Peerberry Review 2025: Everything you need to know about the platform
Peerberry is certainly no longer an unknown quantity when it comes to P2P investment. However, compared to providers such as Mintos or Bondora, there is still a lack of transparency and information about the Peerberry platform, so should you steer clear of Peerberry? Or can you confidently go for it and look forward to the high interest income on this platform? I have analysed the provider in detail and would like to present my results and personal P2P investment experiences to you here!
In brief:
- Peerberry mainly offers short-term consumer loans from Eastern Europe with high interest rates for investors.
- So far, the company has shown strong growth, high profits and has not disappointed its investors.
- A buy-back guarantee protects your investments. A ‘group buy-back guarantee’ is also designed to protect you from the worst in the event of an emergency.
- The platform is heavily dependent on the largest loan originator, the Aventus Group. Should the latter run into financial problems, things would look bad for Peerberry and its investors.
What exactly is Peerberry?
The market for P2P loans in Europe is divided into a handful of large, well-known players (Mintos and Bondora) and numerous smaller providers such as Peerberry. However, Peerberry has quickly made a name for itself among these personal loan platforms and can boast impressive growth.
The company from Latvia has – according to its own information – already brokered more than 630 million euros in P2P loans and currently grants almost 45 million euros in new personal loans per month. This makes Peerberry one of the fastest growing platforms in Europe!
Peerberry has been operating successfully with its business model since the end of 2017. Considering the young age of the P2P sector, this is quite a long period of time in which there have been no loan defaults for investors.
The platform mainly grants short-term loans with a term of 30 to 60 days. The customers are mainly located in Eastern Europe and rarely disappoint investors: around 80% of the loans are repaid on schedule and there have been no delays of more than 2 months to date.
All important data at a glance:
| Founded: | 2017 |
| Company headquarters: | Zagreb, Croatia |
| Regulated: | No, but has applied for a crowdfunding licence in Lithuania |
| Number of investors: | Approx. 81,000 |
| Financed loan volume: | EUR 2.51 billion (04/2024) |
| Yield: | 11.18% on average according to official platform data |
| Minimum investment amount: | EUR 10 |
| Redemption guarantee: | Yes |
| Auto Invest: | Yes |
| Secondary market: | No |
| Issue of a tax certificate: | Yes, report in the form of a PDF is available |
| Loyalty programme for investors: | Yes in the form of loyalty categories |
| Starting bonus: | Yes, 0.5% cashback in the first 90 days (Get with this link*) |
| Rating: | See our P2P platform rating |
| Testimonial: | Read my Peerberry review here |
Peerberry risk: How secure is the platform?
- All P2P investments have a fundamental risk
- There have been no loan defaults at Peerberry to date
- Peerberry also achieved strong growth during the coronavirus crisis
- Almost all loans originate from the Aventus Group and are ‘payday loans’. Diversification is therefore very difficult
- There is a regular buyback guarantee and a dubious group buyback guarantee
P2P loans are among the investment opportunities with high returns: investors at Peerberry receive an average of 11% per year. It is clear that these figures cannot be achieved without a certain amount of risk.
Occasional payment delays by borrowers are only a minor inconvenience. The real danger comes when payments are not made at all and the P2P providers active on platforms such as Peerberry find themselves in financial difficulties.
Because then part or, in the worst case, even all of your investment could be lost! An intensive review of the loans and broad diversification can help against this. Unfortunately, Peerberry’s offer is lacking in the latter point in particular, as the majority of loans available are short-term loans (more than 75 %).
If you want to invest in property, business or long-term loans, Peerberry is not necessarily the right place for you. Apart from that, they don’t make much effort to convince cautious P2P investors.
Transparent information on the company’s processes and guidelines, for example when checking the creditworthiness of borrowers, is lacking. There is also hardly any data on the individual loan brokers that you can invest in on Peerberry and who then pass on your capital to the borrowers.
Conclusion: Peerberry focusses mainly on short-term loans, but no loans have defaulted. This makes the 11% interest rate a lucrative investment opportunity.
What does Peerberry’s buyback guarantee cover?
This lack of information on the individual loan brokers is all the more worrying as they offer a special ‘group buyback guarantee’. Peerberry visualises it like this:
Most of the loan originators that are active on Peerberry belong to a larger group of companies. If a company in this group were to become insolvent, the rest of the group would take over the outstanding payments.
On paper, this sounds like a very sensible approach that could protect investors from the worst. In reality, however, past experience on other P2P platforms has shown that it always affects the entire group and not just a single company.
Peerberry also suffers from another circumstance: more than 83% of the loans granted are attributable to the Aventus Group. If this heavyweight were to get into financial difficulties or even become insolvent, the majority of the loans could no longer be repaid.
Within the Aventus Group, ‘Aventus Ukraine LLC’, which is responsible for Ukraine, can confidently be described as the driving force, as it made a massive 8.3 million euros in profit last year! Conversely, however, this could also mean that problems on the Ukrainian market could quickly cause difficulties for the entire group and ultimately Peerberry. The group buyback guarantee therefore becomes a very questionable safety mechanism.
