How are people's Zopa accounts doing?

[dingdong]

Zopa no longer has a provision fund so is now higher risk for the level of return offered.

People need to be aware that as soon as the economy takes a downturn there will be no guarantee you can get your money out of any of these P2P schemes if the market dries up as everyone tries to sellout.

Collateral has gone bust, Lendy is struggling and even Ratesetters provision fund coverage has dropped. Defaults are rising across the board.


People should only risk what they can afford to lose and not put all their eggs into the P2P basket.

[Platypus]

Has anyone withdrawn their money from any of these sites?

It's super-easy to cash out on Zopa, or it was when I did.

[northernladuk]

Has anyone withdrawn their money from any of these sites? I've been trying to do so on Funding Circle and it has not been the greatest experience. I understand the issues with doing so, but there's not much in the way of transparency.

Each is different I believe. With the Zopa ones it appears you can pay a percentage and cash out so would indicate you can just walk. I'm still struggling on two of my crowd funding platforms as I picked the investments, one of them is FC like you. I've never invested any money since they started the auto invest option. I was hoping as it was automatic it would allocate your full portfolio to the next person in line so effectively immediate but not a chance that was going to happen if there were more loans than investors. Something I thought might happen when they floated and started advertising. All I have left on FC are some property loans that are late disposing of the properties so I'm not overly worried about them. Just frustrating.

In general it very much depends on the platform. If there is a secondary market for loan parts, the investing method and how many people are investing to buy it off you etc.

[SorenLorensen]

Has anyone withdrawn their money from any of these sites? I've been trying to do so on Funding Circle and it has not been the greatest experience. I understand the issues with doing so, but there's not much in the way of transparency.

[JoJoGabor]

Ive been lending using Ratesetter for about 5 years, never lost any money on it, averaging about 5% return per year. Im sure the other platforms do this also but they have a fund which covers any bad loans (up to a point)

[fibio]

I opened an account for this years ago but never used it as I went for the higher return platforms like FundingCircle and Lendy (formally SavingStream). I see a bit of noise around returns going down and seem to be in the 4-5% now but lower risk than most. The company appears to be making a profit now as well.

What do you guys that are in it think of it? Still working for you or have people started pulling out and going elsewhere?

I'm asking as a friend of mine is interested in a low risk P2P option and thought Zopa might be one of the better options around but keen to hear people's thoughts.

Similar to you, I used to be an active lender on FC in the early days of churning E loans. I sold out what I could since they moved to the blackbox lending model.

Invested in Zopa since the early days (so get the 0.5% early adopter bonus, which helps with returns) and got burned with Plus. I don't think their diversification algorithm is particularly good so would only invest at least a middling 5-figures with transfers in of £1999 to stay in the £10 loan chunk range.

[Lance]

I’m finding Zopa works. Turning 5% year on year, with no bad debt.
Switched to a zopa ISA now as the returns are the same.
Good to see they’re turning a profit as it means they’re not going to piss off with my dosh.

[northernladuk]

Only small issue was not being able to get a typical account balance statement, which was a minor headache for year end accounts.

Exactly the same problem with my lenders. They will produce a tax statement but can never get full figures for the accountant.

[Spoiler]

I opened an account for this years ago but never used it as I went for the higher return platforms like FundingCircle and Lendy (formally SavingStream). I see a bit of noise around returns going down and seem to be in the 4-5% now but lower risk than most. The company appears to be making a profit now as well.

What do you guys that are in it think of it? Still working for you or have people started pulling out and going elsewhere?

I'm asking as a friend of mine is interested in a low risk P2P option and thought Zopa might be one of the better options around but keen to hear people's thoughts.

Have been using RateSetter for ~9 months and their 1 year lending option for some of my Ltd's cash that I (hopefully) won't need in the short-term. Have been happy with the returns & the investing process, but haven't compared it to other platforms.
Only small issue was not being able to get a typical account balance statement, which was a minor headache for year end accounts.

[northernladuk]

I opened an account for this years ago but never used it as I went for the higher return platforms like FundingCircle and Lendy (formally SavingStream). I see a bit of noise around returns going down and seem to be in the 4-5% now but lower risk than most. The company appears to be making a profit now as well.

What do you guys that are in it think of it? Still working for you or have people started pulling out and going elsewhere?

I'm asking as a friend of mine is interested in a low risk P2P option and thought Zopa might be one of the better options around but keen to hear people's thoughts.