Frequently asked questions
If you are in doubt about Žltý melón operation, visit Frequently asked questions. Did not find an answer to your question? Contact us.
About Žltý melón Show everything
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What is Žltý melón?
The peer-to-peer lending portal operated by Žltý melón is an innovative concept in the world of finance, which revolutionises the old way of banking. Peer-to-peer lending makes possible for people to bypass the bank and lend their money , directly to people who want to borrow it. By cutting out the expensive intermediaries, borrowers benefit from cheaper loans and investors earn much higher returns on their savings, as they keep all the profit.
Žltý melón was founded in Slovakia at the end of 2012 as the first p2p lending platform in the country and it provides a range of activities, such as comprehensive risk assessment of borrowers, legal framework and administration of contractual documents, monitoring and management of loans and investments, recovery in case of non-payment and others.
Žltý melón means 'yellow melon' in Slovak - now you know! What does that have to do with loans? 'Melón' is also a commonly used slang term for money, but there is much more to our name and our company than that! We have a fresh vision for p2p lending, which is pure, simple and fair.
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Is Žltý melón just another non-banking lender?
Žltý melón is not a non-bank lender providing expensive loans, nor is it a bank. Žltý melón is a financial portal through which people lend money directly to each other. It is direct, transparent, and simple, cutting out the expensive intermediaries.
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How does peer-to-peer lending work?
Peer-to-peer lending makes possible for people to lend their money , directly to people who want to borrow it. By lending money directly to other people in this way, without involment of banks and other expensive intermediaries, borrowers benefit from cheaper loans and investors earn much higher returns on their savings, as they keep all the profit. Investors spread and diversify their investment among several borrowers and set conditions under which they are willing to lend. Borrowers have a chance to accept or reject these conditions. Simply put, with p2p lending, everybody wins!
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Why has peer-to-peer lending so many benefits for everyone?
Banks have played an important role in history, but p2p lending offers a new way to borrow and save money that is better for people and better for the global economy. People are using p2p lending platforms like Žltý melón for a few simple reasons:
- With p2p lending you cut out the expensive intermediaries and the benefit of p2p lending stays with the people that finance it, rather than going to the shareholders of global financial firms
- Borrowers get a better deal than with banks or other lenderss
- Investors earn more money than with traditional savings accounts or other investments
- Lending on p2p platforms is transparent and gives people control over who they lend to, how much they earn and what their money is used for
- By investing on Žltý melón you are choosing to support a human type of financial system, where people help people -
How can I trust that peer-to-peer lending works?
The first p2p portal in the world was British Zopa founded in 2005. After its enormous success and popularity among people, other companies offering these services began to emerge in the world. The model of Peer-to-peer lending is already well-known and spread all around the world. English Zopa, German AuxMoney, American Prosper and Lending club are just some of the successful leaders. Today, p2p lending platforms are operating successfully in almost every country in the Western world.
Žltý melón has been operating successfully since 2012, we have a proven business model and portfolio that provides high returns for our clients.
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Who is behind Žltý melón?
We have been founded by group of people with extensive experience in finance and investment management. Žltý melón has been further strengthened by a team of credit analysts with extensive experience in credit risk management, as well as leading IT security specialists and top marketing experts.
In 2015 Žltý melón successfully completed its series A investment round, raising the capital needed to strengthen its position and expand its activities across the EU. The Series A investment round was sponsored by the EU-investment fund programme JEREMIE, which is a joint initiative between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, established in 2007 as part of the European Investment Fund, with the aim of providing start-up and expansion capital to innovative and commercially attractive small and medium sized enterprises. The fund focuses on investing in companies that can demonstrate a technological advantage or unique business model and that possess products or services of an innovative nature.
You can find more information in the section About us.
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Who is your contractual partner?
Žltý melón is operated by Slovak companies iService, a.s. and iSale, v.o.s.. If you are an investor you enter into a contractual relationship with the company iService, a.s., which will provide all services connected to your investment. If you are a borrower, your main contractual partner is company iSale, v.o.s. which covers all activities in regards of obtaining loans.
When you decide to invest in a loan and after its successful completion, iService, a.s. will ensure the signing of the loan agreement on your behalf and the transfer your investment to the borrower's account. This will create your direct contractual relationship with the chosen borrower, but all discreetly, without disclosing your personal data. When repaying the loan by the borrower, iService, a.s. will ensure the collection of the instalments to your Žltý melón account or will transfer these funds to your personal bank account on request.
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How can I contact Žltý melón?
Contacts to our customer service can be found in the Contact section. The best way to contact us is to write us an email at zltymelon@zltymelon.sk or use the Help form in the Help section.
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Is Žltý melón regulated?
Žltý melón is regulated by several regulations of the European Union and generally binding legal regulations of the Slovak Republic. The most important legislation that regulate our activity are: Consumer Protection Act (Act No. 250/2007 Coll. as amended), Civil Code (Act No. 40/1963 Coll. as amended), Commercial Code (Act No. 513 /1991 Coll. as amended), Personal Data Protection Act (Act No. 18/2018 Coll. as amended), Act on Protection against Legalization of Proceeds from Criminal Activities and Protection from Terrorist Financing (Act No. 297/2008 Coll.) and the Electronic Commerce Act (Act No. 22/2004 Coll. as amended).
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What would happen if Žltý melón went bankrupt?
