Comments on: Thoughts about money

by: Zopa & Prosper: where social networking & personal finance meet at infodoodads

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:28:31 +0000

[…] Need some cash and don’t want to deal with a bank? Are you a freeformer? Or are you looking to invest in a worthwhile business or person building their dream? You can turn to Zopa, “where members who invest help members who borrow”. Started in the U.K., Zopa has branches in the U.S., Italy and Japan. […]

by: Blondmark

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:55:24 +0000

Paypal has moved to Luxemburg - look out banks?! Look out UK consumers!!

Paypal moving from its Richmond Surrey headquarters to Luxembourg and severing all its UK ties is a litigation-avoiding scam. The move means its UK customers can no longer serve proceedings on them when Paypal steal money from their accounts.

How do I know? Because Paypal recently stole several hundred pounds from my account, and when I contacted them to issue proceedings, they informed me that they no longer have any UK address to serve proceedings at, or a UK firm of solicitors authorised to accept proceedings. Instead, they told me, I should get in touch with their Luxembourg office.

A brilliant scam shielding Paypal from legal action from all of their UK victims!

So be warned. If you live in the UK and Paypal steal money from your account too, you will have no legal redress whatsoever.

by: James Alexander

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:37:31 +0000

Thanks for sharing your thought Richard.

I hope not - it sounds painful!

I believe that freeform attitudes and behaviours (centred on control, community, transparency and ethicality) are rapidly becoming mainstream.

Moreover, Zopa offers everyone value - both financial and social. Some will only care about the financial benefits. Others only about the social benefits. Others will enjoy both. In other words, Zopa and other Social Lending offers have broad appeal.

As we, and our peers develop, I do think though that there will be more opportunity for choice (e.g. I only want to lend to key workers in Leeds, I only want to lend to people like me, I only want to lend to people not like me, I only want to lend to her etc).

In short - I think Social Lending has both mass appeal and benefits from the long tail.

by: Richard Beddard

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:45:38 +0000

Hi James, one thought I had reading your blog. It strikes me that businesses that appeal to ‘Freeformers’ are unlikely to go mainstream because they are a niche. In effect a business like Zopa is possible because of the Internet’s ability to bring together people with similar characteristics even though they’re geographically dispersed. Are you stuck in Chris Anderson’s ‘Long Tail’?

by: What is the future of finance? | Interactive Investor Blog

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:16:42 +0000

[…] A big question, and I don’t have an answer… yet. But a post on the Zopa blog by it’s founder and UK chief executive James Alexander thinks he has. Zopa, like Interactive Investor, uses the Internet to help the guy who wants to help himself. He quotes the shadow chancellor, George Osbourne: ““With all these profound changes - the Google-isation of the world’s information, the creation of on-line social networks bigger than whole populations, the ability of new technology to harness the wisdom of crowds and the rise of user-generated content - we are seeing the democratisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange. This new democracy is a good thing. It is challenging our existing sources of authority, in the media and in politics, and so it should. People are no longer prepared to sit and be spoon fed. They are taking matters into their own hands. They are the masters now.” […]

by: dr venables preller

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:49:12 +0000

This is well articulated critique of what to older people is an exciting and very positive new paradigm. Readers of american self development literature of the posiive thinking genre will be familiar with the belief system, and it’s a long way from the victim mentality and group action as an inhibiting force scenario so prevalent in politics for the much of the past century.