ZOPA Lenders - Your Experiences?
Discussion
Stumbled across ZOPA the other day via a thread on here. Looks like an interesting concept and something which may yield higher than the 1% interest I get in my 'savings' account currently.
Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
oOTomOo said:
Stumbled across ZOPA the other day via a thread on here. Looks like an interesting concept and something which may yield higher than the 1% interest I get in my 'savings' account currently.
Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
Well, I havent used it but looked into it so I'm not sure if you are interested in my view or not.Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
I didn't go for it as the loans weren't tradable (at the time), meaning you were locked in for the long term and couldnt get to your cash if you needed to. That was the main drawback for me.
I think you still can't transfer loans, so you're right, you cant get all your money out for 3 / 5 years depending on what loan length you choose.
But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
They are looking into a secondary market where you can sell out at par.
Which is to avoid lots of legal issues.
Ive used it for years, it "seems" to be working fine. returns are much better than elsewhere. But because its not covered by any FSCS type setup risk only what you can lose.
Quite a few loans are repaid early so your cash will be returned a little faster than you expect, though obviously a few holdouts will run to term.
Im not putting any more in now, but just letting it compound..
Which is to avoid lots of legal issues.
Ive used it for years, it "seems" to be working fine. returns are much better than elsewhere. But because its not covered by any FSCS type setup risk only what you can lose.
Quite a few loans are repaid early so your cash will be returned a little faster than you expect, though obviously a few holdouts will run to term.
Im not putting any more in now, but just letting it compound..
oOTomOo said:
Stumbled across ZOPA the other day via a thread on here. Looks like an interesting concept and something which may yield higher than the 1% interest I get in my 'savings' account currently.
Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
Surely you can get around 4% o your savings if you are prepared to tie your money up for a period?Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
NoelWatson said:
oOTomOo said:
Stumbled across ZOPA the other day via a thread on here. Looks like an interesting concept and something which may yield higher than the 1% interest I get in my 'savings' account currently.
Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
Surely you can get around 4% o your savings if you are prepared to tie your money up for a period?Question is, are there any ZOPA lenders on here, and if so what are your experiences - good or bad?
I'm not particularly interested in those who haven't used it because in their humble opinion it's a scam / full of people borrowing money who the banks won't touch.
Actual experience only please - keep your speculations to a minimum.
Ta
oOTomOo said:
I think you still can't transfer loans, so you're right, you cant get all your money out for 3 / 5 years depending on what loan length you choose.
But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
As someone else mentioned, when I looked at it a lot of people were saying that many loans get paid off early - which was a pain they have to keep re-lending the money. But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
Linked to that, and re your "come back to it in 10 yrs..." I got the impression that it takes a fair amount of involvement to look at proposals and decide whether you wanted to lend and how much.
Deva Link said:
oOTomOo said:
I think you still can't transfer loans, so you're right, you cant get all your money out for 3 / 5 years depending on what loan length you choose.
But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
As someone else mentioned, when I looked at it a lot of people were saying that many loans get paid off early - which was a pain they have to keep re-lending the money. But TBH that kind of appeals to me, If i have money in an easily accessible savings account I can get at it and spend it willy nilly (and I do - which isn't much good for a savings account!) I'm still toying with the idea but my 'sort of plan' is to stick a nominal amount in each month and just treat it like a long term savings account. Come back to it in 10 years and see what's there.
Linked to that, and re your "come back to it in 10 yrs..." I got the impression that it takes a fair amount of involvement to look at proposals and decide whether you wanted to lend and how much.
The only hands on involvement is setting what interest rates you want for each market - which can be done once - then reviewed when rates change.
That and assigning any additional investment to the market you chose.
BluePurpleRed said:
There are Zopa Listings now, people borrowing for a short term reason, sometimes 12 months. So its possible to lend over shorter periods that way?
Listings are for spacktards who are not rated as good credits. The normal loans say 3 or 5 years, but thats actually "up to" 3 or 5 year. So lending in listings is a sure fire way to turn yourself into the next Leaman Brothers. ringram said:
BluePurpleRed said:
There are Zopa Listings now, people borrowing for a short term reason, sometimes 12 months. So its possible to lend over shorter periods that way?