Žltý melón has been successfully operating since 2012 and it generates an operating profit. This possibility is therefore very unlikely. But if that were to happen it does not terminate your investment or legal rights to collect repayments from the borrowers whose loans you have invested in.
iService, a.s. company works as a loan intermediary and only administers loans rather than providing credit directly to borrowers and we have developed an internal plan for such a crisis situation. Also as loan administration is the main business activity of the company, the possible trustee in bankruptcy would be required to manage the continuation of these activities for clients, or find another solution for the company’s existing clients, the most likely form of which would be to transfer the administration of these existing loans to another relevant subject. Investors would be entitled either to assume management of the loans themselves, or could agree to the solution suggested by the trustee in bankruptcy, which would mostly likely be to allow a 3rd party to oversee the administration and repayment of the loans that were funded by the investor.
It is also important to know that money which you have not yet invested in loans, if iService a.s. was to terminate its existence, would be still held in your virtual Žltý melón investment account, and it is not the property of Žltý melón. These funds are deposited in a bank account that is strictly separated from other bank accounts held by the company and are the sole and exclusive property of the investors that originally deposited them. These funds are also covered and protected by the deposit guarantee scheme, as determined by the current wording of the Czech Act No. 21/1992 Coll. on banks, as amended.
More information about the deposit guarantee scheme can be found on the website www.fovsr.sk.
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Why is personal identification important?
Although all the users on our platform are anonymous and their personal data is not disclosed, Žltý melón must identify each investor and borrower. This will ensure your proper legal protection and effectiveness of all transactions executed on our portal.
You may be confident that behind every single loans application you invest in is a real and specific person and vice versa, behind every loan you take with us are real people.
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What are the personal details gathered by Žltý melón?
Providing your personal data to Žltý melón is a prerequisite for entering into contractual relationship and fulfilling our contractual obligations to you, but also for fulfilling our legal obligations. The information you provide to us during the registration process and when filling out the loan application is for these purposes only.
We process common personal data - identification data, contact details, data and documents demonstrating the ability to repay the loan and fulfill contractual obligations, or other data to the extent appropriate to the applicable legal regulations.
All personal information you provide us is processed in accordance with the Slovak law no. 18/2018 on the protection of personal data, Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council from the 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR) and other applicable rules.
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How Žltý melón protects my data?
Our website and IT system are secured by the highest security standards so that all your personal details are absolutely safe. When connected to our portal and working with your investments, auctions, loans and personal data, all transmitted data is encrypted with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology. In this way, it is ensured that your data will reach us the way you entered it and nobody else read it.
On our portal, you act anonymous under your nickname and your personal data is not disclosed. When applying for a loan, only general information about you and your application is being published. Identity of borrowers may be disclosed to investors only in the event of loan default, which is in accordance with the General terms and conditions of our portal.
You can read more about protecting your privacy at Safety and privacy section of our website. -
When will Žltý melón erase my personal details?
Your personal details will be processed during the existence of the contractual relation with us and also after termination for the period necessary to execute our legal rights and obligations for at least 10 years from the termination of the contractual relationship. After this time, unnecessary personal information will be discarded.
If you do not enter into a contractual relationship with us, your personal data will be processed within 12 months from their reception. After this time, unnecessary information will be discarded unless further processing is regulated by law.
You may request the deletion of your personal data or revoke your data processing consent by writing at our company's registered office or by email sent to us at zltymelon@zltymelon.sk
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Should I register even if I don't want to invest immediately?
Certainly yes. The registration is very fast and simple. There are no fees connected to the registration and you are not obligated to do anything. Moreover, you can terminate the contract at any time. But with your registration, you can access the sections of our system that are not visible to unregistered users. After that you will be able to decide which loans to invest in and what benefits will Žltý melon bring you.
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Can I be registered as both an investor and as a borrower?
Yes, it is possible. You must, however, register two separate user accounts on our system, one for investing on Žltý melón and one for your loan application.
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Do I pay registration fees?
No, registration on our system is free and allows you to access those parts of the system, which unregistered users cannot enter; for example, you will be able to see the details for individual loan auctions.
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How does Žltý melón make money?
Žltý melón provides wide range of services connected to portal operation, comprehensive risk assessment of borrowers, legal framework, and administration of contractual documents, monitoring and management of loans and investments, recovery in case of non-payment and others.
Žltý melón only charges fees for its services from successful loans and investments.
Fees that Žltý melón charges for its services are transparent. You do not pay any fees for using of our system, for applying for a loan, or for realization of your investment. The main fee is charged only in case of successful processing of the loan, or for managing investments and only successful ones. We do not charge you any hidden fees and the contracts do not contain any other additional costs or non-transparent conditions.
You can find an overview of our fees in the section How we make money.
User Account Show everything
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I forgot my username, what should I do?
If you have forgotten your username to log in to the system, contact us via email at zltymelon@zltymelon.sk or through the Help form. Write us your name and use the email by which you are registered in the system.
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I forgot my login password, what should I do?
Find a link saying I forgot my password on the Login page. After pressing it, enter your username and email. The system will send you a new temporary password by SMS message to your phone.
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I blocked my account, what should I do?
For your security, after entering several incorrect login credentials, your user account will be automatically blocked for a certain period of time and only then will you be able to re-enter your login data again. If you have forgotten your password, press a link I forgot my password on the login page. The system will send you a new temporary password by SMS message to your phone.
If your account has been blocked due to multiple incorrect entry of any of the security elements (e.g. Validation codes), you will receive an email with a link to the process for unblocking it.
In case of problems, contact us by email at zltymelon@zltymelon.sk or through the Help form.
