Investments questions and answers

You can transfer your cash or stocks and shares ISAs into your Virgin Money Stocks and Shares ISA. Just select Transfer when you apply, or from your dashboard within Online Service once your new ISA is open.

You can't transfer Help to Buy, Innovative Finance, Lifetime ISAs, Junior ISAs or a current tax year ISA that contains life insurance.

With ISAs from previous tax years, you can transfer as little or as much as you like. If you want to transfer an ISA that you've opened and contributed to in the current tax year, you must transfer its whole value. If your ISA has been open for more than one year, you don’t have to transfer the whole value of it.

You can transfer ISAs from previous tax years to Virgin Money without affecting this year's ISA allowance. If you want to transfer an ISA that you've contributed to in the current tax year, it counts towards your annual allowance – and remember you have to transfer all of it.

That depends on the type of investments you have and who your provider is. Sometimes it can take a few weeks, but we'll make it as quick and easy as we can. Here's how it works:

You give us details of the account(s) you want to transfer – including your current provider, your plan or policy reference and the amount you want to transfer.

We'll contact your existing provider and usually get everything sorted online. Some providers won’t accept a digital signature, so we might get in touch again to ask you to sign and return a transfer form by post.

You'll be able to track the progress of your transfer in Online Service and we'll let you know when everything's complete.

You can transfer the value of existing investment accounts or general investment accounts into your Virgin Money Investment Account – when you apply or later on. Just remember, your current provider will need to sell your investments and transfer the value of them to us as cash. So you may be out of the market for a short time while the transfer is happening.

You can transfer as many ISAs as you like. Just give us the details when you apply, or transfer them one at a time once you've opened your account.

A few things to remember:

• you can't transfer a Help to Buy ISA, Innovative Finance ISA or Junior ISA.
• you can't have two stocks and shares ISAs in the same tax year.
• if you want to transfer an ISA that you've contributed to in the current tax year, you have to transfer the whole value of it.
• if your ISA had been open for more than one year, you don’t have to transfer the whole value of it.

We protect you with a security check each time you sign in.

If we have your phone number we’ll send you a security code for verification each time you sign in.

Remember, keeping your account safe is really important. Make sure you keep your security password for Online Service safe and never share it.

Our app is designed to help keep you safe when you're managing your investments online. It also keeps you up-to-date with how your investments and pensions are doing. Within our app you can check your balance, make a one-off payment, get in touch via secure messages, view and upload documents, and more.

Our app is the handy way to keep in control of your account, wherever you are.

If you don’t have a smartphone you can still sign in to Online Service to manage your account. You’ll just need to give us your phone number so we can send you a security code for verification each time you sign in.

Yes, you'll need to download the Virgin Money Investments and Pensions app too. It's separate from our mobile banking and credit card apps.

It’s quick and simple but, for security reasons, you can only link one device to your account. So, we'll first need to remove your old device. Just follow the on-screen instructions for removing your old device first, then you can download our App and register your new mobile device.

You can view your account balance and make a one-off payment in our app. Just click the Accounts tab at the bottom of the screen.

For other payment options, or to make withdrawals, just sign in to Online Service and go to your product dashboard.

No. For security reasons, you can only link one mobile device to your account.

Of course. Just go to Trouble signing in in Online Service, select I've recently changed my device then follow the on-screen instructions.

If you are using our Virgin Money Investments and Pension app, go to our Online Service and enter your username and password then select I've recently changed my device which is shown under the Trouble signing in section. Then follow the on-screen instructions. Once your old device has been removed you can download our App and register your new mobile device.

If your new device uses your old number, you'll be able to sign in as normal.

If you have a new number, or you don't have access to a new device, give us a call – we’ll get you up and running quickly.

Don’t worry, your account will still be safe and secure – and we can usually get you back up and running quickly.

You can only link one device to your account so, first you'll need to remove your old device. Just go to Trouble signing in in Online Service, select I've recently changed my device then follow the on-screen instructions.

If you usually sign in to your Online Service by text or voice message, and you're still using your old number on your new device, you'll be able to sign in as usual.

If you have a new mobile phone number and haven't updated it in Online Service, you'll need to call us on the contact number below.

Give us a call on 0345 528 88 88. We’ll get you up and running again.

For your security, we'll lock your account if there have been too many failed attempts to sign in. It will unlock automatically after 30 minutes. During that 30-minute lock, you can still retrieve your username or reset your password.

If your sign-in credentials continue to be entered incorrectly after the 30-minute lock, you'll need to contact us on the telephone number below, to unlock your account.

Call us as soon as you can on 0345 528 88 88.

As part of the account opening process we will set up your access to Online Service. This is where you manage your account, review performance and more.

To keep things extra secure, each time you sign in to Online Service we'll ask you to verify it's you via a text to your phone number.

You can access all your important documents from your Documents in our Online Service.

You can also view those documents in our Virgin Money Investments and Pension app.

Access your dashboard in Online Service and select Transfer an ISA to us then follow the simple on-screen instructions. Please note that you can’t transfer a Help to Buy, Innovative Finance or Lifetime ISA into your Virgin Money Stocks and Shares ISA.

You will need to tell us which funds you want to invest in and give us some details about the ISA you’re transferring. We'll need your current provider’s details, your reference number and the amount you’d like to transfer.

We’ll also need to know if the money in your existing ISA has been contributed in this tax year only, in previous tax years, or both.

If you've contributed to your ISA in this tax year, all of this tax year’s contributions must be transferred in full. We'll need to know how much you've contributed in this tax year. We will accept partial transfers, so if you’ve made contributions in previous tax years, you’ll be free to move only some of it across as long as your current provider allows you to – just let us know exactly how much you want to transfer.

If you want to transfer more than one ISA, just stay in Online Service and repeat the process again from the top.

Access your dashboard in Online Service and select Transfer an Investment account to us, then follow the on-screen instructions. It’s simple and straightforward.

You’ll be asked to sign your form with a digital signature. In some cases, your current provider won’t accept a digital signature to allow the transfer to continue. If that happens, we’ll get back in touch with you to sign and return a transfer form by post.

You will need to tell us which funds you want to invest in and give us some basic details about the account you’re transferring. The basic details we'll ask for include your current provider’s details, your current plan / policy reference and the amount you’d like to transfer.

If you want to transfer more than one Investment Account, just start the process again from the top.

Please note that the investment account with your current provider may have another name, such as "General Investment Account" or "GIA".

When you request to close your account, you're withdrawing from all the funds you're invested in. That process can take up to five working days. During this time, you might still see some money in your account but because your account is closing no new transactions will be possible.

Your dashboard will show that we’re closing the account for you. The account status will be closed once this is finished.

You need to notify us immediately if you move abroad. Laws outside of the UK may affect your ability to continue to make payments or benefit fully from the features of your Virgin Money Investment and Pension products . We’ll give you details once you’ve told us.

Unfortunately not, unless it's a BFPO address. Please get in touch, either by phone or using the secure messaging feature in Online Service.

Once we have everything we need, it takes eight working days to set up your Direct Debit. If it’s too late for your chosen date, we’ll collect your first payment the following month.

Payments into your Virgin Money Investments and Pension accounts will up show as "Virgin Money" on your bank statements.

Access your dashboard in Online Service and select Manage monthly payments. From here, you can cancel your monthly payment by following the on-screen instructions.

Please note that if you cancel your Direct Debit within three days of the collection date, the cancellation will happen after your next payment's collected.

Withdrawals from your Virgin Money Stocks and Shares ISA and Investment accounts will show as "Virgin Money" on your bank statements.

We need ten working days to set up your monthly withdrawal. If it's too late for your chosen date, we'll make the first withdrawal the following month

You can always request a one-off withdrawal online, if you need your money sooner.

When withdrawing money from one of your funds, you can request a partial amount or the full balance.

If you request a partial withdrawal, the maximum amount is 90% of your balance. It's a safety measure because, in rare cases of extreme volatility, the value of your investment may drop to less than the amount you want to withdraw, before the payment's processed. If that happened, you'd be trying to withdraw more money than you actually had.

You pay two charges to hold an account with us: an Account Charge and an Annual Management Charge (or AMC for short). The first charge is for managing your account. We calculate the charge daily based on your account value, and collect it monthly by selling units proportionately across your investments.

The second charge is for managing your funds. It's a percentage based on the value of your funds and is deducted by the fund manager each day from the value of the fund.

You can see our latest charges here Funds and Charges.

We won't charge you any fees for moving to another provider

An ISA’s is a good way to save for your medium and long-term goals because it's free from income and capital gains tax, so you won't pay tax on any dividends from shares and you won’t pay capital gains tax on any profits made from the investments within your ISA.

When your investment’s in an ISA, there’s nothing to report to HMRC. This makes your life easier, and means you keep more of the money.

You can keep up-to-date by visiting our Investments fund price page.

We update the value of your funds overnight after each working day (Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays). You can view your balance within our app and in Online Service. To help, we confirm the date your balance was last updated next to its current value.

It's the level of risk an investor is prepared to accept when investing. It differs based on the intended use of the investment funds, and when the money's needed. For example, investors tend to have a very low investment risk appetite for an investment needed in two years' time. Investors looking to grow their wealth over the longer term (10 years or more) for future quality of life reasons, such as paying regularly into a pension, tend to have a higher investment risk appetite – because there's more time for short-term dips to eventually grow back to higher value.

Possibly. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

If you choose to sell when your investments go down, you will be locking in stock market falls.

Remember, investing is a medium to long-term commitment and has tended to do better than saving over five years or more. However, past performance of investments can't be used as a guide to how they'll perform in the future.