Listings are for spacktards who are not rated as good credits. The normal loans say 3 or 5 years, but thats actually "up to" 3 or 5 year. So lending in listings is a sure fire way to turn yourself into the next Leaman Brothers. There was one guy who wanted to borrow ~5k but who earned a supposed 6k / month and spent 4.5k a month he also had 28k worth of investments. Make up your own minds but to me that doesn't add up.
Infact - he's still on there.. https://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/Listings/home-improvem...
oOTomOo said:
My funds have arrived - and have shot straight back out again!
so far I've financed a new car and consolidating some existing debts, yay me. I'll have a look what the returns are like and see if I feel like investing more!
Which suggests you leant at too low an APR..so far I've financed a new car and consolidating some existing debts, yay me. I'll have a look what the returns are like and see if I feel like investing more!
I only loan to A rated clients, my aim is to increase the return by using tricks like easter eggs etc
Anyway, why are you borrowing and lending!? Or is that where your loan money went?
ringram said:
oOTomOo said:
My funds have arrived - and have shot straight back out again!
so far I've financed a new car and consolidating some existing debts, yay me. I'll have a look what the returns are like and see if I feel like investing more!
Which suggests you leant at too low an APR..so far I've financed a new car and consolidating some existing debts, yay me. I'll have a look what the returns are like and see if I feel like investing more!
I only loan to A rated clients, my aim is to increase the return by using tricks like easter eggs etc
Anyway, why are you borrowing and lending!? Or is that where your loan money went?
Plus I wasn't sure what a 'long time' is for money to go in and out.
ETA: that is where the money I put in went out. (it was only £20 so I've financed 2 x x£10 microloans!)
Deva Link said:
You seem to have moved on rather rapidly since your initial enquiry only yesterday.
It was Only £20... I'm just intrigued by the concept. Not putting my life savings in there just yet!Edited by oOTomOo on Friday 17th September 16:48
oOTomOo said:
Possibly, the loans went out at 9.5 and 12.7% - (calculated to be ~ 7.5% after bad debt) that seemed pretty average rates (at the time - happy to be corrected)
Plus I wasn't sure what a 'long time' is for money to go in and out.
ETA: that is where the money I put in went out. (it was only £20 so I've financed 2 x x£10 microloans!)
Presumeably the "after bad debt" figure assumes a spread of risk? It's minus infinity percent if both your loans go bad, isn't it!Plus I wasn't sure what a 'long time' is for money to go in and out.
ETA: that is where the money I put in went out. (it was only £20 so I've financed 2 x x£10 microloans!)
Deva Link said:
oOTomOo said:
Possibly, the loans went out at 9.5 and 12.7% - (calculated to be ~ 7.5% after bad debt) that seemed pretty average rates (at the time - happy to be corrected)
Plus I wasn't sure what a 'long time' is for money to go in and out.
ETA: that is where the money I put in went out. (it was only £20 so I've financed 2 x x£10 microloans!)
Presumeably the "after bad debt" figure assumes a spread of risk? It's minus infinity percent if both your loans go bad, isn't it!Plus I wasn't sure what a 'long time' is for money to go in and out.
ETA: that is where the money I put in went out. (it was only £20 so I've financed 2 x x£10 microloans!)
Whilst I was investigating ZOPA I came across Funding Circle http://www.fundingcircle.com/
In there you can pull out of your loan, assuming that another person will pick it up....
This lends to businesses as opposed to i ndividuals - but similar concept to ZOPA.
In there you can pull out of your loan, assuming that another person will pick it up....
This lends to businesses as opposed to i ndividuals - but similar concept to ZOPA.
Zopa have added a Rapid Return function which allows you to cash out your loan (assuming it gets picked up by other lenders), but they do charge a 1% fee for this
http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/public/lending/rapid-re...
http://uk.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/public/lending/rapid-re...
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