Fellow Finance peer-to-peer loan — reviews, terms and alternative
Fellow Finance is Finland’s best-known peer-to-peer loan platform. Here you’ll find its background, rates, reviews — and an alternative if you want to make an agreement directly without a platform.
Short answer: is Fellow Finance worth it
Fellow Finance is the best-known peer-to-peer operator in Finland and works under the supervision of the Financial Supervisory Authority. For a borrower it is a genuine alternative to a bank if the credit record is clean and the sum falls between €1,000 and €60,000. For an investor it is a diversified interest product whose realised return has been clearly lower than the nominal rates on the loans suggest — credit losses account for the difference.
It does not suit everyone. With a payment default entry, the automatic credit check terminates the application before anyone reads your reasoning. And if you want to agree the rate and the schedule directly with another person, the platform’s scoring is an unnecessary intermediary. In those cases a classifieds board is a different tool for the same need — compare the options on P2P loan in Finland.
Vertaislaina24 does not grant loans and does not broker them. We receive no compensation from Fellow Finance for this page and we do not direct traffic there for a fee — the page is comparative information, not a recommendation.
Overview of the topic
Fellow Finance Oyj is a Finnish finance company founded in 2013, offering peer-to-peer loans to both private individuals and SMEs. It is listed on First North Helsinki and supervised by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA).
On the Fellow Finance platform, investors fund loans split into small pieces. A loan to a private individual is typically €1,000–60,000, term 1–10 years, rate 6–18% depending on credit rating. Investors’ average return in recent years has been about 6–9% per year.
Vertaislaina24 does not compete with Fellow Finance as a full platform — we are a classifieds board where agreements are made directly. If you want to avoid platform fees or need a faster, more personal solution, you can post your own listing with us (borrowers: first 5 listings free, then €3; investors: €10).
Fellow Finance terms in numbers
| Party / route | Amount | Term | Interest | Costs | Credit check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fellow Finance, borrower | €1,000–60,000 | 1–10 yrs | 6–18 % nominal | Arrangement fee + monthly charge | Always |
| Fellow Finance, investor | from €25 per loan | per loan | gross yield 6–9 % | Service fee on the return | Handled by the platform |
| Bank consumer loan | €2,000–50,000 | 1–15 yrs | 5–12 % nominal | Drawdown fee + account charge | Always |
| Direct agreement on a classifieds board | parties agree | parties agree | parties agree | only the listing fee | None automatically |
The figures are orders of magnitude drawn from public terms and market practice, not an offer. The annual percentage rate includes the costs — always work it out yourself with the loan calculator before signing.
Fellow Finance and the Finnish P2P market in numbers
Fellow Finance Oyj was founded in 2013, listed on First North Helsinki in 2018 and has intermediated loans worth over a billion euros in total across Finland, Germany, Poland and Denmark. In 2022 the company combined into the Fellow Bank group and moved under a banking licence, which changed its position: part of the business is now ordinary bank lending rather than peer-to-peer lending.
Scale is worth keeping in mind. Finnish households hold roughly €17–18 billion in consumer credit, and the share attributable to peer-to-peer lending stays below one per cent of it. The practical meaning is that peer-to-peer lending is a niche route rather than a mass solution. The same applies to direct agreements served by a classifieds board.
From an investor’s point of view the number that matters is not the nominal rate on the loans but the realised net return after credit losses. In published platform reports the gap is typically three to six percentage points: a 12 per cent nominal rate leaves 6 to 9 per cent in hand. The arithmetic is set out on invest in P2P lending.
Source: Fellow Finance Oyj public releases and annual reviews together with Bank of Finland monetary financial institution statistics; data checked in August 2026.
How the Fellow Finance process runs
The platform process is automated and runs in the same order regardless of how well you justify your application. That is both its strength and its limitation.
- 1
Application and identification
You complete an application online and identify yourself with bank credentials. The application requires an identity code, income details and information on existing debts.
- 2
Automatic credit check
The platform retrieves credit data from the register. At this stage a payment default entry leads in practice always to a negative decision — see what a default blocks and what it does not.
- 3
Credit grade and rate offer
The applicant receives a grade that determines the interest range. The grade cannot be negotiated, because a model rather than a person produces it.
- 4
Funding by investors
The loan is split into pieces funded by investors. Popular grades fill quickly; weaker ones may remain partly unfunded.
