CRED Enters P2P Lending; Promises Upto 9% Interest To Users

Fintech startup CRED has announced the launch of its peer-to-peer (p2p) community-driven product — CRED Mint. This is the startup’s first community-driven product. It will enable members to earn interest on idle money by lending to other high-trust members. 

P2P lending is a system wherein individuals and small businesses can lend money to other individuals or small businesses without using a bank as intermediary. 

CRED Mint is launched in partnership with the RBI-registered P2P NBFC — Liquiloans. The startup posits that those investing in the service can earn interest rates of up to 9% per annum.

The startup said, “CRED members have on average INR 2 L sitting in their savings accounts. At up to 9% interest, CRED Mint aims to reward responsible financial behaviour with a smarter way to make idle money work for individuals.”

Founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah, CRED offers premium credit card users rewards and benefits for paying credit card bills. Since the platform allows users only after screening their credit score, the company assures that members can confidently invest money knowing that it will only be lent out to others like them. 

In a press statement, Kunal Shah said, “With CRED Mint, we are enabling members to leverage this trusted community to help one another in their journey of financial progress. We believe in enabling those who demonstrate responsible financial behaviour with the privileges they deserve. The product democratizes access to inflation-beating interest rates, and a frictionless, transparent, and delightful financial experience for CRED’s high-trust members.”

Members of the platform can apply for early access to Mint. Investments made in CRED Mint will be lent out through CRED Cash — a lending product created in partnership with licensed banks and NBFCs —  which claims to have a default rate of less than 1%. 

The invested money will be routed directly to an escrow account held by Liquiloans, and diversified across 200+ borrowers on average to reduce the risk further.

On Mint, members can deposit between INR 1 L – INR 10 L in under two minutes, without any associated commission. The money can be withdrawn partially or fully at any given time with no penalty; the users will also be to earn interest for the period invested. The process will be fully online and the users will be returned the money with interest within one working day. 

CRED is backed by investors, including Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, among others. The startup became a unicorn earlier this year in April after it raised $215 Mn at a post-money valuation of $2.2 Bn.  

Even though the P2P lending is a concept still in its nascent stage, studies suggest that it will evolve into a $10 Bn market by 2025. According to Statista, as of May 2021, India so far has 21 NBFCs focused solely on P2P lending. 

In the P2P space, CRED will be competing with the likes of LenDen Club, Faircent, Lendingkart, Lendbox, among others.   

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