Online savings ZOPA

Frogletina

I now have all my Zopa pots set up to mature at various intervals earning 3.26%.

When I set them up I labelled each one with the date I wanted to give notice on them, then when I gave notice on each one I labelled them with the maturity date on each one.

EG: Give notice 14 Jan
       Available 19 April

Once matured, I leave £10 in the account and put another 3 month notice on it, amend the label to the new maturity date, then decide if I need to withdraw the matured money or transfer it to a different pot.

NameWithheld

Why £10 in each pot. £1 is enough 

flaneurs_lobster

Frogletina said:

I now have all my Zopa pots set up to mature at various intervals earning 3.26%.

When I set them up I labelled each one with the date I wanted to give notice on them, then when I gave notice on each one I labelled them with the maturity date on each one.

EG: Give notice 14 Jan
       Available 19 April

Once matured, I leave £10 in the account and put another 3 month notice on it, amend the label to the new maturity date, then decide if I need to withdraw the matured money or transfer it to a different pot.

That sounds a very useful method of keeping tabs on the pots. I keep the same information (name, open date, maturity date, amount) in a spreadsheet. 

[Deleted User]

NameWithheld said:

Why £10 in each pot. £1 is enough 

Yes £1 will do, or £10, or as I have £100. Doesn't really matter, they are all earning the same rate. I have one pot that I haven't given notice on yet as it is for a specific purpose in April. 

£1 in a pot might get you 1p interest over the 95 days. I like to see the pots grow each month. Each to their own.

twadds123

Band7 said:

You might do better putting/keeping the £4k into into a good instant access account, and from there drip-feeding it into a good a Regular Savings account.

You can use the MSE RS calculator to model your options.

well currently the zopa easy access is the best at 2.86% anyway

but what i've done for my regular savers is put the money each month into a boosted pot,  give notice on it to become available just a day or 2 before i need to transfer it into account to be put into the regular saver.

so when i set it up the first months regular saver payment went into a 7 day pot, months 2 and 3 went into 31 day pots and the rest into individual 95 day pots,  that way i can give notice and have the money when needed but its earning the best interest it can until then

also remember some regular savers allow withdrawals and some dont. e.g the best rate at first direct does not. 

Donegal_Paul

OK, thanks all, I think I get it now, my brain wasn't quite making the leap to thinking that seperate pots dont matter to overall earnings as it is all one big account earning the best over 95 days, and you just keep shifting it to continue getting the best rate. 
I have a nat west regular saver already with about 1400 in it (5% interest currently) so am maximising that now at 150 a month too. 

Donegal_Paul

So something like this would be what Im thinking?

Band7

twadds123 said:

well currently the zopa easy access is the best at 2.86% anyway

It isn't actually. You can get 3% at CHIP though I do appreciate you might not like the slight complication with the bonus payment. Also 5% for up to £5k at Barclays more than plenty for the £4k total mentioned in the post I responded to.

[Deleted User]

Donegal_Paul said:

So something like this would be what Im thinking?

That doesn't work unless you are intending to use 7 day notice pots?

On the 95 day account you open pot 1 today and immediately give notice, meaning your pot matures on 13/4/23.
Same for pot 2 and so on.
However there is nothing to stop you opening all 14 pots with your £1 today, just remember to give notice on one of them every 7 days, so Sunday if you are starting today.

Here you go. Just remember your pots with £1 in will not show any interest. £4 pots would climb 1p a month.

Frogletina

Donegal_Paul said:

So something like this would be what Im thinking?

You need to give notice 95 days before you need the money.

In your first example, pot1, if you don't give notice until 6/4, it will be 95 days after that before it matures...so not until July.

If you open pots weekly, you can put notice on them immediately. It doesn't matter if there is only £1 in them, you can add to them at any time during the 95 days and it will all be available on the maturity date.