How do I close my account?

We can close your account just as long as you don’t have an active Zopa loan or money invested with us. Log in to your account here or via the app and send us a message requesting an account closure. You'll need to include the following verification details: Your full name Your date of birth Your email address Your address and postcode Once we’ve closed your account, we’ll pop you an email to confirm.

I'm an investor, why is there a Zopa soft search on my credit file?

If you’ve recently validated your bank details with us, this is probably the reason you’re seeing a soft search from Zopa on your credit file. When we validate your bank details, we sometimes need to run a soft search on your credit file to help us confirm that the bank account that’s being linked to your Zopa investment is really yours. This step leads to better protection for the money you invest with us. It’s important to note that this is what’s known as a ‘soft search’, meaning it’s invisible to others reviewing your credit file and has no impact on your credit score.

I want to sell some loans - which ones are eligible?

Any loan which is not currently in arrears or defaulted can be sold to other investors to free up funds for withdrawal (don't forget about the 1% loan sale fee for accessing money this way). We sort everything out for you, so all you have to do is request how much of your loans you want to sell. We'll do everything we can to get you the amount you're after, but remember it's dependent on other investors being available to take your loans, as well as the conditions above.

Why can't I sell all my loans?

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. There are some situations in which you're unable to sell a loan: If one of your borrowers is currently in a late status, you won't be able to pass on the loan to someone else. If there aren't enough available lenders to pass your loans on to. For Zopa loans issued before the introduction of Safeguard in 2013: If the loan was made to the borrower via Zopa Listings. (Zopa stopped offering new loans via Listings in July 2011). If you made the loan under your own Consumer Credit Licence. This is because your borrower(s) will have signed contracts with you that could only be taken over by new lenders with their own CCL. Not only does Zopa no longer facilitate lending under individual CCLs, but it wouldn't be a user-friendly experience for borrowers to be asked to re-sign new contracts with new lenders during the life of their loan. Of course, you will be able to transfer any loans you've made since revoking your Licence, subject to the criteria mentioned above.

How did you define the minimum lending for Zopa Core and Zopa Plus?

We've set a minimum lending limit to make sure that only a small proportion of your money is lent to a single borrower. This was determined by simulating different scenarios for borrower defaults against our current loan book. We found that a lender should have at least 100 microloans to maximize the chance of earning positive returns, therefore we have a £1,000 minimum investment amount which allows us to diversify your initial investment across at least that many loans when you get started.

Do I have to pay tax on the money I earn by lending?

All returns are paid without any tax - even basic rate - deducted, so you should declare your gains to the HMRC. At the end of the tax year we'll make an annual income statement available to you to download from your account showing the total gross interest you've received over the previous 12 months. Find out how to declare your Zopa earnings. Zopa provides an annual statement to make it simple to declare your earnings to the HMRC for tax purposes. In June 2016 we updated our tax statements to reflect changes to HMRC’s guidelines regarding tax relief for bad debt: From tax year 2015/16 bad debt can be offset against interest income. Repayments on defaulted loans should be treated as taxable income (where they were previously eligible for tax relief). The amount of income tax you pay is dependent on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future. The Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) was introduced for the 2016/17 tax year onwards and allows lower bracket tax-payers to earn up to £1,000 per year (£500 for higher earners) in savings income tax free. Your peer-to-peer (P2P) earnings are covered by your PSA, which means you can already benefit from tax-free earnings with Zopa (and / or any other P2P platforms you may use). From 2016/17 tax year all peer to peer lending companies with full FCA permissions will be able to offer an Innovative Finance ISA. This will allow lenders to invest up to £20,000 a year (annual allowance for the 217/18 tax year) in a P2P platform tax free. Read more about our Innovative Finance ISA.

How do I withdraw money from my Zopa holding account?

Log in here to withdraw for standard investments. Log in here to withdraw for ISA investments. Once you’re logged in, select the ‘Access money’ button. Click ‘Withdraw’ and then enter the amount to be withdrawn on the next screen. Once done, your money should arrive back with you within 3 to 4 working days.

Is Zopa accepting new ISA transfer ins?

At the moment, we’re not accepting new ISA transfer ins as we already have a lot of new money being added into the Zopa platform which needs to be matched with loans. By stopping transfer ins, we’ll be able to prioritise the money waiting to be matched for our existing investors and ensure they have a better experience. If you already have an ISA transfer in underway, don’t worry, this won’t be impacted.

