Zopa (and other p2p lending)

Niv

So I was looking to find somewhere to invest that gave a better return than a savings account but lower risk than stocks and shares. I heard about zopa and a friend in work so they had used it and it was ok.

I have done a little reading and it sounds fairly good, as long as you want to invest for 3 years +.

So I was interested in hearing what the savvy MSE investors think of this site and any other p2p lending sites they may have used.

I am interested in your experiance good or bad, opinion on if it is 'worth it' etc.

I do not intend to invest more than I can afford to lose andinitially I would 'test the water' with a small amount of money.

Anyway, go for it guys, let me know what you think and how well (or badly) it works!

Cheers.

Niv

mr_fishbulb

I think the returns were good to begin with, which attracted more lenders to them, this bidding each other down on the return they want. Missed payments and defaults eat into the return too.

Personally I don't think it's worth it, but I know some people on here still use them.

Niv

Ahh ok, food for thought, the more popular it got/gets the lower the returns as there are so many more people trying to get a slice of the pie.

mr_fishbulb

I'd have a search of the forum for zopa and funding circle (lending to small businesses), as there have been some discussions before which are useful.

psychic_teabag

See also http://www.p2pmoney.co.uk/ which compares the various sites. Note that zopa's headline figures are before fees and bad debt, whereas ratesetter's are after those (assuming the provision fund works as advertised).

zopa's rates did fall last year. Started picking up again this year, peaking March/April, but seem to be headed downwards again. See http://www.ljay.org.uk/zopa/summary.html

ratesetter rates plummetted recently (some very low offers went in) but are starting to recover a bit.

Niv

Thanks guys, there is plenty to read up on. I did see a 'blog' by martain after I posted the thread (on page 13 to be fair) as it was started a number of years ago the info is patchy at best. Also froma forum search there is so much 'rubbish' i.e someone mentions 'zopa' but its not actually a discussion, that I was getting nowhere fast! I will take a look at p2pmoney as the teabag suggests :-)