Zopa is a peer-to-peer lending site, where borrowers apply for loans that are supplied not from a bank, but by other people. ZOPA stands for "Zone of Possible Agreement", which is the range of interest rates that lenders are prepared to offer and borrowers agree to pay. The best thing about Zopa is that lenders can offer a better rate of interest than a bank would pay them, and know that anyone borrowing is still getting a better rate than a bank would offer. It's not just a lending site - there is an active community and social forum behind it where users can chat. This social aspect is one of the biggest benefits of Zopa. For borrowers, Zopa ...  Read the complete review

I first started lending money on Zopa in May 2010 and was initially apprehensive because I had never heard of Zopa never mind the concept of 'social lending' or 'peer to peer lending'. However, it has been actually pretty rewarding overall as my bank pays little interest on my regular savings whereas Zopa has offered a pretty good rate of return on what was quite a small investment. I have earned about 7.2% on my investment which actually makes me cheaper to borrow from than a bank - so the borrower wins and is much better for me because I make a much larger interest rate on my savings. The site itself is very easy to use and is easily navigable. There is a ...  Read the complete review

It is not very difficult to setup account with Zopa and when you read all this stuff about how good is to invest in something independent from the banks, such great returns comparing to sving accounts you wouldn't think that out of £500 you put in (lent to others) £ 52 is a bad debt already (after 2 years in which you cannot touch your own money unless returned earlier). Stay away clear from this socialistic rubbish. YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY MONEY HERE. Unless you are borrowing from suckers like myself.

Zopa is a market for personal debt which fallaciously claims to offer in entirely new asset class for lenders as if shares would be unaffected by their customers' debts turning bad or by the interest rates on their own financing. The headline rate of 8% Zopa advertises at first looks attractive but if we treat the "uniquely uncorrelated" claim with due scepticism and compare them to shares and bonds that return starts to look a lot more pedestrian even if we take the advertised return to be scrupulously honest. Over the last 12 months the FTSE100 has returned 22% excluding dividends and that doesn't include all the AIM shares which have doubled lately and ...  Read the complete review

I'm pretty new to Zopa, having only joined in October 2009. I found the site while I was looking through the Earn Extra Income forum on MoneySavingExpert.com. Basically put, it's a way for people like me to lend to other people like me. What happens is that you put money into your Zopa lending account. You then set up what demographic markets you want to lend to, at what rate and how much per loan you're prepared to commit. The Zopa system tells you your approximate % return and the likelihood of your offering being accepted (to stop people ramping the rates too high). You can lend any quantity you want (in multiples of £10) but Zopa ...  Read the complete review