What is Zopa?

Founded in 2005, Zopa is the largest and oldest peer to peer company and one that survived the 2008 financial crisis. That is quite an achievement considering the carnage that was left in the wake of the mortgage meltdown. Zopa has 75,000+ active investors who have lent over £3 billion to borrowers.

Is Zopa safe to use?

Zopa is very simple to use as lenders choose from two products with different risks. I was surprised to see Zopa discontinue its legacy instant Access and Classic accounts and replace them with the non-Safeguarded Core account. Zopa has always been heralded for being one of the safer peer to peer lending options.

Are Zopa’s core and Plus products still underwhelming?

While savings rates remain at historically dismal levels, Zopa’s Core and Plus products still underwhelm compared to the higher rate offerings by other peer to peer companies. Having said that, the recent rate trends have been rising.

Is Zopa trying to become a bank again?

Their management team originally started off in banking (Egg Internet Banking), and then helped start the P2P lending revolution leading Zopa to become one of the biggest Peer to Peer Lenders in the world. However now it appears they are trying to be a bank again.