Zopa

But yeah, if you look across these 22 providers, for those that are watching, we'll put a bit more nuance on the screen.

You know, it goes from as low as 5.9%, you know, through to like NatWest are charging as low as 7.9%, Monzo 10%, Zopa, who are, Jan, always emailing me saying I'm eligible for a loan.

They're always, I mean, I was at one point getting like a cadence, I think, of emails every two weeks.

saying, hey, you can get a personal loan.

Now, the email, I think, says 7.9% for me because they're able to look at the data inside my account and make that recommendation.

Revolut will do the same.

And Jan, try to tell me why this is, okay? John Lewis Money, they offer personal loans to their customers through Zopa.

they actually have an advertised APR of 10%, which is less than half of Zopa.

Well, Doug, it's been fascinating to sort of hear about Payjoy and the solution.

I was a journalist 10 years ago covering peer-to-peer lending with like Funding Circle and Zopa in the UK.

So it's amazing to hear about how technology is really changing the lives of people around the world and giving them access to credit.

So Doug, just leaves me to say a very big thank you for joining us on The Money Pot.

Guess the catch here, Jan, is it's just £4.50 a month total cashback that you can earn.

Interestingly as well, just a quick perk that's worth mentioning, Zopa do offer a free Cafe Nero coffee.

I think it's valued at like £56 a year, which is more than what you could earn in cashback.

Nice little side one there, Jan.

But Jan, what about just general categories of spender?

Yeah, it's a great question, Johnny.

I would say if you eat out a lot, probably the Zopa Biscuit account.

Who would have guessed? Biscuit.

He stayed the best part of a decade, then he crossed the floor and started selling credit instead.

Retail finance, first in Cardiff, then for Klarna, then for Zopa Bank, and today he sells payments that cost the merchant nothing at all.

What he learned on both sides of consumer finance while building a huge and growing payments business is the job of today's episode.

Ceri Griffiths, welcome to the Retail is Detail podcast.

Um, which reminds me, it's a competitive landscape.

You said it's been leveled a lot by regulation, and there are quite a few players out there.

There's Zopa and V12, where you used to work.

There's Novuna.

So I've been in and out of finance, various parts of finance.

I worked briefly for a company called Zopa, which was what you might just call as an anti-bank, ironically, from having been in an investment bank.

So I've always been a very strong internet idealist and loved any possibility of using the internet to sort of radically change the sort of the paradigm of what's happening and basically empower people to be more in control of those things.

Even the trading stuff I worked on in the past was all about giving people control over their finances rather than going through some kind of financial advisor who would be taking a percentage and so on.

But to get it you need to spend 15 times a month on the card and hold £1,000 in savings.

And you've got Zopa Biscuit, which gives you...

Well, it's got various offers, but let's take this one.

3% cashback on up to £150 restaurant, takeaway, and bakery spend, which to be honest is pretty narrow and would be a maximum £54 a year.

I think this is a pretty compelling account.

Zopa for new customers are offering 4.56% across 12 months.

That's a boost.

And you can withdraw up to three times per year.