The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

AmityNeon

TiVo_Lad said:

pecunianonolet said:

Getting fed up with Zopa a bit as they don't seem to be able to properly calculate interest. My balance was 0, got 0.26 in interest and balance is now 0.27

I contacted Zopa about this last year. It's because they calulate interest daily to six decimal places so even though you only got 26p this month, there was probably less than 1p owing from last month so this month's (which might have been slightly more than 26p) plus last month's takes it over to the next penny. They're actually being super honest.

It's an implementation error that has nothing to do with the number of decimal places to which they calculate interest.

Zopa always rounds down when displaying figures, which in itself is not a problem. They also retain fractional pennies, rolling them over to the next period; however, the fractional penny is only factored into the account balance figure (which is accurate), and not the individual 'interest paid' figure (which may be off by 1p).

Matt17

mebu60 said:

TiVo_Lad said:

Aldermore have launched Issue 1 of their Double Access Account at 3.55%

A maximum of two easy access withdrawals are allowed per year, additional withdrawals will result in the rate dropping to 0.10% for the remainder of that year. Interest is paid annually or monthly.

https://www.aldermore.co.uk/personal/personal-savings-accounts/double-access-account/

@soulsaver

Existing Issue 1 showing at 3.55% online.

This is a time when I would have preferred it being a new issue as I have no withdrawals remaining until 31 August! Currently only a modest balance left in there.

Is it possible to close the existing account and then open a new account to get 2 more penalty free withdrawals? 

TiVo_Lad

AmityNeon said:

TiVo_Lad said:

pecunianonolet said:

Getting fed up with Zopa a bit as they don't seem to be able to properly calculate interest. My balance was 0, got 0.26 in interest and balance is now 0.27

I contacted Zopa about this last year. It's because they calulate interest daily to six decimal places so even though you only got 26p this month, there was probably less than 1p owing from last month so this month's (which might have been slightly more than 26p) plus last month's takes it over to the next penny. They're actually being super honest.

It's an implementation error that has nothing to do with the number of decimal places to which they calculate interest.

Zopa always rounds down when displaying figures, which in itself is not a problem. They also retain fractional pennies, rolling them over to the next period; however, the fractional penny is only factored into the account balance figure (which is accurate), and not the individual 'interest paid' figure (which may be off by 1p).

It has everything to do with their calculation of interest to six decimal places. It would not occur if they calculated to zero decimal places or always rounded up.

Their implementation is not in error because the amount of interest (to a whole penny which is the lowest denominator of the account) payable in a given period is always accurate. But when the amount of fractional pennies adds up to a whole penny, they adjust the balance accordingly. That's their choice. It is not an error.

Wheres_My_Cashback

pecunianonolet said:

Getting fed up with Zopa a bit as they don't seem to be able to properly calculate interest. My balance was 0, got 0.26 in interest and balance is now 0.27

Then you got another 1p interest, how can you be fed up with receiving interest 

fwdrew

Wonder if Zopa will update its rates now its dropped off a lot of lists.

pecunianonolet

Wheres_My_Cashback said:

pecunianonolet said:

Getting fed up with Zopa a bit as they don't seem to be able to properly calculate interest. My balance was 0, got 0.26 in interest and balance is now 0.27

Then you got another 1p interest, how can you be fed up with receiving interest 

Because my end of year interest statement from last tax year is the opposite. I received 4 pennies less than they stated and report to HMRC. So, if I take 4 pennies, apply the higher rate tax it comes to 1.6 pennies, HMRC will round that up so technically I pay 2 pennies more tax on reported 4 pennies interest I never got into my account. I really don't care if they calculate to 3, 6 or 10 decimal numbers. What they pay into the account and what they state on documents should match. No other bank or building society has discrepancies with what they report and what they actually pay into the account. It's the principle and not the few pennies I care about 

mebu60

Matt17 said:

mebu60 said:

TiVo_Lad said:

Aldermore have launched Issue 1 of their Double Access Account at 3.55%

A maximum of two easy access withdrawals are allowed per year, additional withdrawals will result in the rate dropping to 0.10% for the remainder of that year. Interest is paid annually or monthly.

https://www.aldermore.co.uk/personal/personal-savings-accounts/double-access-account/

@soulsaver

Existing Issue 1 showing at 3.55% online.