There’s always a risk with investing. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

That’s why investments are a medium to long-term commitment and why you should be prepared to invest your money for at least five years – it's generally the best way of smoothing out the short term ups and downs you can get with the stock market

Yes. We believe investing responsibly will provide better returns for lower risk over the long term for you and help protect people and the planet from harm.

We carefully consider how to invest your money in ways that are good for our changing world. So, to grow your money over the medium to long term, we look at the influence those investments will have on people and the planet – and act in responsible ways.

Want to know more? Download info about how we invest responsibly.

You can see the latest terms for your account in your Documents, in Online Service. You can also view our Investment Account and Stocks and Shares ISA Account Terms

We don't provide financial advice, but you could try the following:

• Money Helper
• Unbiased

No, we don't currently pay interest on any cash held in our Investments and Pensions accounts.

Virgin Money is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). In the unlikely event we can’t meet our financial obligations, you may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS up to a maximum value of £85,000.

For details about what's covered, have a look at the FSCS website at FSCS.org.uk or call 0800 678 1100.

A fund is a collection of different investors’ money that's all invested in a variety of different assets, which are detailed on the fund’s factsheet.

A fund provides more diversification than investing in shares of a single company. It's a way of spreading the risk and giving your money more chances to grow.

Check out our Investment funds to see which one's right for you.

An approach is another name we use for our funds. It makes them easier to understand and helps you choose which one's right for you.

Check out all our Investment funds.

It’s like an IOU, used by companies and governments to raise money. The buyer lends money to the seller in return for regular interest with the money returned at the end of the term of the bond (maturity date). The value of a bond can rise and fall based on the attractiveness of the income and the creditworthiness of the lender.

It’s a bit of a company. If a company does well, shareholders (share owners) get a proportion of the profit, paid as a dividend. The value of shares changes according to the company’s performance and other market factors such as how the wider economy is performing.

It’s a type of bond. Instead of lending money to a company, it’s lent to the UK Government.

It’s a pool of money gathered by a company from investors. It’s used to buy, manage or invest in property and land to generate income. Whilst the value rises and falls with the stock market, over the medium to long-term it provides the benefits of owning real estate without needing millions to invest.

For new units that you bought in the tax year, part of the price you paid was for income already earned by the fund up to the date you bought the units. This isn’t income you earned, but part of the cost you paid for your initial investment.

To make sure you are not taxed twice on this value, equalisation may be paid by the fund manager. It isn’t taxed as income but is used to adjust the cost you use for working out capital gains.

Authorised Unit Trust Dividends are credits from funds. Where credited to a Virgin Money Investment Account you can see these on the Tax Certificate we'll issue you with every year. They're payable for a number of the Virgin Money funds you might hold. You can use those amounts to complete your HMRC self assessment.

Every six months, we’ll work out the total amount of income received by each fund. All of the funds below are made up of accumulation units, which means any income is paid back into the fund and reflected in the unit price.

Check out the table below to see when we work out the income.

Net is an amount after tax has been deducted or before any tax has been added, and Gross is an amount before any tax is deducted. All investment income linked to your Virgin Money Investments will be paid on a gross basis.

A fund of funds is an investment fund that invests in other funds, rather than directly in stocks, shares, bonds, etc. It’s a good way to lower the risk through diversification, and give your money more ways to grow.

Each fund in the product you hold with us is divided into units. When you pay money in, we buy units for you. When you take money out, or when paying account charges, we sell units for you. These are known as trades. We ask the fund manager to place trades for you. The fund manager sets the fund price on each business day. The price of units will change over time, because it depends on the value of all the assets in the fund.

Dividend distributions are income from our funds which are mainly invested in stocks and shares, either paid to you or reinvested into your fund. You will be able to see your dividend received value in your Tax Certificate, if you hold an Investment Account with us.

Sorry to hear that. We will try to help if we can, just give us a call or send us a secure message. 

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You can use our online forgotten Username and forgotten Password functions to retrieve your Username and reset your Password should you forget them. Alternatively, give us a call. We understand that resetting your password is time consuming, however, it helps keep your account secure.

Let us know what you need, so we can offer you the right support.

We can also share details of appropriate organisations who may also be able to help, please get in touch.

If you need help managing your Virgin Money Investment Accounts, you might want to consider appointing someone to do that via a Power of Attorney. Have a look at the related questions and answers below, or get in touch with us.

Yes, if a Power of Attorney has been put in place to manage your affairs, they'll need to contact us. We'll explain to them what paperwork we need before they're allowed to manage your Virgin Money Investment and Pensions Accounts.

We always try to provide the highest standard of service, but sometimes things go wrong. When they do, we work hard to put them right as quickly as possible.

If you’re unhappy with something, please get in contact with us by phone, secure message (via our Online Service) or in writing.