How open banking technology can help you save time, money and Sunday mornings
Picture this: it’s a Sunday morning and you’re on the sofa with a steaming cup of coffee doing some life admin. You want to take stock of your finances. You start by remembering the various accounts you have, logging in to their respective banking apps and making a note of all your balances. You then remember you’re due a refund but can’t recall which account you used to pay. So, you log back in to your banking apps to find out. Before you know it, an hour has passed, your coffee is cold and you’ve missed the start of your favourite Sunday show. How frustrating!
Now let’s imagine you want to carry out the exact same tasks, but that you’re able to do them all from a single app. That would save an awful lot of time and effort, right? Well, good news — thanks to open banking technology, you can do all of this and more for free using just the Zopa app.
What is this mythical ‘open banking’ technology you speak of?
In the past, your financial data could only be seen by you and your bank — hence the frustrating Sunday-morning scenario outlined above. But now, thanks to open banking technology, you can choose to securely share your data with your other financial providers through a simple piece of software called application programming interfaces (APIs) — don’t worry, the acronyms stop here!
This allows for a more joined-up financial universe, meaning you can do things like view multiple accounts in one place and access personalised tips based on your spending habits to help boost savings and cut debt.
1 in 9 Brits* have jumped on the open banking bandwagon to help make their financial lives that little bit easier — will you be joining them?
How can I get more from my money with Zopa’s open banking tools?
At Zopa, we’ve harnessed the power of open banking technology to bring you a bunch of tools that help you take control of your money with very little effort. The list of what you can achieve with open banking is growing rapidly, but here are a few things you can do in the Zopa app right now:
Seamless money management
Say goodbye to juggling multiple apps and having a stressful start to your Sunday! With the Zopa app, you can view your Zopa and non-Zopa credit cards and bank accounts in one place.
This makes staying on top of your spending, subscriptions and refunds a breeze. Plus, you can choose to combine the balances from your various accounts to a single total balance view, which allows you to track exactly how much money you have left to spend that month — taking into account any scheduled payments.
2. Personalised tips and recommendations
By analysing your balances and spending habits across your linked accounts, Zopa can send you valuable personalised Insights to help you better manage your money — from cutting debt to boosting savings. It’s like having a financial coach in your back pocket. And the best part is, it won’t cost you a thing!
3. A streamlined borrowing experience
Having to borrow money can be an arduous process, but not with Zopa. You’ve always been able to check your eligibility for our loans — and see your personalised rate — before you apply, with no impact to your credit score. But with the help of open banking technology, we’ve made our application process even smoother. Representative APR 22.9%.
Gone are the days of hunting around for old payslips and bank statements. Simply opt for us to check your income using open banking data instead — it’s as easy as that.
These are just a couple of reasons why our customers voted us Britain’s Best Personal Loan Provider at the 2024 British Bank Awards.
Can I benefit from open banking outside of the Zopa app?
You certainly can!
One of the ways we extend our open banking services outside of the Zopa app is through our recent partnership with D•One. Leveraging their open banking services, we’re able to create better outcomes for customers who apply for a lending product with us through ClearScore.
To date, the affordability checks for credit cards, loans and car finance have typically been based on the data held by credit reference agencies. However, by working with D•One, we’re able to more accurately assess affordability based on a customer’s wider spending habits. This enables us to provide responsible lending options to those who would have otherwise missed out due to their limited credit histories.
Ok this all sounds great, but is my data safe with open banking technology?
In a nutshell, yes, as long as you’ve shared your data with an authorised provider. You can check if a company’s authorised by looking at the FCA Register or the Open Banking Directory (our open banking partners, Bud, TrueLayer and Money Dashboard (D•One) are listed here).
As always, you should keep an eye out on your transactions and, if anything looks suspicious, report it to your bank immediately.
It’s important to know that open banking is entirely optional, so you don’t have to share your data if you don’t want to. But you might be missing out on some pretty helpful features if you don’t.
Ready to save your Sundays with open banking?
If you’re sold on the benefits of open banking technology, download the Zopa app from the App Store or Google Play now. Connect your accounts, explore the free tools and embrace the future of banking.
*https://www.openbanking.org.uk/news/open-banking-impact-report-october-2023/
Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author. This blog is intended for information only and doesn’t constitute financial advice. You should always do your own research to ensure anything you apply for is suitable for your specific circumstances.