In the event that an individual loan defaults, there is also a ‘normal’ buyback guarantee, as known from other P2P platforms. With this, the amount is bought back by the loan originators active on Peerberry after a waiting period of 60 days. This means that you, as an investor, get your investment back, including the interest accrued.
Investing with Peerberry: Is the platform reputable?
Peerberry is a platform for P2P loans, but what exactly are these loans? First of all, there are different countries in which you can invest in personal loans: The Czech Republic, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Vietnam are on offer.
Unfortunately, this solid selection does not continue with the type of loans, because here you can almost exclusively choose from so-called ‘payday loans’. With this type of loan, private individuals need money for a few days to bridge the gap until their next salary payment.
The very short term and the buyback guarantee make these investments very attractive for us. However, alternatives to these loans are not so easy to find at Peerberry, making it difficult to build up a diversified portfolio.
The process of investing on Peerberry is pleasantly simple: you can invest your money both by manually selecting interesting P2P loans and via an auto-investor. With a minimum amount of 10 euros, you can also start with small amounts and invest in many loans at once.
Peerberry’s cost model is also very attractive: as a private investor, you don’t have to pay any fees to the platform and there are no other hidden costs to worry about.
Peerberry interest: How high is the return?
So far, Peerberry has not disappointed its investors and has paid out an average of 11 per cent interest. My own experiences have also been clearly positive! Before you can start your own investment, however, you must fulfil the following conditions:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- You must be a citizen of a European Union country
- The bank account from which you make your first deposit must also be in the EU
The actual registration process is very simple, as the first step is to enter just a few basic details such as your name, date of birth and e-mail address.
However, if you have agreed to the data protection and terms of use, further information is required. This includes your address and the number of your ID card or passport. You will need to use this document to identify yourself later by photo – but you can take your time with this until the first payout.
How do I deposit money with Peerberry?
- Click on ‘Deposit / Withdrawal’. You will be shown transfer details that you can use to make the deposit.
- In my experience, it takes 1-2 working days for the money to be available in your Peerberry account
- At the moment, you cannot use credit cards for deposits and withdrawals. Only bank accounts are eligible.
Before you can invest money with Peerberry, you must first transfer it to the platform. The money transfer also serves to identify you and must therefore come from your personal bank account.
To find out where you ultimately need to send your capital, simply click on ‘Deposits / Withdrawals’. Here you will be shown Peerberry’s connection details and you can arrange a transfer through your bank in the usual way.
Experience shows that it takes 1-2 working days before your money is available for investment on Peerberry. You can also expect about the same waiting time for a later payout.
How do I pay out money at Peerberry?
- If you want to withdraw from the Peerberry platform, you can also click on ‘Deposit / Withdrawal’
- There are no fees
- Payout is only possible to an account from which a deposit has already been made
- Payments can be made to several accounts if these have been ‘activated’ beforehand by a deposit
If you want to withdraw an amount, use the same ‘Deposits / Withdrawals’ area. Please note, however, that withdrawals can only be made to a registered account, i.e. an account from which money has already been paid into your Peerberry account.
You can use several accounts for deposits and withdrawals without any problems; however, a transfer must be made from each of them to your Peerberry account at least once.
Do I have to pay tax on P2P profits?
- Interest income from Peerberry and other P2P platforms is subject to capital gains tax of 25%, solidarity surcharge and church tax.
- There is a tax-free allowance of EUR 1,000 per year. Once this has been utilised, tax must be paid on the interest gains.
- Private investors must submit an annual tax return with information on the interest income from their P2P loans.
If you have earned money with Peerberry or another P2P provider, you must pay tax on this amount correctly. As a private investor, you currently have a tax-free allowance of 1,000 euros per year. If this is exceeded (whether through your Peerberry investment or another source), taxes will be due.
The capital gains tax of 25 % comes into play here first and foremost. If your annual income is high enough or if you are a member of a religious community, solidarity surcharge or church tax may also be due.
Please also note that your tax return is required even if your income from Peerberry and Co. does not exceed the tax-free allowance of 1,000 euros!
Advantages and disadvantages of Peerberry at a glance
Thanks to the strong involvement of the Aventus Group and its focus on short-term loans, Peerberry has carved out its own niche – but the P2P wheel has by no means been reinvented here! The typical advantages and disadvantages of the personal loan sector can therefore also be found at Peerberry.
The most important plus points include
- High yield, which is consistently between 10 and 12 per cent p.a. at Peerberry
- Automatic re-investments so that you can make the most of the compound interest effect
- Your capital is only tied up for a relatively short time
- You only need a small amount of starting capital, as you can get started with just 10 euros
- Operation is simple and intuitive and is also possible with the Peerberry Auto-Invest function
- A buyback guarantee offers a minimum level of security
- The Aventus Group, which offers the majority of available loans, has performed well despite the Covid crisis
- In the past, Peerberry has reliably paid out very high returns – despite the global crisis – and is growing faster than many of its competitors
However, the disadvantages of Peerberry are:
- Less transparent than other platforms
- Almost exclusively short-term loans in the portfolio, making diversification difficult
- Over 80 % of the loans originate from the loan originator Aventus. This high level of dependency is risky if the Aventus Group should ever run into difficulties.
