Zopa and Tesco team-up to offer online car hire purchase finance

Supermarket giant Tesco and neobank Zopa are working together on a new hire purchase car finance product.

Zopa, which was granted a banking licence last year, is providing the hire purchase loan while Tesco Bank is bringing to bear its brand strength by attaching its name to the product. 

To start off with, the financing will be available via ClearScore’s credit marketplace, with Zopa handling the checks and giving eligible customers an offer in just three minutes.

“Zopa’s digital-first products and market expertise combined with Tesco Bank’s brand strength continues our mission to bring car financing into the twenty-first century,” said Tim Waterman,Zopa’s chief commercial officer.

“By teaming up we’re making it easy for consumers who don’t yet know Zopa to access digitally native, industry-leading products adapted to their needs, reaffirming our unwavering commitment to great customer experience.”

Indeed, while Zopa has a decent customer base of around 500,000, Tesco Bank dwarfs the neobank with over 5 million UK customers across its banking, insurance and money services.

The tie-up is also likely strategic for Tesco Bank which, like several other supermarket banks, is in the process of closing down its current account offering next month and realigning its focus on certain products including car financing.

“We want to help those customers where a Tesco Bank personal loan doesn’t work for them to find more great value car finance options,” explained Tesco Bank’s chief customer officer Sigga Sigurdardottir.

“That’s why we’re delighted to team up with Zopa to make this happen.”