Lendermarket vs Monefit SmartSaver 2026: 13.46% or 7.50%?

Lendermarket vs Monefit: The Scoreboard After Six Rounds

Lendermarket vs Monefit SmartSaver has no knockout winner: Lendermarket takes three of the six rounds on points, Monefit takes two, and fees end in a draw.

• •Round 1, return: Lendermarket. Its 13.46% average rate on available loans sits well above Monefit's 7.50%, though the two figures measure different things.
• •Round 2, business model: Lendermarket, narrowly. It offers 14 originators, but six are Creditstar lines, the group whose loans Monefit funds.
• •Round 3, liquidity: Monefit, clearly. Up to €1,000 a month is usually paid out within minutes, while Lendermarket money follows the loan term.
• •Round 4, regulation: Lendermarket, by a small margin. It holds an EU crowdfunding licence, yet neither platform has a deposit guarantee.
• •Round 5, fees: a draw. Bank deposits are free on both, and the costly part on either side is leaving early.
• •Round 6, track record: Monefit. It scores 4.7 on Trustpilot against 4.1, and Lendermarket's record includes payment delays from 2022 to 2024.

Lendermarket suits you if you want the higher rate, like choosing originators and can leave money tied up for months. Monefit SmartSaver suits you if quick access and zero picking matter more than the extra return.

What stands out after six rounds is round 2. The two platforms share a parent company, so holding both spreads your money less than it seems. We have a five-figure amount in Monefit SmartSaver and a four-figure amount in Lendermarket, so this concerns our own money too.

The Six Rounds on Video

We went through all six rounds on camera, in the same order as this article.

Round 1: Return

On the raw numbers, round 1 is not close. Lendermarket's own statistics show a weighted average interest rate of 13.46% on the loans available right now. Monefit SmartSaver pays an expected 7.50% APY on the Main Account, with returns paid out daily. Vaults lift that to an expected 9.42% APY for 12 months and 10.52% for 24 months. A custom length in between is possible too.

The two figures still measure different things. Lendermarket's 13.46% is the average rate on loans you could buy today. It is not a return anyone has earned, and the platform's footnote says so itself: "Your portfolio returns can be higher or lower. Past performance does not guarantee future returns." Interest also depends on loans staying on schedule. Of all outstanding principal, 89.73% is current, while the rest is 1 to 60 days late or sits in pending payments.

Monefit quotes APY, which already includes compounding. A nominal 9% in a 12-month Vault becomes 9.42% APY, and a nominal 10% over 24 months becomes 10.52%. There is no loan to pick, and one expected rate per account type makes the figure more straightforward to plan around. Neither rate is a promise: Monefit's terms state that nothing in them may be considered "a promise or guarantee of any profit or any specific rate of return".

That said, even a cautious reading leaves Lendermarket ahead. Monefit's Main Account sits below Lendermarket's headline by almost six percentage points, and a 24-month Vault by just under three. Round 1 goes to Lendermarket. How the platform works end to end is covered in our full Lendermarket review.

Round 2: Business Model and the Shared Parent

At first glance, the two models look like opposites. Monefit SmartSaver is one pool: your money funds consumer loans issued by Creditstar Group companies, with no loan to choose. Lendermarket is a marketplace with 14 live loan originators, seven in its regulated Crowdfunding Service and seven in the unregulated Claims Assignment Service. In both services, the originator stands behind the loan, not Lendermarket.

Then comes the ownership. Lendermarket Limited's 2025 annual report names SA Financial Investments OÜ, registered in Estonia, as its parent company and ultimate parent undertaking. Creditstar's own report for the same year lists that company as its sole shareholder, with 100% ownership. In Creditstar's group chart, Monefit Investments OÜ appears as the SmartSaver investment platform subsidiary. That makes Lendermarket a sister of Creditstar Group, while SmartSaver belongs to one of its subsidiaries. Our safety check of Lendermarket goes through the ownership layer by layer.

Lendermarket is transparent about this. Its report states that "Lendermarket is part of a broader corporate structure in which Creditstar Group is also an important platform participant and group buyback undertaking provider." It adds that "certain Loan Originators may be related parties".