- Peerberry has applied for a licence as an investment company in Europe, but has not yet received it (unlike its competitor Mintos)
- It is not yet clear how well the clawback works in the event of a lender’s insolvency, as this has not yet occurred
- No cashback programmes or sign-up bonuses, as is common with other platforms
Peerberry Auto-Invest function: Instructions for the useful P2P investment feature
One of the most appealing features of the Peerberry P2P platform is the auto-invest function. It allows you to invest your capital in new loans automatically and without any action on your part. Especially if you want to invest small sums in as many P2P loans as possible to minimise your risk, this feature can save you a lot of work.
The biggest advantage, however, is that the income you earn can be reinvested immediately without your money ‘lying around’ idly. The Peerberry Auto-Invest function therefore allows you to make the most of the compound interest effect!
Tip: If you want to diversify broadly and maximise the compound interest effect, there is no way around the Peerberry Auto Invest function.
Although the Peerberry Auto-Invest function is clearly laid out, it offers quite a lot of setting options compared to other providers. Reason enough for us to take a look at what you should pay attention to!
Start: Use the Peerberry Auto-Invest function
To access the Auto Invest function, you must first click on ‘Invest’ in your Peerberry account. Then click on ‘Auto Invest’ and ‘Create new Auto Invest portfolio’.
Once this step is complete, Peerberry will show you all available lenders. If you keep the default settings, they are all selected. However, if you want to exclude some of them, this is the right time.
Peerberry shows you the available loans and their breakdown below. As already mentioned, you will find almost exclusively very short terms here: The vast majority are designed for less than 30 days.
The setting options for your new Auto Invest portfolio are now also visible. These include the name, the size and the maximum investment per loan. You can also specify a residual amount that should remain in your account. You can see how many offers there are for your current selection on the right-hand side.
The settings at a glance
Loan originator: Here you can choose which lenders your money should or should not be invested in. All providers are selected by default.
Interest rate: This is the minimum/maximum interest rate. Higher interest rates may indicate higher risks.
Remaining term: Here you can set the maximum term of the loan. You will find most offers in the range up to 30 days.
Portfolio name: You can give your portfolio a name.
Portfolio size: Here you can determine how much money you want to invest in your portfolio. As you can create several portfolios, this allows you to divide your capital at Peerberry.
Maximum investment in a loan: Defines the maximum amount that can be invested in a single loan.
Remaining nominal amount: This value indicates the maximum/minimum total loan amount (regardless of the amount you personally want to invest)
Minimum balance: If you want to leave funds in your Peerberry account, you can specify this here.
Credit status: Here you have the option to choose between current loans (not in arrears), delayed loans or both categories.
Reinvest: Do you want your earnings to be reinvested automatically? You can set it here!
How to set the Peerberry Auto Invest function correctly
Which settings are right for you depends very much on your personality and your financial goals. As Peerberry is a high-yield platform with a certain amount of risk, very conservative investors tend to be out of place.
However, you don’t have to be negligent and take every dodgy loan! You can minimise the risk of default by opting for offers with lower interest rates.
Tip: As a rule of thumb, loans with single-digit yields are often less risky than those with 10, 11 or even 12 per cent interest rates.
Solid risk diversification also makes sense for investors who want to achieve the highest returns. Excluding the somewhat safer loans with interest rates of around 9 % is therefore not necessarily sensible, even if you are aiming for 12 per cent or more.
If you also want to play it safe, it may make sense for you to exclude all loan providers outside the European Union. Although providers from developing countries also offer high interest rates, they are often associated with additional problems that rarely occur in the EU.
If you want to take full advantage of compound interest, you should look for a short term so that you can reinvest your earnings as quickly as possible. In this case, the categories ‘Up to 30 days’ and ‘Up to 45 days’ are ideal for you.
For the amount per loan, the minimum amount of 10 euros has proven to be a good choice. Higher amounts may mean that you can invest your capital more quickly; however, if you opt for the minimum, you will achieve better risk diversification in your portfolio.
Conclusion: Is Peerberry the right investment for you?
Peerberry shines with strong growth despite the Covid crisis, reliable payouts and high returns. However, the extreme dependence on the Aventus Group and the frequent lack of transparency leave a somewhat bland aftertaste.
If you trust the performance of the Aventus Group and have no problem investing predominantly in P2P loans from the payday loan sector (or perhaps even want to invest specifically in this type of loan?), Peerberry with its high returns may be an attractive choice for you.
My own Peerberry experience has also been positive so far – no wonder, as hardly any other P2P provider has come through the difficult last few months better than the platform from Latvia. While its competitors have not been able to increase their loan volume at all or only marginally, Peerberry has seen massive growth.
Overall, this makes Peerberry a good choice for yield hunters who can sleep soundly even if their capital is managed by a single lender. For investors who want a little more security or prefer to invest in property or business loans, however, other providers are better suited.
Many competitors have already demonstrated their ability to recover defaulted loans. Peerberry is still basking in its continued success – if it stays that way, investors will of course also benefit. However, if the worst comes to the worst, the quality of the platform will have to prove itself.
