Borrowing from Zopa

lozzybeast

Hi, does anyone have any experience of borrowing from Zopa? I would like to borrow about £3-4k for a planned purchase, I know my credit score is low due to previous problems which are now resolved and under control and I have worked out how much I can afford to repay. I would like to know if they're reliable and I am hoping to be accepted if I apply as I do not want to ruin my credit score further by making lots of applications to different places. Anyone got any advice of where's best to look for a loan of this amount, is Zopa worth a look? It's been suggested to me. Thanks

paddyrg

Ratesetter.com do 'soft searches' which don't apparently show in your files, not sure about zopa.com. But ratesetter only take prime borrowers (and it is all anonymous/anonymised), zopa better bet if you're at the very top of 'slightly shaky' credit risk as you can use the listings to spin a yarn and see if anyone will lend (shockingly they seem to quite often - people with no concept of risk being prepared to lend money!!) if you can't get a loan from the main site. Yes-secure seem to lend lower down the scale, but rates are accordingly higher, and they seem to operate some sort of social network!

jamesd

It's unlikely that Zopa will let lenders lend to you because Zopa is only for those with good or at least average credit scores. Zopa only does a quotation search, not an application search, when working out whether you can borrow. So there would be no significant adverse effect on your credit record by asking. A high percentage of those who make it past the first hurdle are declined once humans look, so don't count on getting the money if you're initially accepted.

My main concern is that you'll get a poorer rate at Zopa compared to using 0% credit card deals. Better to apply for one or two of those first and only move on to Zopa if you can't get a cheaper deal. Virgin is the sort of place to go for - for a 4% one off fee you can do a balance transfer from your current account (sends money to it) and then get 0% for 18 months. No chance at all of beating that sort of deal at Zopa or with any other personal loan.

Have a look at Super Balance Transfers.

If you don't need the money immediately you can instead go for a 0% for purchases card and put normal spending on the card and save the money you're spending until you reach the £3,000 to £4,000 you need. This is cheaper because you don't pay a balance transfer fee but it does require that you spend fast enough to save the money you need fairly quickly and your normal spending may not be high enough for that. Once the 0% deal ends look for a balance transfer card to keep the interest rate low.

A general rule for Zopa: if you can get a loan from Zopa you can probably also get a 0% credit card deal and save money that way.

I have a Zopa loan. The place is mostly reliable for borrowers, if I ignore direct debit timing glitches that have probably been sorted out by now. I wouldn't hesitate to borrow that way again whenever it makes sense for me, after considering all of the other options.

lozzybeast

Thanks for your advice, I may look into a credit card instead but again not sure where to look with my history? Thanks for the advice

jamesd

Barclaycard offers a pre-application quotation search in their eligibility check that tells you which of their cards you'd probably qualify for. Virgin is fairly accepting and may offer a better deal, so if you get a decent check result from Barclaycard you could take that as an indication that you'll be OK to try for good deals elsewhere.