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Domain: zopa.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to zopa.com.
Comments · 6
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Consider microlending on Prosper...
I've always been jealous of the way the banks and credit card companies lend out so much money at high interest.
Now, there are micro-lending options for consumers - this business is still in its infancy, but its worth a look:
http://www.prosper.com/ (U.S.A. only)
http://www.zopa.com/ (U.K. only atm i think)
I personally have over a hundred loans out to various borrowers, and even if many (%20+) of them default, I'm still beating the return I'd get from a money market account. They are legitimate, unsecured loans, and adversely affect borrowers credit ratings if they are delinquent.
They've been in the news a lot recently too: http://news.google.com/news?q=prosper.com -
Re:credit checks?
Unless there are credit checks people will use this borrow money when they're desperate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Credit checks are made.
http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2005/10/18/an-intro- to-zopa-and-credit-scoring/
http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/01/24/more-on-c redit/ -
Re:credit checks?
Unless there are credit checks people will use this borrow money when they're desperate. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Credit checks are made.
http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2005/10/18/an-intro- to-zopa-and-credit-scoring/
http://blog.zopa.com/archives/2006/01/24/more-on-c redit/ -
Re:Trustworthiness on the internet
The article discusses two different lending assocations. Only one of them actually claim to use credit reports!
More correctly, the article only refers to one of them using credit reports. But both Prosper and Zopa expressly claim on their own websites to use credit scores (from Experian and Equifax, respectively), though Zopa claims to assign their ratings considering additional factors in some cases. -
Re:Trustworthiness on the internet
The article discusses two different lending assocations. Only one of them actually claim to use credit reports!
More correctly, the article only refers to one of them using credit reports. But both Prosper and Zopa expressly claim on their own websites to use credit scores (from Experian and Equifax, respectively), though Zopa claims to assign their ratings considering additional factors in some cases. -
As a merchant......this sounds like plenty-o-fun for everyone. We've been experimenting with a paypal button for one product, and have seen more response than we anticipated. We tied a discount to it, which may help, but still, it's been a positive experience all around.
I'm not sure Google will see the same degree of success that paypal does because they don't have EBay pumping "wallets" full of "cash" that may be easily perceived as discretionary by the account holder. What I mean by this is that when someone has made a few EBay sales, they'll have some funds in paypal; then, encountering a paypal button for a product, service, charity or just a tip, that's a pretty easy mental step to take... you didn't have the cash in your hot little hand yet, so perhaps it isn't so difficult to let go of.
Google could -- perhaps -- accumulate Adsense dollars in the "wallet" but it is a lot more involved becoming an Adsense vendor than it is selling the dusty stuff out of your basement on EBay. Still, they're a huge market presence and maybe I'm just selling them short here. Gawd knows Adsense and Adwords are working out for a lot of people.
Along moderately related e-commerce lines, anyone know of a US-centric investment->loan mechanism similar to Zopa (Zone of possible agreement)? My company is looking for something like this to put some funds into within US borders (for both tax and accountability reasons.) I came up dry with Google; perhaps this isn't legal in the US?