All across the country, Irish people are coming together to get behind homegrown SMEs. They’re helping to create jobs, support local communities, and at the same time, making healthy returns.

Here are 7 reasons why I’m lending on Linked Finance…

Linked Finance is Ireland’s leading P2P lending platform. It’s an online lending community where real people, lend to great local companies, at attractive rates.

I love lending on Linked Finance because I’m…

1. Making Great Returns

On Linked Finance, I can lend directly to local businesses at rates of between 6% and 17.5%. With the ability to re-invest my returns each month by lending to more businesses, the compounding effect means I’m making a very healthy return.

2. Creating Jobs & Supporting Local Communities

By lending to local companies, I know that I am helping to support Irish jobs and having a positive impact on the Irish economy. SMEs are the biggest employers in the this country and the projects I support on Linked Finance help those businesses to grow and employ more people.  I lend to businesses right across the country but with Linked Finance you can choose to lend more to businesses you know or those that are based in your local area. It’s a great way for local communities to come together and support the businesses that they use every day.

3. Helping Hard Working Irish Entrepreneurs

I love reading the stories behind the businesses that I support on Linked Finance. There are businesses of all shapes and sizes, from every sector of the economy, but they all share one thing. The people behind these businesses are hard-working, driven people who are passionate about what they do. For too long, Irish entrepreneurs have struggled to get the support they deserve and Linked Finance is helping to change that.

4. Giving Irish SMEs a Better Way to Borrow

The testimonials and feedback that you see from the businesses who use Linked Finance are very encouraging. They get the funds they need quickly, with minimum hassle and they also get to promote their businesses to an army of local lenders. You already see a lot of the same businesses coming back to use the platform again and again. It’s a sure sign that the businesses who use the platform really see it as a better way to finance growth. I’ve seen the other side of the process myself. I used a loan from Linked Finance to support the growth of my business, Curious Wines. I can say from first-hand experience that the service provided by Linked Finance is great for Irish SMEs.

5. Getting Special Offers, Discounts & Rewards

Another great thing about Linked Finance, is the range of special offers, discounts and other incentives that you see accompanying loan requests. It’s not unusual for restaurants to offer gift vouchers or exclusive deals, if you lend to them at a certain level. It helps the businesses to turn lenders into customers and I get a nice added bonus on top of the interest I’m earning. It’s a win-win! 

6. Diversifying my Portfolio & Taking Control of Where my Money Goes

With my other investments, I often feel disconnected. International equities, bonds and mutual funds can all offer nice returns but you often feel very far-removed from where your money is going. With Linked Finance, I can pick the individual Irish SMEs, I can read their stories, evaluate their plans and lend to the businesses I like best. It’s a very easy-to-understand investment that gives you complete control over where your money goes. I’m a fairly experienced investor and I’m a firm believer in not putting all of my eggs in one basket. Linked Finance makes a nice new addition to my other asset classes. It also allows me to spread my lending across a wide range of businesses, industry sectors, loan grades and terms. With the Autobid tool I can quickly deploy funds across a lot of different businesses and you can lend as little as €50 to each business.

7. Having Fun

Most importantly, I enjoy using Linked Finance. I love being able to log-in whenver I want to check my investment, evaluate new loans, read the stories behind these great local businesses and lend to the businesses I like best. It’s a fun platform and it’s great to be part of an exciting online community like this.

Linked Finance is changing the way that Irish SMEs access finance and it’s giving lenders like me an easy way to make my money work harder.

That’s why I’m lending on Linked Finance and that’s why I would urge others to check it out for themselves.

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