Zopa in the current climate

CoogarUK

easteregg wrote: »

Is that 8% before or after bad debt ? If before then you may find it difficult to get it lent out.

Surely you've got that the wrong way around? 8% before bad debt implies a lower rate than 8% after bad debt, meaning that your money should get lent out quicker.

ahai1

I take your point.

guli wrote: »

Usually, posting is a priviledge, not a right, unless of course you're involved in the cost and running of the forum itself (like Martin Lewis for example) :beer:

suncoast

A bit of fact for people interested in zopa – In roughly 18 months I have been able to lend out just over 20k at rates between 12 and 13.5% - have a small number of loans in collection but no materialized bad debt yet (touch wood – although I also accepts its only a matter of time) – zopa sure isn’t perfect but as a relative low risk investments its pretty good and their bad debt levels to date r excellent.
Coogar is a nice !!!!! cat but he ain’t the brightest but he does purr hard – all the best for Christmas old bean – take it easy and hope 2 see u back at zopa soon!
Ps before u get in their 1st – don’t ask how HSBC r doing – I GOT THAT ONE WRONG!

CoogarUK

suncoast wrote: »

Coogar is a nice !!!!! cat but he ain’t the brightest
Ps before u get in their 1st – don’t ask how HSBC r doing – I GOT THAT ONE WRONG!

Well, doesn't that just about sum you up? :rotfl:

Make the most of Zopa while you can :rolleyes:

Paul_Herring

Sign of the (internet-)times...

Moderators chasing posters across message boards strewn across the web.

Kiss and make up !!!!!!.

:rolleyes:

sabretoothtigger

We need a forum interpol

CoogarUK

Zopa reminds me a bit of the current Labour Government: Full of inefficiencies but too busy chasing the messenger(s) - even in some cases having them arrested (allegedly) - rather than concentrating on improving service provision for the benefit of all 'end-users'.

Cornishsaver_3

Zopa reminds me a bit of the current Labour Government

I would prefer not to be reminded of the labour government,as labour and saving are not two words I normally associate together.However, I put £2000 into Zopa in December 2006 and it is now £2173. Not fantastic I know, but I have loaned mainly to the A + B groups to avoid high risk. If Zopa had a longer history I would probably put more in. I am now waiting to see how the large interest rate drops will affect Zopa returns.

sabretoothtigger

is that better then a normal deposit account. Seems like there is some skill to choosing the right setup

CoogarUK

Cornishsaver wrote: »

Zopa reminds me a bit of the current Labour Government

I would prefer not to be reminded of the labour government,as labour and saving are not two words I normally associate together.However, I put £2000 into Zopa in December 2006 and it is now £2173. Not fantastic I know, but I have loaned mainly to the A + B groups to avoid high risk. If Zopa had a longer history I would probably put more in. I am now waiting to see how the large interest rate drops will affect Zopa returns.

That only equates to about a 4.25% annual return - before tax. I'm sure you could have done a lot better than that over the last two years, particularly as savings rates had been so high until quite recently.

I think you were quite right to start slowly and see how it goes though, something I'm still doing after eighteen months.

Your point about what effect the savage cuts to the Base Rate might have on our Zopa returns is a good one. For the moment at least it's an adverse one, as it seems an awful lot of lenders are piling in right now. There is currently almost £1.5m on offer, making it almost impossible to achieve good returns - though still perhaps better than some savings accounts - unless you set your rates really low (perhaps too low, given the risk to your capital).

Zopa has also quite obviously tightened its lending criteria - which hasn't helped matters - but without actually admitting it to anyone, it would seem.

Whilst I believe that was the right thing to do it does means our money is destined to sit for much longer in the holding account, where it earns a paltry 1.25% (BR -0.75%) gross.