I have Zopa Access, why am I being charged a loan sale fee?

As we move to our new tech platform all loans will initially be subject to a loan sale fee. Don’t worry though, we will reimburse you for this 1%. This will happen automatically within two weeks of your loan sale completing. If you do not see the reimbursement by this time, please contact our customer service agents.

Why can't I reinvest into Access or Classic?

Overtime we’ve changed the investments available to our investors. If you have ever used Zopa Classic or Zopa Access you may still see this active on your dashboard, but only our current products, Core and Plus, can be reinvested in.

What are the benefits of reinvesting my loan repayments?

By reinvesting repayments your portfolio will become more diversified, reducing the impact of individual defaults. What’s more, you’ll start earning interest on the interest you’ve already earned. This is known as compound interest.

What happens if I stop a loan sale?

You can request to cancel your loan sale at any time. Proceeds from loans already sold will be available in your holding account and any loans that were queued to be sold will be taken out of the queue. Loan sale fees and market rate adjustments will only apply to loans that have already been sold, and not on loans that were taken out of the queue.

Can I make money available without selling loans?

Selling loans isn’t the only way to make money available. You can also: Manage repayments You can make money available without paying fees by turning off reinvestments. When you do this money will slowly accumulate and become available in your holding account. Use the ‘More details’ button on your investment to update this setting. Move money due to be invested Money isn’t instantly invested in loans, when you invest it takes some time to find the right loans to diversify your investment. Therefore, you may have money which is ‘Due to be invested.’ This can be instantly moved to your holding account without paying fees. Use the ‘More details’ button on your investment to update this setting.

How many ISAs can I have?

You can open one of each type of ISA per tax year – including cash, stocks & shares and IFISAs (the 'IF' means 'innovative finance’) – but remember, you can only add up to the £20,000 allowance across all of your ISAs over any given tax year. You can also hold multiple historic ISAs, but you can only subscribe your annual allowance to one of each type of ISA per tax year.

Why do you need my national insurance number?

HMRC requires us to ask for this. It's used to check that you don’t go over the £20,000 yearly ISA allowance and have only opened one of each type of ISA per tax year.

Where can I find my national insurance number?

You should be able to find your National Insurance (NI) number on any of the following: Payslip P45 or a P60 Letter from HMRC or DWP Pension order book It's structured like this: AB123456A.

What’s my reference code and how should I use it?

Your reference code is unique to your investment. When you add Zopa to your list of payees from your bank, you’ll need to use this as the reference. This enables us to identify you and direct your money to the right place. If you have both a Standard and ISA investment, please be aware they’ll have different reference codes. For regular Zopa investments your reference is a Z followed by 8 numbers. It’ll look like this Z12345678 For ISA investments, it’s the letters ISA followed by 8 numbers. It’ll look like this ISA12345678

Why do I need a verified bank account?

In order to protect your money, we just need to confirm that the bank account you pay in from, or withdraw to, belongs to you.

What is the difference between Core and Plus?

We offer two options when investing with Zopa, tailored to how much risk you want to take. Zopa Core offers less risk, but potentially less return. Zopa Plus adds some riskier loans into your portfolio, but comes with the chance of making higher returns.

How do I recertify my investment account?

In line with FCA regulations on peer-to-peer (P2P) investing, we need you to state your experience with P2P once a year. This is known as ‘recertification’. You can find out more about the different investor profiles you can certify as here. To recertify now, all you need to do is click the link below and you'll be guided through the steps. Recertify now

If my loans are covered by Safeguard are there any circumstances when the Safeguard will not step in?

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. Zopa has many years’ experience in credit-checking borrowers and through careful monitoring of loans has a higher repayment rate than the banks. This means Zopa can predict very accurately the level of non-payers, and very accurately monitor the Safeguard fund to check it contains enough money to cover you for these borrowers, with an additional buffer. If for any reason the Safeguard did run short of money, P2PS (the Trustee) would give lenders a proportion of the amount owed, rather than the whole amount. This would mean that you would at least get some of your money back. The Trustee would do this whilst Safeguard funds are built up from new loans, with the aim of being able to give you the full amount back in the future. In the extremely unlikely event that the Safeguard was unable to give lenders any payment, P2PS would still take ownership of the loan and anything they recover would be given back to you. At Zopa, you lend your money in small chunks across lots of different borrowers, so if you did end up with a borrower who could not repay they would make up a very small amount of what you’ve lent out. The Zopa Safeguard will assess every case individually and intends to approve each one. However, in exceptional circumstances it may choose not to approve a case or may only approve part of it, in order to protect the fund.

