Questions and Answers
ISAs explained

ISAs explained
'ISA' stands for Individual Savings Account. They are the Government's way of encouraging you to save by giving you a tax incentive.
Unlike bank or building society deposit accounts, unit trusts or similar investments, you do not have to pay any additional income or capital gains tax on the money you make.
You can use your ISA allowance to invest in a Stocks and Shares ISA, or in a Cash ISA savings account where your interest is tax-free. Or you can do both. You do not even have to tell the taxman about your ISAs on your annual tax return.
For this tax year your annual savings ISA allowance is £10,680. You can:
To see our range of cash savings accounts please visit our savings website.
ISAs are a great way to make the most of your savings, because of the tax incentives on offer.
At the very least a Cash ISA should give you a better return than you would get from your bank or building society savings account, because your interest comes tax-free. To see our range of cash savings accounts please visit our savings website.
Also, if you are:
That is when ISAs like our FTSE All-Share Tracker ISA and Climate Change ISA really come into their own. Over longer time spans few other investments can match the stock market for potential returns. It remains the No.1 place for investors looking to grow their money.
If you are not comfortable at the thought of investing in the stock market, you might want to consider our Bond and Gilt ISA instead. It should give you a higher return than a building society savings account, without significantly increasing your risk.
To see the Simplifed Prospectus for the investment funds in a Virgin ISA click on the link below.
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Alternatively, you can call 08456 10 20 20 or email info@virginmoney.com to have a copy of the Simplified Prospectus sent to you.
How ISAs work
For this tax year your annual savings ISA allowance is £10,680. You can:
You can also transfer Cash ISA investments from previous tax years into a Stocks & Shares ISA without affecting your current tax year limit.
Annual ISA limits are increased in line with inflation each year.
Both the FTSE All-Share Tracker ISA and the Bond and Gilt ISA have an annual management charge of 1% a year.
There are no other charges.
The Virgin Climate Change ISA has an annual management fee of 1.75%. There may also be a 20% performance related fee, which we only earn if we outperform agreed benchmarks.
Your savings will be covered by the FSCS for up to £50,000 per person. Information about the scheme can be found in the product terms and conditions and on the FSCS website www.fscs.org.uk.
Yes, whether it's an ISA from a previous tax year or one you're paying into this tax year, you can transfer it to Virgin.
If you're interested in transferring an ISA to us, click here or call us on 08456 10 20 20.
Investors in our Bond and Gilt Fund who have reinvested the income received over the last five years, have had an average annual return of 3.6% turning £3,000 into £3,588.
| This table shows the annual return in the last five years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30/09/2006 to 30/09/2007 | 30/09/2007 to 30/09/2008 | 30/09/2008 to 30/09/2009 | 30/09/2009 to 30/09/2010 | 30/09/2010 to 30/09/2011 |
| -1.7% | -0.3% | 7.8% | 8.7% | 4.1% |
Source: Morningstar Workstation, year on year 30.09.06 – 30.09.11, calculation based on figures in £’s on a bid to bid basis, net of basic rate tax with income reinvested.
Remember, with bonds and gilts the value of your fund and the interest that gets reinvested can go down as well as up on a daily basis, with no guarantees you'll get back the full amount you invest. To maximise your chances of a good return you should be looking to invest for at least five years.
It's also worth remembering that the past performance of an investment isn't always a guide to how well it may do in the future.
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