goPeer is the pioneer consumer peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform in Canada, providing quick loan access to borrowers and a recurring monthly income to lenders.
As a result, goPeer serves as an alternative platform for individuals that may not necessarily qualify for traditional loans and investors looking to diversify their portfolios with fixed-income securities.
But how does the goPeer platform work? Is it a trustworthy and safe platform for both borrowers and lenders?
This goPeer review covers everything you need to know about the lending platform. At the end of the review, you’ll be able to make an informed decision of whether it’s right for you or not.
What is goPeer?
goPeer is a consumer peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform co-founded by Marc-Antoine Caya and Joseph Buaron in 2020.
This Toronto-based P2P lending platform serves as a middle-man for borrowers looking for alternative personal loans and investors looking for recurring monthly income in Canada.
With goPeer, borrowers can take out consumer loans for several purposes like home renovation, medical expenses, auto repair or debt consolidation loans, etc.
On the other hand, lenders can invest according to their risk profile and receive a monthly payment of the loan capital and interest disbursed to their goPeer wallets.
Investors on goPeer get portfolio diversification through this fixed income asset class that is less correlated to other asset classes like stock and bonds. They also get an attractive risk-adjusted return on their investments.
How Does goPeer Work?
goPeer brings together both borrowers that need consumer loans and investors or lenders that provide the financing to fund the loans.
That means goPeer works differently depending on which side you are on.
How goPeer Works for Borrowers
To get a loan through goPeer, a borrower needs to create an account and fill out an online application form to get started. goPeer will then access the application to determine their eligibility.
The applicant’s credit score, credit history, income source and other criteria are considered in assessing an applicant’s eligibility.
Once an applicant meets these requirements, goPeer will present a range of loan offers that meet the applicant’s profile. You will be required to select your preferred loan offer to receive the payment.
Finally, the goPeer loan is funded by investors anonymously and disbursed to your bank account via direct deposit. You can then start repaying the loan according to the agreed payment schedule in the loan offer.
You can borrow between $1,000 and $35,000 on goPeer for 3 to 5-year terms. And the loans can be used for a variety of purposes such as debt or credit card consolidation, home improvement, auto repair or financing and many more.
The interest rate or APR on goPeer loans starts at 8% up to the rate determined by goPeer’s assessment of your creditworthiness.
How goPeer works for Lenders
As an investor, you can start earning on goPeer and funding loans with just a few steps.
Here’s how it works:
- Visit goPeer to sign up as an investor
- Complete the questionnaire about your investment goals and objectives
- Fund your account
- Review the available investments on the platform
- Choose and invest in loans that meet your risk appetite and investment goals
Sit back and start receiving monthly cash flow when the borrowers repay their loan. You can log in to your profile anytime to review the dashboard with information on how the loans are performing.
The minimum amount required to start investing on the goPeer platform is $1,000, but you can invest as little as $10 in each loan to help you diversify your investment.
But the maximum you can invest annually depends on your classification during your onboarding to the platform.
Every goPeer investor starts out as a non-eligible investor with an annual investment cap of $10,000. Depending on your annual income, you can upgrade your status to an eligible investor with a higher limit or an accredited investor with no limit.
We’ll cover the difference between the 3 in detail below.
Once invested, lenders will receive a monthly payment of the loan capital and interest directly to their goPeer wallets.
goPeer also has an Auto Invest feature that lets investors invest automatically in loans that meet their risk levels.
Who Can Use goPeer?
As of the time of writing this goPeer review, the goPeer platform is only available for borrowers and lenders in Canada.
In addition, borrowers and lenders have different requirements to satisfy to use goPeer.
Eligibility for Borrowers
The following are the average requirements for loan approval on goPeer:
- Be a Canadian resident for 3 years or more.
- Have a 600+ credit score.
- Be 18 years of age or older with an active Canadian bank account
- Have regular income of at least $15,000 a year (excluding CERB or employment insurance).
- Hold a Canadian bank account
Eligibility for Lenders
To invest through goPeer, lenders must have a Canadian bank account and live in Canada.
However, how much you can invest through goPeer depends on your investor level. There are three investment levels on goPeer, which are:
- Beginner investor
- Eligible investor
- Accredited investor
The table below summarizes the limits for the 3 investors classes.
| Investor Type | Annual Investment Limit |
|---|---|
| Beginner | $10,000 |
| Eligible Investor | $30,000 or $100,000 with professional advice |
| Accredited Investor | No Limit |
New users are categorized as “non-eligible” investors and have the lowest annual maximum investment limit of $10,000.
