[crash2006]

was looking at it today had in in my fav for a long time
.

THE STATE OF MY FINANCES
Total: c. £42k debt
Salary: £65k
Post tax monthly income: £3,721
Bonus: Variable

Debt details:
Barclays Staff Loan: 20k @ c.10% APR B/Card
Goldfish: £6700 just refinanced at 0% until April 2011 (this payed off an M&S Card)
B/Card Standard: c£2000 on average APR of about 10%
M&S Loan: c.£5k @ 11% APR
Student Loan c.£1200 @4% APR
Santander loan: £5000 on c.%15 APR
Lloyds Card: £1500 @ 27% APR


this seems common for most on there.

[Si1]

how on earth do d*ckheads with these attitudes to money get the promotions? I remeber competing with these people and their false-wealth rubbing off and them getting professional respect for it.....

[bogbrush]

Unbelievable. I'd be ashamed of myself, total lack of self control.

[Aidan Ap Word]

crash2006, on 31 October 2010 - 03:27 PM, said:

was looking at it today had in in my fav for a long time
.

THE STATE OF MY FINANCES
Total: c. £42k debt
Salary: £65k
Post tax monthly income: £3,721
Bonus: Variable

Debt details:
Barclays Staff Loan: 20k @ c.10% APR B/Card
Goldfish: £6700 just refinanced at 0% until April 2011 (this payed off an M&S Card)
B/Card Standard: c£2000 on average APR of about 10%
M&S Loan: c.£5k @ 11% APR
Student Loan c.£1200 @4% APR
Santander loan: £5000 on c.%15 APR
Lloyds Card: £1500 @ 27% APR


this seems common for most on there.

... the other Q is: what does this person have to show for this debt?

Aidanapword

[Fool's Gold]

crash2006, on 31 October 2010 - 03:27 PM, said:

was looking at it today had in in my fav for a long time
.

THE STATE OF MY FINANCES
Total: c. £42k debt
Salary: £65k
Post tax monthly income: £3,721
Bonus: Variable

Debt details:
Barclays Staff Loan: 20k @ c.10% APR B/Card
Goldfish: £6700 just refinanced at 0% until April 2011 (this payed off an M&S Card)
B/Card Standard: c£2000 on average APR of about 10%
M&S Loan: c.£5k @ 11% APR
Student Loan c.£1200 @4% APR
Santander loan: £5000 on c.%15 APR
Lloyds Card: £1500 @ 27% APR


this seems common for most on there.

What on earth are you posting about and how does it relate to the post title 'Zopa'?

[catmandu]

Fool, on 31 October 2010 - 04:39 PM, said:

What on earth are you posting about and how does it relate to the post title 'Zopa'?

Being a Zopa lender, I can follow the OP

Just think though - the ones who are taking all this credit and refinancing into a sensible IR are actually the sensible ones.

[NorthamptonBear]

Fool, on 31 October 2010 - 04:39 PM, said:

What on earth are you posting about and how does it relate to the post title 'Zopa'?

Hmmmm, I'll try and spell it out for you and others.

It's from the peer to peer lending site Zopa, where individuals lend and borrow - with Zopa taking some kind of a commission to pay for admin etc.

It's the profile of someone who wants to borrow money from the people who lend money (like me!).

They are describing their personal circumstances including lots of debt even though they have a big salary.

Question is are they typical - are many over-indebted in silly ways like owing on credit cards. For those that are doing this, how many have heard of Zopa or have tried to sort out their financial mess?

[General Congreve]

Zopa organise loans into tranches based on risk, then put together a package of loans of different risk levels, theoretically making the risk of default less likely for lenders, if I remember correctly. But hang on, wasn't this exactly the same way the banks packaged up mortgage debt? Wasn't this why we had the subprime crisis?

Wouldn't find me lending on there.

This post has been edited by General Congreve: 31 October 2010 - 07:00 PM

[catmandu]

General Congreve, on 31 October 2010 - 06:46 PM, said:

Zopa organise loans into tranches based on risk, then put together a package of loans of different risk levels, theoretically making the risk of default less likely for lenders, if I remember correctly. But hang on, wasn't this exactly the same way the banks packaged up mortgage debt? Wasn't this why we had the subprime crisis?

Wouldn't find me lending on there.

True, however ZOPA only takes people who have an above average credit rating and reject a very high proportion of applicants because they don't meet this. Still, my 500 quid in there is a bit risky because it won't only be poor people going to the wall over the next year or two.

[efdemin]

General Congreve, on 31 October 2010 - 06:46 PM, said:

Zopa organise loans into tranches based on risk, then put together a package of loans of different risk levels, theoretically making the risk of default less likely for lenders, if I remember correctly. But hang on, wasn't this exactly the same way the banks packaged up mortgage debt? Wasn't this why we had the subprime crisis?

Wouldn't find me lending on there.

Tranches? Risk levels? Are you sure you're not over-complicating it?

I've got £100 in there just to see how it works. The mainstream Zopa market is split into 'markets' based on credit rating (A+, A, B, C, Y = young person), I guess that's what you mean by 'tranches'.

You choose which markets you want to lend in, the riskier ones (lower credit rating) have a higher interest rate on the loan to try to make up for the increased chance of default.

Your money is lent out in small amounts (£10 min) e.g. my £100 it is lent out to 10 different people. Zopa don't do any 'packaging' as I understand the MBS's did. But I'm not a financial person so I may be ignorant here.

I can see the user profile of each of those £10 loans - what it's for, etc. It's worth putting some money just to rubberneck at what other people are borrowing money for. Mainly cars, home improvement and debt consolidation so far.

I wouldn't use it as a low-risk investment scheme but it seems to be a good way to diversify a bit.

[exiges]

efdemin, on 31 October 2010 - 07:54 PM, said:

I've got £100 in there just to see how it works. The mainstream Zopa market is split into 'markets' based on credit rating (A+, A, B, C, Y = young person), I guess that's what you mean by 'tranches'.

I've got about £5000 in Zopa at an average lending rate of 9.2%, in over 350 microloans. <touch wood>Only 1 has been written off, 2 are late.</touch wood>

So far it's outperforming my other investments.

[WageslaveX14]

I'm very interested in Zopa, but being an extremely risk-averse sort, I thought I would wait a few years to see if there were any horror stories coming out about Zopa's attempts at collecting from defaulters i.e. whether not enthusiastic enough in pursuing payments or being overenthusiastic (wouldn't want to be responsible for intimidation of families).

Has anyone who has been involved with Zopa had any bad experiences? It just sounds a bit too good to be true to me.

[ravedave]

Can you ask Zopa to spread your money around the accounts or must you do this manually?

I am interested in sticking some money in here too but it all seems a bit wierd to me and like the above poster I wonder just how hard Zopa actually pursues those who are in default?

Does anyone have independant information on this?

[Kurt Barlow]

ravedave, on 01 November 2010 - 06:51 PM, said:

Can you ask Zopa to spread your money around the accounts or must you do this manually?

I am interested in sticking some money in here too but it all seems a bit wierd to me and like the above poster I wonder just how hard Zopa actually pursues those who are in default?

Does anyone have independant information on this?

Limit your loans to £10 per borrower. Thats what I do in most cases. I have £10K lent out to approx 950 borrowers

[porca misèria]

catmandu, on 31 October 2010 - 05:34 PM, said:

Being a Zopa lender, I can follow the OP

Just think though - the ones who are taking all this credit and refinancing into a sensible IR are actually the sensible ones.

You really think that's what they're doing?

"Hey, look, another source of funny-money to fund my next whim ..."