Zopa

Zopa Italy promises to lend at Kiva

wiseclerk 1 Comment

In an email newsletter Zopa Italy encouraged its member to spread the word about Zopa to friends and relatives. Zopa says it is for 'a good reason': Zopa Italy pledges to lend $1 on Kiva for each new member that registers at Zopa Italy before January 15th.
Everybody can monitor how much Zopa invested on this lender page at Kiva.

I am sure that Kiva will highly appreciate this promotion, a target audience that is already interested in p2p lending gets introduced to Kiva's concept. But I am not sure if that is a good marketing campaign for Zopa. Should the lenders decide Kiva is an interesting concept they might lend their money at Kiva instead of at Zopa. Maybe Zopa speculates lenders will invest in both. Or Zopa wants the added social angle to increase chances of press coverage.

What do you think? Discuss this at the Zopa forum. 

Zopa marketing

(Source: Email newsletter from Zopa Italy, Dec. 27th)

Review of peer to peer lending developments in 2007

wiseclerk

2007 was an exciting and eventful year in the development of peer to peer lending. Looking back these were the highlights:

I will write another article on which trends to expect in p2p lending in 2008.

First impressions of the Zopa US site

wiseclerk 3 Comments

I explored the new Zopa US site today. While the layout resembles the UK site the process is totally different.

Borrower's view

Use as a borrower is pretty straightforward. First sign up and then request an online quote.

After several seconds waiting the borrower is presented with the interest rate for his loan request.

Lender's view

For a lender things are a little more complicated. After deciding how much is to be invested, the lender must choose at least one borrower.

Using a sliding marker the lender then can select his desired interest rate (max. 5.1%). The lower the interest rate the more "help" the borrower gets on his loan.

Today already more then 310 users signed up at Zopa. When logged in, it is possible to browse other member's profiles. A profile can contain photos, long descriptions and integrate an (external) blog. An interesting example is Scott's profile, containing some informations on the history of Zopa US.

Over at thebankwatch Colin is wondering if the US model of Zopa will provoke interest.

What do you think of Zopa US? Post your impressions and experiences and discuss them with other users.

Zopa US launch next week

wiseclerk

According to the Wall Street Journal p2p lending service Zopa will launch in the US next week. Zopa has been established in the UK since 2005. The long announced US start had been postponed several times due to regulation issues.

In the US Zopa will partner with six credit unions. Lenders will benefit since they can be sure to get their principal back – deposits are insured up to $100,000 per member. This is new for p2p lending, where lenders usually carry the default risk (only Dutch p2p lending service Boober.nl guarantees for certain credit grades the bulk of the pricipal via insurance against default.
According to the WSJ article neither lenders nor borrowers will have to pay fees to use Zopa but have to sign up with one of the six participating credit unions.

An article on Netbanker.com already spoke of congestion, since Globefunder and Loanio will launch at a later stage and Prosper, Lending Club and Virgin Money are active in the market.

What's your opinion on this? Post your thoughts in the wiseclerk forum!

Digesting new Zopa listings infomation

wiseclerk 1 Comment

Zopa's new Zopa listings contain several pieces of information. Apart from the "basic information" which include loan amount, loan length, preferred rate, loan purpose, borrower ID, borrower signup date and listing end date, these are:

Credit score

The rating we give to the borrower’s credit score at Callcredit, a UK credit reference agency, relative to other Zopa borrowers

Affordability

Zopa rating (stars) for the borrower based on income and expenditure details provided by the borrower.

Stability

Zopa rating (stars) for the borrower based on details provided by the borrower, such as residence and employment.

Personal profile

Listing text supplied by borrower

Income/Expenses

Self reported detailed budget (see screenshot above for example) Continue reading →