Zlty melon - Risk and return review
Zlty melon - Returns and loss rates
Zlty melon – Platform statistics 2026
Zlty melon – Pros & Cons
About Zlty melon
What it is
Žltý melón is a Slovak peer-to-peer lending platform, running since 2012, where private investors lend small amounts directly to Slovak consumers. It is operated by iService, a.s. EUR 81.8 million has been lent through it since the start, EUR 31.7 million in the last 24 months (statistics updated 1 November 2026).
How it works
You register for free and invest from EUR 25. Borrowers are checked by the platform's credit analysts, rated from AA to HR and then auctioned: investors offer money and rates, and each unsecured loan must be funded by at least four investors. You can pick loans yourself, use ready-made portfolios or let Autoinvest invest for you. Products with extra security, such as loans for home financing with a lien or developer guarantee, pay fixed rates starting at 7% a year. Borrowers repay monthly.
Returns
The weighted average interest rate of all loans since the start is 9.14% a year; 8.90% for 2025 and 8.84% for the last 24 months (1 November 2026). This is the contract rate before the platform's fee and before defaults. The platform also shows current returns for its model portfolios over the past two years, from 7.63% (secured) to 9.46% (balanced). A net return after defaults is published only as a chart.
Losses and defaults
The platform publishes a detailed table by year of lending. Loans worth 3.99% of everything lent defaulted (EUR 3.26 million of principal outstanding at default; calculated from the platform's own figures). After recoveries, 1.74% of the total amount lent is still lost, and 1.46% for the last 24 months (1 November 2026).
Newer loans have done worse. Unrecovered defaults are 2.59% of 2022 lending, 3.99% of 2023 lending, 3.23% of 2024 and 3.02% of 2025, and only 26-37% of the defaulted money from 2022 to 2024 has been recovered so far, against more than 100% for 2020-2021. Investors receive 65% of late-payment fees.
What secures your money
Most loans are unsecured personal loans of up to EUR 15,000 to Slovak consumers: the borrower is liable with all their assets, and for riskier borrowers a wage-deduction agreement may be added. Some products carry more: CashFree Hypo loans have a lien on the property ranked behind the bank's mortgage, CashFree Housing loans have a developer's buyback guarantee or a lien on the financed property, and Partner Loans carry the partner's buyback guarantee. A buyback or guarantee depends on the company that gives it and is not security on the loan itself. There is no platform-wide buyback or reserve fund. Overdue loans go through internal collection and then legal recovery by a non-profit investor-protection association; 56.42% of defaulted principal has been recovered since the start, but only about a quarter on loans from 2022 to 2024 so far (1 November 2026).
Who runs it and its licence
The platform is run by iService, a.s. No crowdfunding, lending or payment licence is shown on its website, and its user prospectus (March 2023) lists the Slovak banking and financial-market supervision acts among the laws that do not apply to it, while the payment services act does. Licence not confirmed: the EU crowdfunding rules and their investor protections do not appear to apply, and no compensation scheme covers the loans.
Fees
Registering is free. The standard investor fee is a monthly investment management fee: a fixed percentage of the instalments actually collected from your borrowers, so nothing is charged on unpaid instalments. Withdrawals from the platform account to your bank account are charged. The exact amounts are in the platform's price list.
Getting your money out
You can sell loans to other investors on the secondary market at a price you agree, or ask for a buyback, and you can withdraw repaid money from your account at any time. Otherwise money comes back with the borrowers' monthly instalments. Your uninvested money sits on a separate bank account kept apart from the company's own accounts.
Our view
Return: Medium. The weighted average interest rate is 9.14% a year since the start. Risk: Medium (higher means more risk). 1.74% of the amount lent is in default and not recovered (3.99% defaulted in total), recent loans recover less, the loans are mostly unsecured and no licence is shown. Risk-return: Medium.
Regulation
License / Regulation: Licence not confirmed — no crowdfunding (ECSP), lending or payment licence is shown on the website of the operator iService, a.s. Its user prospectus (March 2023) lists the Slovak banking act and financial-market supervision act among the laws that do not apply to it, and the payment services act as applicable. No deposit guarantee or investor compensation scheme covers the loans.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
No licence is shown. The operator iService, a.s. does not show a crowdfunding, lending or payment licence, and its user prospectus says the banking and financial-market supervision acts do not apply to it. The EU crowdfunding protections therefore do not appear to apply.
Uninvested money sits on a separate bank account kept apart from the company's own accounts, according to the platform. The bank is not named. Money you lend is owed to you directly by the borrowers.
EUR 25. Each unsecured loan must be funded by at least four investors.
The weighted average interest rate is 9.14% a year since the start. 3.99% of the amount lent has defaulted, and 1.74% is still unrecovered after recoveries (1 November 2026).
Most loans are unsecured consumer loans. Some products have a lien on property or a developer or partner buyback guarantee. There is no platform-wide buyback or reserve fund.
Yes. You can sell loans on the secondary market or ask for a buyback, and you can withdraw repaid money at any time; withdrawals to your bank are charged.
A monthly management fee, a fixed percentage of the instalments actually collected, and a charge for withdrawals to your bank account. Registration is free.
Overdue loans go through collection and then legal recovery; about 56% of defaulted money has been recovered since 2012. The loan contracts are directly between you and the borrowers, and client money is kept apart from company money. No compensation scheme applies.
The platform does not withhold tax. Interest is capital income in Slovakia and you declare it yourself; an income confirmation is available in your account. Check your own tax rules.
