Loans

Peer-to-peer loans and P2P platforms in Finland

Learn the basics of peer-to-peer lending, compare Finland's largest P2P platforms (Fellow Finance, Fixura, AuroraX), and find an alternative if you want to make an agreement directly without a platform.

A peer-to-peer loan is funded by another private individual rather than by a bank. In Finland this happens in two ways. A platform scores the applicant, splits the loan into small pieces and handles the money flow; a direct agreement skips all of that and leaves two people to settle the terms between themselves. The guides below cover both routes.

Start from the role you are in. If you need money, read what peer-to-peer lending is first and then how a P2P loan works in practice. If you have money to put to work, the relevant questions are return, diversification and loss control — those are collected in investing in P2P lending.

Platform reviews tell you what each service charges and what it does for you in return. A direct agreement is cheaper but moves the credit risk and the collection work onto the parties, so read the risks of peer-to-peer lending before you commit to either route.

Where to start

The guides do not need to be read in order. Pick the line below that matches your situation right now.

Frequently asked questions

Are these guides written only for people living in Finland? +

They are written around Finnish law and the Finnish market, so the legal parts — the Promissory Notes Act, the Interest Act, payment default entries — apply here. The mechanics of a private loan are similar elsewhere, but the statutory references are not transferable. If you live abroad and lend to someone in Finland, the agreement should state which law applies.

Which page explains the difference between a platform loan and a private agreement? +

P2P loan in Finland sets the two side by side: who the counterparty is, who handles the money, who carries the loss and what each option costs. The platform pages then go through Fellow Finance, Fixura and AuroraX one at a time.

Do I need a Finnish personal identity code to post a listing? +

An account and a working email are enough to publish. An identity code becomes relevant at the moment a written agreement is signed, because the parties must be identifiable for the note to be enforceable. This is covered in loan agreement terms.

Is the English section a translation of the Finnish one? +

It covers the same subjects but it is written separately, because the questions differ. English-speaking readers are more often newcomers who need the legal framework spelled out, while the Finnish pages assume the reader already knows what a maksuhäiriömerkintä is. Where a figure appears in both, the source is the same.

Who supervises peer-to-peer lending in Finland? +

Companies that provide consumer credit or broker peer-to-peer loans as a business must be entered in the register of lenders and peer-to-peer loan brokers kept by Finanssivalvonta, the Financial Supervisory Authority. Marketing and contract terms are supervised by the Consumer Ombudsman at the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (kkv.fi). A one-off loan between two private individuals falls outside both.

Where can I read the acts these pages refer to? +

Finnish legislation is published free of charge at finlex.fi, including English translations of many acts. The ones that matter here are the Promissory Notes Act (622/1947), the Interest Act (633/1982) and the Consumer Protection Act (38/1978), whose chapter 7 applies only when the lender is a business.