Almost anyone can become a lender on Flender. To become a lender you need to meet the following criteria:

1. You must be over 18 and a have valid passport or driving licence
2. You must have a valid bank account available
3. You must take responsibility for your own tax affairs and report to your country’s regulatory authorities as necessary.

There is no cap on the total you can lend to businesses on Flender. You can lend from €50 to €300,000 on each loan request although investors typically create a diverse portfolio to spread risk across a range of loans.
Interest rates available through Flender can vary depending on type of campaign and the rate the borrower is willing to pay.

The percentage that we show as potential return is the annual interest rate that is charged on a decreasing balance loan.
For example if you lend a Borrower €10,000 at a 10.30% interest rate over 36 months, the monthly repayments to you will be €324.08.
So you will get back €11,666.96 in total (i.e. a return of €1,666.96, or 16.7% of the loaned amount). Dividing that 16.7% by three years gets to 5.7%, but that 5.7% is not the available rate of return, because it's not compounded.
In order to achieve an annual rate of return of 10.3%, you'd simply reinvest the monthly repayments from this loan into other loans to receive the benefits of compound interest.

With Flender, you can lend to limited companies, sole traders and partnerships seeking loan facilities.
We carefully review all potential borrowers and only approve their applications if they have successfully completed affordability and credit checks. All business loans are secured with directors’ personal guarantees and a security deposit.

The credit team at Flender evaluates each borrower in detail for affordability and creditworthiness, as with traditional lending institutions. We also analyse credit information obtained from Credit Safe and Stubbs Gazette, along with a detailed cash flow and VAT return analysis.
We carefully review all potential borrowers and only approve their applications if they have successfully completed affordability and credit checks. All business loans are secured with directors’ personal guarantees.

First, register as an investor on Flender and choose the campaign(s) that you would like to lend to from the Flender Marketplace. You can then transfer your funds to those campaigns. You can also invest quickly and automatically in companies that meet your criteria using our AutoFlend feature.

AutoFlend allows you to automatically bid on live campaigns in the Flender Marketplace. Registered users can see AutoFlend by logging into their accounts.
AutoFlend is designed to help investors quickly lend to companies that meet certain criteria. Investors can set loan grades and terms themselves and then use AutoFlend to spread their funds across a range of business loans that meet these criteria. AutoFlend also helps investors create a diverse portfolio and spread risk across a range of loans.
AutoFlend automatically place bids for you when a loan meeting your criteria appears on the Flender Marketplace without you having to check for new campaigns. You can opt in and opt out of AutoFlend whenever you wish.

The fee structure for our lending community is currently under review and we will be communicating any changes in the very near future.

We understand that this is your money, not ours. The available cash that you have is held in a segregated Lenders funds account. Flender manages these accounts in line with best practice. The account does not form part of Flender’s assets. Where you lodge funds to your Flender account, we will ensure the safety of your money by putting in place structures and controls consistent with Client Monies regulations.

It is important to remember that with all lending there is an element of risk. Some borrowers may not be able to fully repay their loan. If this happens, the loan becomes known as a bad debt.
All of our borrowers undergo a rigorous credit evaluation process before they post a loan request on Flender.
This process includes the following checks:

1. Credit Checks by Credit Safe – the borrower must have a good record of managing their finances.
2. Affordability – the borrower must clearly show that it can comfortably afford the repayments.
3. Creditworthiness – we check each borrower’s identity and creditworthiness in detail, using the same business information that all the best financial institutions use. We also validate their bank statements and audited financial accounts.

Our experienced underwriters review every application in full before it can be posted on Flender.
We advise all lenders to spread their money across multiple campaigns to reduce their risk. By lending only a small proportion of each business loan, you reduce your exposure.

Flender does everything necessary to ensure that each borrower is who they say they are and does what they say they’ll do.
We also carry out comprehensive identity and credit checks on company directors who wish to borrow through Flender.

The first repayment you get from a borrower will usually arrive within a month of you lending to them.
You will see your funds in your Flender account and you can withdraw them once a month or reinvest and earn compound interest.

Yes, any money you receive from borrower repayments is automatically added to your available cash fund which you can then use to lend to other borrowers and take advantage of the power of compound interest to maximise your returns. You can use AutoFlend to automatically reinvest money you receive from borrower repayments.

You can withdraw any money in your lender account that you have not currently lent out. For your first withdrawal, we require proof of identification before we can release your funds. The following items are accepted:

1. Proof of Identity: Copy of Passport/Drivers Licence/EU Card.
2. Proof of Address: Financial statement which must be dated within the last 6 months.

