Housers is a collaborative financing platform. Its activity consists of connecting, in a professional manner and through the website www.housers.com, individuals or legal entities offering financing in exchange for a monetary income (investors) with individuals or legal entities requesting financing at their own name to allocate it to a collaborative financing project (promoters).
The investment in projects published in Housers platform consists in the granting of participatory loans to promoters.
The investment opportunities published at Housers consists in the assets acquisition. In certain situations, the acquired real estate assets will also be fully refurbished, in order to increase the value and profitability. The assets selected by Housers are initially selected using "Big Data" tools and then analysed in detail to verify their legal and technical status.
Housers rigorously analyses the investment projects it receives from project developers in order to verify their viability and protect the interests of investors. Prior to the publication of the projects in the platform, the following procedure is carried out:
Housers publishes on the platform the following loan modalities:
In May 2019 Housers pioneered the outsourcing of project risk analysis for the sake of greater neutrality and transparency. At that time the company chosen was Silva & Asociados, specialized in risk analysis. An exclusive methodology was created for the analysis of projects published on a participatory financing platform.
Today we can say, after 87 projects published on our platform with their corresponding risk analysis, that this step has been a great innovation within the crowdlending sector: no platform offers this at present and it shows Housers’ commitment to its investors.
Today we decided to take a new step by creating a group of companies that can provide this service always from the highest quality, with the highest levels of rigor and identical methodology. The objective of the creation of this group is:
Which companies make up the risk analysis group?
From today, the scorings of each project can be performed by the following companies with which Housers has agreements:
Proyectos Ciga
For more than 15 years they have successfully advised and brokered a large number of valuation transactions of companies and projects in various sectors, which allows them to understand and analyze companies of very different profiles, providing an external, aseptic and professional vision. It currently has more than 120 employees, 17 partners and 6 offices.
Carlac
It is an independent financial and strategic advisory firm in corporate operations. The Carlac Capital team has been operating in the market for more than 20 years, with experience in first level firms in the financial sector, in industrial companies, and in venture capital. In addition, Carlac’s team has the support of an investment committee and strategic advisors of proven business success in the real estate sector. Among the outstanding operations in the real estate sector are: the acquisition of Servihabitat, the purchase of 115 hotel establishments as a real guarantee or the advice to the Spanish SOCIMI Grupo Lar in the structure, valuation and capital raising for the investment of a new vehicle focused on residential assets.
Silva & Asociados
Based in Madrid, it is made up of professionals with extensive experience in strategic analysis, whose objective is to provide quality advice to small and family owned companies, covering all aspects related to the world of investment, disinvestment and financing. Among Silva & Associates’ main clients are ACCIONA INFRAESTRUCTURAS S.A., SACYR S.A., EROSKI, SCHWEPPES, KIA Spain. Silva & Associates always acts from the consumer’s point of view and therefore, in our case, from the investor’s point of view. It is therefore important to highlight that the company’s strategy can provide greater transparency and impartiality when determining the score for a project. This is the one we have been working with since May 2019.
How does scoring work?
Scoring is defined as the objective or unbiased analysis of the main parameters of a company, a financial product or an investment project, with the purpose of obtaining an evaluation.
The aim is to achieve a “global scoring”. In order to achieve this objective, an analysis is made in 2 aspects:
In parallel, a guarantee analysis is performed and, if the loan amount is covered, a category is increased. If the amount of the loan is not covered, one category is lowered.
What was Housers’ scoring based on?
In Housers we developed a scoring system. By means of a series of variables, a higher or lower score was offered depending on the risk:
And after this analysis the projects were classified in this way:
Mechanisms in case of activity cease
Due to Housers Web site based on the software, hardware, and Internet systems, Housers does not guarantee continued or uninterrupted access or use of the Web site. As a result, the system may eventually be unavailable due to fortuitous events or major force, as well as technical difficulties or Internet failures, or due to any other circumstance beyond Housers' control. In such cases, we will try to reinstate it as quickly as possible without Housers being held liable.
Housers shall not be responsible for any errors or omissions contained in the Web site. Users may not hold Housers responsible or demand payment for damages due to technical difficulties or failures in the systems or the Internet.
The Web site is hosted in a secure data centre owned by a specialized hosting company, and whose availability of service is guaranteed.
In view of the diversity of parties involved in providing the web site service, Housers does not guarantee the continued availability of the service. For instance, the foregoing, and in order to try to avoid as far as possible the non-availability of the service, the Platform has a triple backup system:
In addition, in the case of Housers ceasing to operate definitively for any reason, the contractual relationship between Housers and the Investor shall be finished in accordance with the provisions of the Clause 12. In such event, the Investor acknowledges that such termination shall not affect the provisions of the Contract that, as the case may be, has been signed with the Promoter and/or its partners, which shall remain in force during the term established in such contract and shall be governed by the provisions. In such case, the Investors shall coordinate with the Promoter its provision of adequate mechanisms for communication between the Investors and the Promoter in the development of their relationship under the Contract, without the Users having the right to claim Housers for any reason.
If HOUSERS decides, for any reason, to cease its activity, it shall give a three (3) months' written to investors and project developers, proposing a substitute equity financing platform to succeed HOUSERS in the rights and obligations assumed with them, and indicating them the procedure for an orderly transition from one platform to another.
