Banking is one of the most hated industries lately, yet remains one or even the most important one. Most people have no sympathy for bank bail-outs, they have no clue why it was necessary and feel betrayed by their political leaders.
Instead, today, I talk about the future. Thing is, I just joined it!
I signed up to a crowdfunding website and gave a loan to a small company in Holland.
They need 30000 euros, offer 7%, did not get it from their bank and signed up to Zencap. There they submitted their request, gave financial and other business info, got analyzed and approved. By today, 70% of the sum has been promised by small guys like me (I pledged 300, lol). In a few days the auction closes and they hopefully are fully financed.
Zencap then collects my money from my bank and starting next month I get a monthly return during three years at 6%. The remaining 1% is for Zencap.
Worldwide, billions already go through these purely internet based intermediaries moving funds from small guys to small and medium sized companies.
My bank will hate it, but they can not give me more than 1% interest. Traditional banks are losing out on these ‘crowd’ based start-ups.
Sure, I could lose my money if the company goes bankrupt. I checked them out, it is unlikely. The 6% are most likely.
All over, internet based services spring up to cut out traditional businesses. Uber cuts the taxi company, Airbnb cuts out the hotelier, Waze is killing TomTom, etc…
https://www.zencap.nl/loan-request/index
Would you dare to invest like that?