Start saving tax-free* with Smart ISA

You’ll need to open a Smart Saver account with us before you can apply for a Smart ISA. To do this, simply download the Zopa app and head to your Smart Savings Hub, which you’ll find on the home page. From there, you’ll be able to apply for a Smart Saver account.     Once that’s set up, you’ll see the option to Open a Smart ISA at the bottom of your Smart Savings Hub. Follow the instructions on your screen to do this.  

Yes, Zopa’s Access ISA pots are flexible. That means you can withdraw and replace money in the same tax year without affecting your allowance. For example, say you’d saved £10,000 in your Smart ISA. You could withdraw this in full and then add it back in within the same tax year and still have £10,000 of your ISA allowance left.

Just so you know, any money you withdraw and move outside your Smart ISA will no longer qualify as tax-free.

There are a few ways to pay into your Smart ISA pots.

Transfering an existing ISA:

If you already have a cash ISA with another provider, you can transfer this to a Zopa Smart ISA pot without affecting your ISA allowance.

How you do this will depend on whether or not you've already added money to your Smart Savings Hub — which includes your Smart Saver and Smart ISA pots.

If you've already added money to your account, simply head to the Smart Savings Hub where you can see all your pots and tap Add money, then Transfer in an ISA. Please don't tap into your individual pots, as you won't see the option to transfer an ISA that way.

If you haven't added any money, go to your Smart Savings Hub and click Manage in the top right corner, then Account information, Smart ISA details, ISA transfers and Transfer in an ISA.

Once you've done this, we'll ask you to provide some information so that we can contact your old ISA provider to request the transfer.

The transfer process can take up to 15 business days. The minimum amount you can transfer is £500. 

Adding money not already held in an ISA: 

Simply head to the Smart Savings Hub in the Zopa app and hit the Add money button. From there, click One-off save and you'll see two ways to pay into your Smart ISA pots:

1. Instant bank transfer

This is a fast, simple and secure way to top up your Smart ISA pots directly from your current account banking app.

We partner with FCA-regulated TrueLayer to make the transfer from your linked bank account.

Heads up, you’ll only be able to do an instant bank transfer if your verified account is with a bank that offers open banking.

2. Manual bank transfer

You can manually add money to your Smart Saver primary pot via a bank transfer and then move this money to your Smart ISA pots by tapping Move money.

When you select Manual bank transfer you'll be shown a sort code and unique account number which you can use to set up a bank transfer from your linked bank account.

Before paying into your Zopa savings account using these details, please make sure the bank account you’d like to pay in with has been verified by us. Find out how to check whether your account has been verified.

Just to let you know, some customers have received warnings from their bank when they've tried to set up Zopa as a new payee. This is likely due to a new 'Confirmation of Payee' security check. You can read more about this here.

Please be aware, we can currently only accept 'faster payments' — BACS or CHAPS won’t reach us.

For Access ISA pots, there's no minimum deposit.  

However, if you have a Fixed Term ISA pot, you must deposit a minimum of £1 within 30 days of opening it. Otherwise, it’ll become an Access ISA pot. If you do meet £1 minimum, after the 30-day funding window, you won’t be able to add any more money to a Fixed Term pot. 

As a licensed UK bank, the savings you have with us are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000, even if you have savings elsewhere.

FSCS exists to protect customers of finance providers that have failed. In the event of Zopa failing, the FSCS will compensate you if we are unable to pay back your money.

You can save more than £85,000 with us, but any money over that amount wouldn't be protected.

You can visit the FSCS website here.