- 5
Payment plan and collection
The platform collects the instalments and handles collection. Investors are not in contact with the debtor — the biggest difference from a direct agreement, where collection is the investor’s own responsibility.
Route planner: three questions, one recommendation
Peer-to-peer lending is not a single product but a set of different routes. Answer three questions to see which route fits your situation and what to read next. The tool collects nothing and sends nothing to a server — everything runs in your browser.
Recommended route
Answer all three questions to see the recommendation.
Below €2,000 an arrangement fee eats the largest relative share of the loan. Write a listing that states the purpose and the repayment dates, and work out the total cost with the loan calculator before you agree on a rate. Background: how P2P lending works in Finland.
The most common P2P range. Compare the platforms’ real annual cost against your own offer first: Fellow Finance, Fixura. If you want to agree directly, write the agreement terms down before any money moves.
Above €15,000 collateral and witnesses are not a formality. Go through the contract terms clause by clause and check the risks on both sides before signing.
With a small pot, diversification is the only protection you have. Do not put everything into one listing — read how to calculate expected return and credit losses and follow the active listings before the first agreement.
At this size it is worth comparing platform investing and a direct agreement side by side: the platform handles collection, a direct agreement leaves the whole interest to you. Background: P2P mechanics and AuroraX.
With large sums, collateral and enforceability decide whether you get your money back. Read the terms, the risks, and check what a credit default actually means for the counterparty.
Even a small loan to a friend is worth putting in writing. Use a promissory note structure and add a reference in the bank transfer message field — that is the only proof when memories differ.
Write down the interest, the due dates and the consequence of late payment. Without a written interest the debt is interest-free, and without due dates late-payment interest never starts running. See the wording of each clause.
For a large promissory note, two witnesses and collateral are the practical minimum. Read the agreement terms and the risk list before signing.
A clean credit record is a negotiating asset: say plainly in the listing that there are no entries, and the other side dares to offer a lower rate. The cheapest route is still usually a bank consumer loan — put that out to tender first and use P2P only if the terms are not acceptable.
A payment default closes the bank and most platforms, because they run an automatic credit check. On a classifieds board a default does not block publishing, but honesty pays: read what options remain and how to word the listing.
If you do not know the state of your credit record, check it before applying for anything. You can obtain your own credit data free of charge once a year from the register keeper. After that you know whether to go to a bank or straight to the listings board.
What Fellow Finance requires from an applicant
The requirements are public and machine-checkable. If any of them is unmet, the application never reaches a negotiation stage at all.
Age and residence
At least 20 years old with a permanent address in Finland. A Finnish citizen living abroad is not normally eligible to apply.
Regular income
Salary, self-employment income or a pension sufficient for the instalment after other debts. Basic social assistance alone is not enough.
Clean credit record
A payment default entry blocks a loan in practice always. The alternatives are set out on P2P loan without a credit check.
A Finnish bank account and strong authentication
Strong identification with bank credentials is mandatory. This applies to investors too, whose funds pass through the platform’s client funds account.
If Fellow Finance rejects the application
A negative decision on a platform is almost always machine-made, so appealing rarely helps. It is more useful to work out which of the three reasons applied: a payment default entry, too little repayment capacity against existing debts, or too short an income history. The latter two correct themselves within months; the first does not.
Do not apply to five places on the same day. Every application leaves a trace in credit data, and a dense burst of applications reads as desperation to the next lender. One application at a time, with a few weeks in between.
- Check your own credit data before the next application — free of charge once a year from the register keeper.
- Work out your real repayment capacity with the loan calculator and apply for a sum that fits it, not one you hope for.
- If the reason was an entry, read which routes remain after a refusal.
- Consider a direct agreement where a person assesses the situation rather than a model: P2P loan in Finland.
- If you already have several creditors, contact municipal financial and debt counselling before taking on more. It is free of charge.
Fellow Finance weighed up
Advantages: what this route gives you
- +A supervised operator with public terms — the background can be verified.
- +An investor gets diversification without doing the work.
- +Collection and payment handling are taken care of, with no chasing of your own.
- +The application process is fast and a decision often arrives the same day.
Drawbacks and limits: where it breaks down
- −Costs compound: arrangement fee, monthly charge and the investor service fee.
- −The credit grade cannot be negotiated or argued with.
- −An investor’s realised return falls well short of the nominal rate.
