Citizenship

We don't mean flying the flag, either. We mean taking an interest in, and a sense of responsibility for, your community (however you define it). We're trying to do that, in a very small way, through social finance. We love to hear from members who are doing something like this--either using Zopa or not. If you are, drop us a line. We'd love to blog about it.

Dec 03 2007

Money, It Is A-Changin’

Posted by Doug at 4:58 pm

It’s not enough that we were the first peer-to-peer lending site on the planet, thanks to Richard, Dave, James, Giles, and Tim, back in March 2005. And it’s not enough that we’ve been the safest. This week, we become the most global. And the experience we pick up in each country around the world benefits every single Zopa member, by helping us keep things safe, fun, and meaningful.

So this week we’re launching in two new countries. In the United States, we’re launching a product that’s really new and different. And in Italy, we’re launching with a product that will be familiar to any member of Zopa UK. But even in the UK we’ve been changing - we launched Zopa Listings a month ago, and it’s going gangbusters!

Different countries, different products, same Zopa values. It’s a pattern you can expect from us going forward, as we adjust the Zopa idea for different regulatory and cultural contexts around the globe. (For example, in the US, we wanted to tap into the phenomenon of charitable giving, which is nearly $300B a year.)

Money has a long history of being a bad thing. With Zopa, we are going to change that. That’s why say we’re “making money human again”. And that doesn’t just mean the pound, either. But all around the world.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 comments

Jim Bruene

Posted on December 3rd, 2007 at 6:44 pm

Congratulations on the launch…it’s good to see another entrant in the U.S. market.

Sebastien

Posted on December 4th, 2007 at 10:20 am

So, does it means that we will see for the US a similar listing system just like the one you launched in the UK ? Or regulations here cannot permit that (ie choices of rate but insured) ?
I think I saw another company in the US, doing something like the UK Zopa listings, but it is not insured (I am sure you know what company it is!)
I have to say that I like the idea of the insured Zopa. Feel a bit safer.
Sebastien

Steve

Posted on December 4th, 2007 at 12:35 pm

I’d love to become an active Zopa lender/investor/whatever, but the current rates just aren’t attractive enough for me. 5.1% max? I can get 4.75% for liquid savings from eloan (I haven’t shopped around, so better rates might be out there). I understand that Zopa pushes the “more than a great rate” angle, but I wish Zopa US targeted more than just the charitable givers. I’m sure there are lots of people like me who mostly just care about a good investment vehicle.

Kanosh

Posted on December 5th, 2007 at 1:52 am

It seems that Zopa-USA is just a credit union or bank loan. The top interest rate one can receive as an investor - 5.1% - is similar to what other internet bank and credit unions offer. The “spread” between interest collected from borrowers and paid to lenders is quite high. In short, Zopa USA is offering little more than any other internet based bank or credit union, albeit with a “social” angle. Frankly, even the p2p aspect could get rather annoying. As a lender why should I bother sorting through various borrower’s stories when I can find a whole bunch of banks that will pay me over 5.1% without all the work? If I’m missing something please let me know — I had really high hopes for you guys and you’ve let us all down.

Mike

Posted on December 6th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

Zopa USA is disappointing. I was excited that Zopa was coming to the US expect to be able to choose my own borrower market & risk tolerance like the UK version. The current risk-free CD version is just not compelling since I can get higher yield in a money market account. Why reduce features in the US versoin?

wade

Posted on December 7th, 2007 at 2:00 pm

Hi everybody. Thanks for writing! It’s true that the Zopa CD is not only about delivering a great return for investors–it’s also about delivering a great feeling. Investors who don’t really value the emotional connection between borrower and investor will perhaps choose other options, and that’s a decision we respect. It’s a big tent, here in the world of financial services. But we do encourage everybody to consider carefully the costs of any fixed income investment–in terms of hassle, outright administrative charges, and default risk. We think the Zopa CD, once you factor all that in, is a terrific option for investors. And then you get to help people, too.

Lighthouse

Posted on December 7th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

Prosper is the other US PtoP lending site. It has much larger return rates then current ob this site but not insured.

Personal Loan Portfolio

Posted on December 9th, 2007 at 9:20 pm

I was not too thrilled about the low rates on launch, but looking at some of the profiles I realized that some people are actually borrowing at negative interest rates. Amazing!

Please help me decide where I invest my next $500 - Zopa, Lending Club, Prosper, or a stock market index fund.

bamalucky

Posted on December 11th, 2007 at 8:56 pm

I’m sorely disappointed..1 terrible product..Thing is,no 1 is buying into p2p..We want good returns..We tried helping people on prosper & lost out tails,so we just want to make good returns without you guys making it all.

Provide us a better scoring model than prosper has & let us pick our own loans..Show us 30,60,90 day DQ & turn us loose.

Eric

Posted on December 15th, 2007 at 5:56 pm

I just got turned down for a Zopa loan. The process was quite disappointing - I was basically applying for a bank loan - there was no Person-to-person in the process that I could see. I thought the idea was to help reduce the risk of funding a loan with people contributing to a borrowers payments. So, I lined up a bunch of friends to help out, but was rejected even before they could join Zopa. I don’t really understand the Zopa business model.

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