Well I'm trying hard not to turn this into an advert, but have recently been 'converted' to online banking after years of what seemed like stagnation - false promises, poor serice from other internet banks and mediocre (only just better than the high street) interest rates.

I've recently joined ZOPA - an online borrowing and lending exchange which has the added advantage of being a social bank. A bit like myspace meets banking.

And yes - its regulated and underwritten.

And yes - its safe and works. I'm living proof.

ZOPA offer two very distinctive services - a lending and borrowing exchange and savings account. When you join ZOPA you automatically have a holding account which can be treated as a 5% savings account. So that's 5% just for doing nothing.

The fun part is the exchange - say someone needs £5k for a new car. They put the request in, term and preferred APR. The borrower is then credit checked and underwritten and the money is compiled from a list of borrowers on the ZOPA database who have offered money at that same or similar rate and term. The borrowers are matched to the request and these people then offer contracts to the borrower.

The whole process is seamless, but my expereince of the customer service (phone support) is great - the agent was polite, helpful and answered the phone immediately. No stupid answer machine.

So if you want to know more, please feel free to ask me. If you're keen on trying it out for yourself I've enclosed a link below:

www.zopa.com/member/mattybennett

All the best and feel free to ask me any questions.

Best,

Matthew

Hi Matthew

I've just had a look at the ZOPA website - what a good idea!
So who is it owned by?? It's members?

ATB
Richard

Hi Richard,

Well it says Zopa Ltd, but I remember hearing that this is the brainchild of the guy who originally came up with the idea for Egg bank.

I like the way that the bank makes its money collectively and is pretty transparent about how it works - physical 'bank' to maintain and very few staff so costs are driven down, and not to the detriment of the serivce either.

They have an office based in London to deal with customer queries.

I've also withdrawn money back out from the ZOPA account without any problems at all - normal 3-day wait only to transfer back into my current account.

Best regards,

Matthew

Hi Matthew

It actually looks very good. Will have to look at the web site a bit more.
Can you phone somebody up if you have a problem I wonder?

Anyway I kinda like the idea of it too. In fact with the current attitude of banks it's kinda a refreshing concept.

Will look into it some more...

Cheers
Richard

Yes - there's a phone number. I rang them to check the transaction back into my current account was going through ok. The guy I spoke to was very helpful and quick to answer the phone (within 3 rings).

Matthew