Having a chat

Chewing the fat, shooting the breeze, having a natter - call it what you like, talking to people is darn important and everyone should do it as often as they can (except in libraries). We talk to our members as much as possible, through our blog and discussion board and by getting people to email contactus@zopa.com if anything's on their mind.

July, 2009

Jul 29 2009

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Posted by Jenny at 11:19 am

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Jul 27 2009

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Posted by Jenny at 12:55 pm

Buy cheap flagyl er, Here's an unusual blog post for you - Giles giving an interview about Zopa.

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Jul 24 2009

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Posted by Jenny at 4:38 pm

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Tomorrow (Saturday 25th July) Giles is scheduled to be on Moneybox to talk about saving and investing, buy cheap flagyl. Ciprofloxacin hcl 500 mg, Don't forget to tune in. We'll bring you a link on Monday for those of you who can't make it, buy flagyl online. Buy generic flagyl, Edit: And here is the link if you want to have a listen. Flagl. Ciprofloxacin hcl 500 mg tadrl. Metronidazole 2000 mg. Can i buy flagyl over the counter. Flagyl 750 mg. Buy generic flagyl online. Can you buy flagyl over the counter. Buy flagyl without a prescription. Buy flagyl 250 mg. Flagyl 500mg tablet. Flagyl without a prescription. Flagyl 200mg tablets. Ciprofloxacin hcl 500mg. Flagyl 2000 mg. Buy flagyl without prescription. Buy flagyl er online. Flagyl 500 mg without prescription. Flagyl er online. Buy flagyl online without a prescription. Flagyl 200mg. Flagyl and cipro.

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Jul 24 2009

Let’s Start A Bank

Posted by Jenny at 10:23 am

Want to start your own bank? Now might be a very good time to do so, unencumbered by the toxic loans and the government bailouts of most of the old ones. Peter Day finds out from the experts how to start a bank as well as how not to do it. This is the description of a recent Radio 4 programme called 'In Business: Let's Start A Bank'. Giles spoke to Peter Day about the reasons behind the inception of Zopa, and you can listen here (to hear Zopa's contribution, skip to 22 minutes in).

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Jul 20 2009

‘In Banking, Biggest is Best’?

Posted by Jenny at 11:46 am

So queries our MD Giles, when he turned his hand to a bit of journalism for Financial World recently. The article is part of a series of contributions from luminaries such as John Moulton and Gillian Tett entitled 'Flying in the face of conventional wisdom' . Here's what he had to say: As the banking crisis has shown, size is no guarantee of positive outcome for the financial services consumer. It made no difference that RBS or HBOS were gigantic or had previously earned annual profits equivalent to the GDP of small nations. They took correspondingly big risks and the results have been painful. But it did not need to be a crisis to show that big is bad. The whole premise of the large organisation 'manufacturing' a range of products to cross-sell to the consumer is flawed. With few exceptions, the businesses inflicting the highest charges, offering the poorest value and carrying out the most widespread mis-selling were the biggest ones - whether banks, insurance companies, fund managers or financial advisors. Years of getting away with hard-selling poor products and services to under informed consumers made the growth of these leviathans possible. As the giants of the financial services feel the pressure of more discerning consumers, armed with better knowledge through the internet, there is something of the supertanker about them. Huge size, ancient legacy IT, bureaucratic structure and a creaking culture stifle innovation and make for cumbersome ships to steer. This is in contrast to the new services and improved value offered by smaller, faster new entrants born to serve the informed consumer better, in narrow niches, without trying to be all things to all men.

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Jul 20 2009

Zopa’s Jargon Buster – Secured and Unsecured Loans

Posted by Jenny at 10:26 am

This week we’re looking at the difference between secured and unsecured loans, as well as the advantages and disadvantages. A secured loan is most commonly a loan whereby a borrower’s property is used as collateral against the loan. This means, as a worst case scenario, if a borrower defaults on the loan, their home can be taken away from them. However, because of this security, the APR on secured loans is often lower, and amounts lent can be large. Secured loans are not always secured against a home, although this is most common. They can also be secured against a car, or even other valuable assets at places such as Borro. An unsecured loan is not secured against any collateral. The amounts lent are usually smaller, and generally have a higher APR because of the riskier nature of the loan. For this reason, it can be more difficult to get an unsecured loan with a low APR if you have a less than perfect credit history. Here at Zopa, our loans are unsecured. We only lend to prime borrowers, and because of this, our lenders make sure Zopa's rates are some of the most competitive in the market. You can check out the latest rates here.

