David's World

November 15, 2005

Zopa's Peer-to-peer Banking: spread your dough ...

Preamble: David's too busy to write much here - well, I have written up stuff, but only to shelve it because it's way too confrontational. Those who know me know that I'm always happy to be confrontational - but obviously I'd like to make sure I'm right. And surprisingly (or not), I'm not always right.

Proper Blog Entry:So while you wait, take a look at a brand-new business model that has the chance to stir up the money lending market. One of the reasons I haven't bought an apartment in the UK when I moved here was that as much as 80 percent of my monthly mortgage payments would go to the bank in interest. No freakin' way! Besides, as a new resident in the UK, you don't have a credit rating, so it'll be pretty hard to get a good deal. Maybe Zopa is different. There's a somewhat uninspiring article in the Guardian today, but here's the low-down: Zopa is a peer-to-peer bank. You can lend or borrow money directly from other people on the site. They screen you (a bit) in case you'd like to take out a loan, and if you want to lend money, they'll reduce your risk by making sure that every borrower will take money from 50 lenders. You can set the interest rate for your loan yourself when you're lending.
Do you want to try out Zopa? Let me recommend you to Zopa - either for lending or borrowing! Send me an e-mail please - they have a pretty good referrals program. (You need to be in the UK.)