Which P2P platforms offer car finance?
Car finance has historically been a niche within the peer-to-peer lending sector, with few platforms offering loans specifically for car purchases.
Zopa was the only P2P car finance provider in the UK, offering car loans and a personalised car hire purchase product, but it is exiting P2P sector by the end of January while Zopa Bank is rolling out the car finance product to Tesco customers.
RateSetter previously allowed retail investors to fund asset-backed finance for dealerships to stock up on cars, and unsecured finance which borrowers could use to purchase cars.
Meanwhile, the high-profile collapse of Buy2Let Cars this year saw the business behind the car leasing provider fall into administration and an arrest made as part of a fraud investigation into the firm’s parent company Raedex Consortium.
As a result, there are few options for investors seeking to access the competitive returns of P2P car loans.
Here Peer2Peer Finance News summarises some of the P2P players around the world that still offer car finance directly or provide consumer loans that can be used to purchase vehicles.
Read more: Which P2P platforms offer wedding loans?
Prosper
US P2P platform Prosper offers auto loans and financing options.
It advertises loans for purchasing an older used car or refinancing an existing auto loan or for borrowers who are looking into buying a motorcycle or truck but cannot satisfy other lenders’ restrictions on loans for these vehicles.
Mintos
Mintos added Kazakhstani car lender Jet Finance as a lending company back in August this year.
At the time, the European lending marketplace said that the car lender had issued more than €12m (£10.2m) in loans to its 3,200 clients to date.
Elfin Market
The UK P2P platform uses Elfin Purse, a type of credit card that allows consumers to borrow what they need, when they need it, at a representative APR of 5.8 per cent.
Elfin’s P2P investors finance the Elfin Purse, and borrowers will only be approved for a loan if they meet the platform’s credit requirements and after the funds are released, they can be used for any purpose, including to purchase a vehicle.
Leap Lending
The UK consumer P2P platform uses open banking to verify and assess its customers.
Consumers can use the platform to borrow from £500 to £15,000 and repay from 12 to 60 months with the option to pay back more without penalties.
Robo.cash
The European P2P platform offers consumer loans from originators in Spain, Kazakhstan, Singapore and the Philippines.
In November, Robo.cash issued a record amount of funding, €17m (£14.5m) and in October passed the 20,000 investors milestone.
