Zopa

Simple loans. Smart investments

With savings accounts giving pretty much zero interest I have been checking out some other investment opportunities that may give me some return unlike the 0.25% that I am currently getting. I came across Zopa a year ago after a friend told me about them. A bit cautious at first (capital is at risk and is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)) I thought I would give it a go. And so far I am earning a tasty 3.5% on the money I have invested.

Zopa was the UK’s first peer-to-peer lending website. In 2013, it introduced a central compensation fund that aims to pay out to lenders whenever a borrower fails to make a repayment. Like other sites, this fund is limited, so it could run out if lots of borrowers fail to repay. However, Zopa has a 100% track record of covering defaults so far.

When you invest through Zopa, you don’t lend all your money to one person. It’s lent out in chunks, starting at £10. This means that if you invest £1,000, no one person would have more than 1% of your overall investment. You also have full access to your loan book and can see exactly where your cash is.

Each month you’ll receive repayments from borrowers which you can withdraw, at no charge. Although borrowers choose to pay back their loan over a fixed term (up to 5 years), Zopa does not charge early repayment fees and many of our borrowers pay back their loan early. This means that the monthly repayments you receive will vary. This is all clearly stated in the Zopa dashboard and you can see when your next repayments are coming and how much is on its way.