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I lost my Validation Codes, what should I do?
Validation codes, which are used to confirm sensitive operations in the system, can be newly generated directly in the system in the section Validation codes.
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I forgot the answer to my security question, what should I do?
You can change your security question directly in the system in the section Validation codes.
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How can I change my personal data?
Since these are legally relevant data that affects concluded contracts, it is not possible to change your personal data, such as name, ID card number or marital status, directly in the system. To do this change, send us a copy of the official document confirming the given change (e.g. a new ID card) by email.
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How can I change my contact details?
On your account in the section Settings, you can directly change your correspondent address or phone number. It is not possible to change your permanent address directly in the system. To do this change, send us a copy of the official document confirming the given change (e.g. a new ID card) by email.
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How do I change my assigned bank account?
On your account in the section Settings, you can directly change your assigned bank account, to which you can transfer the received instalments from your investments.
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How can I terminate my user account?
Write us an email with this request and use your email registered in the system. Make sure to include your real name and your Žltý melón username in the email. Make sure that you do not have any active loans, investments or funds in your account in the system.
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How can I unsubscribe from informational emails?
In your account in the section Settings uncheck the informational emails that you do not wish to receive.
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Can I change my username?
No, your username on Žltý melón is unique and serves also for your legal identification. For this reason, it cannot be changed after the registration.
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Can I change my email address?
For security reasons, it is not possible to change your email address directly in your account. If you need to update your email, contact us by email at zltymelon@zltymelon.sk or through the Help form.
Investing Show everything
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Who can invest on Žltý melón?
Citizens of any country covered by SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) may invest on Žltý melón; provided they are over 18 years old, have full legal capacity, and have a bank account in one of the SEPA countries.
The countries covered by SEPA included all EU countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Croatia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Italy), as well as other EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco). -
How can I invest?
You invest your money by offering to fund part of a borrower’s loan through the specific auctions or selecting one of our automated investment portfolios on Žltý melón platform. When doing so, you must always indicate the amount you want to invest and the interest rate at which you are willing to offer funds to the borrower. After the borrower accepts your offer, which is then combined with funds from other investors, the money for the loan is transferred to the borrower’s account.
Every time you lend money and a borrower accepts your offer you will receive a confirmation with the amount you invested and the interest rate for your investment that you indicated in your offer.
Before you are able to make your first investment, you need to register on the Žltý melón website and fund your Žltý melón investment account (the minimum amount you must fund your account with is the amount you have offered to invest and fund the borrower’s loan with).
The entire registration and investment process is quick and easy, meaning you can start investing and earning money on the site the same day you register. You can find more information about registration and making your first investment in the How the investment process works section. -
How much can I invest?
The minimum amount you must deposit on Žltý melón to begin investing is 25 EUR and there is no maximum limit for your total investment portfolio (the combined amount of all of your investments in individual loans). However, to help secure your investment and provide you with some protection against potential risks, you can only invest a maximum of 250 EUR in any one individual loan, or 25% of the loan amount if you have already created a minimum investment portfolio.
With secured real estate loans CashFree, the maximum amount of one investment is not limited.
We strongly advise you to sufficiently diversify your investments across as many loans as possible that meet the criteria you have decided on for your investment strategy, as doing so will help ensure more stable returns on your investment and limit your exposure to risk.
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How much can I expect to earn from my investment?
Žltý melón provides investors with a recommended interest rate for every loan that is both fair for borrowers and also reflects the level of risk for investors as determined during our assessment process and indicated by the credit scoring category assigned to the borrower.
The recommended interest rate is calculated based on a number of factors, including our detailed knowledge of the current standard conditions in the lending market, so that it is fair to both borrowers and investors, while also including a risk premium set by our comprehensive evaluation of the original loan application. The risk premium is determined during our assessment process and reflects the risk to investors that a borrower will default on a loan, meaning that with sufficient diversification of an investor’s portfolio the income from loans that are repaid should cover any potential losses resulting from investment in any loans that are not repaid and eventually default.
The recommended interest rates provided by our system are not binding and it is ultimately up to each individual investor to determine the exact interest rate for their offer to fund any individual loan, which is based primarily on their expected return on investment and the level of risk they are willing to accept as part of their investment strategy.
The average overall return on investment for the entire portfolio of loans provided on Žltý melón since we started operating in 2005 is 8 - 10 % p.a.
You can find more detail information about the current performance of investments and loans on Žltý melón in the Statistics section of our website).
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How do I know what interest rate I should set for a loan?
Although we provide investors with a recommended interest rate, it is ultimately up to each individual investor during the loan auction to set the interest rate at which they are willing to offer to fund part of a borrower’s loan. In standard loan auctions – where the interest rates are determined by investors rather than borrowers - setting your own loan interest rate helps you control how quickly your offer is accepted by potential borrowers, as well as how much you will earn on your individual investments.
When setting the interest rate for your offer to fund a borrowers loan you should keep in mind that when a loan auction has been fully funded by investors, the offers with the lower interest rates are the ones that are selected to be combined into the eventual loan taken out by the borrower. If during the loan auction your offer to fund a loan is discarded from the auction and replaced by an offer, or offers, from other investors that are willing to fund the loan at a lower interest rate, you may still choose to re-enter the auction, but you will need to offer the borrower a lower interest rate in order to displace these new investment offers.
