Debitum Investment (previously known as Debitum Network) offers us the possibility to invest in business loans and factoring. Let’s find out how it works, how to invest and the pros and cons. At the end of this review you can also find out what is my opinion about this crowdlending platform.
Contenidos
What is Debitum Network?
Debitum was born in Latvia in 2019 and is currently a regulated investment platform in Latvia, by the FCMC (Financial and Capital Market Commission).
Debitum Network functions as a marketplace where you can find business loans and invoice financing (factoring) from various loan originators from different countries. Thus, unlike other factoring and business loan platforms where it is only possible to diversify into loans, on Debitum we can also diversify between loan originators and countries.
The vast majority of the loans found on the platform are collateralised by repurchase agreements. In addition, all of them have collateral, which can be: property, commercial or personal collateral, promissory notes or invoices, inventory or company shares.
| DEBITUM | |
|---|---|
| Founded: | 2019 |
| Headquarters: | Riga, Latvia |
| Regulated: | Yes, by FCMC |
| Number of investors: | 10.000 |
| ✳️ Types of loans: | Business loans and invoice financing (Factoring) |
| ✳️ Yield: | 9%-12% |
| ✳️ Loan terms: | 6-15 months |
| ✳️ Automatic investment: | No |
| ✳️ Secondary market: | No |
| ✳️ Repurchase guarantee | Yes |
| ✳️ Minimum investment: | 10€ |
| ✳️ Fees and commissions: | No commissions |
| ✳️ Language: | English |
| ✳️ Bonus de bienvenida: | 1% of what you invest for the first 60 days |
| ✳️ Registration link: | Click HERE |
Advantages of investing in Debitum.Network
- Garantía de recompra y garantía colateral
- Different loan originators from various countries
- In English
Disadvantages
- No autoinvest
- No secondary market
Promo code Debitum Welcome bonus (referral code)
Debitum currently has a welcome bonus for new investors. Sign up here and you will get a bonus of 1% of your investment for the first 60 days. You don’t need to insert any promotional code, referral code or promo code, you just need to register through this link.
how does Debitum Network work?
This is how Debitum works:
On the one hand, several companies come to a lender who grants them loans. An SPV is formed, which issues the ABS financial instrument and is approved by the regulator. On the other hand, Debitum lists those financial instruments on the platform that have several of these loans as underlying assets.
Investors invest a certain amount and receive the corresponding interest.
what is ABS?
ABS (Asset-Backed Securities) are financial instruments that bundle different underlying assets. These assets are different corporate and factoring loans.
Each ABS is composed of many securities, each with a nominal value of €0.01, thus diversifying the risk in all these underlying loans.
Requirements to invest in Debitum.Network Who can invest?
Individuals and companies can register and start investing if they meet the following requirements:
- Be over 18 years old
- Have a bank account in your name
To start investing, you will need to fill in the registration form and verify your identity.
Fees
They do not charge any commission. Neither to deposit, nor to withdraw, nor to invest.
how to deposit money in Debitum Network?
To start investing you will have to deposit money via bank transfer from a bank account in your name. You will have to indicate the reference indicated in your investor account.
how to withdraw money from Debitum?
You will be able to withdraw the amount you have available without investing, to the bank account from which you have made a deposit. There are no minimum amount restrictions or commissions for withdrawing money.
Sign up with DEBITUM and get a 1% bonus of what you invest for the first 60 days
How to invest in Debitum
On Debitum Network it is only possible to invest manually, by filtering and selecting the loans you are interested in.
This is how you will see the investment opportunities available on Debitum, under the Invest tab:
At the top you have a series of filters where you can choose only those that meet your risk (here called index) and interest rate requirements. In additional filters you can further limit your selection. You can also sort them from highest to lowest or vice versa according to different criteria.
In this first view we already have a lot of visual information about each of them.
Starting with the date (1) on which the ABS was published on Debitum, followed by a number after Assets (2) which indicates the number of underlying assets. The arrow (3) indicates the interest payment on a monthly basis. ABS (4) means that it is an Asset Backed Security. When we see the purple shield (5) this indicates that it is collateralised.
This is followed by the (6) name of the loan originator and the country. Followed by a letter, accompanied in some cases by a sign (7) this is the credit rating of that financial instrument.
We will see (8) the interest rate and below that the penalty rate. The next figures indicate the amount already invested to date (9), the total of that ABS (10) and the remaining amount available to invest (11).
Finally, there is (12) the remaining term of repayment expressed in days.
Selecting the ABS you are interested in will take you to a screen with even more detailed information. Here we will also find the prospectuses and other documents on that financial instrument. These provide information to investors and are supervised by the regulator.
Debitum’s loan originators
Triple Dragon Limited
Triple Dragon Limited specialises in the mobile games and applications sector. Its core product is financing for game developers and advertisers, backed by receivables and invoices.
