Easy Access Cash ISA, Trading 212 vs Zopa - Experiences, Customer Support, Recommendations

typeanonspare

slinger2 said:

Although Trading212 say up to 3 days for a withdrawal, my experience (from their non-ISA Invest account) is that it's the next day first thing (when request is first thing too) - assuming both days are work days. Not guaranteed though.

Thanks that's good to know. 3 days worst case is still not horrendous. How has your experience been with them so far in general? I guess time will tell how things are from a service perspective if they were to suddenly slash their Cash ISA rate and every man and his dog want to transfer away from them, would they be able to cope with this demand I wonder as they must have such a huge portion of the market right now with the 5.1% offering.

slinger2

typeanonspare said:

slinger2 said:

Although Trading212 say up to 3 days for a withdrawal, my experience (from their non-ISA Invest account) is that it's the next day first thing (when request is first thing too) - assuming both days are work days. Not guaranteed though.

Thanks that's good to know. 3 days worst case is still not horrendous. How has your experience been with them so far in general? I guess time will tell how things are from a service perspective if they were to suddenly slash their Cash ISA rate and every man and his dog want to transfer away from them, would they be able to cope with this demand I wonder as they must have such a huge portion of the market right now with the 5.1% offering.

I've been with them for 6 months or so. Initially I found the app quite difficult to navigate around since it's all based around a trading system rather than being focused on savers. I've not had any need to use customer service, so can't comment on that.

Obviously they're throwing money around at the moment to gain market share. So at some point they'll have to stop that, and that's something to be aware of.

Personally I've got most of my cash in fixed-rate products, so I've only got a small amount of money with them. £5k in the Cash ISA and a few k in the S&S accounts.

dlevene

I've posted about my experience with T212 on the other thread you're engaged in. Overall I would recommend. 

That said, a partial transfer out seems a reasonably niche scenario if you're just chasing the best rate. I suppose it you might be an issue if you want to fix or invest a chunk of it in future. 

Re. the other providers, I wouldn't necessarily let those things be deal breakers in principle, again it depends on your plans. I've never actually made use of the flexible ISA functionality, although I agree it's a big advantage. Is a 4 access really an issue when you can just transfer away if you need to? I don't mind the use of QMMFs.

typeanonspare

Thanks for all of the comments and advice. I think in summary, either sound like they will be absolutely fine.

I'm semi tempted now to go with both - I suppose that is one way to see how each of them compare directly!

Put in a fresh £20k of this year's allowance into Trading 212.

The £10k that has recently matured from last year's allowance into Zopa.

Any unexpected expenses that require immediate attention, I can use the Zopa pot as it is instant transfers. Although admittedly it is unlikely that 1-3 days from T212 would ever really be an issue.

I assume it wouldn't be an issue further down the line if I decided that I wanted to:

a) move the £10k from Zopa into T212?
b) move both the £10k from Zopa and £20k from T212 into a single other provider?

Thanks

boco803

@typeanonspare

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that T212 also uses open banking?

typeanonspare

boco803 said:

@typeanonspare

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that T212 also uses open banking?

Not to the same extent as Chip though. T212 requires to just see the account name that you are instant transferring from/to. But from what I read, Chip requires access to all of your transaction history within that bank. Which seems unnecessary.

Thanks everyone for all the help. I've decided to go with T212. The £20k I uploaded for this year went straight in and is already earning the daily interest @5.1%. I kicked off the transfer of last year's funds yesterday so fingers crossed this goes through within 15 days!

I was close to going with Zopa for last year's allowance but recent reviews on Trustpilot particularly regarding the transfer element put me off.

I will update with the transfer experience from T212 in due course.

harj1185

I'm with Zopa and have some money stored in a 1yr fix pot in the ISA. Was thinking of moving some money into the instant access ISA in a different pot but if I ever want to transfer the instant access out I can't as they don't do partial transfers and some in locked in a fixed ISA. Therefore going to open 212 ISA instead for the easy access. Would have preferred it all in one place, but if Zopa drop their rate I can't transfer it out!

boco803

typeanonspare said:

boco803 said:

@typeanonspare

I could be wrong, but I get the impression that T212 also uses open banking?

Not to the same extent as Chip though. T212 requires to just see the account name that you are instant transferring from/to. But from what I read, Chip requires access to all of your transaction history within that bank. Which seems unnecessary.

I see.  I wasn't aware there are different levels to Open Banking - thought it was all in; them being able to view transactions etc if they wanted to.

How do you know what you're consenting to?

I don't think I'd mind if it's sole purpose was to validate account details such as name, number and sort code.  Everything else seems more intrusive.

wiseonesomeofthetime

I'm currently with Zopa but, after two months of not being able to use the app because every time after I login I get the "something's gone wrong" screen, even after uninstall and reinstall, and poor subsequent customer service, I have decided to transfer it all to Trading 212.

Will their customer service be any better, I don't know, but no access to an app based provider is a no no for me. Weirdly, I can login via the emergency web portal, so nowt wrong with my actual account.

Only time will tell if my decision is correct, but I cannot abide incompetent customer service. Trouble is, until you need it, you don't truly know the quality of it 🤷‍♂️

bobeschism

I've put the full 2024 20k allowance into my flexible Zopa ISA (4.8%). I want to transfer 15k of this into my new Chip ISA (5.12%), but Chip only allows full transfer. 

Am I able to move 5k out of the Zopa ISA into the associated Zopa Smart Saver, transfer the remaining 15k to Chip, then once completed return the 5k from Zopa Smart Saver to the Zopa ISA?