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Jul 15 2009

Restart your country for the changes to be applied

Posted by tianimo at 9:36 am

Last week, Zopa attended a fascinating day event called Reboot Britain, which was a direct response to the Digital Britain report published recently by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Whilst the latter addressed how it would promote access to networked technology, the event posed the more fundamental question of what motivation people would have to make productive use of this access; or rather, how the promise of such technology could address the challenges we face as a country. There was simply too much going on to attend all of the events, whose broad spectrum included the economy, policy-making, government and education; however, from what we did see there were some very bold yet insightful opinions from various speakers, including Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist) and Lee Bryant (director of Headshift). One of the more salient points that resonated throughout the day was that we should encourage a positive cultural shift in our attitude (as a nation) towards innovation: we should embrace more of the small, experimental ideas like Social Innovation Camp or mySociety and direct more energy and resource towards such endeavours rather than traditional, monolithic IT reforms. Even at the risk of some of these ideas never really taking off, a collaborative, open environment delivers far better results more in harmony with society’s needs, and with significantly less overhead than traditional consulting models. Following on from this, that we should welcome failure as part of this process, rather than nurturing a fear of it. Zopa itself was participating in a session called We:Bank. A few lending online models presented, and whilst there wasn’t enough time to debate more deeply on the relevance of them in today’s climate, a very interesting theme arose from the conversations. Many of those attending the event were interested in social change and how more innovative models in the UK are addressing the current economic climate, and there was some criticism that the models present aren’t. This response from the audience highlights quite an important point: I don’t think any of the models presented were designed to solve an economic crisis. Zopa, for example, was launched during very prosperous times for the retail finance market; but it would be fair to say that the simplicity of the Zopa model has proven more successful in current times, serving people that banks can’t because of their current problems. The fact that a peer-to-peer model is increasing in popularity is symptomatic of this cultural shift, and presents a foundation for a plethora of new ones to emerge that are more attuned to addressing critical social need. That’s a debate certainly worth having in present times, and I hope we can contribute healthily to it.

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Jul 13 2009

News from Zopa Italy

Posted by Giles at 10:39 am

This is a rough translation of an announcement on the Zopa Italy homepage: ”On 10 July 2009 Zopa Italy was notified of the cancellation of its licence to operate as a financial intermediary (106) by the Ministry of Economics and Finance, by indication of the Bank of Italy. As a consequence Zopa Italy has stopped issuing new loans and accepting registration of new lenders. The company is evaluating all initiatives, even at judicial level, in order to protect its position and its community. Zopa Italy will keep you informed on all activities put in place to safeguard an innovative, ethical and social initiative that bring benefits to all participants.” In the UK we are very confused by this notification as Zopa Italy sought regulatory approval from the Bank of Italy and received the appropriate licence to operate before launch. We understand that there was an inspection by the Bank of Italy more recently, which highlighted some issues that Zopa Italy believed it had addressed/could address, only for the notification to arrive without further discussion. That seems very strange - we will keep you posted with developments. This clearly has nothing to do with our regulatory position and ability to operate in the UK, but it is still very disappointing that our colleagues have to deal with this in Italy.

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Jul 09 2009

Our first successful PRIME lister – find out more

Posted by Savaroony at 1:49 pm

Thanks to our character-limit on listings, it's quite a challenge for our PRIME listers to include all the detail they want to on their new business venture as well as themselves. So we all recently had a cuppa with Cecile, who successfully got the first Zopa-PRIME 'olderprenuer' loan, to find out more about her and where her new business idea came from. Check it out!

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Jul 07 2009

Zopa’s Jargon Buster: AER

Posted by Jenny at 2:03 pm

AER is short for Annual Equivalent Rate. This is used by banks for savings accounts. Put simply, AER is the estimated interest that you will receive over a year on your savings, assuming that each month you will be earning interest on a slightly higher balance to the previous month, due to interest accumulating. Banks can choose to add interest annually, monthly, or at any other interval, meaning that different calculations have to be applied to make the AER comparable, so you can still compare the quoted rates between various savings accounts. It is not defined by any legal or regulatory authorities, so it can change without notice, and it does not incorporate any fees. The average lender return quoted on Zopa’s homepage is not an AER and so can’t be directly compared to a savings account. This is because Zopa isn’t a bank and as such it is Zopa’s lenders themselves who define the returns they each get. Their returns depend on a number of factors other than just the interest rate they set, including the speed at which money is lent out, the markets lent to, and whether or not borrowers repay early.