Eligible investors have an annual investment limit of $30,000 or $100,000 if they received advice from a professional such as an exempt market dealer, portfolio manager, investment dealer etc.
The requirements to qualify as an eligible investor include one of these:
- Have more than $75,000 net income before tax in the past two years.
- Have more than $125,000 individual or combined net income with a spouse in the past two years.
- Net asset of $400,000 alone or combined with a spouse.
Finally, accredited investors don’t have an investment limit but must meet at least one of the following requirements to qualify:
- Have more than $200,000 net income before taxes in the past two years.
- Have more than $300,000 combined net income before taxes with a spouse in each of the past two years.
- Own financial assets of at least $1 million individually or combined with a spouse.
- Have net assets of $5 million individually or combined with spouse net assets after debt.
goPeer will ask for lender’s CRA notice of assessment for the last 2 years as proof under the income criteria. On the other hand, a letter or statement from a lender’s lawyer, accountant or financial institution is required for proof of assets.
However, goPeer may accept other documents that back any of the above requirements.
That said, beginner investors can upgrade to the eligible or accreditor stage at no cost by contacting goPeer on [email protected].
goPeer Rates and Fees
goPeer has a different rate and fee structure for borrowers and lenders. The following are the current rates and fees as of the time of writing this goPeer review.
Borrowers Rates and Fees
goPeer’s loans are categorized into “A+” to “E”, depending on the inherent risk of the loans. As you would expect, the different risk ratings have different interest rates and annual percentage rates (APR).
While goPeer doesn’t charge prepayment fees, the following fees apply to borrowers:
- Unsuccessful payment fee: goPeer charges $50 per every unsuccessful attempt to deduct monthly payment from your account.
- Late payment fee: The lending platform charges a late payment fee of $25 or 5% of the late payment. This is after you have exhausted the 15 day grace period per the monthly due date. The late payment fee is charged once per unpaid amount and paid directly to lenders.
Investors Rates and Fees
goPeer doesn’t charge brokerage account, management, transfer or withdrawal fees. However, the following rates and fees apply to investors:
- Servicing fee: The platform charges a 0.125% monthly service fee which amounts to 1.5% annually. This fee applies only to outstanding loans and unpaid principal balances. Lenders don’t have to pay the service fee from their pockets because it’s charged directly from the borrower’s payments.
- Collection fee: Investors are not charged a collection fee, rather goPeer reduces the amount the investors are supposed to receive anytime borrowers don’t make payments on time.
Pros and Cons of goPeer
goPeer’s pros and cons are divided between borrowers and lenders as follows:
goPeer Pros for Borrowers
- Relatively low-interest rate: goPeer provides access to consumer loans with relatively low-interest rates compared to payday loans, depending on credit scores and credit profiles.
- High loan amount: You can access up to $35,000 quick loans through goPeer with up to a 60-month repayment schedule.
- Multiple loan types: goPeer offers access to a wide range of consumer loans, such as home renovation, medical expenses, auto repair, debt consolidation loans, etc.
- Fast loan access: Once you meet the requirements, you can access a personal loan on goPeer within the day you applied as the application process is completely online.
- Repayment schedule: Besides offering a 15 day grace period on late payment, goPeer allows you to reschedule your repayment date to avoid late payment fees.
- Free prepayment: You can repay your complete loan or part of it without any penalty or fee on goPeer.
goPeer Pros for Lenders
- Auto Invest: Lenders can invest passively on goPeer using the goPeer Auto Invest feature. All you need is to set your pre-defined risk level, fund your account with sufficient funds and leave goPeer the rest.
- Portfolio diversification: The fixed income investment provided by goPeer is a good way to diversify your investment portfolio with alternative assets.
- Potentials of high returns: Investors can earn relatively higher returns on goPeer than they will by investing in other securities or putting the funds in a savings account..
- Minimum risk: Investors minimize risk by investing in several loan opportunities and choosing the risk ratings of the loans they want to invest in.
goPeer Cons for Borrowers
- Additional fees: goPeer charges fee for unsuccessful payment deduction, late payment and origination. This adds up to the entire loan cost.
