Beware Zopa!

allegro120

housebuyer143 said:

allegro120 said:

housebuyer143 said:

sarahhavard said:

I took out two Zopa savings accounts, one instant access and one 31 day notice account. FAQs state withdrawals to your nominated bank account are usually within 10 minutes but may take up to 2 hours. I requested a withdrawal on Friday evening (19/05/2023) from my instant access account and could see this money in my current account almost immediately. I then requested a second withdrawal 30 minutes later and the money never arrived.

There was no one available to talk to until 9am the next day but the money had been removed from my Zopa balance. At 9am I had an online chat with a Zopa representative who told me just to wait until the end of the next business day (Monday) and if the money still had not arrived to contact them again! No explanation, no visibility of where my money is and now no access to my supposedly 'Instant Access' funds. I ended up having to default on a car purchase (and have now lost this vehicle) as I now had no access to my own money. You can't call them and frankly they have provided no assistance anyway.

PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION BEFORE HANDING OVER YOUR FUNDS! I have instigated a subject access request to receive all communications between myself and Zopa which I will use in filing a complaint with them and the Financial Services Ombudsman but wanted to give others a warning that your money is probably best saved elsewhere.

You know payments don't normally get processed on a weekend right? 
It's not just Zopa. Best not to move money on a Friday afternoon or weekend if you need it to be reflected and received right away.

I'm sure I've made a number of withdrawals from Zopa on weekends and they all arrived imminently.

Yes not guaranteed though. I am with Skipton and they don't process payments on weekends. I don't rely on it because lots of places don't. Expecting that money on a weekend is asking for trouble.

Skipton and Zopa are not the same thing. Some providers don't process payments on weekends, others do. Zopa is supposed to be 24/7, so there's nothing wrong with expecting weekend transaction to arrive on the same day.

GrubbyGirl_2

Are you sure the problem is with Zopa and not your receiving bank not processing it at the weekend?

housebuyer143

allegro120 said:

housebuyer143 said:

allegro120 said:

housebuyer143 said:

sarahhavard said:

I took out two Zopa savings accounts, one instant access and one 31 day notice account. FAQs state withdrawals to your nominated bank account are usually within 10 minutes but may take up to 2 hours. I requested a withdrawal on Friday evening (19/05/2023) from my instant access account and could see this money in my current account almost immediately. I then requested a second withdrawal 30 minutes later and the money never arrived.

There was no one available to talk to until 9am the next day but the money had been removed from my Zopa balance. At 9am I had an online chat with a Zopa representative who told me just to wait until the end of the next business day (Monday) and if the money still had not arrived to contact them again! No explanation, no visibility of where my money is and now no access to my supposedly 'Instant Access' funds. I ended up having to default on a car purchase (and have now lost this vehicle) as I now had no access to my own money. You can't call them and frankly they have provided no assistance anyway.

PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION BEFORE HANDING OVER YOUR FUNDS! I have instigated a subject access request to receive all communications between myself and Zopa which I will use in filing a complaint with them and the Financial Services Ombudsman but wanted to give others a warning that your money is probably best saved elsewhere.

You know payments don't normally get processed on a weekend right? 
It's not just Zopa. Best not to move money on a Friday afternoon or weekend if you need it to be reflected and received right away.

I'm sure I've made a number of withdrawals from Zopa on weekends and they all arrived imminently.

Yes not guaranteed though. I am with Skipton and they don't process payments on weekends. I don't rely on it because lots of places don't. Expecting that money on a weekend is asking for trouble.

Skipton and Zopa are not the same thing. Some providers don't process payments on weekends, others do. Zopa is supposed to be 24/7, so there's nothing wrong with expecting weekend transaction to arrive on the same day.

Yes, but where is the money going? That was my point. The recieving bank might not be 24/7 as you put it. Not Zopas fault.

TheBanker

allegro120 said:

housebuyer143 said:

allegro120 said:

housebuyer143 said:

sarahhavard said:

I took out two Zopa savings accounts, one instant access and one 31 day notice account. FAQs state withdrawals to your nominated bank account are usually within 10 minutes but may take up to 2 hours. I requested a withdrawal on Friday evening (19/05/2023) from my instant access account and could see this money in my current account almost immediately. I then requested a second withdrawal 30 minutes later and the money never arrived.

