Is Plum safe?

[Blondiebeachbabe]

Need a new ISA and this one looks good. Is Plum safe? I’ve only ever used high street banks before! Thanks

https://withplum.com/legal/money-protections

It is covered by theFCA up to £120,000. I have just transferred a couple of under performing ISAs. Be aware that it is variable so the rate could go up or down, and the high rate is a bonus for the first year, so be prepared to move again next year.

I used Plum for my cash ISA for 2 consequetive years and was able to transfer it out.

The only pain is that it currently isn't part of the e-transfer system so I had to do a paper form to get it transferred and keep everything tax free. It took about 10 days but worked fine, Plum communicated better than Virgin Money through the whole process.

Less keen on their bank account linking services, but I was happy with their ISA rate whilst I was on the bonus rate.

As Lincslady says, it’s covered up to £120,000 so as safe as others. And yes, don’t be afraid to move your ISA around when you find better deals. Prosper has recently launched with a 4.6% cash isa

It seems fine for me.

One minor issue I have with it is that you're told to transfer deposits from the pocket to the ISA to get the interest - but the money went straight into the ISA for me. They could have been a little clearer about that.

I had an isa with Plum last financial year, I’m in the process of it being transferred to a new one with a different provider. My transfer is electronic, no paper forms needed

Historically I'd only used high street banks, but then Martin Lewis's top saving account recommendations introduced me to a range of other banking institutions with much better rates of interest! I'm with Tandem which is app based which horrifies my parents but I feel confident! Trading 212 takes some getting used to as well!

I felt a bit nervous going for something app based but as you say the interest rates are so much better! So long as they’re protected I’m going with it, I want my money to be earning me as much as possible.

Used plum, and only used them for the first year as the bonus rate was attractive, but it did really drop with the variable interest rate over the year so I'd be mindful of that when weighing up with a fixed interest option. No issues transferring although there is no sort number and account number as it's not a "bank account" - but it was still straightforward to transfer.

Again - did not like linking my main bank account and refreshing that periodically, was annoying.

Also note, the Plum interest looks good when it included the bonus rate.
But, you only receive the bonus payment all in one go, in one lot, after a year, so if you transfer your ISA out before that year, you'll receive none of the bonus payment.

And, very few other providers accept a transfer from Plum. I had to transfer out to an interim provider (Virgin Money) before I could then transfer from them to where I wanted the isa to go. Had lots of useful advice on here about what to do!

Some recent reviews on Trust Pilot are very scathing about Plum. I transferred my ISA to Tembo last week (lured in by the 4.5% interest rate) but am looking to transferring again having noticed a few days ago that Tembo don’t accept BACS transfers and to deposit funds you have to give access to your bank account. I was thinking about Plum but now won’t bother and I’m increasingly thinking a bricks and mortar provider is the way to go.