What's a Cash ISA?

A Cash ISA (Individual Savings Account) works a lot like a normal savings account, except you don’t have to pay any tax on the interest you earn.

What’s the annual ISA allowance and when does it reset?

Your annual ISA allowance is £20,000. This is how much you can save tax-free in ISAs each tax year (from 6th April to 5th April), and it's set by the UK government.

Your ISA allowance resets at the start of a new tax year, on April 6th. Bear in mind that you can’t carry any unused allowance over to the next tax year. So, if you don't use your allowance, you’ll lose it.

Note: The total you can save across all pots in your Zopa savings account and Cash ISA is £250,000. That means if you had more than £230,000 in your savings pots, then you wouldn't be able to add the full £20,000 ISA allowance to your Cash ISA pots.

Am I eligible to open a Cash ISA?

To open a Cash ISA, you'll need to have already opened a Zopa savings account. You can do this in the app by tapping the ‘+’ button in the top right corner.

You must also: 

• be aged 18 or over  

• be a UK resident and only have tax residency in the UK (which excludes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) 

• have an active UK bank account that we can link to  

• have not already used up your total annual ISA allowance of £20,000 this tax year 

• open your ISA in your name only 

How do I open a Cash ISA?

You’ll need to have a savings account with us before you can apply for a Cash ISA. To do this, simply download the Zopa app and tap the ‘+’ button in the top right corner. From there, you’ll be able to apply for a savings account.  

Once that’s set up, you’ll see the option to Open a Cash ISA in the ‘Save & Invest’ tab. Or just ask to open a Cash ISA in the ‘Ask’ tab.