Ultimately, the interest rate you choose to offer a borrower all depends on your requirements regarding your expected returns on your investment and also how an individual investment offer fits within your broader investment portfolio and investment strategy. To calculate an appropriate interest rate correctly for any given loan auction interest rate you can use our recommended interest rate as the starting point for your decision, but in order to ensure your offers are not displaced, it is also important that you look at the offers currently being made by other investors who want to fund that particular loan.
The process for setting interest rates works slightly differently in loan auctions for Preferred Interest Loans, where borrowers determine their preferred interest rate themselves (at a level not lower than 2% below our recommended interet rate), which is done when they set up the loan auction. This interest rate and the type of loan auction is clearly marked so that investor can quickly and easily decide if they are interested in making an offer to fund the loan at the interest rate set by the borrower.
While this type of loan auction provides less control and flexibility for investors, it also provides greater security in terms of earning more stable returns and finding enough loans to invest in, as once an investor chooses to invest at the interest rate set by the borrower they are guaranteed that if the loan auction is fully funded their offer will not be displaced by other investors since the loan auction will immediately terminate and making offers at a lower interest rate is not possible.
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How do I evaluate the credit risk of a borrower?
During loan auctions we provide investors with all of the important information about loan applicants that is necessary to help you decide if you want to make an offer to fund their loan including information about their income and expenses, and the risk class. If you need further information before making your final decision you also can ask borrowers additional questions to make sure you are making the correct investment decision based on your chosen investment strategy.
Every applicant for a loan on Žltý melón must first pass our comprehensive evaluation process, which verifies their personal credibility, current financial situation and ability to meet their repayment obligations. Only individuals with a clear background and who we have identified as being highly likely to repay their loans consistently and on time can borrow through Žltý melón.
Applicants who fail to pass our credit scoring assessment, who have negative credit history, or who do not meet all of the required eligibility criteria borrowers cannot access loan auctions and attempt to get their loan funded by investors.
We assign a credit rating category – AA, A, B, C, D, D-, HR and H, H1 with real estate loans – to all loan applicants that manage to pass our rigorous assessment and screening process.
AA represents the lowest risk category of borrowers, as they are people with a good credit history as well as a clearly established financial situation that will allow them to easily make their scheduled loan repayments. At the other end of the spectrum, borrowers within the HR category, referred to as ‘Sufficient’, represent the highest risk class of borrowers. However, our stringent evaluation process ensures that even these applicants have had their financial circumstances and credit history fully verified, meaning they are able to consistently repay their credit commitments and other financial obligations.
Assigning a credit rating category to each approved loan applicant is a significant element that can help investors in deciding which loan auctions fit best within their investment strategy and the desired level of risk for their investment. The credit rating category is also a key determining factor used by our system to determine the recommended and maximum interest rate that investors can offer to borrowers during their loan auction. However, within these set parameters it is ultimately up to you as an individual investor to determine the interest rate you are willing to offer borrowers during a loan auction.
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How do I decide which loan auctions I should invest in?
When investing on Žltý melón, you should look through all of the loan auctions currently in progress and assess the details provided for each of their loan applications. It is important to choose auctions that best match your investment profile and desired investment strategy.
For secured real-estate loans with ratings H and H1, or borrowers in the credit rating category AA or A, there is a lower risk of repayment failure than if you were to invest in loan auctions with borrowers that were assigned a credit rating category of C, D and D-. However, the higher level of risk associated with these borrowers also means that the potential returns on your investment are also higher, as the interest rates paid by borrowers in the lower risk categories are much lower.
The most important rule that you should follow on Žltý melón, regardless of your investment profile and strategy, is to ensure you have sufficient diversification within your investment portfolio, as this will provide you with more stable returns on your investment and lower your exposure to the risks associated with any one individual borrower defaulting on their loan.
You can find more information about how to build a sufficiently diversified investment portfolio in the Investment security section of our website.
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How can Žltý melón ensure that the money I have invested will be repaid?
While we are fully confident in the sophisticated nature of our assessment processes and the benefits of investing on our platform rather than with a traditional bank, Žltý melón cannot guarantee the security of your investment.
We are a loan management company, rather than an investment advisory, meaning we provide you with all of the necessary information on borrowers and their loan application so that you can make the key decisions about your investments by yourself.
The most important to realise is that if you sufficiently diversifying the investments in your portfolio on Žltý melón you will dramatically reduce your exposure to risk and protect yourself from failures that can result in you losing your investment.
One of the most important factors for all of the people who invest or borrow money on Žltý melón is that the whole system is safe, secure and provides them with the best possible terms for their loan or investment.
This is also our number one priority. Our efforts to create, grow and operate Žltý melón would be entirely meaningless without this commitment to provide a safe, fair, and transparent platform for our users.
You can learn more about the risks of investing on Žltý melón and how to limit your exposure to risk in the Investment security section of our website.
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Can borrowers and other users see my personal data?
All loan auctions on Žltý melón and other activities on our system are anonymous; you are only identified by your chosen user name (nickname) that you create when you first register and can be anything you want.
Your personal information and data are also kept private and secure. The system does not disclose any personal information about investors to borrowers or other users on Žltý melón. We will also never sell or disclose your personal information, unless required to by law, and we ensure that all of the data our users provide is encrypted and stored securely using the highest level industry standards.
You can read more about our commitment to security and your privacy in the Safety and Privacy section of our website.
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Do I know who I'm lending money to?
For security reasons, we do not provide the name or the exact contact details for borrowers during loan auctions. However, all relevant information about borrowers, their income, expenses, and their risk category is available so that you can fully evaluate the loan auction and make your investment decisions.