The originator list shows the same link. Six of the 14 have Creditstar Group AS as their legal entity: Creditstar Spain, Finland, Denmark, Czech and Sweden, plus a line listed as Monefit, shown as Monefit Estonia in the FLEX cards above. That line is a Creditstar lending line, not the SmartSaver product. All six carry a group buyback guarantee from Creditstar Group AS and run through the unregulated service.

One thing to flag is Gatelink. Gatelink International OÜ is licensed in Estonia, has no group guarantee and is, in Lendermarket's words, "legally and operationally separate from Creditstar Group entities". It still lends to Creditstar companies, and its regulated loans carry the identifier Creditstar Finland. Legally separate, it remains economically exposed.

In practice, real diversification comes down to a short list. Take away the six Creditstar lines and Gatelink, and seven originators remain: RapiCredit, RapiCredit Iberica, Dineo, Flowpay, OK Credit, Best Credit and Credifiel. If you already hold Monefit SmartSaver, those seven are where Lendermarket adds a different risk.

Round 2 goes to Lendermarket on points, because it gives you the choice. You benefit from that choice only if you use it.

Round 3: Liquidity

How quickly can you get your money back?

Monefit's Main Account works well for access. Withdrawals of up to €1,000 per calendar month are usually paid out within minutes, and larger amounts within 10 business days. The minimum withdrawal is €50, and below that you can only take out the full balance.

Vaults swap that access for a higher rate. You commit money for 12 or 24 months, or a custom length in between, with a €100 minimum. An early exit brings the money back to the Main Account after a waiting period of 30 days, or another period Monefit communicates in writing. The binding Vault terms claw back the additional returns above the standard rate, while Monefit's Help Centre says closing a Vault "will result in the loss of all accumulated returns". Either way, you lose at least the extra Vault return.

Monefit's footnote adds a limit: "Withdrawals are conditional and not guaranteed." They depend on loan repayments coming in as expected, and if that money falls short, Monefit can suspend payouts to all users and then pay them pro rata.

Lendermarket works differently. Your money stays in each loan until it is repaid or bought back, and Lendermarket does not offer a secondary market. Late payments follow the chain on Lendermarket's buyback and extensions page. The six Creditstar lines and Credifiel allow up to 180 days of extensions, and the buyback activates 60 days after the final extended maturity date. That makes up to 240 days late in total. Dineo stops at 120 days, while RapiCredit, RapiCredit Iberica, Gatelink and Flowpay stop at 60. OK Credit and Best Credit are not listed in that table. Those extensions follow each originator's own policy, which Lendermarket shows under every loan.

Auto Invest FLEX is the exit route, and it is conditional. You can request 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of your current value, for a fee of 3.5% of the exited amount. Processing takes up to 10 calendar days. Without replacement funding, the request lapses at no cost and your investment keeps running. Lendermarket says FLEX "is conditional only and does not constitute a guaranteed right to liquidity". It is a workable exit when new money comes in, and treating it as a sure thing is one of the beginner mistakes we cover for Lendermarket.

Round 3 goes to Monefit, clearly. On Lendermarket, the trade-off for the higher rate is time.

Round 4: Regulation and Investor Protection

Lendermarket holds an EU crowdfunding licence, and Monefit SmartSaver is not regulated as an investment platform. That sounds like a clear win, yet it is only a slight one.

Lendermarket Limited is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a European Crowdfunding Service Provider. The legal basis is Regulation (EU) 2020/1503. Its reference is C513967, registered on 17 December 2024. The entry is public in the Central Bank of Ireland register. The licence lets Lendermarket offer its regulated service across EU member states without a separate licence per country. Regulated loans also come with a Key Investment Information Sheet. On top of that, non-sophisticated investors get a four-day cooling-off period to cancel an investment without penalty.

The one caveat sits in the second service. Lendermarket says its Claims Assignment Service "falls outside the scope of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 and is therefore not part of the regulated crowdfunding framework". All six Creditstar lines run through it. So the part of Lendermarket that overlaps with Monefit is exactly the part the licence does not cover.

Monefit's terms call it "the provider of the Monefit SmartSaver service only". It does not grant loans, is not an issuer of securities and does not take deposits.

Neither platform is covered by deposit guarantee schemes under Directive 2014/49/EU or investor compensation schemes under Directive 97/9/EC. Both say so in their own risk disclosures. On Lendermarket, the buyback is "a contractual obligation of the Loan Originator and is dependent on their financial capacity". On Monefit, the stress clause from round 3 decides what happens when repayments fall short.