My Loan Book terminology

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. WithdrawalPending – The loan has been disbursed to the borrower by BACS; your statement will reflect this. Withdrawn – The funds have been received by the borrower, this is an active loan. Closed – The loan has been fully repaid. Collections – One or more payments have been missed on a loan. Our collections team are following up the arrears. Arrangement – The borrower has fallen behind on regular repayments but an arrangement has been made for them to pay a reduced regular amount. Default – A loan that has fallen more than four months in to arrears and has defaulted. It is at this point that, where a loan is covered by Zopa Safeguard, that the fund would typically pay out. Where a loan is not covered by Safeguard then Zopa in conjunction with P2PS will continue to chase the borrower on your behalf. You can find updates on these loans by viewing the comments section of your detailed loan book. Any payments which are returned will be passed back to lenders, net of fees. Hardship – This is when a borrower is in an extreme circumstance e.g. terminal illness. We gain evidence from the borrower regarding their situation before placing them into this state. Interest on their loan is frozen when in a state of hardship. For loans that are covered by Safeguard fund, the fund will still step in after four months of arrears. Settled – This is when borrower is unable to repay in full, but can repay a certain percentage of their debt with a lump sum on a loan marked as defaulted. Zopa will only accept these terms and apply the Settled state after a thorough assessment of the borrower’s circumstances. If all criteria are met, we will accept the one-off payment and write off the remainder of the bad debt.

When does the Zopa Safeguard fund pay out?

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. The Zopa collections team manage all borrowers who are behind on their repayments. If a borrower has reached a point where they are behind on their loan by at least four months' worth of repayments P2PS would work in conjunction with Zopa to continue to chase borrowers. If the loan is covered by Safeguard e.g. loans within Zopa Classic or Zopa Access products, then Safeguard is designed to cover expected losses where a borrower is unable to meet at least 4 months’ worth of repayments. In some circumstances a borrower may have passed away, be declared bankrupt or insolvent, or enter an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA); in these cases as soon as Zopa has confirmation of this, P2PS would start administrative actions, beginning with giving Safeguarded lenders the outstanding balance of the loan. When Safeguard makes a pay out the loan will look as if the outstanding capital and interest has been paid in full and nothing is due on the loan; the payments will be itemised in your transactional statement. In the end of year financial statement the loan would not show up as bad debt.

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. We retired products with Safeguard coverage 1 December 2017. From 2013 to 2017, some of our products were offered with coverage from a provision fund called Safeguard. During that time, it was a tax-efficient way for investors to offset bad debt against interest on their loans. It worked by buying up bad loans and paying back the investor. And, to date, all claims on Safeguard have been paid out. In 2015, HMRC made some changes. New guidance meant investors could make a claim for tax relief on peer-to-peer losses directly. With the primary reason for the fund now removed, we took the decision that from 1 December 2017, we could retire all products with Safeguard coverage. The Zopa Safeguard is a fund held in trust by a not-for-profit organisation. As the fund is held in trust this means the money in it cannot be used by Zopa and there are rules for how the fund can be used. The fund was created to step in if a borrower gets into financial difficulty and can’t keep up with their repayments, to the point where they are behind on their loan by at least four months’ worth of repayments. At this point the Trustee and Zopa would work in conjunction to give you the money you are owed (the remainder of the money you lent them, plus any interest due on it up to that point in time). The Safeguard fund has covered all bad loans since it launched, but of course there is some risk it may not always be able to do so. The fund is not covered by the FSCS. Find out more about what happens if Safeguard is unable to step in. Zopa provides the money for the Safeguard fund. When a borrower is approved for a Zopa loan they pay a fee which covers the basic running costs of the company, including our loans team and the technology behind our website, and a contribution to the Zopa Safeguard. To determine the rate for the borrowers (the APR), the tracker rates add an applicable borrower fee which includes an amount to cover Zopa Safeguard.