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Jul 06 2009

Zopa and Good Energy

Posted by Jenny at 1:38 pm

Hot on the heels of Prime, Zopa have a brand new flavour of Listings which will be going live shortly. We've teamed up with Good Energy, the UK 's only dedicated 100% renewable electricity supplier. They'll be sending their members who are looking to generate their own renewable energy, for example using solar panels or wind turbines, to Zopa Listings for financial assistance with the initial installation. Not only will they be joining the pioneering community of independent green energy generators, but they'll also be able to earn an income as Good Energy pays microgenerators on its HomeGen and HotROCs schemes for all the energy they produce - even the units they use themselves. And they've got a special bonus for Zopa members at the mo' - if you sign up to Good Energy via Zopa you will receive a free owl monitor, worth £34.95, to show you exactly how much energy you're using. Click here to find out more.

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Jul 06 2009

Watch it live!

Posted by Savaroony at 10:00 am

Zopa's very own Giles and Christian will be speaking today at around 1.30pm at an event held by our friends at NESTA called Reboot Britain. Christian and Giles don't know it, but there's a live video feed of all the presentations there today, so why not tune in and watch? We will be! Perhaps we can all award them points out of ten for their speeches? :-)

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Jul 03 2009

Us Now on More4

Posted by Savaroony at 3:00 pm

Way back in December last year we told you about a film called UsNow that featured Zopa as one of several examples demonstrating the power of the internet to facilitate mass collaboration that can really change the way we do things and govern ourselves. We're were pleased that some of you came along to see the debut of the film back then, but now everyone can see it in the comfort of their own home as it'll be aired on More4 on Friday 10th July at 11.10pm. I'm not sure that our member, Adilowes who's in the film as a case study, knew it would lead to his national TV debut! Fame at last, eh? Let us know what you think...

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Jul 01 2009

Want an interest free loan?

Posted by Jenny at 5:25 pm

We've gone a bit potty this month - all this sun is definitely going to our heads. Not only are we offering any member that refers a friend who joins and successfully gets a loan during July £100, but we've also got a fab offer for the lucky borrower who receives our 10,000th loan - it will be interest free! Yep, that's right, we'll pay all the interest on their loan, and all they have to do is return the capital. So we can't really see any reason NOT to recommend your pals this month - but hurry!

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Jul 01 2009

Zopa’s Jargon Buster

Posted by Jenny at 12:07 pm

Each week, we’ll be getting to the bottom of the real meaning of financial terms bandied about when you’re looking for a loan. It’s everything you ever needed to know but were too afraid to ask…and this week, we’re looking at APR. APR APR is short for Annual Percentage Rate and was introduced under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 to make loan deals directly comparable. An APR is the yearly cost of a loan (or mortgage or credit card etc), expressed as a percentage. This figure takes into account not only the interest payable over the term of the loan, but also any upfront fees and charges. However, it would not take into account any early repayment fees that you might incur, and these do apply to the vast majority of unsecured loans (but not, of course, here at Zopa!). Everyone is always searching for the lowest APR rate they can get because of course they’re cheapest in the long run, and indeed Zopa lenders have ensured that we’ve often been table-topping on the comparison websites. However, for all the attention APR rates get, seemingly large increases in APR can make very little difference on the relatively small sums of money involved in a personal loan. For example, a hike of 1.0% in the APR on a £5000 loan over 36 months, increases the monthly repayment by just £2.14 - less than a pint and a packet of salt & vinegar! Therefore it’s always worth checking the early repayment fees on a loan as well as the APR, because if you do wish to pay it off early, it’s important to ensure that your cheap loan is as flexible as you need it to be. Of course, Zopa doesn’t charge any sneaky penalties or admin fees for any kind of overpayment or full early settlement on a loan, so not only is a Zopa loan one of the cheapest available, it’s also one of the fairest and most flexible. Good eh? Next week, AER…

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