Zopa Bank has partnered John Lewis Money to bring its personal loans to up to 23 million new customers.
Under this new partnership, consumers are able to access Zopa Bank personal loans through the John Lewis Money website. It comes as John Lewis pursues a £100 million drive to quadruple its financial services business as the group seeks to diversify away from pure retail.
Zopa Bank’s loans start from £1,000, with the maximum loan available rising to £35,000, with terms ranging from one through to seven years. They typically carry an APR interest rate of 22.9%.
Rates depend on the circumstances of applicants, with credit subject to status and affordability checks.
Zopa was launched as a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company in 2005, before venturing into personal loans. It gained a full UK banking licence in 2020, and later left the P2P sector in January 2022.
Since receiving the licence, the bank has launched a fixed term saving account and credit card. It also offers a Smart Saver account with boosted interest pots and a Smart ISA.
In 2022, Zopa partnered with open banking platform TrueLayer to offer account-to-account payments for the Smart Saver savings account.
To date, Zopa has approved over £10 billion in loans, and overseen more than £4 billion in savings. The bank is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority.
Its partnership with John Lewis follows a similar agreement between John Lewis and the UK’s largest digital wealth manager Nutmeg to launch investment products in 2021.
The three products offered under that agreement include a Junior ISA, a Stocks and shares ISA and a general investment account.
Both partnerships come as John Lewis plans for 40% of its profits to come from outside retail by 2030.
The group has committed £100m since 2020 to quadruple its financial services business and also plans to build 10,000 rental homes.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