Round 4 goes to Lendermarket by a slight margin. The licence holds up as a check on how the platform operates. It cannot make an originator solvent, though, and it does not cover the six Creditstar lines.

Round 5: Fees and Entry Barrier

For everyday use, both platforms cost next to nothing. The differences sit at the edges.

On Lendermarket, registration, investing and portfolio management are free, and so are SEPA bank deposits. SWIFT transfers are not accepted. The first bank withdrawal each calendar month costs nothing. Each further one in the same month costs €2, according to the Help Centre, even though the fees page simply shows "Free*". Card deposits and card withdrawals may carry a processing fee, which is shown before you confirm. A FLEX exit weighs more, at 3.5% of the exited amount: taking out €1,000 costs €35 and leaves you €965.

Monefit's fee list is short and no-nonsense. Bank transfers in and out are free. Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay cost 1% of the transaction, on deposits and withdrawals alike. Leaving a Vault early costs at least the extra Vault return, as round 3 showed.

Entry barriers are modest on both sides. Lendermarket starts at €10 per loan and sets no maximum. Monefit Vaults need at least €100, and both platforms apply a €50 minimum withdrawal. The rest of the small print sits in our ten things to know before investing in Lendermarket.

Round 5 is a draw. Stick to bank transfers and one withdrawal a month on Lendermarket, and the only real cost on either platform is leaving early.

Round 6: Track Record and Reputation

Age favours Lendermarket, while reputation favours Monefit.

Lendermarket was established in 2018 and has a rough patch on its record. From 2022 to 2024, investors faced payment delays, shown on the platform as pending payments. Its About page now says: "The payment delays were a difficult period, but we resolved all obligations in full with interest." Lendermarket 2.0 launched in April 2024, and the 1.0 platform closed on 31 December 2025. The platform's own statistics show almost €690 million invested since launch, €44.7 million in interest earned by investors and more than 31,000 registered investors.

SmartSaver launched in late 2022, so its record covers a shorter period. Monefit reports 48k+ investors, €450m+ invested and €29.8m in returns paid out. On withdrawals, it states: "Since launch, 100% of withdrawal requests have been paid on time. That's our track record, not a promise for the future." Creditstar, the group behind it, says it has run its finance business since 2006.

Trustpilot shows the gap in reputation. Monefit scores 4.7 out of 5 from 1,654 reviews, with 75% five-star and 2% one-star ratings. Lendermarket stands at 4.1 from 744 reviews, 63 of them from the last 12 months. Its split is 45% five-star against 32% one-star. Both companies reply to negative reviews.

Past figures on either side are no reliable guide to future ones, and each platform counts its totals its own way. Round 6 still goes to Monefit: an on-time record by its own account and the stronger rating outweigh a longer history that includes the 2022 to 2024 delays.

Lendermarket vs Monefit SmartSaver: Head to Head

Which Platform Fits Which Investor

Overall, there is no single winner here, only a better fit for a given job.

Holding both is where round 2 matters most. The Lendermarket part only adds a different risk when it goes to originators outside the Creditstar lines and Gatelink. Auto Invest lets you filter by originator and by service type. Choosing only the regulated service drops all six Creditstar lines in one step, but it keeps Gatelink and also leaves out Credifiel. Selecting originators one by one is the more practical route if you want that control. Weighing Mintos as well? Our Mintos vs Monefit SmartSaver comparison covers that matchup.

Our own split looks like this. We hold a five-figure amount in Monefit SmartSaver and a four-figure amount in Lendermarket. On Lendermarket, we started smaller and plan to expand step by step, and so far our experience there has been positive. For ourselves, P2P stays a small part of the portfolio, and the emergency fund stays out of it entirely. That is how we handle it, not a recommendation for you. Lendermarket's risk disclosure even names a ceiling: no more than 10% of your net worth in crowdfunding projects.

Through our links, both platforms come with a start bonus. Lendermarket pays 1.5% cashback on your net invested funds in the first 90 days after verification, and our guide to the Lendermarket bonus explains the timing and terms. Monefit's 0.25% bonus on net investments in the first 90 days is its own public offer and applies through our link as well.

If daily access matters more to you, Monefit SmartSaver is the simpler start.