Virgin Money ISA Review 2021 – Is it Worthwhile?

First up we have the 1 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA. In a nutshell, Virgin Money will offer you a very competitive 1.40% AER on the money you invest. This is great, because a number of major players in the ISA space barely surpass 1% on their fixed-term accounts. However – and as the name suggests, you will be required to lock your money away for at least 1 year.

Upon reading through the terms and conditions of the ISA in more detail, Virgin Money notes that you might be able to make a withdrawal request, albeit, you will lose 60 days’ worth of earned interest. As such, you should only proceed with this particular ISA if you are confident you won’t need the money. What we also like about the 1 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA at Virgin Money is that the 1.40% AER rate is fixed.

This is great, as you will always know exactly how much your money is going to be worth at the end of the term. For example, if you invested £1,000, this would be worth £1,014 at the end of the 12 months. In terms of the fundamentals, you can open the 1 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA from just £1, and all applications can be made online in around 10 minutes.

If you are looking for the highest Cash ISA available at Virgin Money, then look no further than the 3 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA. In return for locking your money away for three years, you will get a whopping 1.71% AER per year. While this might not sound like a lot for a three-year term, you need to remember that you will also benefit from compounding interest along the way.

On the other hand, it is crucial that you only choose the 3 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA at Virgin Money if you are confident you won’t touch it. As we noted above, upon reading through the terms and conditions it appears that while Virgin Money will permit a withdrawal before the term concludes, you will be penalized. Moreover, the penalty attached to the 3 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA is higher at 120 days’ worth of interest.

Apart from the above, everything else remains constant with the 1 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA. As such, you can get started by investing just £1, and you can open an account online in less than 10 minutes.

If you’re looking for a competitive rate of interest, but you want a bit more flexibility with accessing your funds, then we would suggest checking out the Double Take Cash ISA available at Virgin Money. First and foremost, this particular ISA pays a competitive rate of 1.45% AER. Take note, the interest rate is variable, meaning that it can change at any time. If it does, Virgin Money will give you at least 14 days’ notice in writing.

Nevertheless, unlike the 1 and 3 year Fixed Cash ISAs – which will always penalize you for making an early withdrawal, the Double Take ISA permits two withdrawals per calendar year. Once your two annual withdrawals have been made, the only way that you will be able to access your money before the turn of the year will be to close the account.

As such, you should try to plan in advance if you think there is a chance you’ll need to access it. As is the case with the other ISAs we have discussed thus far, Virgin Money allows you to invest from as little as £1, all the way up to £100,000. However, you should refrain from investing any more than £85,000 as anything above this won’t be protected by the FSCS.

If you really don’t want to lock your money away – and you feel that two withdrawals per year is still too restrictive, then the only the option available to you is that of the Easy Access Cash ISA. As the name suggests, you can make as many money withdrawals as you see fit without incurring any financial penalties. The ISA doesn’t come with a traditional debit card, so if you do need to access the funds you will need to perform a bank transfer, or transfer them to another Virgin account.

As great as the flexibilities of unlimited fee-free withdrawals are, this does come at a cost. This is because the Virgin Money Easy Access Cash ISA pays a mere 0.50% AER per year. This is significantly less than the other Virgin Money ISAs we have discussed thus far, so if you do want a higher rate of interest, you will need to consider adjusting your withdrawal allowances.

In terms of the interest rate itself, this is a variable offer. As you know now, this means it can change at any time. Moreover, you can choose from having the interest paid annually or at the end of each month. If you choose the former, this is paid every March. Finally, you can open the Easy Access Cash ISA online from a deposit of just £1.

The final ISA available at Virgin Money is that of its Help to Buy ISA. As such, if you’re not looking to buy your first home, then this won’t be suitable. However, if you are, then the Help to Buy ISA being offered by Virgin Money is well worth considering. Firstly, the ISA comes with a decent annual rate of 2.50% AER. This is much higher than the other ISAs being offered by the provider.

Secondly – and perhaps most importantly, you will also get a 25% boost on your deposits from the UK government. As such, you’ll get an extra £50 for every £200 that you deposit. Take note, this is only up to a maximum deposit amount of £12,000 – so the maximum amount you can get from the government is £3,000. Moreover, the funds can only be used to assist with buying your first home.

Furthermore – and as is the case with all Help to Buy ISAs, you can initially invest £1,200 during the first month of opening the account. After that, you can only inject £200 per month. On the other hand, there is nothing stopping you from putting your remaining annual allowance into another ISA account at Virgin Money.