How can I see which loans are covered by Safeguard in My Loan Book?

As of 30 November 2020, the Safeguard Fund was wound down with the remaining balance paid to investors. Investors affected have received email communications about the payment and how this impacts them. If you want to distinguish your loans which are covered by Safeguard (Zopa Classic and Zopa Access) from your loans which are not covered by safeguard (either from Pre-April 2013 or in Zopa Core or Plus), go to My Loan Book Overview, you'll then see the aggregation of the number and value of your Safeguard and non-Safeguard loans.

Can a business invest through Zopa?

Yes, they can, but there are some essential requirements. The business must be: A UK-based Limited company Lending for investment reasons only and not engaged in the trade of money-lending You'll need to create a normal account in the name and details of a controlling Director. Before you start investing, we'll need the following information and documents to make some checks and then update your account to a company investment account: A scanned copy of your Certificate of Incorporation Confirmation of legal structure and owners Names of individuals owning more than 25% Names of individuals exercising control over management of firm Confirmation of who you'd like to instruct on the account Two forms of identification for the controlling Director and anyone else who is authorised to instruct on the account. This needs to be a valid passport, driving licence or EU/EEA ID Card, along with a bank statement or utility bill dated within the last 3 months. Please send all documents using the email address you used to set up the account.

I've changed banks - how can I update my details with Zopa?

For security, we can only accept money from or send money to one designated bank account which you register with us when you sign up. But we know that things can change, and there will be times when you need to update your bank details. To do this, log in to your account and click 'Change bank details' on your profile page. Once you've submitted your details, we'll run our usual checks to make sure everything's OK with your new info. Sometimes we'll need some more information from you (like a recent bank statement or proof of address) if we can't confirm your details on our systems. This is just to make sure your account is safe, and any withdrawals go to you.

Where can I find my annual income statement?

Follow the steps below to view your statement online: Sign in to your account and you’ll land on our Statements page. Once you’re in, scroll down to the annual income statement section. From here you’ll be able to download your statement as a PDF.

I'm locked out of my account - what do I do?

It happens! We'll get you back in. Typed the wrong password too many times? Please contact us; we’ll ask a few questions to make absolutely sure you're you, and then we can unlock your account. Forgotten your password? To reset it, go to our login page and hit the "forgot password" link. We’ll ask you to enter the email address you use with Zopa, so we can email you a reset link. Forgotten your security questions? (investors only) Please contact us so we can help you reset them.

Are there any fees associated with peer-to-peer investments at Zopa?

Loan servicing fee We apply a loan servicing fee to each loan contract, which is deducted directly from each borrower repayment before the principal and interest is passed on to investors. The cost of the loan servicing fee may vary between investment products. A loan servicing fee is: A monthly fee, calculated using the Zopa Servicing Rate under the Loan Contract to cover the cost of administering Loan Contracts and which may include a Safeguard Contribution (to the extent that the full amount for the Safeguard Contribution was not included in the Borrowing Fee) 1% loan sale fee We charge a 1% administration fee when selling loan in Classic, Core, and Plus. This is applied to the proceeds from successful loan sales, and deducted from the final amount before being put into your holding account. We will always display an estimate of the 1% loan sale fee cost before you confirm your loan sale. However, this is an estimate, and may change (for example if we can’t sell the full amount you have requested). Market rate adjustment In the event you wish to cash out any Market Loan before it is repaid by selling it to another investor, there may be a market rate adjustment. This means you may not receive the full value of outstanding capital of your loan if it has a lower projected return than an equivalent new loan today. Example: You may try to sell a loan with £10 of outstanding capital. If the projected return for a similar new loan today is the same as your loan and the borrower has not missed a repayment, the buying investor will pay you £10. If the projected return for a similar new loan today is higher than your loan and the borrower has been inconsistent with repayments then an appropriate market rate adjustment is made and the buying investor may pay you £9.80. Any outstanding capital deducted from the buying investor’s purchase price represents the additional projected return they would expect to earn if they had acquired an equivalent new loan today. Any market rate adjustments consider interest rate changes and how well your loans have been performing to date. We regularly update our Investor Principles.

Why don’t my product and holding account totals add up to my Zopa Total?

