Nationwide/Virgin merger and Isa's

The_stingemeister

Was wondering what people are thinking about the probable merger and how it may affect Isa's held with them. This is a quote from an email sent recently:

If you have a notice account or a Fixed Rate Bond which hasn’t matured yet, you can take your money out between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

You can also transfer your money from a Fixed Rate ISA between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

So would that mean you could "get out" of a non-flexible ISA with Virgin, and transfer it to a flexible one with a different bank and also (more importantly) without losing your several years of tax free contributions?

flaneurs_lobster

The_stingemeister said:

So would that mean you could "get out" of a non-flexible ISA with Virgin, and transfer it to a flexible one with a different bank and also (more importantly) without losing your several years of tax free contributions?

That seems to be true although gaining the advantage of the new ISA being flexible would have to be balanced against the interest rate change.  

clairec666

The_stingemeister said:

Was wondering what people are thinking about the probable merger and how it may affect Isa's held with them. This is a quote from an email sent recently:

If you have a notice account or a Fixed Rate Bond which hasn’t matured yet, you can take your money out between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

You can also transfer your money from a Fixed Rate ISA between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

So would that mean you could "get out" of a non-flexible ISA with Virgin, and transfer it to a flexible one with a different bank and also (more importantly) without losing your several years of tax free contributions?

Presumably this is designed for people whose combined savings in Nationwide and Virgin would take them over the FSCS protection limit. Nothing to stop anyone else making use of it though.

Yes, you could feasibly get out of a fixed rate ISA early without paying the penalty, but as interest rates are generally falling at the moment this isn't much use.

Shylock_249

The_stingemeister said:

 This is a quote from an email sent recently:

Was the email sent to you from Virgin or Nationwide? 

Both myself and my wife have an ISA with Virgin which matures late Jan, 237k & 190k respectively but thus far we haven't received such an email. 

We don't have accounts with Nationwide.

flaneurs_lobster

Shylock_249 said:

The_stingemeister said:

 This is a quote from an email sent recently:

Was the email sent to you from Virgin or Nationwide? 

Both myself and my wife have an ISA with Virgin which matures late Jan, 237k & 190k respectively but thus far we haven't received such an email. 

We don't have accounts with Nationwide.

Your ISAs mature before the free withdrawal period, although it's unclear if the offer would apply should you renew to a similar product (if it's offered).

Not likely that Clydesdale bank (aka Virgin) is going bust any time soon (especially since it's been bought by Nationwide) but you are both holding funds in a single institution at significant excess of even the soon-to-be increased FSCS compensation limits.

The_stingemeister

flaneurs_lobster said:

The_stingemeister said:

So would that mean you could "get out" of a non-flexible ISA with Virgin, and transfer it to a flexible one with a different bank and also (more importantly) without losing your several years of tax free contributions?

That seems to be true although gaining the advantage of the new ISA being flexible would have to be balanced against the interest rate change.  

Yes, true. But don't like having too much in a non flexible isa..."just in case". On a slightly different topic, I didn't really want the Virgin non flexible ISA. It was a mistake, not a big deal it is generally better interest than a flexible. I assumed it was flexible because you were allowed  3 withdrawals per year. A bit weird, when you're not going to be able to replace any withdrawal. The non-flexible small print is buried pretty deep. A little unscrupulous by Virgin?

The_stingemeister

Shylock_249 said:

The_stingemeister said:

 This is a quote from an email sent recently:

Was the email sent to you from Virgin or Nationwide? 

Both myself and my wife have an ISA with Virgin which matures late Jan, 237k & 190k respectively but thus far we haven't received such an email. 

We don't have accounts with Nationwide.

From Virgin, 4 days ago.

Ocelot

clairec666 said:

The_stingemeister said:

Was wondering what people are thinking about the probable merger and how it may affect Isa's held with them. This is a quote from an email sent recently:

If you have a notice account or a Fixed Rate Bond which hasn’t matured yet, you can take your money out between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

You can also transfer your money from a Fixed Rate ISA between 24 February 2026 and 1 June 2026 without giving notice, and without any charges.

So would that mean you could "get out" of a non-flexible ISA with Virgin, and transfer it to a flexible one with a different bank and also (more importantly) without losing your several years of tax free contributions?

Presumably this is designed for people whose combined savings in Nationwide and Virgin would take them over the FSCS protection limit. Nothing to stop anyone else making use of it though.

Yes, you could feasibly get out of a fixed rate ISA early without paying the penalty, but as interest rates are generally falling at the moment this isn't much use.

True, but it might be an opportunity to fix again earlier, if you have a FRB expiring after that threshold, before rates fall even  further.

Shylock_249

flaneurs_lobster said:

Shylock_249 said:

The_stingemeister said:

 This is a quote from an email sent recently:

Was the email sent to you from Virgin or Nationwide? 

Both myself and my wife have an ISA with Virgin which matures late Jan, 237k & 190k respectively but thus far we haven't received such an email. 

We don't have accounts with Nationwide.

Not likely that Clydesdale bank (aka Virgin) is going bust any time soon (especially since it's been bought by Nationwide) but you are both holding funds in a single institution at significant excess of even the soon-to-be increased FSCS compensation limits.

That's what I'm hoping too!

We have 19 accounts at the moment. 5 taxed in joint accounts (563k), and 7 ISAs each (943k), at 77 years old with a wife and no children I've been trying to reduce the number of accounts held and the number of banks and building societies we save with.  I thought that Virgin would have the backing of Nationwide in the event of it going bust. In the event of me dying first my wife would be unable to constantly move accounts or deal with maturities and would have to use professional help to deal with probate, IHT etc.  For me it's a pity that NS&I don't allow transfer in ISAs, if they did, I'd move everything in there. Thanks for your reply.

butterflymum

It might help you realise just how un-safe it is to have over the safe limit in one or more (if shared banking licence applies) banks and/or building societies, by using:

https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/check-your-money-is-protected/

as well as having a read of https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/.

keiran

Just one point about the NW/Virgin merger
- Virgin used to do market-leading ISA rates . This will now be a thing of the past