A new type of credit services has already conquered a significant part of the financial sector in Western markets. He took root in America, many countries in Europe, and in our country is gaining momentum.
One of the largest banks in the country picked up this idea, calling the new project "Alpha Stream" (by the beginning of this year it was renamed "Potok. Digital"), and began to act as an intermediary for a loan between individuals and businesses.
Concept
The difference from similar services of other financial and credit organizations is that ordinary citizens are encouraged to make investments in small businesses. For it is unprofitable for banks to lend to small firms: at high costs, very little profit. The project was launched in January last year. While it is being debugged, only existing customers can use the Alpha Stream. A potential lender is recommended several packages from a number of companies, united by a certain principle. For example, “30 most profitable ...” or “The most profitable production of a certain region”, etc.
You can invest at least 10,000 rubles for six months. The bank arranges interest payments weekly in equal shares to a personal bank account. That is, the first income pleases the investor on the eighth day.
Who does not risk ...
Be sure each lender is warned about the risks associated with this case and about the responsibility that lies only with the investor. The Alpha Stream broker provides only some protective measures. For example, investments in various companies provide a guarantee of at least minimal profit, because all companies cannot go bankrupt at once. In addition, the bank, forming packages, selects reliable organizations from the point of view of activity and financial viability. For this, the Supremum technology has been developed. She carries out all assessments online. And it does not rely on collateral (which, incidentally, successful companies in the sphere of trade in services or IT do not have), but on the management profile, business activity and the final product.
What is the benefit for the investor
Alfa Stream is a kind of closed investment club. Within its framework, the bank, as it were, is a conductor between the borrower and the lender. The latter invests personal funds in a small business at a rate of 30% per annum and receives weekly payments. Information on the reliability and solvency of a company is provided by a financial institution. The lender can choose the “Package” of companies and distribute their investments among several business representatives (most often this is done to reduce possible risks) or send the entire amount to one company.
It should be noted that the bank does not give any guarantees. He only acts as a regulator between the two parties to the transaction, initiating the legal field, and provides the loan with official status. Although Alfa Stream (positive and negative reviews confirm this) and provides information only on the most promising and stable companies, the investor is in any case the choice.
What is interesting for the project to small businesses and entrepreneurs
Judging by the reviews, lending money for business development, the borrower is not in a very favorable position. The interest at Alfa Stream is quite substantial, however, financing passes through the online platform instantly and without much delay. The money reaches the company within two business days, but already at 45% per annum.
A bank carries out a credit assessment based on the created management profile, the product created by the company, and business activity. Security and property are not considered.
The platform has not so many advantages, perhaps, only one can be distinguished - “Early repayment”. It allows you to save on the payment of barbaric interest.
How Alpha Stream Works
Both parties to the transaction must be active clients of the financial institution and registered on the bank’s website. They, in the shares prescribed in the agreement, pay for the package of services and the necessary commission.
The conditions are as follows:
- Investments are possible in the range of 10,000-500,000 rubles.
- The ability to study the profile of each credited company on the official website of the service (it is a pity that only after the distribution of money).
- The declared yield is up to 30% per annum.
- Payments are online and weekly.
The Bank takes a third of the borrower's interest rate for its services. That is, a loan is issued at 45% per annum, the investor gets his thirty, and the intermediary - 15%. The whole scheme is quite transparent and does not cause any special difficulties when using its services.
To apply for a company, you must be valid for at least a year. A loan can be issued for one day, but not more than six months. A paper bag is not required, as is a security deposit.
A high credit rating in this system makes it possible to obtain the next loan on more favorable terms (large amounts at low interest and a significant period), because the company has proved its solvency and reliability. But the credit rating earned in Potok does not apply to other financial and credit institutions.
Direct lending
The system operates as follows. As soon as the amount required for a particular company is collected, it is automatically transferred by the service to its account from the accounts of investors. Returns occur in the reverse order.
If the required amount of money is not collected within two weeks, the loan is not issued and the application is canceled. It must be re-submitted.
An agreement (individual offer) is concluded online with each lender separately, since there may be more than a dozen of them. Details of the parties are automatically entered into each agreement, therefore, the signing procedure passes, as they say, in two clicks.
Acceptance (acceptance) by the creditor of the proposal (offer) - deduction of money from his account and their crediting to the company account is considered.
