What are the current Zopa Cash ISA rates?

What are the current Zopa ISA rates?

Zopa has a Smart ISA, which you can use to spread your money across different easy-access and fixed-rate ISA pots, as long as you meet the criteria for each account type. Their ISA rates currently range from 4.80% AER (variable) with their easy access Cash ISA pot, to 3.90% AER (fixed) with their 5-year fixed rate Cash ISA pot. The rate you’ll earn will depend on how accessible you want your savings to be and the length of time you’ve been a Zopa customer. 

• Smart Easy Access ISA pot: 4.80% AER (variable), including a 1-year fixed bonus rate of 0.5% AER. After 1-year, the bonus rate will end so your interest rate will reduce to the underlying 4.30% AER variable rate. This is a flexible Cash ISA, meaning you can take out money and then put it back in the same tax year, without affecting your ISA allowance. You can open this account with £1, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.
• 1-Year Fixed Rate ISA: 4.60% AER (fixed) for one year, after which your funds will be transferred to your holding account, where you can either withdraw the money or re-save a portion or all of your funds into a new fixed-term account. You can open this account with £1,000, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.
• 2-Year Fixed Rate ISA: 4.40% AER (fixed) for two years, after which your funds will be transferred to your holding account, where you can either withdraw the money or re-save a portion or all of your funds into a new fixed-term account. You can open this account with £1,000, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.
• 3-Year Fixed Rate ISA: 4.10% AER (fixed) for three years, after which your funds will be transferred to your holding account, where you can either withdraw the money or re-save a portion or all of your funds into a new fixed-term account. You can open this account with £1,000, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.
• 4-Year Fixed Rate ISA: 4.01% AER (fixed) for four years, after which your funds will be transferred to your holding account, where you can either withdraw the money or re-save a portion or all of your funds into a new fixed-term account. You can open this account with £1,000, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.
• 5-Year Fixed Rate ISA: 3.90% AER (fixed) for five years, after which your funds will be transferred to your holding account, where you can either withdraw the money or re-save a portion or all of your funds into a new fixed-term account. You can open this account with £1,000, but you must have already opened a Smart Saver account to be eligible, as well as be a UK resident and aged over 18.

Source: https://www.zopa.com/smart-isa. Current Zopa rates are accurate as of August 2024.

What is Zopa’s best ISA rate?

Zopa’s best ISA rate is currently 4.80% AER (variable), but this rate is only available for new Smart ISA customers for one year. Eligible customers will only earn this rate on savings held in Zopa’s Access ISA pot. This introductory rate is made up of a 0.5% AER (fixed) bonus, on top of the underlying 4.30% AER (variable) Access ISA pot rate. The bonus rate will be removed after one year, leaving customers with the lower 4.30% AER (variable) rate.

If you’re happy to lock your money away for a year or more, you may prefer Zopa’s fixed-term ISA pots. You’ll get a lower ISA rate, ranging from 3.90% AER (fixed) for a 5-year term to 4.60% for a 1-year term, but your rate won’t change for the duration of your term. When the fixed-term on your Fixed Term ISA pot comes to an end, it’ll automatically turn into an Access ISA pot with a variable interest rate. When this happens, you can either withdraw the money, place it in a new Fixed Term ISA pot or keep it in an Access ISA pot. 

If you transfer in an existing ISA into Zopa’s Access ISA, your interest rate will be 4.04% AER (variable). If you have a Cash ISA already or you’re looking for the very best rate on the market, you may find a more competitive deal elsewhere. Take a look at our Best Cash ISA guide to compare some of the top accounts.

Is Zopa a good ISA provider?

Zopa’s Smart ISA lets you spread your Cash ISA savings across multiple ISA pots all from the same account. For example, you could keep half of your savings in an easy-access pot and lock the other half away for a fixed term. However, if you need access to money held in a fixed-term ISA pot before the end of your term, you’ll need to break the term and pay an interest charge. 

If you’re looking for a competitive rate, flexibility and choice, compare a few different Cash ISA providers before opening an account with Zopa. The right account can help you reach your savings goals faster, so a little bit of research can go a long way. 

Can I have two ISAs with Zopa?

You can open and pay into two or more Cash ISAs in the same tax year, thanks to new ISA rules introduced in April 2024. However, many providers will only let you open one Cash ISA with them. With Zopa, their Smart ISA allows you to put money into different ISA pots all from the same account, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria for each. If you’ve already got a Zopa ISA but you’re looking for a better interest rate or more flexibility, you could open a second Cash ISA with a different provider. You can choose whether to transfer your existing ISA savings into your new account or keep them both. 

Cash ISAs can be a great place to grow your short and mid-term savings tax-free, but if you’re a first-time buyer aged 18 to 39 and you’re saving for a property worth £450,000 or less, a Lifetime ISA can be even more rewarding! 

You can save up to £4,000 of your annual ISA allowance in a Lifetime ISA each tax year and the government will boost your savings by 25%, up to £1,000 per year. If you’re buying your first home with someone else and they’re also eligible for a Lifetime ISA, you can have a LISA each and use the bonuses from both towards your property purchase. If you both max out your LISAs for 5 years in a row, you’ll have a total deposit of £50,000, thanks to your own contributions of £20,000 each and a £10,000 bonus from the government. 

If you’re able to save more than £4,000 a year towards your deposit, you could place any additional savings in a standard Cash ISA. 

Learn more: Cash ISA or Lifetime ISA. Which one should I pick?

Will Zopa increase ISA rates?

Zopa might increase its ISA rates, but it may lower them instead. Many ISA providers change their interest rates in response to changes in the Bank of England’s base rate. If the base rate rises, ISA rates often rise too. If the base rate falls, ISA rates often follow a similar pattern.

Keep your savings in a fixed-rate Cash ISA and your interest rate will stay the same for the duration of your fixed term, no matter what happens in the wider market. However, you’ll usually need to lock your money away for a set period of time to make the most of the account. Making a withdrawal before the end of your fixed period can result in a penalty. 

How to find the best Cash ISA Rates

There are so many different providers and accounts to choose from, including traditional high-street banks, trusted building societies, and modern app-based providers like Tembo. Getting a competitive interest rate can make a big difference to your savings, so it’s worth comparing several accounts before making a decision. Although the interest rate is important, you also need to know how easy it is to access your money and whether your provider offers any bonuses or rewards. 

At Tembo, for example, our customers can manage their savings on our award-winning savings app. You can also expect dozens of saving tips and tricks, excellent customer service (we’re rated Excellent on Trustpilot) and to be automatically entered into our monthly £1,000 cash giveaway!

Take a look at our guide to the best Cash ISA rates for a breakdown of the most competitive providers. 

How to transfer my Zopa ISA to another provider

If you’ve got a Zopa ISA but you’d like to switch to a new tax-free account, all you need to do is open a new Cash ISA with your chosen provider and ask them to move the money for you. It’s really important that you don’t try to make the ISA transfer yourself. It might seem as straightforward as setting up a standard bank transfer, but moving the money manually can impact your savings’ tax-free status and this year’s ISA allowance. 

For example, if you’ve saved £30,000 in a Cash ISA over a number of years and you’d like to transfer your savings to a new provider, doing the transfer yourself could use up your full £20,000 ISA allowance for this year. You’d then need to wait until the following tax year to move the remaining £10,000 into your new Cash ISA. Until then, you’d need to keep the money in a traditional savings account, where your interest would be taxed, and you may get a lower interest rate.