Flender’s comprehensive affordability and creditworthiness checks have meant that Flender maintains an extremely low default rate. We also have a debt recovery program with a third party collections agency to manage defaults should they occur. Borrowers who do default will be pursued where possible and any money recovered will be forwarded to the lenders. The borrower will also have to meet the costs of recovery which is a condition of their loan. If there is a shortfall, all the lenders to that borrower will share the cost of it on a pro-rata basis.

If a borrower chooses not to accept the offer of a loan, we will return the amount to your account as soon as we process the transaction.

Tax is not deducted from your lending returns on Flender. Therefore, you will need to file a self-assessment tax return showing the interest you have received from your borrowers. For most people, lending on Flender will be considered an investment activity and will qualify as unearned income for taxation purposes. You will be able to access your lending return information from your Flender account.

It is your responsibility to register or report to your country’s relevant authorities as necessary. Lenders should familiarise themselves with the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 in Ireland, which requires some lenders to register with the regulator in Ireland. This is an assessment for each individual lender to make.

Flender has partnered with a market leading loan book management firm to ensure the loan book continues to be managed in an efficient manner in the very unlikely event that the Flender platform can no longer service the loan book.

With Flender you can withdraw your investment returns once per calendar month to ensure you have regular access to your funds.

Flender stringently reviews all credit applications and assigns a credit grade between A+ and V. The main criteria of the grading system encompasses Affordability, Liquidity, Equity base, Business age, Directors experience and Credit history.

Please note that Flender’s Grade V product has a higher rate as there is a higher risk attached. These deals will be bespoke in nature (eg. project finance) and may be exceptions to our standard credit criteria.

Please note that Flender will always complete the necessary due diligence and credit risk assessment to ensure that we are satisfied that the clients have demonstrated affordability for the loan facility.

The loans you make on Flender are what are known as fully amortising loans with fixed repayments. In this type of loan, each repayment from the borrower is made up of both capital and interest. Because capital repayments are being made each month, the amount of capital outstanding is reduced each month.

Interest is charged monthly on the outstanding capital. And because the outstanding capital is less each month, so is the amount of interest charged each month.

For example, if you lend €1,000 to a business at a 10% interest rate for 36 months, that 10% is charged each month on a reducing amount of capital. Therefore in this example you would receive approximately €162 in interest payments. This amount is shown as “potential return” on our loan calculator.

Flender collects funds from borrowers monthly by direct debit. To allow time for funds to clear, your returns may be credited to your investor account up to ten days after collection from borrowers.

Anyone with one of the following self-managed pension arrangements already in place:

1. Small Self-Administered Pension Scheme (SSAS)
2. Personal Retirement Bond (PRB)
3. Approved Retirement Fund (ARF)
4. Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (AmRF)

Your pension product will need to be held with one of our participating trustee companies and you will need to confirm that you have received investment advice from a qualified financial advisor who is willing to act as investment manager.

To access the considerable tax benefits associated with lending through a self-managed pension arrangement, there are certain requirements that need to be met. Flender Pension Accounts have been created to satisfy those requirements and to make lending on Flender an acceptable form of investment from your trustee’s perspective.

Flender Pension Accounts differ from standard Flender accounts in a number of important ways:

1. A minimum first transfer of €20,000 is required
2. Minimum bids of €500 apply to pension accounts
3. Agents of your trustee company can access & view activity 24/7
4. Agents of your trustee company can access real time reports on your investment activity 24/7

1. Check to see if your trustee company is working with Flender. Currently The Independent Trustee Company (ITC) is working with Flender.
2. Complete the Pension Account online application. Select Account Type as 'Pension Account'.
3. Download and complete the Pension Account authorisation document.
4. Have the document signed by your QFA, who agrees to act as investment manager, and return it directly to your trustees.
5. Your trustees will approve your Flender pension account and facilitate the first transfer.

If you are interested in creating a Flender Pension Account, consider the following before getting in touch:

1. Do you already have one of these self-administered pension arrangements in place; SSAS, PRB, AmRF or ARF?
2. Is your self-administered pension arrangement administered by our participating trustee company? Currently The Independent Trustee Company(ITC) is working with Flender.
3. An initial deposit of €20,000 is required to open a Flender Pension Account and there is a 2.5% initial set up fee.
4. Flender Pension Accounts have a minimum bid requirement of €500.

You can apply for Flender Pension Account here.

In this scenario, you have two options. You can speak to your trustee company about working with Flender and ask them to contact us on 01 5510716
Alternatively, you can speak to your financial advisor about switching your existing arrangement to one of our participating trustee companies.

If you would like a Flender Pension Account but don't have one of the necessary pension arrangements in place, you will need to set one up through your financial advisor and it will need to be with our participating trustee company.
When you have an SSAS, PRB, ARF or AmRF set up with one of our participating trustees, you will be able to apply for a Flender Pension Account.