You can also ask borrowers additional questions to find out any further information that you need to make an accurate and informed decision about whether to make an investment offer to fund their loan.
In the event that a borrower fails to make their scheduled repayments or defaults on their loan we will provide all of the necessary and relevant data to investors when appropriate as part of our collections process. -
How is my investment protected?
When investing through Žltý melón, you can choose from secured or unsecured loans with a higher yields. Secured loans are additionally secured by a partner's guarantee or a pledge agreement for the financed real estate.
Loans are granted and agreed on the basis of legal documentation prepared by a law firm with extensive experience in this field and that is similar to the loan contracts used by banks and other financial institutions. Every borrower that is employed must sign The Agreement on Wage Deductions in order to obtain their loan after it has been funded by investors, which helps ensure we can easily collect their agreed repayments directly in the event they fail to make them on time.
In the event that the borrower defaults on their loan, we act on behalf of investors to collect the debt and cover all of the upfront costs associated with pursuing the debt via a legal petition to the Arbitration Court, where we increase the amount owed by the debtor to reflect the costs of collection. After the court awards a decision against the borrower for the debt we work with professional executors to collect the debt through legal claims against the property of the borrower.
Our comprehensive debt collection services, provided free of charge to investors is highly effective and ensures that investors have a high chance of recovering their money promptly.
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What contracts do I sign as an investor?
Besides accepting the General Terms and Conditions of Žltý melón, investors also sign the Framework Agreement on Cooperation, which allows them to access and participate in loan auctions. If they decide to invest their in loans arranged through Žltý melón on more than one occasion, there is no need to sign any additional contracts with Žltý melón or the individual borrowers whose loans they fund.
All investors, whether they make one or multiple investments, receives the same complete level of service in relation to their investment. This includes, but is not limited to, providing an investor’s funds to the borrowers whose loans they have funded as well as calculating and crediting their virtual account on Žltý melón with the money paid to them by borrowers through their loan instalment repayments.
In the event that one of the loans an investor has funded is not repaid promptly or the borrower defaults, we provide a full collections services that includes communicating with borrowers as well as managing and covering the costs of any legal action that is required to recover the full debt owed to investors. -
Do I lend money to just one person?
No. Žltý melón strongly recommends that you diversify your investment into as many borrowers as possible to decrease your exposure to risks arising from non-repayment and also to help you earn stable returns on your investment
Our system limits how much you can invest in funding any one individual borrower’s loan and we recommend that you spread your investment across at least 40 different loans to ensure your portfolio is sufficiently diversified. You can achieve this by investing small sums with different products and many different borrowers, while also paying attention to their age, sex, region, income group and credit rating category, as these factors will help further diversify your investments.
You can learn more about diversifying your investment in the Investment security section of our website.
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How are my investments managed?
You do not have to actively manage your investments, we do it for you. We monitor the repayment progress for each loan, check whether the funds collected from borrowers match the expected instalment, interest or insurance payment. We ensure that all components of a scheduled loan repayment are correctly itemised and divided among individual investors proportionally, based on the percentage of the loan that they funded. In this manner, with each scheduled loan repayment you, as an investor, automatically receive a part of the original loan principal, as well as a part of the agreed interest payment charged on the loan.
Investment management includes monitoring of loan repayments and maturity. Žltý melón actively monitors each borrower and and loan in order to proactively identify the very first signs of any potential repayment difficulties and loans that are possibly in danger of default. If this happens, we automatically initiate a multi-level approach to communicate with the borrower and take all necessary measures to ensure that the loan is repaid and to maintain the security of your investment.
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What if a borrower is late in making their repayments?
Žltý melón actively monitors each borrower and identifies even the first signs of potential payment failure and potential problem loans. Our sophisticated debt collection system consists of two parts - soft and hard collection. This system of debt recovery is highly effective and is based on procedures and policies that correspond to the standards developed by banks and other financial institutions in the market.
Compared to these institutions, however, Žltý melón has a significant advantage as our portfolio is not nearly as large or complex, which makes managing it expensive and inefficient. Our smaller size, streamlined business model that is not bogged down by legacy systems and expertise in this area of consumer lending means we can approach each non-performing loan individually, developing a tailored approach that is more efficient and maximises the amount we are able to recover for investors.
You can learn more out debt collection process in the Investment security section of our website.
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Can I recover the debt owed to me by a borrower myself?
Yes. However, Žltý melón has developed a highly effective and full service debt recovery system, including established partnerships with a leading law firm and enforcement agencies that specialise in this area, which it offers to all investors free of charge.
If you nevertheless prefer to deal with the problem of non-repayment independently, we will provide you with all of the necessary legal documents and information to do so, including the identity of the borrower.
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How can I see the level of loan defauls and late repayments?
Žltý melón tracks the performance of every loan arranged on our platform, paying specific attention to the individual clients, groups of clients and specific loans that are determined to have a higher than average risk. We monitor the repayments and performance of loans within these high risk classes, as well as amongst other identified types of borrowers and risk classes, in order to track the development of delays in repayment and loan defaults.
Based on the data and analysis resulting from the active monitoring of loan on our platform, we continually review and update our prediction algorithms for the default rates of loans within individual credit rating classes, as well as the impact identified trends in non-performing loans have on the risk premium pricing for loans. When all of this is put together we are subsequently able to use this detailed analysis to adjust the recommended interest rates generated by our system and help ensure our investors are able to earn stable returns and minimise their exposure to risk.
