Zopa, the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lender, has today announced that it has lent over £500 million of consumer savings to UK borrowers since launching in 2005.  

Commenting on the key milestone Giles Andrews, Zopa CEO and co-founder said, “Lending half a billion pounds of other people’s money is a superb achievement for Zopa made possible only by our customers. Our mission is to deliver every saver and borrower in the UK better rates and service, as they deserve.  By cutting out the banks and offering returns of 5% (compared to bank savings rates typically under 1%) we are rewarding people for being sensible with their money. ...Lending the next £500m shouldn’t take another nine years as we expect to reach £1bn lent in the next 12 months”.

Notable Stats about Zopa

• Has lent out over £200 million over last 12 months (40% of total transactions)
• Zopa currently has 52,000 active savers, lending on average £5,500
• the average age of saver is 48
• a default rate of just 0.17% on lent in the last three years
• over 90,000 loans made in total Zopa has a total of 80,000 active borrowers.
• 40% of all loans go towards cars, with another 20% towards home improvement and debt consolidation 
• 30% of Zopa borrowers pay their loans back early
• The average borrower is 42 years old and they typically borrow £7,500.
• Currently has £3m in its  Safeguard fund