When loan customers make a monthly repayment, the capital and interest they pay must be divided across many different investors due to how we diversify funds. We divide all repayments into micro-pennies, to 8 decimal places, which allows for a greater level of accuracy and fairness overall. To report whole pence to you, we must then round these micro-pennies up or down. This creates small discrepancies against your Zopa Total. Here’s an example of a micro-penny repayment: A loan customer makes a repayment of £105 of capital and interest combined. The £105 must then be divided across 62 investors who all contributed to the loan (let’s assume each investor contributed the same amount of capital to the loan). £105 / 62 = £1.6935483 per investor, which is credited to your account. However, our reporting would round this down to £1.69 as the nearest whole pence. Here’s an example of a Zopa Total discrepancy: An investor has £21.394 in Core and £30.7930 in Plus. In the dashboard, we report to the nearest whole pence: £21.39 in Core, £30.79 in Plus, and a Zopa total of £52.19. This is because £21.394 + £30.793 = £52.187 which rounds up to £52.19. However, £21.39 + £30.79 = £52.18, so it appears as though the product totals don’t add up to the Zopa total.

How do I access my money by selling loans?

How do I sell my loans? If you need access to money that you have lent to borrowers before they are due to pay it back, Zopa has a tool to help sell your loans to other lenders. You can sell your loans by signing into your Zopa lending account and selecting the ‘Access money' button. Do I have to pay a fee? We charge a 1% admin fee for all successful transfers made via this tool, apart from transfer from Zopa Access (which was discontinued in 2017). Do I have to sell all my loans? You can use this tool to sell some or all of your loans. If you only want to access some of your money, you can select a specific amount to sell. Will I receive all my outstanding capital back? What is a "market rate adjustment"? There may be situations where the interest rate on loans you wish to sell is lower than the current market rates. So that other lenders can still buy those loans from you, an extra amount needs to be credited to them. This amount represents the extra interest they would expect to earn if they lent out the same amount of money in a similar loan, but at the current rate. How do you decide which loans to sell? In order to minimise the effect of the above mentioned credits, when you sell your loans we prioritise selling your youngest loans first. If the requested amount cannot be reached just using these loans, we will then start to transfer loans at a lower rate, starting with the smallest differences in rate. You can sell loans that have previously been in arrears: however be aware that capital you receive for selling these types of loans may be less than you'd receive for loans that haven't ever been in arrears. Some loans cannot be sold: find out more about loans which are ineligible for sale. We can't guarantee you'll be able to access the full amount you've requested via this loan sale. Some of your loans may be ineligible for sale, or other investors may not be available to buy them at this time. If, after multiple attempts, we're unable to sell them we'll let you know we're taking the loans off the market, and you can choose to wait until they mature, or attempt to sell your eligible loans again another time. How does selling loans work? After you’ve made your request, it will be added to our loan sale queue before we start selling. We then break loan sale requests down into stages, selling a set amount of loans at a time. This means investors may see gaps between funds being returned to their holding account, but rest assured we will try to work through the full amount of your loan sale. Please note, we can’t always guarantee you’ll be able to sell your loans, as sales are dependent on demand from other investors.

How do I pay money into my P2P investment?

You can transfer money in via: Bank transfer: You can make a transfer to us through online banking, telephone banking or in branch. If you make a transfer via faster payment it will be funded to your account same day. Standard bank transfers can take up to 5 working days. Remember to include your unique reference when you make the transfer. Standing order: You can set up a Standing Order with your bank to transfer regular payments to your account. Cheque: You can also send us a cheque payable to Zopa Ltd and addressed to Zopa Ltd, 1st floor, Cottons Centre, 47-49 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QG. You can find Zopa’s bank details and your unique reference by signing into your account and selecting Manage from the top menu. If you've already chosen your product, your money will start being matched to borrowers as soon as it's funded to your account.

Can I refer a friend to invest with Zopa?

Not currently. In the past, we have offered referral bonuses but we stopped our most recent promotion on October 31st 2020.

What happens in the event of my death?