You can find more information about the current development of default rates for loans on our platform, as well as about our net interest rate for investors after accounting for non-performing loans in the Statistics section of our website.
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Do I pay an investment fee?
The only standard fee investors pay is the monthly fee for managing their active investments in loans to borrowers. The fee is a fixed percentage of the monthly instalment repayments collected from borrowers and is automatically deducted from the amount collected before it is transferred to the investor’s account.
However, Žltý melón is not like a traditional bank and so we believe our profits should be contingent on you making a return on your investment. For this reason, the monthly investment management fee is not collected on loans for which the borrower has not made their scheduled instalment repayment, or if they have repaid only part of it. The investment management fee applies only to money already invested with loans on our platform and is not charged on any funds that are currently held in your account but not yet invested via a loan auction.
You can find further information about the fees we charge in our Valid Schedule of Charges here
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Where do I deposit my money before funding loans for borrowers?
Before funding a loan for a borrower through your investment offer in a loan auction you need to transfer money from your bank account to your virtual investment account on our platform.
The money you transfer to your Žltý melón account is not held by us, but is deposited in a separate account opened at a major bank solely for that purpose and which is separated from the financial resources and all other bank accounts used by our company. Your money does not leave this account until a loan is fully agreed with a borrower whose loan you have funded, at which point the money is transferred directly to the borrower.
Money held for investors in this manner is not owned by iService, a.s., and therefore we do not account for it in our annual returns or operational budgets, nor do we use it in any other purpose than the one described above.
Currently, we use the services of two Czech banks with branches in Slovakia - UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. and Fio banka, a.s. - to open and operate these bank accounts on behalf of our investors.
The financial resources of our company, as well as the funds deposited on behalf of investors in these separate accounts, are subject to the protection of the bank deposit guarantee scheme, as determined by the actual wording of the ‘Czech Act No. 21/1992 Coll. on Banks, as amended’. This deposit guarantee scheme would provide protection for investors in the unlikely event that both the firms behind Žltý melón, as well as the banks where investors funds are deposited, where to experience financial difficulties and/or file for bankruptcy. -
How do loan auctions work?
After a loan applicant has successfully passed our comprehensive credit assessment and verification process they are able to set up a loan auction and request funding for their loan from investors. Individual auctions are displayed in the “Auctions” section of our website, which is only visible to registered users of the platform.
On Žltý melón, there are two main types of auctions - Standard Auction and Risk-less Investment.
For Standard Auctions, the loan auction lasts for a maximum of 7 days. However, once the auction has been funded by investors to 100% of the amount requested by the borrower, it will then terminate in 24 hours, regardless of how long the auction was originally set to last for.
Throughout the duration of the auction, investors can offer an amount of money they want to invest in the loan and set the interest rate for which they are willing to lend this amount of money to the borrower. In order to provide security for investors, the maximum amount an investor can offer to fund in any one particular loan is set at 250 EUR (or 25% of the loan amount if you already have a higher investment limit). Žltý melón will provide investors with a recommended interest rate for their offer to fund a loan, but the exact conditions under which investors are willing to lend a borrower money is entirely between them. During the auction, investors can ask the borrower additional questions in the ‘Details of your loan’ section of the auction page, in order to get a clearer picture about the borrower or find out any information not listed in the standard auction details, which they need to make an informed decision on whether to make an investment offer to fund the loan and on what terms.
When the loan is fully funded to 100% of the amount requested by the borrower, they can choose to end the loan auction early and accept the conditions offered by the various investors that have chosen to fund their loan. If not, the auction will continue until the scheduled termination date and the borrower has the opportunity to wait for other investors´ offers in the hope of securing a lower interest rate for their loan.
The system will automatically discard offers from investors with higher interest rates and replace them with better offers at lower interest rates if and when they are made by new investors during the course of the auction. If an investor’s offer is discarded and replaced by a new offer at a lower interest rate, they are still able to place a new offer at a lower interest rate in order to replace an existing offer made by another investor.
The borrower can also end the auction early, even if the loan as not reached 100% funding for the amount original requested by the borrower, at which point they will accept the agreed interest rates and conditions offered by investors for the portion of the loan that has received funding. A borrower can only choose to end a loan auction early once at least 500 EUR of their original loan amount has been funded.
Once the loan auction is over, borrowers have the option to accept the loan if they agree with the terms and conditions offered by investors, or to reject it. As part of accepting a loan, applicants have the additional option of rejecting some investment offers with the highest interest rate.
The Risk-less investment auction works in a similar manner, but lasts for 14 days rather than 7 and in this case borrowers determine the preferred interest rate for their loan themselves, rather than waiting for investors to set the interest rate they are willing to offer. The preferred interest rate set by the borrower is clearly listed in the auction details, making it easy for potential investors to quickly decide whether or not they are interested and willing to make an investment into the loan under the conditions set by the borrower.
While in these auctions investors have less control over setting the interest rate for their investment, if an investor does decide to accept the borrower’s listed terms and make an investment offer, they then have the benefit of a guarantee that their offer will not be discarded by another investor. This is because the loan auction will immediately terminate once it reaches 100% funding for the amount requested by the borrower.
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What are CashFree loans?
CashFree loans are specialized real-estate loans used for the purchase of a new home and their biggest difference from standard loans is their security.
The CashFree Housing loans are provided in partnership with a well-known real estate developer and is used to cover the first deposit needed to secure the reservation of a new home bought by the applicant. The properties being purchased with these loans are currently under construction. As these loans are linked to real estate, the developer also provides an additional guarantee for investors, in the form of a full refund of their investment if the borrower has difficulties maintaining their loan repayments.