Flow Speed
The minimum term for obtaining a loan is five days: two days are spent on checking the application (if all documents from the company will be provided promptly), a package of companies is published two more days, and the necessary amount from investors is collected one day. But on average, these operations are completed in seven business days: five days, applications are checked, contracts are formed and signed, and a couple of days, money is collected.
The maximum term is 34 days. Most often, delays occur at the stage of signing loan agreements: not all 30 organizations in the package respond quickly to the proposed conditions. Therefore, the service takes 20 days to do this, and 14 to collect the ordered amount. To speed up the process after sending out notifications of loan approval, Alfa-Stream specialists offer help over the phone to speed up the process.
Payouts
Alfa Stream deducts a payment calculated in advance from the borrower's account in favor of the investor within a certain period of time. The basis for calculating interest is the loan amount, interest is added daily. Payments are automatic. It is only important to ensure that on the day of withdrawal on the account was the necessary amount.
The commission assigned to "Flow" may be reduced if the repayment of the debt is early (penalties for this are not provided).
Borrower's Responsibility
If a representative of a small business allows delay, then the service will independently send companies information on the debt and the amount required to return with interest and penalties. Both those and others are calculated according to individual conditions that are prescribed in each specific agreement. But they are levied both on the amount of the principal debt and on overdue interest. A penalty is payable with the next payment.
In case of failure to repay within the specified time, the right to claim debt is transferred to the collection agency.
Partnership
To date, Potok has withdrawn from the bank. Now it’s absolutely clear that this is not a banking service, but an innovative investment product. Alfa-Bank minimized its participation in Potok prior to providing data for the scoring system. But the service uses the technology of the bank, evaluating the investment policy and business.
Legally, Potok.Digital LLC is a member of Alfa Group and is affiliated with Alfa Bank.
Since this service is an independent technology company, it works not only with borrowers, but with partners, and all operations are completed quickly and under the most flexible conditions. So, for example, Alfa Stream pays a commission (how much depends on each specific case) for an attracted customer. New customers are registered by a special promotional code issued by the inviting party.
Or, for example, using this platform, it is possible to lend to someone (dealers, partners, customers, etc.). You can give loans with an extra charge or with specially prescribed conditions, etc.
Tax liability
All are carried out in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Withholding taxes on investor income. However, the company is engaged in their translation (officially - a tax agent). The flow made the process as simple as possible. Amounts of tax payments are calculated automatically and transferred online to the bank. He, in turn, generates payment orders, writes off the indicated amounts and transfers them to the tax one. That is, everything passes without human intervention.
Opinions vary
A review of the platform provided by Alfa-Bank makes it clear that competition in the business-to-business (b2b) sector is starting a new round. And this organization fills a free niche. But experts say that Alfa Stream guarantees a stable profit only for itself. Both sides of the transaction are often at significant risk. For such an investment is far from safe for the investor, and for the borrower is another package of tough and unfavorable conditions that can hardly be called suitable in the conditions of our economy.
Investors doubt
On thematic sites you can find positive reviews about the service. The lender, for example, loaned money for business development in the amount of 10,000 rubles. During their turnover, they managed to earn a little more than 640 rubles (net, that is, without tax). In percentage terms, it will be almost 13% per annum. According to the investor, of course, much more was expected (judging by the advertising of this banking product). But profits continue to grow. For some borrowers, having delayed payments, continue to pay, but already with penalties. It turns out that such an investment is still more profitable than, for example, opening a deposit.
There are other opinions. In particular, a profit of only 9.4% is described, and that’s only because there are backlogs on loan repayments. The haste with which the main debt on the loan of Alfa Stream is very frustrating (!) To investors: profitability is significantly reduced.
Here the considerations seem to be more real. Invested 10,000 rubles (100%). 10,354 rubles returned, which is 103.54%, that is, the yield was a little more than 7%. "Thank you," the investor writes, "which is not a minus ..."
Post scriptum
To summarize, we can say this: “Alfa-stream” from “Alfa-Bank” is currently the optimal model of automatic equal credit (“P2P loan”). Small business is very doubtful about the benefits of the proposed conditions, but in fact the potential of this proposal is huge.
There are several analogues of Alpha Stream. The most famous of them are the Fingooroo and Vdolg.ru services, and WebMoney is unofficially recognized as reliable. There are others, but they have not yet been tested and it is rather difficult to judge their work.