Legal status of Vertaislaina24
Vertaislaina24 is a classifieds board — an advertising service. It is NOT a financial service.
- ❌ We do NOT grant loans (we are not a lender / luotonantaja).
- ❌ We do NOT broker or intermediate credit (not a luotonvälittäjä / vertaislainanvälittäjä).
- ❌ We do NOT charge or pay interest, and we take no cut of any loan.
- ❌ We do NOT assess creditworthiness, score users, match parties, or handle money between them.
- ✅ We only publish users’ own listings for a fixed listing fee — like any classifieds board.
Why this is lawful as an advertising service
Finnish financial-market regulation targets parties who grant or broker credit as a business. The Act on the Registration of Certain Credit Providers and Credit Intermediaries (186/2023) requires registration with the Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanssivalvonta) only for business operators who grant consumer credit or who intermediate peer-to-peer loans to consumers (peer-to-peer loan intermediaries, vertaislainanvälittäjät). Since 1 July 2023 this register and its supervision moved from the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) to the Financial Supervisory Authority.
The Consumer Protection Act (38/1978), Chapter 7 governs consumer credit granted or brokered by businesses. A genuine one-off loan directly between two private individuals — with no business intermediary bringing about the specific credit agreement — falls outside Chapter 7’s credit-relationship rules.
Vertaislaina24 does none of the regulated acts. We do not grant credit, we do not bring about or negotiate any specific loan, we take no part in the money flow, and our fee is a fixed charge for publishing an advertisement — not a commission on a loan. This is the same legal footing as a newspaper or a general classifieds site (e.g. Tori.fi) that hosts “lost & found” or “services” ads.
The loan agreement between users is a private-law contract. It is governed by general contract-law rules — above all the Contracts Act (Act on Legal Transactions in the Field of Property Law, 228/1929), which governs a contract’s formation and validity; its §31 (usury) and §36 (adjustment of unreasonable terms) protect the private-loan party too. Interest and default interest are governed by the Interest Act (633/1982), and the written promissory note (velkakirja) by the Promissory Notes Act (622/1947). We strongly recommend a written agreement — a free, law-based template is on our loan-agreement page.
The line we never cross
To remain a pure advertising service we never: match a specific borrower with a specific investor, score or rank users, negotiate loan terms, receive or forward loan money, or take a percentage of any loan. Users find each other and contract directly.
Official sources
- 📘 Act 186/2023 — registration of credit providers & intermediaries (Finlex)
- 📘 Consumer Protection Act 38/1978, Ch. 7 (Finlex)
- 📘 Interest Act 633/1982 (Finlex)
- 📘 Contracts Act 228/1929 — formation, validity, §31 usury, §36 adjustment (Finlex)
- 📘 Promissory Notes Act 622/1947 (Finlex)
- 🏛️ Financial Supervisory Authority — lender & P2P-intermediary register (from 1.7.2023)
- 🏛️ Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV)
This page describes our operating model and legal position in good faith; it is not legal advice. If you operate lending as a business, seek registration and legal counsel. Service provider: NET Partner OÜ (EE11299597).