- −With the banking licence, some products are no longer peer-to-peer lending despite the name.
Who this is not for
- ×Anyone with a payment default entry — the automation ends the application.
- ×Needs below €1,000, where fixed costs consume the benefit.
- ×Anyone who wants to negotiate the rate and the schedule personally.
- ×An investor expecting capital protection — there is none.
Fellow Finance vs. Vertaislaina24
Platform
- • Automatic credit scoring
- • Payments via the platform
- • Collection handled for you
- • Diversification from the platform
- • Higher total cost (~8–15% APR)
Vertaislaina24
- ✓ Classifieds board — no scoring
- ✓ Payments directly between accounts
- ✓ Collection is your responsibility
- ✓ You choose yourself
- ✓ Only a listing fee (free/€3 / €10)
Legal framework: which act governs what
Fellow Finance operates as a licensed entity supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority, so Chapter 7 of the Consumer Protection Act applies to the credit it grants: information duties, disclosure of the annual percentage rate, and a right of withdrawal. This is a substantial difference from a direct loan between private individuals, where consumer protection law does not apply.
When a loan is agreed between two private individuals without a trader involved, the Promissory Notes Act 622/1947 applies, and the Interest Act 633/1982 governs late-payment interest. Neither sets an absolute ceiling on the rate, but Chapter 36 Section 6 of the Criminal Code prohibits usury. The differences are collected in the table below and explained on legal status.
| Act | Number | What it governs | Practical consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promissory Notes Act | 622/1947 | Form, transfer and limitation of a promissory note | A written note is valid without a notary; transfer requires notice to the debtor |
| Interest Act | 633/1982 | Late-payment interest and how the rate is set | Without a contract term, late interest is the reference rate + 7 percentage points |
| Consumer Protection Act | 38/1978, ch. 7 | Consumer credit granted by a trader | Does not cover a loan between two private individuals — but does cover anyone lending professionally |
| Criminal Code | 39/1889, 36:6 | Usury | A clearly disproportionate rate can be a criminal offence, not merely an invalid term |
| Contracts Act | 228/1929, §36 | Adjustment of an unreasonable term | A court can afterwards moderate the interest or the payment terms |
| Act on Registration of Certain Credit Providers | 186/2023 | Registration of credit providers and intermediaries | Professional lending requires registration; a classifieds board is not credit intermediation |
The table is a general overview, not legal advice. In an individual case, use a lawyer or the municipal financial and debt counselling service.
Spotting a scam before the money leaves
In agreements made directly between private individuals there is no platform background check, so recognising fraud is the parties’ own responsibility. These signals repeat in almost every case we have heard about.
- An advance fee before the loan. There is no situation in which receiving a loan requires a “handling fee”, “insurance fee” or “notary fee” paid up front. This is the most common loan scam in Finland.
- Urgency and deadlines. “The offer is valid for one hour” is pressure, not a term. A real lender gives you time to read the agreement.
- Contact only through a messenger where messages disappear. Ask for every term in writing, by email or in the agreement itself.
- The counterparty refuses to give a personal identity code or business ID for the agreement. Without identification a promissory note cannot be enforced.
- A request to send money to a third person’s account, in cryptocurrency or on a payment card. A lawful loan is paid by bank transfer to the named party’s account.
- For investors: the applicant wants the money immediately but refuses to sign a promissory note. Without a written agreement, collection is practically impossible.
If you suspect a crime, report it to the police. Lender registration can be checked in the register kept by the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland, and the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority maintains a warning list of operators without authorisation in Finland. More on this on risks of P2P lending.
Scam messages circulate in the name of Fellow Finance asking for an advance payment to “release the loan”. A licensed lender never asks for a payment before the credit is drawn down. Always verify a contact through the company’s own official pages, never through a link in the message.
How the listings board actually works
Vertaislaina24 is not a platform that slices loans into pieces and runs the payments. It is a classifieds board: you write a listing, the other party gets in touch, and everything after that happens between the two of you. Four steps cover the whole process.
Listing
You state the amount, the term you want, your interest expectation and a short justification. The more concrete the text, the fewer pointless contacts. Prices are on the pricing page.
Contact
The other party contacts you through the service. We do not score either side and we do not recommend anyone — the judgement is yours. You can browse active listings without registering.