If HOUSERS does not activate this mechanism, investors and promoters would have to relate directly, i.e. without the intermediation of a platform, without prejudice to their right to claim any damages they may be entitled to.
Measures taken by HOUSERS to minimize fraud risk and operational risk
HOUSERS will maintain the necessary procedures and policies to minimize the risk of fraud in its operations through the following means:
Cessation of activity of Housers
As a measure in case of the hypothetical cessation of the provision of services, Housers has taken out a policy with the company AIG Europe S.A., an entity registered in the Mercantile Registry of Madrid, Volume 37770, Folio 48, Page M- 672859, Inscription 1 Key E0226 of the Directorate General of Insurance and Pension Funds, which provides for the provision of services in case of cessation of activity in exchange for the payment of the additional Premium.
The Coverage contracted covers an amount of up to 500,000 euros in services for the Cessation of Activity.
In the event of the cessation of the Company's activity, the Insurer shall pay, on behalf of the Company, the necessary costs to continue providing the services to which the Company committed itself for the Participatory Financing Projects that had obtained financing before the cessation of the Company's activity, under the terms of Law 5/2015 dated 27 April, on the promotion of business financing.
The services referred to in the previous paragraph shall be limited to the following:
In short, through the policy Housers will be given continuity to continue managing payments, to later continue with the option of transferring the loans to a third platform authorised by the CNMV, so that with the coverage of the insurance contracted the transition to another platform will be managed. If no other platform is found to be interested, the option of directly contacting developers and investors will be maintained.
In addition, the payment services entity Lemon Way, which provides the payment services to Housers, in the event that the platform ceases to operate, must continue to provide the payment services to Account Holders under the conditions agreed in the framework agreement until the contract is effectively terminated, so that the platform has the option of sending the Account Holder's details to another payment service provider two months before the effective date of termination.
This ensures the continuity of payments until the end of the project.
With regard to the own projects which have been published on the platform and in the case of the termination of activity, the projects will be treated neutrally as one more among all the financed and not closed projects, so that the above mentioned applies to them both for the purposes of coverage by the contracted policy and with regard to the Payment Services Institution.
Extrajudicial claim:
Extrajudicial claim of ordinary interests:
If the sponsoring company fails to make a payment or pays only part of the amount in relation to the Loan, Housers will contact the sponsor company to clarify the reasons for the delay and to request the payment, so that investors can be informed of the reasons for the default and the estimated payment terms. Housers may also take appropriate action in respect to the failure of the sponsoring company to repay the loan and, if appropriate, include the sponsoring company in insolvency files.
If after 60 calendar days the outstanding payment has not been received by the Investor, Housers will send a notification by bureau fax warning the sponsoring Company of the default situation and the possibility of the same being claimed in court.
Contemplated scenarios
Extrajudicial claim when the loan expires:
If the Sponsoring Company, once the final maturity date of the loan is met, fails to pay one or more instalments of accrued interest and/or repayment of the principal (fails to make payment or pays only partially the amount in connection with the Loan), Housers will contact the Promoting Company to request payment for payment schedule request by sending Bur fax. In this way, the out-of-court claim is transferred to the pre-court claim.
Payments made by the Sponsoring Company will be applied in the following order:
Item (II) above shall be paid in order of seniority, with a fee before a more current fee is paid. A fee will be paid when the Sponsoring Company has made funds available to cover the entire fee.
Extrajudicial/judicial claim:
Once the breach mentioned in the previous point has occurred, a meeting of lenders will be convened to decide whether to give the promotor 10 days to present a proposal with a schedule and a payment commitment, or not.
If it is approved to give ten days for the submission of new offers, Housers will contact the project developer by bur fax to request the submission of a binding proposal with a schedule of payments for the loan repayment, providing a period of 10 days for the presentation of the same.
After the ten-day period, such proposal will be taken to a meeting of lenders to submit the proposal made by the promoting company to a vote. Through this mechanism, Housers gives investors the choice between accepting the proposal put forward by the developer or demanding repayment of the loan with the support of a company specialising in recovery.
If investors choose to accept the proposal put forward by the sponsoring company, the company will be obliged to comply with the payment schedule set out in the proposal. If the Promoter fails to pay any of the amounts agreed in the payment schedule or fails to comply with the proposal, Housers will contact it to clarify the reasons for the delay and to request payment, so that the investors can be informed of the reasons for the default and the estimated payment terms, and will send a notification to this effect by bur fax, guarantor or any other means that leaves a record.
If after 30 calendar days the outstanding payment has not been received by the Investor, Housers will send a communication by bur fax, guarantee or any other means that leaves a record, warning the Sponsoring Company of the situation of default.
If the situation has not been regularised within 30 days, a meeting of lenders will also be convened to decide whether to grant an additional period of 10 days for either the payment of the debt in accordance with the approved timetable, submission of a new offer with a timetable and payment conditions or the repayment demand of the loan with the support of a firm specialising in recovery.
If the investors decide to choose the repayment demand of the loan with the support of a specialist collection company, the recovery company will assess the situation and decide whether the collection possibilities justify a judicial claim, safeguarding the interests of the lenders (investors). The objective is to recover the outstanding debt bilaterally or through the courts.
Throughout the recovery process, Housers will manage the relationship with the recovery company and will regularly and confidentially inform all project investors about the evolution of the process.
The amounts finally collected from the Developer shall be applied in the following order: