Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)

My journey with Zopa started in 2006, if not earlier, and lasted all the way till they closed their P2P business.

So I was with them since the very beginning, and gave them 100% of my investments (I only started platform diversification after they closed), and at the peak that was a six-figure sum.

So I was kind of a founding member, and as such I could be forgiven to think I was special - but I was wrong.

First disappointment came when they announced a role that was a good match for me. I asked if I was interviewed, could I come down to the office to have the interview in person instead of on the phone. They were only a short train ride away from where I lived. This was well before Covid and the stay at home madness. They said no.

This despite the fact they had been sending emails to members inviting them to come down for a members' get-together at the HQ's every year, kinda eat cake and have a chat sort of thing. So the HQ's weren't out of bounds to members. Why was I as a job candidate being kept at an arm's length then?

The second disappointment was when they launched their credit card and I applied but got rejected. I sent an email asking, How can this be? You know I'm a lender and I've got many-many times on deposit the amount that'd be the miminum initial credit limit if you gave me a card. Surely when looking at a customer you consider the whole of their relationship? Please review the decision manually and issue me a card. But they said no.

Then I realized I was nobody special. Having been a founding member or my accumulated business over the years counted for nothing. And it wouldn't matter if the employee or contractor who'd write a rejection email to me had been with the company a much shorter time, on top of being rewarded for it (drawing a salary which of course I was not - on the contrary, I was letting them have my money). The employee would be very capable of turning me down and dismiss me and make me understand that that was their decision and he or she belonged in the company and spoke for it, and he or she was "in", while I had to accept their verdict and I was some outsider and I was "out". And I don't know what affected me most, if not being recognized by the company or their disdain for me transpiring in their written replies.

So Zopa finally ended, but by that time I didn't like them any more.

I went away and started to diversify my funds - and I wouldn't give Zopa a penny for their easy access or fixed term savings plans, and I started to forget about them.

I realized I had been wrong all those years to think they were a fundamental part of my portfolio I couldn't do without and couldn't be relocated (I should have started to look into other P2P platforms much earlier). My very long term relationship with Zopa came to an end when they ended it. And I should have realized, I should have left much sooner. But it's ОК, I'm free now.