Platform calculators stop at compound fantasy. This one shaves off what actually erodes returns - defaults, recoveries, idle cash - across three weather scenarios, and lines the result up against an ETF and a bank deposit.
The calculator cuts the advertised rate by a scenario-based drag: 0.8 points in Sunny (top-quartile platform, no defaults touch your slice), 2.2 points in Realistic (a normal year of defaults, partial recoveries and cash waiting between loans), and 5.5 points in Stormy (a bad platform year with elevated defaults and slow recoveries). The cuts are calibrated to the documented gap between advertised and realised returns across European platforms - see our market statistics.
"Reinvest" compounds monthly; "Pay out" sends interest to your account and keeps the principal flat. The ETF benchmark assumes a broad index fund at 7% nominal - the long-run average, minus the volatility a single line cannot show. The deposit line uses 2.5% with state guarantees up to EUR 100,000. Taxes are not modelled. Nothing here is investment advice - it is arithmetic with honest inputs.
The advertised-vs-realised gap, platform by platform - the data behind this tool.
Six ways P2P loses money and the checks that catch most of them early.