There was no one available to talk to until 9am the next day but the money had been removed from my Zopa balance. At 9am I had an online chat with a Zopa representative who told me just to wait until the end of the next business day (Monday) and if the money still had not arrived to contact them again! No explanation, no visibility of where my money is and now no access to my supposedly 'Instant Access' funds. I ended up having to default on a car purchase (and have now lost this vehicle) as I now had no access to my own money. You can't call them and frankly they have provided no assistance anyway.

PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION BEFORE HANDING OVER YOUR FUNDS! I have instigated a subject access request to receive all communications between myself and Zopa which I will use in filing a complaint with them and the Financial Services Ombudsman but wanted to give others a warning that your money is probably best saved elsewhere.

You know payments don't normally get processed on a weekend right? 
It's not just Zopa. Best not to move money on a Friday afternoon or weekend if you need it to be reflected and received right away.

I'm sure I've made a number of withdrawals from Zopa on weekends and they all arrived imminently.

Yes not guaranteed though. I am with Skipton and they don't process payments on weekends. I don't rely on it because lots of places don't. Expecting that money on a weekend is asking for trouble.

Skipton and Zopa are not the same thing. Some providers don't process payments on weekends, others do. Zopa is supposed to be 24/7, so there's nothing wrong with expecting weekend transaction to arrive on the same day.

The Faster Payments scheme rules (and the Payments Services Regulations) say payments should arrive no later than close of business on the following working day, so under these rules a payment initiated on Friday can arrive on Monday.

The problem is that Zopa say 'Withdrawals normally take less than 10 minutes, but sometimes it can take up to 2 hours' - no mention of the fact it can sometimes take longer. The extended time could be due to fraud checks, delays at the receiving bank, etc. 

Customer expectations are that Faster Payments arrive almost immediately, but if you check most banks Terms and Conditions they will include a reference to the 'day + 1' timescale. 

Zopa_Trooper

I've no problem with Zopa other than the low interest rates. Had a lot in there but now nearly empty waiting for the last few boosted post to mature.

I had a problem between CHASE & HSBC where several thousand went missing for a couple of weeks. It's documented on here somewhere. Its something to do with holding accounts.

Stargunner

I have had no problems with Zopa. Just withdrew a matured boosted pot this morning and it arrived in my Santander account immediately.
Shame that their interest rates have not kept up with others, otherwise I would have no concerns in keeping my savings with them.

isasmurf

The OP doesn't give an indication of the size of the withdrawals but I assume it was a small withdrawal followed by a very large withdrawal. These transactions in quick succession will always have a high probability of triggering a fraud/AML check process. I suspect this is what has happened here but the team will not work out of normal business hours so the withdrawal won't be released until Monday.

If you're going to make a purchase always have the money ready and available in an account from which you can make a payment. Never expect an instant or near instant transfer from one account to another as no financial institution can guarantee that with Faster Payments. 

MisterMotivated

allegro120 said:

Skipton and Zopa are not the same thing. Some providers don't process payments on weekends, others do. Zopa is supposed to be 24/7, so there's nothing wrong with expecting weekend transaction to arrive on the same day.

Expecting weekend transactions to arrive on the same day is pretty reasonable, but assuming that they definitely will seems a little naive to me.  Unless the OP had just found the car on Friday (in which case, I have to wonder why they tried to transfer in 2 lots half an hour apart), the money ideally should've been made ready in their current account ahead of time

Millyonare

Most UK banks clearly still have slow, outdated, payment systems.

Just use a Santander saver -- the withdrawal arrives in (literally) 1 second. Seven days a week, morning, noon and night. This is the benchmark against which all other instant and easy savers must be judged. Anything more than 5 seconds to record a deposit or withdrawal is "slow" in today's modern hyperconnected world.

Zopa has sped up, recently. But it is still not 100% instant. The wait, at times, taking hours, can be painful. It is a suboptimal experience.

masonic

As long as a payment reaches the account before the end of the day, you'll earn interest on it for that day, so delays of minutes or even hours don't usually have any material effect. On the rare occasions it is the next working day, then that costs you.

It's been years since I last experienced a faster payment fail to credit the destination account on the same day.

Millyonare said:

Just use a Santander saver -- the withdrawal arrives in (literally) 1 second. Seven days a week, morning, noon and night. This is the benchmark against which all other instant and easy savers must be judged. Anything more than 5 seconds to record a deposit or withdrawal is "slow" in today's modern hyperconnected world.

I've certainly had transfers to a Santander saver take as long as a few minutes. It really depends where the money is being sent from. Any transfer from another bank is at risk of delays, while an internal transfer between your accounts at most banks will be immediate.