase process. These applications take into account the experience of the credit acquirer as well as the degree of risk he wants to assume, and allow him to execute the purchase of the credit or credit installments in the desired terms.

Let’s talk about risk management

Having taken a general look at the basic user protection practices in place, let’s dig deeper into risk and see how this platform handles risk.

The first action happens on the loan originator level. Although each loan originator has its own set of subscription and credit scoring policies, they are supervised by Iban Wallet so as to ensure that they partner only with entities observing consistent credit scoring models. Iban’s monitoring of loan originators’ metrics is ongoing, and not just carried out at the beginning of the business relationship.

Next, we move on to the structure of the products themselves. As you may have noticed by firsthand experience, with Iban Wallet users don’t select any specific loan on which to invest. This is not only because this is handled automatically, but also because all investments are tied to the performance of an aggregated bundle of loans. By doing this, it is possible to get further diversification to account for any eventual default.

And speaking of defaults, we arrive at our third measure: all loans in which users invest through Iban Wallet are asset-backed. Meaning that there is always collateral involved; physical property that can be sold to cover that default.

🗄️ What types of accounts are offered?

Iban accounts are investment products providing interest projected to be accrued on a daily basis. By opening an Iban account you can invest with a projected interest rate starting with 2.5% AER.

As mentioned earlier, you can start investing by just putting €1, so you can feel free to test out these accounts with small amounts. Interest is aimed to be accrued every day and there is no minimum term for the Iban account, so nobody is going to stop you from taking out your money when you desire to do so.

So let’s take a look at the options offered:

The basic account is called Iban Account and is the one that’s recommended to start off with for the first few days and weeks while you test out the waters. If you’re happy with how everything works, you can put in more money and access better returns, like those offered by the One, Market, and Dynamic accounts.

As you can see, with the latter three accounts you get projected higher returns. You will, however, have to agree to a minimum term (1, 3, or 5 years respectively). I think that’s fine. If you have a net worth in the six or seven figures, you can easily afford to park €50,000 or more of that into an account for 5 years when in return you’re getting 6%. If your cash net worth is more like €80,000, then I would suggest sticking to the One or Market accounts.

When you put your money in Iban, it’s best to adopt a long-term perspective. This is no get-rich-quick scheme and it’s very clear on the website that investor protection and sustainable returns are what Iban wallet is after, for everyone’s benefit.

New in 2020 are the short term accounts:

Iban 30
Iban 90
Iban 180

The team at Iban has taken investor feedback and given us a solution for those of us who are not able or willing to commit to an investment for 1 year or more, especially in these shaky times we are going through.

So for these new accounts, we can invest for 30, 90 or 180 days respectively. The longer we commit the better return we get, as always. The other great feature is that there is no minimum investment amount required, so you can start with just €1.

📱 Iban wallet Mobile Application

The Iban wallet mobile app is an easy way to manage your investment and keep on top of things without needing to login to the website. It’s much more convenient in my opinion and a plus for this investment platform.

It is available for both Apple and Android devices, so nobody is left out.

⚖️ Pros and Cons of Investing with Iban wallet

Now that we’ve discussed Iban wallet, at some length, let’s summarise the pros and cons of investing your money with Iban Wallet.

Pros

Low investment requirement – start with €1 with no term limit
Strong investor protection
Great app for both Android and iOS
Daily interest
High liquidity

Cons

Interest rates lower than those on P2P lending platforms (such as Mintos, Twino, PeerBerry etc)

There have been doubts raised about the ownership structure of Iban wallet in the past. The platform continues to function well as promised and described in this review, but it’s something you should also consider. Keep in mind that as investors, protecting our initial capital should be our foremost priority. Risk is present in every type of investment, but where the risks seem to outweigh the benefits there is little point in investing.

Iban wallet has worked well for me so far, and my communications with their staff have been cordial and friendly. When I asked them about the allegations against them, they told me that they are working on clearing up the misconceptions and that this was a clear attack against their platform, with no dialogue being held before the allegations were published.

I’m the first to raise questions and recommend people to stay away from certain platforms, but it’s always important to be fair with the platform before putting out damaging content about them. Therefore, unless I have any problems with my investments or clear evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered, I will continue using and recommending Iban wallet.

I remind you that it is always a good idea to use chat or email to ask a few questions to any platform’s support staff before you make significant investments. The types of replies you get and their timeliness usually give you a good indication of how serious a platform is.

🤔 My Thoughts on Iban wallet

I think Iban Wallet need to improve their wording and make a clear distinction between the basic Iban account and the rest of their investment options. There are some restrictions on the other accounts that should be made clearer from the start. For example, on all accounts apart from the Iban account, you have an early termination fee of 2.5% (exceed the accrued interest at the time of the cancellation, so you always keep your initial investment).

Having said that, I think this platform is an excellent alternative to keeping money in the traditional bank accounts which don’t give us any interest anymore, and on top of that charge fees like monthly fees, set up fees, closing fees and transfer fees.

Banks are no longer the safe havens they once were; we’ve all seen how many of them went into trouble during the past financial crisis. They are still safe places to store money, but nowadays I try to diversify as much as possible, especially now that I’m young and I am chasing returns rather than just parking my money somewhere and letting it be devalued through the effects of inflation.

That’s why I think that it’s a great idea to put money into a platform like Iban wallet, which is a slightly riskier place to put your cash compared to a bank, but on the other hand, it gives much higher returns.

When you invest with Iban, they take the role of expert and manage your investments for you, selecting the best market opportunities, which often adds far greater protection than when the investor chooses individually the loans to invest in.

On top of this, they secure your funds with multiple protection layers, such as asset-backed loans, and underwriting policies.

Remember that with investments, one of the fundamental principles is diversification. Iban wallet allows you to have passive portfolio management as opposed to risky, variable returns and active management portfolios.

📣 Campaign of the Month

Here’s your chance to get 1.5% extra projected interest with an Iban Account. This offer applies to new customers, who need to use the code JGALEA on their first deposit and deposit at least €200.

Click here to join Iban Wallet and take advantage of this offer.

This means that instead of the usual 2.5%, you are now able to get a 4% projected interest rate with no minimum deposit required and with all the benefits and flexibility this account brings.

Here are the full conditions:

The bonus will be attributed as soon as your deposit is confirmed on your Iban account. It can be applied instantly for deposits made with debit/credit card, or take up to 3-business days for bank transfers.

Make sure to insert the code when topping up your account. When selecting the amount to deposit, you should see a field “Promo code” right below.

Concluding Thoughts

To recap, some of the benefits of investing with Iban:

Interest updated daily and directly in their account;
Chance to start with only €1;
The ability to request a withdrawal at any time;
No service fees or commissions of any kind.

Join Iban Wallet today

Have you invested with Iban Wallet? How is it going for you?

Summary

I like what Iban wallet are doing. They have created a different take on P2P lending and packaged it in a format that most people are more used to, that of savings accounts. It’s important to understand that these are different savings accounts than those that your bank provides, and that the risk is higher. However, the returns are also correspondingly much higher, and I feel that it’s a good trade-off.