Zopa ISA (finally)

[d000hg]

Zopa receives full FCA authorisation

I've been quite pleased with my small investment in Zopa (3% in 6 months to date) so this seems good news.

The less risky options are only targeting 3-4% annually but it seems to me the higher risk one is actually still quite low risk? i.e. they factor in defaults to their projected returns. So far I have missed payments of 21p!

To me it seems a good balance between getting f-all on a cash ISA, and the much higher risks of a stocks & shares ISA. Especially as BTL is getting the tax squeeze.

[MarillionFan]

Brilliant.

It was only a few weeks ago I rang them up again to check where it was

I've now got 80k in Zopa getting 4.5%, plus a 0.5% bonus for being an early investor.

[scooterscot]

Give me that £80k, I'll give you £100k next week.

Send to this address: D9QwbX9wky9XFp7Nz4ECV6fbvnRd8W2tzN

[d000hg]

Most of our cash ISAs have been moved into S&S as interest rates collapsed, if they allow transferring of existing ISAs that would be extremely handy.
That said with the ever increasing ISA allowance, and two people's to use up, taking money out of a small cash ISA to put in something like this probably won't be an issue.

[MarillionFan]

Most of our cash ISAs have been moved into S&S as interest rates collapsed, if they allow transferring of existing ISAs that would be extremely handy.
That said with the ever increasing ISA allowance, and two people's to use up, taking money out of a small cash ISA to put in something like this probably won't be an issue.

When I spoke to them they said that they would be taking transfers.

If you have existing loans, those cannot be transferred into ISAs, you'd have to sell them and then move your yearly limit over.

Would be interesting to see how they will split it though. Normally deposits are split 100 times, so when I put 20k in once I landed up lending people £200 each which is not what I wanted to do.

[d000hg]

Transferring existing loans was probably impossible, though I don't know the mechanics. It was one of the reasons I put in a paltry £2k last autumn - to get a feel for the platform at a level I could afford to lose, in advance of hoping to utilise their ISA once it became available.

Splitting the money is their main way to minimise risk... what would you want to do differently and why? My main issue with their system is the 3 products cover a huge number of options. I'd rather like to be able to fine-tune this.

[MarillionFan]

They do split your money when you put it in. But they split your deposit in 1/100 of what you put in.

So if you put in £2000, then 100 people get £20 which is a small amount.

When I put it in £20000, then 100 people got £200 each. I'd rather it was 1000 people with £20 each just to spread the risk.

Anyway, the trick is, is to deposit in small chunks 1/2 k at a time

[d000hg]

Oh I hadn't twigged that detail, I thought they sliced it the same regardless. Good to know.

I also think their default account for new deposits implementation is incredibly clunky. Why can't I deposit then allocate, or have a different BACS reference for each account?

[diseasex]

4.5%?
meanwhile bond market is making 7%
Capital Group Global High Income Opps (Class Z) Income Fund Price & Information

[d000hg]

4.5%?
meanwhile bond market is making 7%
Capital Group Global High Income Opps (Class Z) Income Fund Price & Information

Historically 7% you mean? I bought some kind of bond with a guaranteed 4% return in my S&S ISA. S&S tend to do best but only on average. You might find the time you need the case, there ain't any. 3-4% at very low risk seems quite attractive to me - with some more risky investment topping it up once you have a buffer at that level.