The CashFree Hypo loans are used to co-finance bank mortgages for the purchase of a new home. The primary requirement for this loan is to secure a traditional mortgage with a bank in Slovakia. These loans are secured through an pledge contract for financed real estate that allows investors to claim money owed to them through the sale of the property, after the bank that issued the mortgage.
The CashFree Real estate loan is used to finance housing. The loan can replace a bank mortgage or it can be used as a bridging loan, to help clients to get money for the time until they settley their new home. The loan is secured directly on the title deed in the first place.
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How do automatic investments work?
In case you do not want to enter your investment offers manually, you can use the Investment Manager and its 'Autoinvestment' feature which will make your investment offers for you based on certain criteria you select and which match your desired level of risk and investment strategy.
When setting up the autoinvestment feature, you can either choose to use one our predefined investment strategies, or choose your to create your own. When you do this you will specify the detailed conditions for the loan auctions that you wish to make investment offers on, such as the borrower's risk class and type of loan, as well as well as your expected level of earnings from your investment, which is determined by the interest rates you offer to borrowers.
Once you have setup the autoinvestment tool, it will continually monitor the current loan auctions available on our platform and make investment offers to borrowers in the loan auctions that meet your chosen investment criteria. In order to keep you updated about the progress of your automatic investments, we will send you notifications about any investments made in loan auctions that met your specified criteria, as well as any other relevant information about the progress or status of your investment offers and the loan auctions these offers have been made in.
The autoinvestment feature is available to all investors and as such it operates in a way that treats all investors fairly and equally with regards to making automatic investment offers, however in the case where there are more investors willing to fund a loan auction that are needed to fully fund the loan, the autoinvestment system will prioritises the investment offers that have the lowest interest rates and also take into account when they were made.
You may choose to only make investment offers via the autoinvestment tool, however, you can of course also choose to use it in alongside your manual investment offers, which helps ensure you can maximise the returns on your investment by carefully selecting loan auctions that are on the margins of your investment criteria and strategy.
Our system provides you with full control over the use of the autoinvestment feature and it can easily be turned on or off at anytime within the Investment Terminal dashboard of your My Account area.
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Can I terminate my investment before the loan is due?
Yes, in a case you need to collect invested money before the loan is due, you can sell your investment on our Secondary market to another investor. You choose for how much you would like to sell it and agree with a new investor on specific terms.
We also run a program of increased liquidity. Participating investors have the right to request an early repyment of part or all of their portfolio at any time. If the investments meet the criteria and there is enough money in the program, we will arrange it.
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How does the Secondary market of investments work?
Our Secondary market makes it easy for you to sell any of your active investments on Žltý melón early to other investors in our community, meaning you can quickly turn your investments back into cash when you need it, regardless of how many months are left on the loan.
The way the Secondary Market works is simple:
- The seller creates an auction for the investment they want to sell and the asking price.
- Auctions run for a maximum of 7 days but can be cancelled at anytime by the seller for any reason
- If a loan repayment is made during this period, the auction will be automatically cancelled
- Investments can be purchased instantly by making a bid at or above the asking price for the auction
- Buyers can also bid an amount lower than the asking price for the auction, with an expiry date for their offer, which is then either accepted or rejected by the Seller
How pricing works on the Secondary Market
Prices for investments are listed as a % of the current remaining loan principal, which can be a premium price (>100%) or a discount price (<) depending on the type of loan and current repayment status.
If an investment is not sold within the 7 day auction period the seller has two options:
- Restart the auction immediately at a reduced price; OR
- Wait at least 30 days before restarting the auction, with any asking price they want
If a loan auctions is restarted immediately, the asking price must be reduced by a minimum amount, which is based on the current loan repayment status:
- At least 0.1% for 'Good Repayments' (loans with less than 30 days late repayments)
- At least 1.0% for 'Late Repayments' (loans with more than 30 days late repayments)
- At least 5.0% for Default/Collections (loans where repayment is made via legal enforcement)
If a seller cancels the auction during the 7 day period, it counts as 'unsold' and the price reduction rules mentioned above will apply.
How to view the Secondary Market
You can quickly access the Secondary Market via the top menu bar or the dedicated section of the Investment Terminal. -
How do I collect the monthly repayments for loans I've invested in?
When a borrower makes their scheduled monthly loan instalment repayment, the part of the instalment payment that is attributable to your original investment (including both loan principle and interest charges) is immediately credited to your virtual Žltý melón investment account. This money can then be reinvested in other loans, or can be transferred to your bank account.
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Can I withdraw the money repaid to me by borrowers?
Of course. You have full control of all of the money in your investment account and can transfer it back to your bank account at any time you wish.
The funds available to withdraw includes all of your deposited money that is not currently invested in loans you have funded (or that is reserved for loan offers you have made, but that have not yet been accepted or rejected by the borrower) as well as all the collected monthly instalment repayments made by borrowers. -
Can I reinvest the money I receive from a borrower's repayments?
We recommend reinvesting your money as often as possible within your chosen investment strategy, as it allows you to maximise the return on your original investment.
You can of course transfer the money in your investment account back to your bank account any time, however, Žltý melón gives you the opportunity to earn higher returns if you reinvest your money in new loans. By doing this you will profit by reinvesting through Žltý melón, especially when compared to the returns you would earn by depositing your money with a traditional bank. -
How is the income I earn from investing in loans taxed?