In the event of the death of an investor the loan contracts still stand but the benefit passes first to the estate of the deceased and then, if appropriate, on to the ultimate beneficiary. The value of the portfolio is calculated on the date of death as the total capital outstanding plus any funds not yet loaned out. Once Zopa are informed and sent a certified copy of the death certificate we would stop the account from lending more funds and provide details of the account to the administrator or executor. Before any financial changes can be made to the account we would require a certified copy of the Grant of Probate for our records. Zopa will continue to recover repayments and interest earned on existing loans for the benefit of the deceased lenders estate, until we are permitted to distribute the funds as instructed by the executor, which can be monthly, quarterly etc as agreed with the executor. This process continues until the outstanding loans are fully repaid or otherwise come to an end. Be aware the continuing receipt of interest on existing loans may give rise to a tax liability and the executor will need to address this with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs or other tax authority as appropriate. Unfortunately, we cannot recover funds that are still on loan to borrowers and not due to be repaid yet; in order to retrieve these funds, the executor, administrator or ultimate beneficiary would need to allow the repayments to accrue within the holding account, before withdrawal. There is an option to sell the portfolio of loans, for a 1% fee, rather than wait for them to be repaid over time. This can be done through our Rapid Return facility although there are certain restrictions to this policy, which can be found here. If the executor wishes to utilise the Rapid Return facility, upon receipt of satisfactory evidence and compliance with any other Zopa requirements, the personal representative will be permitted to utilise the Rapid Return facility on behalf of the account holder's estate. The standard conditions for this facility apply and any loans that cannot be transferred will continue to run their course; the representative will have access to the funds as and when they are available. Zopa is unable to change the name on a lender's account as the agreement itself cannot be transferred into another individual's name. A lender is however able to make a request in their Will to leave the funds in their Zopa account and proceeds to a particular individual, although this will be subject to the laws of probate. The important things to consider are how they want the available funds at the date of death to be administered as well as any monies not yet due, i.e. capital outstanding on active loan contracts and the expected interest and repayments on them. In both cases the more explicit the instructions the better (i.e. who the recipients are and how much each should receive) as we have a duty to act in strict accordance with the individual's Will. In order to meet your wishes, we would simply require the appropriate documentation from your nominated solicitor to carry out these requests. Once probate is completed and we have the relevant documentation we would then deal directly with the beneficiary.

Who can invest through Zopa?

All UK residents who are over 18 and with a UK current account can invest with us. Unfortunately we're not set up for investments through a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) yet, but keep an eye on our blog for any news. Isle of Man or Channel Island resident? Due to current HMRC restrictions around withholding and declaring tax, you can't invest with us yet. We'll let you know if anything changes.

What are 'D&E markets' or 'D&E borrowers'?

Today, when a borrower makes a loan application, we score their application using a wide range of information, such as income, mortgage and debt levels, to give them a rating from A*–E. All customers accepted by Zopa must continue to meet our strict lending criteria for UK residency, minimum age, income and affordability. Customers may be scored as D or E due to a number of factors, including higher levels of personal debt or limited credit histories, which makes them slightly higher risk than our C-rated customers. Find out more about our risk markets.

What are the default rates on Zopa loans, particularly for the higher risk markets?

All advertised headline rates are published net of expected defaults. We publish expected vs. actual default rates by calendar year so lenders can understand how Zopa has performed in relation to our original forecasts. We also provide more detailed information on our projected annualised returns and expected default rates by risk market. In addition Zopa’s entire historic loan book is available for customers to download if they wish to perform their own analysis on our loan book.

What are the loan markets?

Introducing Zopa's risk markets

Have the Zopa Principles changed now you’re a bank?

When we launched our bank we chose to break out the Zopa Principles in a simpler way. Originally, the Zopa Principles, which are like our terms and conditions, only needed to apply to peer-to-peer investments and loans. However, after we launched our bank, we were able to offer new things like fixed terms savings and credit cards. To make things simpler for all of our customers, we broke out all the important information for investors into dedicated Investor Principles, with a separate Terms of Use for everything else. So, any provisions that are relevant to all of the products that we offer will be found in the Zopa Terms of Use. Points that apply only to peer-to-peer investments will be found in the Investor Principles. As we have done in the past, we’ll update you about relevant changes to these by email. This means, if you previously signed up to the Zopa Principles: If you are investor, the Terms of Use and the Investor Principles will apply to youIf you are a borrower, the Terms of Use will apply to you in addition to your loan contract.

What is Zopa's data protection policy?