Evergreen Capital
Evergreen Capital provides financing to small and medium sized businesses that are unwilling or unable to obtain bank financing due to overly stringent credit regulations and the inflexibility of traditional banks. All loans are backed by a personal guarantee from the manager or owner of the business, or both, after a review of their credit history.
Flexidea
Flexidea is an invoice finance solution. The company works with Latvian SMEs and has a turnover of more than EUR 12.5 million. Its diversified portfolio includes invoices of around EUR 6,000 on average, verified and approved by both parties before payment to FLEXIDEA’s bank account. They plan to expand in the Baltic countries, the Nordic countries and Central Europe.
Flexidea Polska is Flexidea’s subsidiary in Poland. The company already has a turnover of more than 3 million euros.
Sandbox Funding
Sandbox Funding issues loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. It always lends against some solid and easily convertible collateral. This is company-specific, but most business loans are secured by commercial pledges, receivables and mortgages on property or land.
The company is affiliated with Debitum and was created for 2 main purposes:
1. Sandbox Funding serves as a testing ground for new loan originators (LOs). Due to regulation, it takes up to 6 months for new LOs to join the Debitum platform.
With Sandbox they use their own funds to fund a new LO at the beginning for smaller volumes and start monitoring borrower quality, payments, etc. This allows the Debitum team and the regulator to have even more financial information to evaluate the loan originator before bringing it onto the platform.
2. Some companies seek relatively small financing (50-200k) to scale their business. Trás obtener la licencia, la carga regulatoria y los costes de incorporación de un nuevo originador han aumentado significativamente para Debitum, y no tendría sentido desde el punto de vista financiero incorporar dichos originadores. Sandbox Funding serves to finance these companies by providing loans to SMEs through the use of its own funds and then these loans are securitised and published on the Debitum platform.
Debitum Autoinvest
Debitum does not currently have autoinvest to invest automatically by setting up an autoinvestment strategy. In the past Debitum had such an option, however for regulatory reasons, since it is a regulated platform, we can no longer autoinvest. However, I know that they are working on implementing it in the future.
Secondary market in Debitum Network
There is currently no secondary market on this platform, so you will have to wait for your investment to mature.
Repurchase guarantee on Debitum
The vast majority of loans you will find on Debitum have a repurchase guarantee. This is usually applied 60 days in arrears. The loan originator will buy back the loan by paying the principal plus interest due.
Tax withholding
Debitum withholds taxes at origin. It will withhold 5% of the profits made if you are an EU investor. You can find more information on how to withhold tax in Spain here or consult a tax advisor.
If you are resident in another country, the withholding tax will be 20%, but the rate can be reduced (usually from 2.5% to 10%) if your country of tax residence has a double taxation agreement with Latvia.
Debitum app
The Latvian platform currently has no mobile application. You will have to manage your investments from their website accessible from desktop and mobile.
Sign up with DEBITUM and get a 1% bonus on your investment for the first 60 days
Debitum Network Reviews
On trustpilot you can find reviews from other investors about the platform.
My opinion on Debitum
I started investing on Debitum Network in 2020. Since then the platform has evolved a lot. The most important change has been its regulation, it is now regulated in Latvia.
Today I find it the most interesting business lending platform in the whole European crowdlending market.
We can find other platforms to invest in business loans but we will hardly find a marketplace like Debitum. Where in the same platform we can diversify between different loan originators and countries.
In addition to diversification, I think the platform offers a good balance between risk and return.
The investments we are making on Debitum have a collateral guarantee, as well as a repurchase guarantee. And something very interesting is the high % of interest we receive if payments are delayed.
We can find investments of between 10% and 12%, so it is normal that we can reach an average of 11% profitability on the platform.
Debitum, in its 5 years, has never had any defaults, according to their website.
However, this is not entirely true. There are loans on the platform affected by the war in Ukraine. Since February 2022, no amount has been paid on these loans. This is because martial law in Ukraine prohibits transfers abroad. In the meantime the originator continues to manage the portfolio, receives the loan repayments and keeps them in a dedicated account for Debitum investors while waiting for international transfers to be made.
The platform lacks autoinvest and a secondary market. At least we know that autoinvest is being worked on and depends on the approval of the regulator.
After a hiatus after having my portfolio on the platform affected by the war loans, in July 2023 I returned to actively invest in Debitum. As I said, as of today, it is the most interesting business lending platform on the market.
want to try the platform? Sign up at DEBITUM and get a 1% bonus of what you invest for the first 60 days
Alternatives to Debitum Network
Currently there are not many attractive options for investing in business loans in the European crowdlending market.
But if you are looking to invest in another regulated platform, you will find personal loans on these platforms:
