Am I mistaken about Interest Rate %'s on Virgin Money M Plus Account

Band7

@Molly4, a cash ISA is just another savings account.

In return for the interest being always tax free, you are only allowed to deposit up to £20,000 in a single tax year.

Like with all other savings accounts, there are easy access , regular savers, and fixed term saver variations of ISAs. But you don't need to be concerned with that for now. The 3% Virgin ISA is easy access. Just in the same way as your M Plus accounts are easy access. But is pays you 3%, not just 2, or some derisory 0% above £1,000.

kaMelo

Band7 said:

Molly4 said:

p00hsticks said:

Molly4 said:

RG2015 said:

I was reading about pension credit the other day and was interested to see that it wasn’t automatically affected by having savings or owning your home.

 @Molly4 , I assume that you are aware of this and will be prepared when you get closer to state pension age.

Yes I am aware and am counting the days until I get my State Pension. 628 days to go!!!

@Molly4

Apologies if it;s already been mentioned, i haven't read the entire thread.

Have you got yourself a State Pension forecast to check that you are on track to receive the maximum amount , or whether there are possibilities for you to improve it ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

@p00hsticks Yes I have had a pension forecast and I am currently continuing to pay NI contributions even though I am not working so I can get the full State Pension when it is due to be paid to me. This will be in 1 year 8 months and 18 days time which is 20 months or 89 weeks or 627 days from now. Not that I am counting!!!! 

Someone mentioned Pension Credits in an earlier comment. There is no point in me looking into Pension Credits at present as there are going to be an awful lot of changes between now and 627 days time. 

If you get the full state pension, currently max £185.15 a week, you won't be eligible for pension credit, anyway.

There's next to no chance IMO for the general eligibility criteria for pension credit to change.

Not quite, as the OP is already in receipt of PIP, a qualifying disability benefit, then the minimum guaranteed pension credit level increases by £69.40 to £252 p/w. 

Band7

kaMelo said:

Band7 said:

Molly4 said:

p00hsticks said:

Molly4 said:

RG2015 said:

I was reading about pension credit the other day and was interested to see that it wasn’t automatically affected by having savings or owning your home.

 @Molly4 , I assume that you are aware of this and will be prepared when you get closer to state pension age.

Yes I am aware and am counting the days until I get my State Pension. 628 days to go!!!

@Molly4

Apologies if it;s already been mentioned, i haven't read the entire thread.

Have you got yourself a State Pension forecast to check that you are on track to receive the maximum amount , or whether there are possibilities for you to improve it ?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

@p00hsticks Yes I have had a pension forecast and I am currently continuing to pay NI contributions even though I am not working so I can get the full State Pension when it is due to be paid to me. This will be in 1 year 8 months and 18 days time which is 20 months or 89 weeks or 627 days from now. Not that I am counting!!!! 

Someone mentioned Pension Credits in an earlier comment. There is no point in me looking into Pension Credits at present as there are going to be an awful lot of changes between now and 627 days time. 

If you get the full state pension, currently max £185.15 a week, you won't be eligible for pension credit, anyway.

There's next to no chance IMO for the general eligibility criteria for pension credit to change.

Not quite, as the OP is already in receipt of PIP, a qualifying disability benefit, then the minimum guaranteed pension credit level increases by £69.40 to £252 p/w. 

Not according to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

p00hsticks

Band7 said:

kaMelo said:

Band7 said:

If you get the full state pension, currently max £185.15 a week, you won't be eligible for pension credit, anyway.

There's next to no chance IMO for the general eligibility criteria for pension credit to change.

Not quite, as the OP is already in receipt of PIP, a qualifying disability benefit, then the minimum guaranteed pension credit level increases by £69.40 to £252 p/w. 

Not according to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

There's no mention of specific amounts, but that link does say (my bolding)

If your income is higher, you might still be eligible for Pension Credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.

Band7

p00hsticks said:

Band7 said:

kaMelo said:

Band7 said:

If you get the full state pension, currently max £185.15 a week, you won't be eligible for pension credit, anyway.

There's next to no chance IMO for the general eligibility criteria for pension credit to change.

Not quite, as the OP is already in receipt of PIP, a qualifying disability benefit, then the minimum guaranteed pension credit level increases by £69.40 to £252 p/w. 

Not according to https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

There's no mention of specific amounts, but that link does say (my bolding)

If your income is higher, you might still be eligible for Pension Credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.

I have just run the Pension Credit Calculator, posing as a pensioner living in rented accommodation, receiving £185 pension a week and £50 PIP. No other income, no savings

kaMelo

https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/what-youll-get

£182.60 for a single person, that increases by £69.40 if you claim a qualifying disability benefit to £252 per week.
There are other elements than can increase the guaranteed pension credit such as claiming carers allowance or having child care responsibilities etc.

The amount of PIP you receive is not classed as income counting towards guaranteed pension credit.
.


Just out of interest I also ran the calculator, all figures are weekly.

Rented accommodation.
Pension £185.15
PIP £150
Savings £9999




If I added carers allowance or underlying entitlement to carers allowance.



You must have entered the figures incorrectly.

Band7

I am sure I entered them correctly. There‘s not much you can get wrong. The difference is the amount of PIP - mine was only £50 - and I didn‘t enter any savings. I.e. I was much poorer than you. Weird that you‘d get extra benefits when I got nothing 😀. As I am not getting any PIP and my income is too high, I won’t bother running it again

Molly4

Good Morning

Thank you again to all the people who have commented on my original post about the correct frequency of receiving 2% Interest on my Virgin Money M Plus Accounts. This matter has now been resolved. I have also been given advice about how to manage my Savings and get the highest amount of Interest I can. As a result of that advice I have now opened Virgin Money's Easy Access ISA currently attracting 3% Interest. 

My State Pension and Pension Credit status is not relevant to me for almost another 2 years. So I shall look into that nearer the time. As previously stated I have had my Pension Forecast and have matters in hand to make sure I receive the Full State Pension when it is time for me to do so. 

Regards

Molly4