We conform to all UK data protection laws, and we take your security seriously. We will never share any information other than what’s necessary for Zopa to function as a financial marketplace. Please see our Investor Principles for all the details, including: What information you’ll need to provide when you sign up to Zopa. How we use this information. What information will be made available to other customers or third parties. How and when we’ll contact you. We’ll ask you to read and agree to the Investor Principles when you sign up.

How can I access my money from the new lender products?

There are two ways you can access your money from our investment products. 1. Sell your loans to access a lump sum If you want to withdraw a lump sum, you need to sell your loans to other investors. This service is always available as long as there are other investors to give your loan a new home. It's a speedy but not immediate service, as it isn't like an instant access bank account. For Zopa Classic, Zopa Core and Zopa Plus there is a 1% fee associated with this service. If customers in Zopa Access wish to sell their loans, those loans will be prioritized for sale on the secondary market above loans from other lending products. If the loan you're selling is at a lower rate than the lowest rate on a similar new loan today, you'll need to pay a small amount to the investor taking over your loan. This covers the extra interest they could have earned by buying a new loan instead. Finally, accrued interest is not paid to the seller. If you have repayments due in 3 days, for example, but request a loan sale before then, you will not receive those repayments. 2. Collect your repayments in your holding account You can choose to send all of your repayments directly to your holding account, from where you can withdraw it at no charge. However, it's important to remember that money in your holding account does not earn any interest. To keep your money active, you can set your repayments to go back into a product, where it will be automatically relent at the latest rates. You can change where your repayments go via the "Manage" tab in my Zopa.

If a borrower is late paying, what do I need to do?

Absolutely nothing. We work with borrowers to get them back on track with their repayments, and 4 out of 5 borrowers who miss repayments will go on to repay their loan in full. For the 1 out of 5 who can't pay back, we still actively work to recover your investment and pass on anything we do collect back to you. On occasion, we may sell on unrecoverable debt to a third party collections agency. Investors with a stake in the loans sold get a share of the proceeds which will vary depending on the price we get for the debt as a whole.

How do repayments work?

Throughout the month, you'll receive repayments from each of your borowers. These are made up of your initial investment and interest. You'll receive these each month until the loan is repaid or, in some cases, the loan goes into default. We anticipate a certain amount of money plus interest each month from each borrower, but sometimes they pay back a little more or they end up repaying early. So the monthly repayment can vary. You can choose to either automatically reinvest these repayments, or direct them to holding, where you can manually reinvest or withdraw the money.

Can I manage my reinvestment settings per product?

Yep! If you have reinvesting switched on, you can decide where repayments in each products go (back into the same one, or into the other). If you turn reinvesting off then it's off for all products and your repayments will go directly into holding. They won't earn any interest there, but you can decide where to reinvest them or withdraw your money. The choice is yours.

What do HMRC say about what I need to declare?

There's loads of advice from HMRC on their website. So if you're unsure of what you need to declare, check out their site for the full guidance. We've summarised things for you here, but if you're in any way unsure, check the full guidance. The guidance around peer-to-peer lending and how to declare earnings can be found here. Zopa does not collect taxes on your behalf and you must declare your earnings to HMRC. If you fill out a self-assessment tax return, you must include your Zopa earnings; if you're not self-assessed, contact HMRC for instructions on how to declare. "Refer a friend" bonuses are taxable and should be declared (guidance) "Cash back" is typically not considered taxable (guidance) Early adopter bonuses are also taxable You can't offset fees for selling loans against income from loans.

Why do you need to validate my bank details?

To protect you from fraud, we need to validate your bank details, both when you initially sign up to invest with Zopa and if you ever change your nominated bank account with us. We will ask for a full bank statement (dated within the last 3 months) with transactions showing your name, account number and sort code. This can be a scan, or a clear photograph taken with your phone. We can only accept a scan or clear photo of a bank statement. The following are not valid submissions: Images of bank cards & cheque books Screen shots from banking app or internet banking Photographs of computer screens showing internet banking Account balances or Account summary pages

How can I see what I have earned?

When you log into your account and view your investment summary, you'll see a high-level breakdown of your investment including total earnings to date. For a more detailed look at your earnings, head to your Statements page for a month-by-month view of earnings, bad debt, bonuses, and recoveries. For an even more detailed look month-by-month, download your monthly transactional statements (available at the bottom of your statements page). And finally, for all the nitty-gritty details from your Zopa investment's lifespan, download your entire loan book from your loan book page (.csv format).

