OnlyMe Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I've lent out £28K in the last 18 months on ZOPA. Bad debt to date is £109 Gross Interest; £1731 ZOPA fees; £204 Mind divulging what minimum ratings you were using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebbedee Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) And yet as previously quoted they have a default rate so far of 0.7%. Everybody here seems to hate banks, think bailouts are immoral but something innovate like P2P lending is risky because... well you won't get a bail out on your money and why are people not borrowing for banks, they must be losers..... To be fair i really woudn't put most of my money in them... i'd consider it "risk" money that i'm willing to lose. I've actually not put any money in ZOPA but have started putting a bit in Funding Circle which lends to businesses (i feel better helping out SME 's rather than people paying off credit cards or buying a new car) Yeh, like I said considered it, it doesn't matter what thier past default rate is, the risks are to high for me verses the return. If I were to chance it it would only be a couple of hundred quid. However, I'd rather put that in silver or the ilk, indeed bought £700 yesterday with a view to a return of 30% within a year (I feel the metals are now oversold but still not confident enough to go in big). Or for the thousands see high risk AIM shares-at least the potential returns are of the orders of 100s of percent not a poxy 10% to someone who wants it to buy a car. Edit to add, I may have a look at the other one you mentioned, at least 'when a business borrows to fund...' see sig. Edited December 16, 2011 by zebbedee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Nose Bear Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Currently my average is 8.6% But bear in mind this is before fees (1%) and defaults (probably 1-2%) I'm aiming for above 6% post fees and defaults. To be honest i'm really doing this as a political thing, the money i make won't even cover the hassle of filling in a self-assesment form. Whenever anyone threatens to regulate banks they scream that they'll be forced to cut off funding to all the businesses and everyone will lose their jobs. Time we called their bluff... Thanks gadget, I'll take a look, loaning to SME's appeals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 And yet as previously quoted they have a default rate so far of 0.7%. Everybody here seems to hate banks, think bailouts are immoral but something innovate like P2P lending is risky because... well you won't get a bail out on your money and why are people not borrowing for banks, they must be losers..... To be fair i really woudn't put most of my money in them... i'd consider it "risk" money that i'm willing to lose. I've actually not put any money in ZOPA but have started putting a bit in Funding Circle which lends to businesses (i feel better helping out SME 's rather than people paying off credit cards or buying a new car) Cheers for that. Just signed up so will have a play as an alternative to putting any more in ZOPA (current exposure 21K) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Thanks gadget, I'll take a look, loaning to SME's appeals Damn... there goes the interest rate down another notch :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Nose Bear Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Damn... there goes the interest rate down another notch :-) Don't worry not too bad only free radicals frequent this site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MongerOfDoom Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Everybody here seems to hate banks, think bailouts are immoral but something innovate like P2P lending is risky because... well you won't get a bail out on your money and why are people not borrowing for banks, they must be losers..... Nothing wrong with properly regulated banks that have sufficient capital to cover any losses. Now who regulates Zopa? Currently we are not regulated by the FSA as none of our activity warrants regulation. Zopa's business as a lending and borrowing exchange is quite new and does not fall under any of the existing regulatory categories, and as a result the FSA would need an act of parliament to create a new one. We were closely monitored by the FSA whilst we performed activity that required regulation (the selling of insurance). If I am going to hate banks for not suffering the consequences of their irresponsibility then I don't see how Zopa is a huge improvement. I am afraid that "they are not a bank" is not an entirely convincing reason for trusting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Nothing wrong with properly regulated banks that have sufficient capital to cover any losses. Now who regulates Zopa? The OFT apparently. But i'm not lending money to Zopa (or Funding Circle in my case) I'm lending money to various SME's That's what interests me about it to be honest. The internet cutting out the middle men in finance. Just like amazon cut out the shops separating the consumer from the wholesaler and expedia etc cut out the travel agent i'm intrigued to see where P2P lending can go. Not to mention we've seen over the last 3 years how it's the finance intermedatiators walking off with all the loot whilst those with savings and those wanting to borrow both get shafted.... If I am going to hate banks for not suffering the consequences of their irresponsibility then I don't see how Zopa is a huge improvement. I am afraid that "they are not a bank" is not an entirely convincing reason for trusting them. I'm not trusting them. Well i am trusting their credit checks and fraud prevention methods. But that's because if their default rates surprise too much on the upside their business is pretty much toast. Looks it's fine... you don't trust them and think it could all go horribbly wrong (which it could!) But me, i'm happy to risk a bit of pin money on it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exiges Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 The annoying thing with Zopa is that your losses (defaults) aren't offset against you income, so if you made £100 in repayments, and lost £100 in defaults, you'd still pay tax on £100. I had about £5k in loans around 2008/2009 but rates started dropping and defaults rose, making it not worthwhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gf3 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Thin cats is another one, and you can invest with a SIPP http://www.thincats.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicken Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Damn... there goes the interest rate down another notch :-) Yup. Rates at Funding Circle aren't what they were six months ago. I'm currently getting 9.1% gross on 31 loan parts to 27 businesses totalling around 7.5K (mixture of A+, A and B ), but I haven't added to that for a couple of months. No defaults yet. Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete95 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 I've been using Zopa for almost a year now, and I think it's great - over £30k invested, and even after fees and bad debt I'm very happy with the returns, which now beat return I'm getting on any other single investment. Obviously you should never put all your eggs in one basket, but along with money in bonds, shares and savings accounts I think Zopa is a good option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadget Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Yup. Rates at Funding Circle aren't what they were six months ago. I'm currently getting 9.1% gross on 31 loan parts to 27 businesses totalling around 7.5K (mixture of A+, A and B ), but I haven't added to that for a couple of months. No defaults yet. Q I think one of the difficulties of the business model is attracting a similar amount of lenders and borrowers (there's no wholesale market like a bank has) Looks like they've just had a load of big loan requsts come on in the last week and they're taking a while to fill up so interest rates may be heading back up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 I think one of the difficulties of the business model is attracting a similar amount of lenders and borrowers (there's no wholesale market like a bank has) Looks like they've just had a load of big loan requsts come on in the last week and they're taking a while to fill up so interest rates may be heading back up.... Rates on ZOPA have improved in the last few weeks. I suspect big increase in loan applications to cover xmas binges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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