Does investing in Stocks and Shares ISA affect my student loan/bursary?

jonj123

Hi

Sorry if this sounds like a ridiculous question. I want to open an S&S ISA and invest in some funds through hargreaves lansdown. When I want to open an account it asks for my national insurance number. Does this in anyway affect my student loan/bursary. I am a final year medical student and usually get NHS bursary.

Thanks

unimaginative_user_name

What are the terms and conditions on the bursary? Does everyone get it or is it means tested? Does it reduce if you have savings over a certain level?

All ISAs ask for NI number to check (I suppose) that people are sticking to the rules, not opening more than one a year.

jonj123

The bursary is means tested and does ask for parent's income and my savings but I want to know is there anyway that they could find out that I have a S&S ISA account from my NI number?

Linton

jonj123 wrote: »

The bursary is means tested and does ask for parent's income and my savings but I want to know is there anyway that they could find out that I have a S&S ISA account from my NI number?

I suggest that you work on the assumption that they could and would. Otherwise I guess it could be considered fraud.

jonj123

Linton wrote: »

I suggest that you work on the assumption that they could and would. Otherwise I guess it could be considered fraud.

I don't mean to say I would not declare my savings. What I'm saying is will having a S&S ISA SPECIFICALLY affect my bursary allowance? Because if it does I would not bother opening a S&S account.

xylophone

An ISA account, whether in cash or stocks and shares, is just a savings account that is tax privileged - I assume it is the value of your savings rather than where you have them that affects your bursary?

Scarpacci

The usual definition of savings for means-testing does include shares and other investments, be they in a Stocks and Shares wrapper or not. As far as your eligibility for the bursary goes, it doesn't matter whether you have this money in your bank account, savings account or in an S&S ISA. Unless you're going to dispose of it, this money would already count towards your total savings for the purpose of means-testing.

gadgetmind

As usual, the rules penalise those who prudently save while rewarding those who p155 their money up against the wall.

jonj123

Thank you all for the clarification. My investing adventure begins