Why is my money going to holding?

If you turn off automatic reinvesting, then your repayments will go directly to holding. From here, you can decide if you want to reinvest your money or withdraw it: but remember that while in holding it doesn't earn any interest. Automatic reinvesting gets switched off when you start a loan sale as well, so always remember to check your settings after your sale is complete or cancelled. You can update these settings via your investment summary.

What are secured car loans?

Zopa has been providing secured car finance to our loans customers since 2017 and opened them up to our retail investors in June 2019. These loans are in many ways similar to the unsecured personal loans we’ve always offered. Borrowers receive a set amount and then pay it back, plus interest, over a fixed period. The key difference is that the loan is a hire purchase agreement, under which the lender owns the vehicle until the borrower has paid back the loan. This means that if the person borrowing the money defaults, we can repossess and then sell the car, subject to meeting the conditions detailed in the Consumer Credit Act. You can identify a secured car loan in your loanbook by looking for loans in the ‘A-Sec’ or 'B-Sec' markets (standing for A-Secured and B-Secured). They’re given that label because we expect these loans to have similar default rates to our unsecured personal loans in risk markets A and B.

How much will I lend to each borrower?

The exact amount will vary depending on how much money you have in the platform, but no one borrower will hold more than 1% of your total investment. For example, by investing £1,000, 100 borrowers will each get £10. This is one of the ways we manage risk in your investment.

Help home

Investments

Find answers to our most frequently asked questions.

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I'm considering investing with Zopa

How do I close my account?
I'm an investor, why is there a Zopa soft search on my credit file?
I want to sell some loans - which ones are eligible?
Why can't I sell all my loans?
How did you define the minimum lending for Zopa Core and Zopa Plus?
Do I have to pay tax on the money I earn by lending?
How do I withdraw money from my Zopa holding account?
Is Zopa accepting new ISA transfer ins?
I have Zopa Access, why am I being charged a loan sale fee?
Why can't I reinvest into Access or Classic? 
What are the benefits of reinvesting my loan repayments? 
What happens if I stop a loan sale?
Can I make money available without selling loans?
How many ISAs can I have? 
Why do you need my national insurance number?
Where can I find my national insurance number?
What’s my reference code and how should I use it? 
Why do I need a verified bank account? 
What is the difference between Core and Plus?
How do I recertify my investment account?
If my loans are covered by Safeguard are there any circumstances when the Safeguard will not step in?
My Loan Book terminology
When does the Zopa Safeguard fund pay out?
About Zopa Safeguard
How can I see which loans are covered by Safeguard in My Loan Book?
Can a business invest through Zopa?
I've changed banks - how can I update my details with Zopa?
Where can I find my annual income statement?
I'm locked out of my account - what do I do?
Are there any fees associated with peer-to-peer investments at Zopa?
Why don’t my product and holding account totals add up to my Zopa Total?
How do I access my money by selling loans?
How do I pay money into my P2P investment?
Can I refer a friend to invest with Zopa?
What happens in the event of my death?
Who can invest through Zopa?
What are 'D&E markets' or 'D&E borrowers'?
What are the default rates on Zopa loans, particularly for the higher risk markets?
What are the loan markets?
Have the Zopa Principles changed now you’re a bank?
What is Zopa's data protection policy?
How can I access my money from the new lender products?
If a borrower is late paying, what do I need to do?
How do repayments work?
Can I manage my reinvestment settings per product?
What do HMRC say about what I need to declare?
Why do you need to validate my bank details?
How can I see what I have earned?
Why is my money going to holding?
What are secured car loans?
How much will I lend to each borrower?
What do the different rates in my loan book mean?
My Zopa Total is down by a penny – why?
Can I lend in multiple products at the same time?
Can I see what my monthly repayments will be?
Can I still fall outside of my personal projected range?
When is a loan in default?
What is the term of the loans in each product? Can I choose the term of loans I get?
How will I know the returns of each of my products?
How safe is my money?
Will I know who my borrowers are?
How long can I lend my money out for?
What is the minimum amount that I can lend in each product?
What happens to my investment if Zopa collapses?
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