The New Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

refluxer

s71hj said:

So presumably if I add this one to my 1st of every month routine for such things from 1/11 onwards I will be fine? 

Yes, I think so. I applied the Zopa boost today and it (helpfully) says 'Add £500 to Biscuit by 22nd Nov to lock in your 4.75% AER bonus rate' so any time between now and then should be fine. I may also set up a standing order on the 1st of the month for similar reasons.

One key thing is to remember to add the £500 to the Biscuit account and not the Access Pot itself, which would be an easy mistake to make if one wasn't paying attention, I think.

FishInGlass

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

refluxer

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

There's currently no expiry date for the DD cashback offer - it's the 2% rate that's guaranteed for the first year, which is what you might have been thinking of ? 

"Earn 2% cashback on up to £1,500 of Direct Debits per year. And we’ll guarantee this rate for 12 months."

This means you'll get £30 for £1500+ of DDs. Council tax alone will suffice for many (most ?) these days, I would imagine ! 

flaneurs_lobster

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Interesting point, I opened my current account on 4/10/24, set up a DD for £1500 and got the £30 cashback on 3/11. There's mention (in the online help) of the cashback rate being fixed/capped for a year when it resets, to what it doesn't say, same again?

I'm minded to try the one-off DD trick again but some indication that the offer still applies to my account would be nice.

winkowinko

flaneurs_lobster said:

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Interesting point, I opened my current account on 4/10/24, set up a DD for £1500 and got the £30 cashback on 3/11. There's mention (in the online help) of the cashback rate being fixed/capped for a year when it resets, to what it doesn't say, same again?

I'm minded to try the one-off DD trick again but some indication that the offer still applies to my account would be nice.

Who did you make the £1500 direct debit payment to, yourself?

mebu60

SnowMan said:

mebu60 said:

SnowMan said:

mebu60 said:

BreakingGlass said:

Coventry

I’ve just opened the new 4 Access at 4.3%, funded with the £1 balance (plus over £2k interest) from closing my old 4 Access, which was at 4.2%.

Annoyingly I am still waiting for the new account opened earlier this morning to appear so that I can follow suit. 

I managed to open the 4 access - 1 year and it appeared immediately and I was able to close and transfer my old 4 access closing balance into it. So surprising that you are having problems.

I even logged out and logged back in again immediately to Coventry but no joy. Just required a bit of patience which is a virtue I do not possess, all done now.

In between opened a West Brom 4 Access Saver Issue 4 at 4.28% as insurance for when the Issue 1 currently at 4.4% either reduces or ends on 31:12:25 (note the Issue 4 has a maturity date of 31:01:27 to avoid the obvious issues with Issue 1 finishing at the year end the day before a bank holiday but the Issue 4 date is a Sunday so again, an odd easily avoidable choice). 

Not the only thing that sets West Brom apart. Although Coventry and West Bromwich are geographically relatively close they are miles apart in their application process. Coventry use your existing details. And, after a slight delay, it's all done. Despite being logged in to West Brom I had to re-enter all my information. And now they hope to let me know within 3 working days whether my application is approved! 

I am also intrigued as to how sign-in will work. Currently it is the Issue 1 account number, DoB and a PIN. Will that then display both accounts? Can I use either account number to log in? What happens when Issue 1 is closed? 

I've got the West Brom 4 access (issue 2) and 4 access (issue 3) and I can log in either through the issue 2 or issue 3 account number (the pin and dob are the same in both cases).

When I opened a second account with West Brom a while back (so different two accounts to those above) I input my address without the county in the address (county is optional in addresses), and while everything else was the same as my original application, they rejected my application. When I rang them up eventually I worked out that they were treating my address as different just because one had the county in it and one didn't. Initially they just told me my application details were different, and it was only when I insisted that nothing had changed, did I discover it was the lack of county causing the issues. Unhelpfully they refused to resolve things and insisted I had to apply again from scratch. At the time you couldn't even see your address when you logged in so it would have been impossible for me to know what address they held for me to enable me to apply again had I not insisted that my details were the same. At least now you can see the address they hold so you don't have to remember whether you originally entered the county or not.   

@SnowMan

Issue 4 actually opened this afternoon and £1 transferred from Issue 1. I tried logging in with the new account number but that didn't work, will try tomorrow in case it requires some form of overnight update. 

Logging in using Issue 1, both accounts are displayed but transactions only seem to appear in a pop up window over the top of the summary accounts. I would much rather select an individual account then see the transactions listed under it. 

Given what you said about address it was probably a good move on my part to put village in the town box as there was no line 2 option which presumably is what I did previously as I got accepted ok for Issue 4.

flaneurs_lobster

winkowinko said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Interesting point, I opened my current account on 4/10/24, set up a DD for £1500 and got the £30 cashback on 3/11. There's mention (in the online help) of the cashback rate being fixed/capped for a year when it resets, to what it doesn't say, same again?

I'm minded to try the one-off DD trick again but some indication that the offer still applies to my account would be nice.

Who did you make the £1500 direct debit payment to, yourself?

Indeed, a Moneybox EA savings account.

Further consideration on the repeat  - in the absence of any guidance from Zopa, prob best to wait until 12 mth anniversary of payout.

Once you hit the yearly Direct Debit cap, you won’t earn any more cashback until your allowance resets, which will happen each year on the date you opened your account. 

hoppy2

Am I reading this correctly with the zopa account? I funded it on the 21st (yesterday) so I would now be required to fund it again with £500 between 22nd November to the 21st of December to keep the bonus?

Bridlington1

winkowinko said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Interesting point, I opened my current account on 4/10/24, set up a DD for £1500 and got the £30 cashback on 3/11. There's mention (in the online help) of the cashback rate being fixed/capped for a year when it resets, to what it doesn't say, same again?

I'm minded to try the one-off DD trick again but some indication that the offer still applies to my account would be nice.

Who did you make the £1500 direct debit payment to, yourself?

There's a list of DD ideas on this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6445857/savings-investment-dds-and-debit-card-deposits-an-updated-list/p1

Feel free to use the above thread to discuss any of the items on that list or savings DDs more generally.

s71hj

Bridlington1 said:

winkowinko said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

FishInGlass said:

Another plus with Zopa is the 2% cash back on up to £1500 of direct debits per annum. I thought that was the first year only but I think it refreshes for future years but I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Interesting point, I opened my current account on 4/10/24, set up a DD for £1500 and got the £30 cashback on 3/11. There's mention (in the online help) of the cashback rate being fixed/capped for a year when it resets, to what it doesn't say, same again?

I'm minded to try the one-off DD trick again but some indication that the offer still applies to my account would be nice.

Who did you make the £1500 direct debit payment to, yourself?

There's a list of DD ideas on this thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6445857/savings-investment-dds-and-debit-card-deposits-an-updated-list/p1

Feel free to use the above thread to discuss any of the items on that list or savings DDs more generally.

It's a fantastic resource I can testify.