- Credit score: Borrowers need 600+ credit scores to access loans on goPeer. This makes the platform less accessible to individuals with poor or bad credit scores.
- High interest rate: With 8% to 54% interest on loans, goPeer has one of the highest unsecured loans out there.
goPeer Cons for Lenders
- Fees: goPeer charges 0.125% monthly service fee and up to 25% of amounts recovered through debt collection. These fees may add up to consume a significant portion of your investment.
- No transfer or selling Notes: Lenders can’t sell or transfer their Notes once they mature making them an illiquid investment.
Is goPeer Legitimate?
goPeer is a legit P2P lending platform and operates in accordance with all relevant federal and provincial securities laws.
These include money laundering and terrorist financing acts, consumer protection laws and many more.
goPeer is also registered and regulated with many provincial securities bodies like Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), Québec’s Office de la Protection du Consommateur and others.
In addition, it is registered as an exempt market dealer in all Canadian provinces.
On the privacy and security side, goPeer takes the security of its users’ information seriously with state-of-the-art and financial industry-standard security measures and best practices.
The platform uses a multi-layered security approach to protecting your personal information against any form of compromise and unauthorized access. This includes public-key encryption and specialized security protocols.
Overall, goPeer is a legit and safe peer-to-peer lending platform that is regulated across all Canadian provinces.
goPeer Review: Our Rating Methodology
| Feature | Rating |
|---|---|
| Interest Rates | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Fees | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Loan Types | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Security | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Accessibility | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Approval | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
We rated goPeer 4 out of 5-stars based on its key features and how it compares with other borrowing and lending platforms/options in Canada.
While borrowers and lenders can’t make a wrong decision with goPeer, they may find better alternatives depending on their financial situation.
Alternatives to goPeer in Canada
goPeer is not the only peer-to-peer lending platform in Canada. Lending Loop is a top contender but it focuses only on business loans, making it less accessible than goPeer.
So if you’re considering the best alternative to goPeer in Canada, it’s essential to start by examining your situation.
If you are a borrower with good to excellent credit, taking a loan from your traditional bank or financial institution could be a more cost-saving option than goPeer.
But if you have a poor credit score or can’t access a loan from a traditional lender for any reason, then goPeer compares favourably with many of the other options out there.
For investors, consider investing in one of the safe investment accounts with modest returns if you can only take the minimal risk of loss in your capital. These include GICs, deposit accounts, high-interest savings accounts, corporate bonds, dividend ETFs and so on.
But if you’re looking for a reliable and cost-effective investment platform, choose from these best investment apps in Canada.
Whether you’re a borrower or lender, ensure you choose a cost-saving platform that has less of goPeer’s disadvantages.
And if you’re interested in the real estate – another alternative investment, check this post covering some of the crowdfunding real-estate platforms in Canada.
FAQs on goPeer Review
P2P lending is an abbreviation for a peer-to-peer lending platform where investors lend money to borrowers.
Also known as crowdlending or social funding, P2P lending serves as an alternative to borrowers that didn’t meet the qualifications of traditional lenders.
P2P lending serves as a diversification platform for investors looking to structure their portfolios with fixed income and other securities.
In addition to flexible requirements and relatively low-interest rates, P2P lending offers faster loan approval than traditional lenders.
You can make money on goPeer as an investor by receiving monthly interest payments from the Notes you purchased. How much you make depends on your investment level and the amount you lend.
goPeer is currently the leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for consumer loans in Canada. Its competitive interest rates, fast approval and high earning potential make it attractive to borrowers and lenders alike.
Yes. No law forbids peer-to-peer lending in any Canadian province or territory.
Yes. Income from peer-to-peer lending is taxable like any other investment income. This requires you to report the income when filing your taxes.
Final Verdict on goPeer Review
goPeer is on top of its game as far as peer-to-peer lending is concerned in Canada.
Some of the drawbacks of the platform such as (illiquid investments) are not unique to it. In fact, they’re features of the P2P lending space.
So overall, this goPeer review has been positive. I would recommend it to borrowers looking for quick cash with no access to lower-cost loans and to lenders looking to earn higher returns on their capital while helping their fellow Canadians.
Whether you’re a borrower or lender, you should consider your financial situation and how the goPeer loan will fit into it.
If you like this goPeer review or need more help deciding the best option for you, please leave a comment below.
Kindly explore our existing posts to learn more about the best financial products and services in Canada.
