Hello and welcome to the brand new Zopa newsletter. In this month's edition, we open up a debate that could prove to be more heated than the old boiled egg dispute between the Big-endians and the Little-endians, as we broach the huge topic of lending tactics. In pubs, clubs and the Zopa discussion board, people have long argued about the best way to make the most out of lending at Zopa. Here, one Zopa lender gives us his take on it all.

Let the debate begin.

This month has been a big one. Not only did we get Zopa in front of a viewing population of millions, but we also made some improvements to the site and gained a few friends on the continent.

• 6,565 new members joined
• The BBC 6 o'clock news ran a piece on us, which was then repeated repeatedly on BBC News 24. You can watch it here.
• The first of the much vaunted new Lender Summary screens was launched. Sign in to your account and go to My lending to see what it looks like.
• We made the Quick Lend function simpler than ever, to help first-time lenders.
• The 0.5% bonus was launched, and there's still a bit of time to take advantage. Find out more now.
• The Bigger than Basildon giveaway was extended to the end of November. The merchandise has just arrived at Zopa HQ and looks amazing - so get involved if you haven't already.
• Das Zopa captured the imagination of the German people, with an article about us on the front page of Der Spiegel and a TV report on their equivalent of Sky News.
• Outside of Deutschland, we got coverage in The Independent, The Guardian, del.icio.us, digg.com, Director magazine, a range of regional titles including The Belfast Telegraph and The Liverpool Daily Post, and a blog called The Red Ferret Journal (which isn't actually about ferrets).

There's no right or wrong way to lend at Zopa. Some lenders take a low maintenance approach, setting up a lending offer and then leaving it be. Other lenders pay close attention to market conditions and regularly fine-tune their offers. To help shed some light on the area of lending tactics, we grilled Zopa member and discussion board regular chancer about his approach to lending.

Hi chancer. Firstly, how long have you been lending at Zopa?
Five months

And what returns are you currently getting?
My average return since I joined is 7.09% gross (5.83% net after predicted bad debt). However it is very much a game of two halves with net returns to the end of July at 5.70% and since then at 6.07% - being before and after I introduced a lending strategy.

A strategy, you say - go on.....
I used to finesse offers by market and term but now I have a blanket net return across the board. I adjust that rate up or down in response to demand which I determine simply by the take-up of my offers. If the offers are not moving I edge the rate down, if they get taken up quickly I increase the rate next time I have some repayments to reinvest.

What's your target return then?
My strategy is to achieve a minimum net return on loans of 6%, to recycle funds rapidly so that no more than 10% of my funds are earning the holding account rate of interest, and to have an average term less than 36 months at inception. This gives an overall return 1% higher than my building society account delivers.

A well-considered plan chancer. Have you got any tips for first-time lenders?
Dip your toe in the water to learn how Zopa works in practice and to figure out exactly how you want it to work for you. Initially aim for lots of small loans rather than just a few large ones as this will give you plenty of data to learn from.

Some top tips there Zopa newbies. What's the nicest message you've ever had from one of your borrowers?
"I have had to have some dental treatment privately to give me back my smile. The loan is to cover the bill. Thanks." I helped someone get their smile back - it doesn't get much better than that.

Putting a smile onto people's faces - that's what Zopa's all about. Just finally, what do you like on your toast?
Marmite, of course.

Of course. Cheers chancer.

On a crisp October night in a Latin American-themed bar on the South Bank, the air was heavy with talk of lender summary screens, secondary markets and the future of Social Lending. Tactics were being discussed, returns being compared, and a vast amount of Brazilian beer being guzzled.

To even the most casual observer, it must have been obvious that something special was going on, something new and exciting and different. And it was - for this was the first ever Zopa members and Team meet-up, and it was an absolutely splendid evening. Discussion board regulars mingled with first-time lenders, Zopa newbies mingled with Founder Members, and the various Team members on hand did their best to mingle with everyone.

It was a great night, and we hope the members who attended found it as useful and enjoyable as we did. We'll organise another one soon, and this time at a location north of the Watford Gap.

Richard Duvall, Zopa's co-founder and CEO, sadly passed away on Monday 16th October after a short battle with cancer. Richard meant so much to so many people, and he will be sorely, sorely missed. Friends and colleagues have been sharing their memories of Richard on the Zopa blog, and we thought it would be nice to share some of these with you:

Naresh - Thank you for showing me that it's absolutely possible for someone to be ridiculously clever, slightly silly and incredibly kind all at the same time.

Chris - The Financial Services industry has lost a great innovator but more importantly a genuinely nice guy.

Wendy - He was the most charismatic, fiercely intelligent, generous and inspirational man I've met to date. He wanted to be "partner to millions" - history will say he was.

Tom B - You were (are) a true inspiration, I loved hearing you speak, I loved your openness to questions. The world is less fun without you.

Trevor - I've no doubt you've shared some good ideas with St. Peter already!

Tom I - There are so many times you have lifted and inspired me and so many times I have heard your call and followed without question.

Tony - Inspiration, without doubt; leader, unquestionable; source of irritation, never let me down.

To leave your own message, or read the many other tributes that have been left, click here. And if you'd like to make a donation to Pancreatic Cancer UK on Richard's behalf, we've set up a page at Justgiving where you can do just that.