Why invest in Lendwise loans?
Earn interest at a competitive rate
Lendwise aims to yield attractive returns for lenders.
Enhanced earnings potential
A relevant post graduate degree or professional qualification augments the earnings potential of Lendwise Borrowers and thus repayment capability.
Social impact investment
The new generation and the new generation economy is based on knowledge. Lending for the purpose of education is ethical and socially responsible.
Lendwise credit assessment
Prior to a loan request reaching you as a Lender, all prospective borrowers undergo a credit assessment to reduce the risk of repayment failure. Learn more about our Credit evaluation process.
Diversified risk
By lending to a range of individuals in different study fields and universities graduating over a number of years you can diversify your lending portfolio and reduce risk. Read more information on How to diversify your risk.
AutoLend & loan filters
Use our AutoLend and loan filters to create a lending portfolio that matches your personal lending criteria and investment objectives.
How do I start lending?
Set up a Lendwise Account in 4 steps and start earning!
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Open your IFISA or Classic account
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Fund your Lendwise Account
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Build your Loan Portfolio
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Receive Capital and Interest Repayments
Choose an account type that works for you
Lendwise ISA Account
The tax-free* way to power your impact investing in our postgraduate student loans.
*The tax treatment of interest and reliefs on defaults may be subject to change and tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances.
Get started with a minimum deposit or transfer from your existing ISA provider of £1,000.
More about ISAsIf the minimum £1,000 deposit is not met within two business days** of the initial deposit, a refund will be issued within two business days.
** Business Days Notice: For example, if a deposit is made on a Monday at any time of day and the minimum amount requirement is not met, day one will be counted as Tuesday, and day two will follow on Wednesday. If the required additional amount is not received within these two business days, a refund will be processed on Thursday morning.
Classic Account
The original Lendwise account offering attractive rates of interest from impact investing in our postgraduate student loans.
Get started with a minimum deposit of £1,000. No limits on the amount of money that can be invested but any income earned will be taxable at your prevailing tax rate.
If the minimum £1,000 deposit is not met within two business days** of the initial deposit, a refund will be issued within two business days.
** Business Days Notice: For example, if a deposit is made on a Monday at any time of day and the minimum amount requirement is not met, day one will be counted as Tuesday, and day two will follow on Wednesday. If the required additional amount is not received within these two business days, a refund will be processed on Thursday morning.
Find out more
We strongly advise that you read our Key Investor Information and Tips on Diversification pages.
Frequently asked questions
Risk / Diversification
What are the risks involved with peer to peer lending?
Lendwise strives to minimise the risk involved with peer to peer lending. As with any form of investment, there are inherent risks and you may not get back your capital or interest. The main risk that you face as a Lender is the risk of non-repayment by borrowers. You can mitigate that risk significantly by diversifying your loan portfolio and your investment holdings in general. Other risks concern the non-liquid nature of peer to peer lending, which in simple terms means that you should not lend money that you may need prior to the maturity of a loan. Lenders could also face interest rate risk, which in simple terms means that interest rates in the economy could rise but the return on money that you have already invested remains fixed at a lower level.
Lendwise cannot advise you on the suitability of peer to peer lending for you and we suggest that if you are not sure of your risk tolerance or require advice to contact your authorised independent financial advisor.
For additional information, see Risks involved with peer-to-peer lending.
Diversify your portfolio – minimise your risk
Lendwise offers you a functional loan filtering tool, AutoLend functionality and personalised diversification statistics to enable you to diversify your portfolio and minimise your risk. For more information, check out Ways to diversify your Lending Portfolio.
Is my investment covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”)?
It is important for our lenders to be aware that, like all P2P lending platforms, Lendwise is outside of the scope of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”). This means that, should a P2P platform fail for any reason, those investing (lending) directly via the platform would not be able to claim compensation from the FSCS. The management of Lendwise is taking all necessary steps and precautions so that if such an event would take place, the money in your Lendwise account will be promptly returned to you (in compliance with FCA Client Money Rules) and the servicing of loans that you have made will continue until you have been fully repaid.
Is my capital protected and are my returns guaranteed?
Lending to Borrowers via the Lendwise platform is subject to risk and neither the amount of capital you lend nor the interest repayments are guaranteed. Your capital is at risk, and while we try our best to assess borrower applications to minimise the risk of non-repayment, you should be aware that returns are not guaranteed and use the filtering and AutoLend tools to diversify your lending portfolio and minimise the impact of any borrower not repaying.
What happens if a borrower misses their payment or defaults on their loan?
If a borrower misses (or does not pay in full) a monthly repayment we will contact the borrower to make the payment or explain their non-payment situation and will re-attempt to collect the outstanding payment. The loan will be classified as ‘in-arrears’ and we will continue our efforts to collect the payment from the borrower. Should a borrower be over 90 days in arrears we will classify the loan as ‘defaulted’ and you may face the risk of non-repayment from the specific loan. We will however, continue our efforts either internally or with the assistance of specialised agencies to recover the amounts due.
Lending with Lendwise
Why invest in education finance?
Education finance is perhaps unique in that it enables individual borrowers to achieve their academic and career aspirations and augments their probability of higher future income and repayment ability of the loans you make. As a form of Socially Responsible Investment it offers both a positive social impact and financial gain.
What are the criteria for lending with Lendwise?
To sign up with Lendwise as a Lender you must be over 18 years of age, have a UK bank account in your name and not be a lender by way of business. You must also read carefully and accept the Terms and Conditions, which detail the Lender eligibility criteria.
What are the Lender account options?
Lendwise offers lenders the ability to create a Classic or an ISA investor account. To learn more information about opening an ISA with Lendwise, please visit our IFISA key investor information.
Who are our borrowers?
Our borrowers are primarily UK residents studying for a postgraduate degree or professional qualification who require a loan to fund their studies. We also welcome applications from other European or International candidates with an offer from a Tier 1 UK university or any other top European or International university and/or Business School. Prospective borrowers complete a loan application online, which is assessed by our credit officers and credit scoring algorithm and if successful, their loan requests are presented to Lendwise Lenders for funding.
Do you charge fees for lending?
Lendwise applies a loan servicing fee that is chargeable on the interest paid by the borrower. We only apply the loan servicing fee after a borrower has paid thus aligning our objectives with your own. Lendwise does not earn fees from the lender unless the Lender receives their repayment.
Will I have to pay tax on my P2P income?
We will pay all returns to you gross, ie. without deducting any income tax. Your tax obligation will depend on your individual tax circumstances.
Lendwise will make available to you a statement of interest earned and losses suffered from bad debts in order to enable you to make the correct tax declarations and pay your taxes. For more information on Tax on peer to peer lending please visit www.gov.uk/guidance/peer-to-peer-lending.
What is AutoLend?
AutoLend is a functionality of Lendwise enabling you to achieve diversification of your investments easily, which should minimise risk. It allows you to set customised lending criteria thus personalizing your lending strategy to be aligned with your desired investment objectives. For more information please see “How to Use AutoLend“
How do you ensure funds are used for their intended purpose?
Lendwise loans are primarily for tuition fees and these are usually paid directly to the academic institution involved. On certain occasions, where Lendwise’s credit assessment deems it acceptable, a small amount of study-related personal expenses may be included in the overall loan amount but the majority of the loan is usually always tuition fees.
