John Lewis grows finance arm with loans for spending from cars to weddings

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John Lewis shoppers will be able to take out a loan of up to £35,000 for spending on home renovations, holidays or even a wedding, as part of a new tie-up with digital bank Zopa.

The retailer is growing its finance arm, John Lewis Money, at a time that other chains have been rowing back their banking operations.

Customers can already take out credit cards and insurance and buy travel money as part of the spin-off by the retailer, which runs 34 department stores across the UK.

The expansion means people can get a personal loan provided by Zopa in up to two hours, which can be used for things like home upgrades, a new car, holidays or big events like a wedding.

Customers can get a quote in three minutes with no impact to their credit score, and access the money as soon as their loan is approved, the businesses said.

The loans on offer will range from £1,000 to £35,000 with a term from one to seven years, and borrowers will be charged a 9.9% annual percentage rate (APR).

The new deal comes after a raft of major retailers have trimmed back or offloaded their banking arms in a bid to sharpen the focus on their retail operations.

Earlier this year, Barclays said it had agreed to buy Tesco Bank’s retail banking operations for £600 million, meaning it is set to take control of its credit cards, loans and savings.

Sainsbury’s also struck a deal to sell the bulk of its banking business to NatWest, after announcing it was winding down the division in order to focus on food sales.

Andy Piggott, John Lewis Money’s director of credit and banking, said the company was “really excited by this next phase” and to give its customers access to cash to “help with home renovations, buy a car, or to help fund a once-in-a-lifetime trip”.

Zopa Bank, which was founded four years ago, has more than one million customers using products such as loans, credit cards and car finance, and is set to launch a current account early next year.