Zopa / Natwest

runmichellerun

sparkey1 wrote: »

Watch your rate fall once you reach 100% subscription on Zopa. Its not unknown for rates to drop 1-2 % in the last 15 minutes of a listing. It all depends on how professional your application looks to the lenders and the competition to subscribe. Some of the listings are paying less than 8%.

You should check that there are no early repayment charges with your Natwest Loan.

Thank you Sparkey

I've overpaid a few times before and there's definitely no charge at Natwest.

I did have a look at the closed listings and haven't seen any as low as 1-2% :eek: That's so low!!

Hmmmm, now I'm undecided. Are there repurcussions to saying you don't want the loan at the end of it all? I don't want to annoy anyone.

Gorgeous_George

No repurcussions at all but, if you achieve your target rate, refusing may stop some lenders from being so keen to offer if you try again.

It costs you nothing to let the listing complete.

GG

Mark64uk

Hello,

I'm in the same situation as the OP i have a loan with Lloyds which id like to get re financed. With my loan with Lloyds i have the ability to overpay is this be the case with a Zopa Loan ? Can I make one off payments ?

Thanks

Mark

jamesd

kyliee, to add direct debit details log in to Zopa and lick on the Borrowing choice on the left. That will take you to a screen where there are two tabs, one for Markets borrowing and the other for Listings borrowing. Click on the Listings tab. You'll see your listing there and at the right hand side an Actions column. Click on that and see if you have a direct debit option there.

Zopa won't actually charge anything to the direct debit unless there's an accepted loan and the monthly payments need to start. Before that all that happens is it's set up and used just to confirm that the account exists. You can just cancel the direct debit at your bank if the application is declined or you don't accept the loan.

The Listings rate won't fall to 1-2%, but by 1-2% or more in the last few hours and minutes. The rate you get offered depends on many things but one is that the lower the amount of the loan, the lower the rate you end up with is from the lenders. The Zopa fee is a bigger part of the total cost for small loans so that can undo the effect of low offers in the Listing. You'll be told the APR including fee between the end of the Listing and you deciding to accept or not.

In the Markets you're told the APR, that includes the Zopa fee, when you get the initial quote.

Declaration of interest: I'm both a lender and a borrower at Zopa. It's very unlikely that I'll actually lend to anyone at current rates available to lenders.

When it comes to early repayment charges there's a standard dodge to use: make an overpayment of all but ten Pounds. Then let the next monthly payment clear the loan. All done, no early payment. Or make an early full repayment of that last ten Pounds and all you'll usually pay is 28 days to two months interest on ten Pounds.

jamesd

Mark64uk wrote: »

I'm in the same situation as the OP i have a loan with Lloyds which id like to get re financed. With my loan with Lloyds i have the ability to overpay is this be the case with a Zopa Loan ? Can I make one off payments ?

You can make one off payments whenever you like, except that you do have to allow one to clear before you can make the next, which takes a few days.

All accounts start set up so that overpayments reduce the monthly payment. If you want them to reduce the term just tell Zopa and they will change that setting on your account so that the term gets shorter instead. You can also ask Zopa to increase the regular monthly payments if you like. You can drop them back down to the original ones later if you need to.

kyliee18

jamesd wrote: »

kyliee, to add direct debit details log in to Zopa and lick on the Borrowing choice on the left. That will take you to a screen where there are two tabs, one for Markets borrowing and the other for Listings borrowing. Click on the Listings tab. You'll see your listing there and at the right hand side an Actions column. Click on that and see if you have a direct debit option there.

Zopa won't actually charge anything to the direct debit unless there's an accepted loan and the monthly payments need to start. Before that all that happens is it's set up and used just to confirm that the account exists. You can just cancel the direct debit at your bank if the application is declined or you don't accept the loan.

The Listings rate won't fall to 1-2%, but by 1-2% or more in the last few hours and minutes. The rate you get offered depends on many things but one is that the lower the amount of the loan, the lower the rate you end up with is from the lenders. The Zopa fee is a bigger part of the total cost for small loans so that can undo the effect of low offers in the Listing. You'll be told the APR including fee between the end of the Listing and you deciding to accept or not.

In the Markets you're told the APR, that includes the Zopa fee, when you get the initial quote.

Declaration of interest: I'm both a lender and a borrower at Zopa. It's very unlikely that I'll actually lend to anyone at current rates available to lenders.

When it comes to early repayment charges there's a standard dodge to use: make an overpayment of all but ten Pounds. Then let the next monthly payment clear the loan. All done, no early payment. Or make an early full repayment of that last ten Pounds and all you'll usually pay is 28 days to two months interest on ten Pounds.

Thank you :-)

conzey

Im new to zopa also. I applied for a loan last night and got rated at C (Think it was for 11.3%). Im not really sure if this is a good rate or not.

But if i don't get accepted then am i right in thinking that i can try the Listings instead of markets. And is there the same chance of getting declined here or might my chances be better?

jamesd

kyliee18, it might also be that you just need to pick the "continue" choice from that list of things you can do. If you do see the DD set up, scroll down to the bottom of the DD screen because there's a bit more there that I missed when setting mine up at first.

conzey, you can usually try the Listings. There are some reasons that might block that, like Zopa not being able to be sure you are you rather than someone pretending to be you, or just too many late or missed payments in the recent past.

The rate is good for fairly small amounts, where Zopa can really shine compared to banks, and includes the fee in the APR calculation. But you still might be able to get a better rate elsewhere and there's nothing at all wrong with finding that out - MSE is about saving money, after all.

conzey

Thanks for the reply James. As suspected i got declined. And im thinking about going ahead and trying the listing.

One thing im worried about though is that the email from zopa did not mention i could try the listings as an alternative. (It mentions trying moneysupermarket etc.) Do you know if i try the listings is there a chance the listing could end and Zopa will still say i can't have the loan?

jaymeekae

I have a couple of questions about Zopa, I hope it's okay to add them to this thread! It says that if/when I apply, I will need to provide details and phone numbers for my employers for the past 3 years. Will they actually be phoning up the employers? What will they say?

Also, if I apply and am rejected or decide not to go ahead, will it affect my credit score?