The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

noh

Tailender_Investor said:

I’m sure this has probably been covered in previous pages but I think it’s easier for me to just ask rather than search for hours. 

Do zopa perform any credit checks when opening a savings account?

Do zopa pay the interest monthly?

There is a AML soft search.
Interest is paid monthly from the date of account opening.

Daliah

Tailender_Investor said: 

Do zopa perform any credit checks when opening a savings account?

Credit checks are, as the name implies, carried out when you apply for credit. A savings account application is not an application for credit.

Tailender_Investor said:

Do zopa pay the interest monthly?

Did you check on the Zopa website? For instance, here: https://www.zopa.com/help/article/when-is-interest-paid

Tailender_Investor

Just because it is a savings product doesn’t mean providers don’t do searches. 

Thanks for the link for interest payments. I did have a look on the savings page but couldn’t see it anywhere. 

leaphaze

Tailender_Investor said:

Just because it is a savings product doesn’t mean providers don’t do searches. 

Yes, they have to do searches for money laundering reasons, but not credit checks.

Daliah

Tailender_Investor said:

Just because it is a savings product doesn’t mean providers don’t do searches. 

Thanks for the link for interest payments. I did have a look on the savings page but couldn’t see it anywhere. 

They absolutely do do searches (soft searches and financial fraud searches) but no credit check. When you apply for a savings account, there is no hard search on your credit files, they don't assess your creditworthiness because you aren't asking for any credit, they don't give you any credit, and they don't report your savings accounts to the credit reference agencies.

As an aside, worth remembering that they do report the interest they pay you to the HMRC. 

This applies to all savings accounts, not just those offered by Zopa.

CheekyMikey

bertsilver said:

Is it worth moving 12k from Chase to Zopa, or do people think Chase will up their rate?

Finally cleared out both our Chase accounts this week and moved to Zopa…even if Chase increase I doubt it’ll beat the Zopa offerings. Have left a grand with Chase to keep accounts open and also to have access to the excellent debit card foreign currency facility when abroad again later this year…

RG2015

Daliah said:

Tailender_Investor said: 

Do zopa perform any credit checks when opening a savings account?

Credit checks are, as the name implies, carried out when you apply for credit. A savings account application is not an application for credit.

Tailender_Investor said:

Do zopa pay the interest monthly?

Did you check on the Zopa website? For instance, here: https://www.zopa.com/help/article/when-is-interest-paid

It is always worth checking.

IIRC, A few years back, Ulster Bank offered a market leading easy saver account which many on here took up.

Ulster Bank carried out a hard search when opening the savings account.

They did correct this, but it shows that it can happen.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5719081/ulster-bank-e-savings-account

tc66_2

I opened a Zopa account yesterday and have had an interesting experience.

I transferred some test sums from my HSBC account which all went through, taking around 20 minutes.

A final payment yesterday didn't go through, and was returned to my account after 3 hours.

I called HSBC today who confirmed that the payment was returned due to fraud checks. Worryingly, they also said it was unusual because the "payee" name on my faster transfer returned a "no match". Usually it should return an "unable to check".

gatheringmoss

I tried opening a Zopa smart savings account this morning, I linked the NatWest current account my salary gets paid into - which I’ve held for 15yrs.

When I try to log into the app it states “in review” “we’ve got some checks to finish up, this could take 72 hrs”

is this normal for opening Zopa savings account?

Shedman

gatheringmoss said:

I tried opening a Zopa smart savings account this morning, I linked the NatWest current account my salary gets paid into - which I’ve held for 15yrs.

When I try to log into the app it states “in review” “we’ve got some checks to finish up, this could take 72 hrs”

is this normal for opening Zopa savings account?

For non mainstream banks possibly but surprising for one like NatWest.  First Direct one was accepted straightaway on wife and my accounts when setting up, Chase needed statement PDFs submitted and then took between 24 and 48 hours for the review