The marketing for lending platforms tends to lead with a number, a headline yield, usually rounded up. That number is the least useful thing on the page. What actually separates a platform worth your due diligence from one worth avoiding is a set of duller questions about structure, custody, and disclosure.
Here are seven of them, in the order a careful investor would ask, with notes on how one platform, Maclear, a Swiss crowdlending platform, answers each. Use the same questions on any platform you consider.
1. Where is it, and under whose law?
Jurisdiction determines which courts, which insolvency rules, and which consumer protections apply to you. A lending platform incorporated somewhere with weak enforcement is a different proposition from one under a mature legal system, regardless of the yield. Maclear is a Swiss entity operating under Swiss law. Confirm the operating entity’s country and legal form before anything else.
2. What is its actual regulatory status — precisely?
This is where most investors are misled, usually by the lending platform itself. ”Regulated” is not a binary. Ask exactly what the lending platform is authorized to do and by whom. Maclear is a member of PolyReg, a Swiss self-regulatory organization, for anti-money-laundering purposes under Swiss AMLA. It is not directly licensed or supervised by FINMA, and investor funds are not covered by any deposit-insurance scheme. That is a legitimate and common status for a crowdlending platform — but it is emphatically not a banking license, and any platform that blurs the two should lose your trust immediately.
3. Is there collateral behind the loans — and what kind?
Unsecured lending and asset-backed lending are different risks wearing the same yield. Ask whether loans are secured, and by what: real estate, equipment, receivables, a corporate or personal guarantee. Maclear’s business loans are generally backed by security pledged by the borrower. ”Secured” is not ”safe” — recovery still depends on the value and enforceability of the specific asset — but it is materially better than nothing standing behind the loan.
4. Who actually holds and enforces that collateral?
Security is only as good as the mechanism that enforces it. If a borrower defaults, you do not want to be one of two hundred individuals separately trying to seize a warehouse. Ask whether a single party holds the security on all investors’ behalf. Maclear acts as collateral agent: investors assign their claims to the platform so that enforcement can be pursued collectively. Establish who plays this role on any platform, and what happens to that role if the lending platform itself fails.
5. Is there a reserve or provision fund — and what are its limits?
A reserve fund is a buffer, not a guarantee, and the platforms worth trusting say so themselves. Ask how it is funded, what it covers, and — most importantly — what it does not. Maclear maintains a reserve funded from a percentage of each successfully funded project, used to bridge some interrupted interest payments.
By the platform’s own terms, that fund cannot guarantee full payment of interest or principal, and it can be depleted. Treat any ”protection fund” pitched as a safety net with skepticism.
6. Does it publish default and recovery data — and can you find it unprompted?
This is the acid test of transparency. A platform confident in its book publishes its default rate, its late-loan rate and its recovery history, and does not bury them. Ask for the numbers, and note whether you had to ask.
This is the acid test of transparency. A platform confident in its book publishes its default rate, its late-loan rate and its recovery history, and does not bury them. Ask for the numbers, and note whether you had to ask.
In Maclear’s case, the figures are on the site without asking: one default since launch in 2022 — a €150,000 loan to an Italian borrower, resolved through a direct repayment agreement rather than liquidation, with 100% of investor capital returned and the provision fund left untouched. What you won’t find is a published late-loan rate.
That record is short, and a short record is not the same as a proven one: the platform is young, and its loan book has not yet been through a full cycle. The point stands whichever platform you’re looking at — demand to see the numbers, and treat a spotless history as something to verify rather than something to trust.
Whatever the number, the point stands: demand to see it, and be wary of a platform that presents a spotless record without audited data behind it.
7. How — realistically — do you get your money out?
Most of these loans lock your capital in until maturity. A secondary market can offer an earlier exit, but only if another investor will buy your claim, possibly at a discount. Ask whether a secondary market exists and understand it is a possible, not guaranteed, exit. Maclear operates a secondary market on those terms. Never invest money you may need back on a fixed date.
The point of the exercise
Run these seven questions, and a pattern emerges quickly: good lending platforms answer plainly, in writing, and volunteer the caveats; weak ones answer with adjectives. Maclear’s terms address most of these questions directly, and the one that turns on live data, question six, should be checked against its current published figures rather than taken on faith. That is not a knock on any platform. It is simply how a careful investor behaves before putting capital at risk in an asset class where losing it is a real possibility.
Read more: What is P2B lending — and how does it differ from P2P?
This article is general information and editorial commentary, not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Lending through any platform carries risk, including the partial or total loss of the money invested; returns are not fixed or guaranteed and past results do not indicate future outcomes. Any platform named is one example among several and is not a recommendation. Always read a platform’s full risk disclosures and consider consulting a licensed adviser.