Zopa will add more loan term selection for borrowers starting in the second half of May. So far Zopa was offering loan terms of either 36 or 60 months. In the future there will be Shorter Markets (24 and 36 months) and Longer Markets (48 and 60 months). While borrowers can elect the exact loan duration, lenders can only choose between those markets.
Asked how this action might contradict the removal of 12, 24 and 48 months loan options by Zopa in 2008 (see article) , Zopa CEO Giles Andrews replied ‘… The main problem before was that lenders chose to lend mainly over 12 and 24 months while most borrowers were looking for 36+. So we had a real mismatch in supply and demand. We should avoid that this time by not allowing lenders only to choose 24. We think it’s reasonable to do that given that lenders charge an extra premium for longer loans currently, so on that basis they will be getting a “premium” for loans made in the 24 and 48 month markets using their 36 and 60 month rates. …‘