FACEBOOK Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 ............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denise2436 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I use Zopa as a borrower, found it fantastic especially the interest rate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I've been lending on it. Not huge amounts, just a few grand, but returns have been very good. Only been lending to less risky categories and have been getting 6%-ish gross return. A handful of bad debts from several hundred borrowers and a smattering of late payments. Not too bad. Note that interest is paid gross so you have to let the tax man know. If you already have an accountant they could probably sort it out for you. If you're on PAYE it's a simple process of printing out your annual statement from the Zopa site and sending it off with a covering letter to your tax office. They will adjust your tax code accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
six45ive Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Just finished borrowing over a three year term at 8%. Very happy with how easy it was and the low rates they were offering at the time. Would highly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 I've split my initial £200 that I put in roughly equally between A*, A and B, and long and short term. Just to test that waters with each. I already do a self assessment through an accountant, but this won't affect it as it's actually my business that is investing the money, so it's all just gross profit for the business and will be swept up in the normal accountancy for the business at the end of year. The alternative is 0% in the business account, or a max of 2% if I use fixed term bonds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Orange Posted September 29, 2012 Share Posted September 29, 2012 I have been looking at ways to get a little more for the money I have sitting in my bank account and this looks like something I would be interested in. I will definitely be looking at Zopa later to determine if it's a place where I would like to invest some of my money. Thanks for bringing this to my attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted September 29, 2012 Author Share Posted September 29, 2012 The only rub is that it's a rolling 3 to 5 year investment with no guaranteed way of quickly recovering your capital. There is an option to 'sell' on a loan, but that will only work if interest rates have not fallen for that particular loan category. Since the capital is repaid along with the interest, unwinding the whole thing would be a lengthy affair, you wouldn't get back a lump sum if you decided to run down your zopa account, you'd get a steady income from it (including your capital back) over the remaining duration of any loans that were outstanding (assuming you can't sell them on). In terms of actually getting an ROI on money that is just sitting in a low interest account though, even with the expected bad debt and the admin charge it should still return much better than the best savings account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 The only rub is that it's a rolling 3 to 5 year investment with no guaranteed way of quickly recovering your capital. There is an option to 'sell' on a loan, but that will only work if interest rates have not fallen for that particular loan category. Since the capital is repaid along with the interest, unwinding the whole thing would be a lengthy affair, you wouldn't get back a lump sum if you decided to run down your zopa account, you'd get a steady income from it (including your capital back) over the remaining duration of any loans that were outstanding (assuming you can't sell them on). In terms of actually getting an ROI on money that is just sitting in a low interest account though, even with the expected bad debt and the admin charge it should still return much better than the best savings account. I managed to sell on most of my loans with no problems. Couldn't do it all at once though. Had to have a few bites at the cherry though and it took a few weeks to get them sold. Eventually got all but about £40 back out. There's a fee for doing it as well so you have to factor that in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 That's not guaranteed though, it will only work if the rates being offered when you wish to sell are lower than the rate you lent at, if interest rates have gone down then the chance of selling on a loan becomes zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrapeApe Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Been on for a year as a lender. Really like the site and its nice to be part of something like this that sticks a finger up to the banks. No bad debts as yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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