On Žltý melón, the investor earns money from the loan interest paid by borrowers as part of their scheduled monthly instalment repayments, which is taxable in compliance with the Law on Income Tax. Žltý melón does not pay any taxes on behalf of investors that are associated with the earnings associated with the returns on their investments in any loans provided through our platform.
It is for each investor to fulfil this legal obligation in accordance with the laws of the EU and whichever country or countries they have a legal tax obligation in as a result of their employment, residency, nationality or any other factor arising such an obligation under the applicable laws and regulations of that sovereign power.
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How do you calculate the Net Interest Rate, Net Investment Returns and Risk Vintages for my investment portfolio?
We are committed to providing you with the most transparent, accurate and helpful statistics about your investment portfolio on Žltý melón, as well as the underlying methodology we use to create those statistics!
How we calculate the Net Interest Rate and Net Investment Returns
The Net Interest Rate statistic for your investment portfolio provides you with a clear indication of what you can actually expect to earn on our platform, taking into account your investment fees, the current mix of loans in your portfolio as well as the expected losses from any loan defaults.
We calculate this statistic using the scheduled monthly installment payments for your current loan portfolio, which includes the repayments of loan principal, interest charges, penalty fees minus our administration fees. We then adjust this amount to take into account the expected losses resulting from any loan defaults as well as expected income you will earn from the legal enforcement and collection of those debts that we undertake on your behalf. These adjustments are based on the historical performance of our loan portfolio and the recovery rates for loan defaults on our platform.
Finally, we take the adjusted monthly installment amount for your investment portfolio and weight it based on the average maturity dates and investment amounts for the individual loans in your portfolio, to provide you with the Net Interest Rate for your investment portfolio on Žltý melón.
This statistic not only allows us to provide you with a simple and highly accurate statistical representation of the current 'real-time' performance of your investment portfolio, but we also use this same methodology to provide statistics about the performance of our entire loan portfolio and the average returns earned by all of our investors.
It also allows us to provide you with a Net Investment Return statistic, which gives you a simple yet highly accurate projection of the future earnings from your investment portfolio on an annual (p.a.) basis, while also fully taking into account the diverse mix of maturity dates and interest rates for the individual loans you have invested in on our platform.
Your Net Investment Return statistic is calculated at the end of each calendar month and therefore reflects the most recent data about your investment portfolio at the end of the previous month.
How we calculate loan default rates and 'Risk Vintages'
Risk Vintages are a standard tool for comparing the quality of a loan portfolio and risk management. The graph we provide you with shows how the levels of loan defaults on our platform has changed over time, based on the most recent loan repayment data and the year loans were provided.
This gives a simple and clear visual overview of the percentage of loans that default on our platform in relation to when they were issued (e.g. the % of loan defaults after 6 months, 12 months or 24 months), as well as how this compares for loans issued in different years. -
What is the notification centre?
On Žltý melón you have the functionality of the notification centre with unique characteristics.
You can easily try out the new Notification Centre using the new icon at the top of the page to access your personalised “Feed” of investor information.
The notification centre provides you with a constantly updating news feed with all of your notifications about your activity on Žltý melón. The information you can find here is the mostly the same as you have previously received via email, but in an easier to digest format that won’t clog up your email inbox! We have also added several new notifications to help you get the most out of using our platform.
Notifications are divided into several different categories and we have included several filters on the left to help you get the information you want as quickly as possible. You can mark individual messages as ‘read’ or mark multiple messages as ‘read’ at once in order to clean up your news feed.
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How do I follow another user, what information will I see and can I stop other people from following me?
As well as provide a central location for all of your notifications we have also added the ability for you to ‘follow’ other users on Žltý melón in the same way you would on Twitter or other social networks. This innovative feature will allow you keep track of what your friends or some of our top investors are doing in order to help you learn from other people in our community and increase the profits you earn from your investments.
You can easily follow another investor by searching for their name within the notification centre, or by using the ‘Follow’ button in their investor profile. Once you follow an investor information about their investment activity will be displayed in your news feed and if someone follows you they will be updated about your activity.
We are always conscious about protecting your privacy at all times, so if you do not want to share you investment activity with other users it is easy to ‘Block’ any investor that has decided to follow you.
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Can I configure which email notifications I receive?
Yes, you can easily control your email notification settings and which notifications appear in your Feed using the options in your Profile.
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I can access your site on my phone already, why do I need a special app?
Žltý melón has its own mobile application for devices using the Android and iOS operating systems. The application can be used for complex investment account management and investing and it contains most of functionalities available in the web interface. The app can notify you of important events on your account and by using it, you can also confirm web activities instead of Validation codes.
Key features:
-> Quick and easy access to your investment account from anywhere
-> Possibility to confirm web activities instead of Validation codes
-> Track the performance, status and composition of your investment portfolio
-> Overview of active and closed investment opportunities together with their details and repayment overview
-> Access to current investment opportunities and their details
-> Manual investment in new loans, including increasing offers or using investment credits for refinanced loans
-> Option set up autoinvesting tool
-> An overview of the investor account and all transactions on the account
-> Add funds, currency conversion, or funds withdrawal from your account
-> Get real time notifications about new loan auctions, your account, portfolio and events on the portal
-> Possibility to set up push notifications about important events on the account
You can download the application in the Google Play and App Store stores.
To invest on our platform you will need to create an account using our simple online registration form.
In order to use the application, you need to have your mobile device connected to the Internet. The application currently does not support an offline mode.