Agreement
Terms go into a written promissory note before any money moves. The wording of each clause is on loan agreement terms.
Payments
Money moves directly between bank accounts. The service neither receives nor forwards payments, so the transfer visible on your bank statement is itself your proof of payment.
Vertaislaina24 does not grant loans, does not broker them and takes no part in payments between the parties. We are not a credit institution and not a credit intermediary, and we charge no interest or commission on any loan. The only charge is the fee for publishing a listing.
Glossary: the words the terms are written in
The same thing often goes by three names in P2P discussions. These six terms are enough to read a draft agreement without help.
- Nominal interest
- The annual rate written into the agreement, excluding fees. Two loans with the same nominal rate can cost very differently if one carries an arrangement fee.
- Annual percentage rate
- The rate with all mandatory costs included. The comparable figure, which you can work out yourself with the loan calculator.
- Annuity
- A repayment method where the monthly instalment stays the same and the interest share of it shrinks over time. The most common model in private agreements too.
- Late-payment interest
- Interest that runs after the due date. Under the Interest Act 633/1982 it is the reference rate + 7 percentage points unless otherwise agreed.
- Payment default entry
- An entry in the credit information register for a neglected payment. It affects borrowing for years — see what a default actually blocks.
- Collateral
- Property from which the debt can be recovered if the debtor does not pay. Without collateral the creditor is an ordinary creditor among others.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fellow Finance safe? +
Fellow Finance is supervised by FIN-FSA and operates under Finnish law, so the platform is fundamentally safe. Invested principal can still suffer from defaults.
What fees does Fellow Finance charge? +
Borrowers pay an arrangement fee (~1–5% of the loan) plus a monthly fee. Investors pay a service fee on returns.
How is Fellow Finance different from Vertaislaina24? +
Fellow Finance is a full P2P platform — it handles scoring, payments and collection. Vertaislaina24 is only a classifieds board — we connect borrower and investor, everything else is handled directly between you.
Can I borrow from Fellow Finance without credit history? +
Unlikely. Fellow Finance always runs a credit check. If you have a payment default, try a classifieds board like Vertaislaina24 instead.
What return do investors get on Fellow Finance? +
Investors’ average return in recent years has been 6–9% per year after fees, varying by risk and diversification.
Is Fellow Finance still a peer-to-peer platform? +
Only partly. With the banking licence, some lending is ordinary bank credit where the funder is a bank rather than another private individual. Genuine peer-to-peer lending is the part funded by investors. The distinction is explained on what is peer-to-peer lending.
Can a Fellow Finance loan be repaid early? +
Yes. In consumer credit, early repayment is a statutory right and interest is charged only for the actual credit period. In an agreement between private individuals the equivalent right has to be written in yourself — see loan agreement terms.
How quickly can an investor get their money out? +
The investment is tied up for the loan term unless the platform runs a functioning secondary market. Secondary market liquidity varies and a sale does not always go through at full price. In a direct agreement there is no exit at all before the due date.
What is the difference between Fellow Finance and a classifieds board? +
A platform scores, distributes the money and collects. A classifieds board does none of these: it publishes a listing and leaves the agreement to the parties. Pricing is therefore in a different class — see pricing.
Read next
If Fellow Finance is not the right route, the following pages answer what is. They are written on the same logic: what it costs, what the risk is and what the law says.
- Fixura — the oldest Finnish platform and the closest comparison.
- AuroraX — the Nordic platform and what to check in its terms.
- P2P loan in Finland — how the money really moves and who carries the risk.
- Invest in P2P lending — expected return and credit losses worked out.
- Risks of peer-to-peer lending — both sides without varnish.
- Loan agreement terms — the contract if you go without a platform.
- Active listings — what is being sought and offered right now.
Want a faster, cheaper alternative?
Post a listing on Vertaislaina24 — first 5 free for borrowers, €10 for investors, 30 days active.
Publishing a listing is not a loan application and binds neither party to anything. Vertaislaina24 does not grant loans and does not broker them.
Publisher: Vertaislaina24 — a private-individuals’ listings board operated by NET Partner OÜ (est. 2007). We are not a bank, lender or credit intermediary. About us · Legal status
Sources (Finlex): Korkolaki 633/1982, Oikeustoimilaki 228/1929, Velkakirjalaki 622/1947, Laki 186/2023, Finanssivalvonta. Content is checked against public sources and is not legal advice.