This is a time when I would have preferred it being a new issue as I have no withdrawals remaining until 31 August! Currently only a modest balance left in there.

Is it possible to close the existing account and then open a new account to get 2 more penalty free withdrawals? 

Probably, yes, thank you for the suggestion. That thought occurred to me subsequently too. Might give them a call next week to see if they will or can reinstate the two withdrawals on the existing account to save the admin overhead for them and me. 

AmityNeon

TiVo_Lad said:

AmityNeon said:

TiVo_Lad said:

pecunianonolet said:

Getting fed up with Zopa a bit as they don't seem to be able to properly calculate interest. My balance was 0, got 0.26 in interest and balance is now 0.27

I contacted Zopa about this last year. It's because they calulate interest daily to six decimal places so even though you only got 26p this month, there was probably less than 1p owing from last month so this month's (which might have been slightly more than 26p) plus last month's takes it over to the next penny. They're actually being super honest.

It's an implementation error that has nothing to do with the number of decimal places to which they calculate interest.

Zopa always rounds down when displaying figures, which in itself is not a problem. They also retain fractional pennies, rolling them over to the next period; however, the fractional penny is only factored into the account balance figure (which is accurate), and not the individual 'interest paid' figure (which may be off by 1p).

It has everything to do with their calculation of interest to six decimal places. It would not occur if they calculated to zero decimal places or always rounded up.

Just because the 1p discrepancy would not occur if not calculating interest to six decimal places, does not mean the discrepancy itself is caused by calculating interest to six decimal places; Zopa can still calculate interest to six decimal places without showing an erroneous 1p discrepancy.

TiVo_Lad said:

Their implementation is not in error because the amount of interest (to a whole penny which is the lowest denominator of the account) payable in a given period is always accurate. But when the amount of fractional pennies adds up to a whole penny, they adjust the balance accordingly. That's their choice. It is not an error.

No, their implementation is erroneous because it's not accurate. How is it logical for the account balance to increase by more than the stated interest paid (not just payable)? Why should the annual interest certificate show more total interest than the sum of the individual monthly interest payments? If and when the account balance is adjusted to account for an additional whole penny as a result of accruing fractional pennies, the 'interest paid' figure for the month in question should increase concomitantly for accuracy.

Calculating interest to six decimal places just means they are retaining fractional pennies between interest periods. The problem is, this fractional penny is only factored into the account balance figure, and not the individual 'interest paid' figure, which is specifically what causes the 1p discrepancy. They could just as easily subtract the previous account balance from the new account balance to show the actual interest paid (as per account balance difference), or, include the fractional penny from the previous interest period when calculating interest, before rounding down to the nearest penny.

pecunianonolet said:
I really don't care if they calculate to 3, 6 or 10 decimal numbers. What they pay into the account and what they state on documents should match. No other bank or building society has discrepancies with what they report and what they actually pay into the account. It's the principle and not the few pennies I care about 

Exactly. Retaining fractional pennies for eventual payout is not the reason, let alone an acceptable reason, for mismatched figures.

Just keep in mind that with Zopa, your account balance is the accurate figure. What they report to HMRC annually should be the total interest paid to you, the sum of the monthly increases to your account balance (which includes the fractional pennies).

Band7

fwdrew said:

Wonder if Zopa will update its rates now its dropped off a lot of lists.

Like other providers, they   are unlikely to set their interest rates according to a market ranking. If they need more money and can’t attract sufficient amounts with their existing rates, they are likely to raise rates. If they have sufficient funds, they have no incentive to offer higher interest payments.

patpalloon

TiVo_Lad said:

Aldermore have launched Issue 1 of their Double Access Account at 3.55%

A maximum of two easy access withdrawals are allowed per year, additional withdrawals will result in the rate dropping to 0.10% for the remainder of that year. Interest is paid annually or monthly.

https://www.aldermore.co.uk/personal/personal-savings-accounts/double-access-account/

@soulsaver

It's not great though is it. If I'm only allowed 2 withdrawals per year then personally I would rather go for a notice account like Investec 90 day 3.71% or even a 6 month fix like Atom 4.15%.