Innovative Finance ISA

What is the Invest & Fund IFISA?

Our Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) allows lenders to earn tax-free interest on their lending through Invest & Fund. To open an IFISA you must be a registered user holding a Standard Account.

Who can open an IFISA?

To open an IFISA you must be 18 or over. You must be a resident in the UK or a Crown servant (e.g. diplomatic or overseas civil service) or their spouse or civil partner if you do not live in the UK. Those new to Invest & Fund can open an IFISA when they create their Lender account. Or, if you're an existing Lender, you can do so from your dashboard.

What is an IFISA?

The Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) was introduced on 6th April 2016, giving UK savers’ both an alternative asset class and a means of diversifying investment. The IFISA allows lenders to make peer-to-peer (P2P) loans within a tax-free wrapper meaning that any interest earned will not be subject to tax and will not count towards an individual’s Personal Savings Allowance. There is a cap on the amount you can subscribe to ISAs each tax year, known as the annual ISA limit, and this is currently £20,000. This allowance can be fully deployed into an IFISA, or spread across the different types of ISA. Lenders can also transfer funds from existing cash ISAs or stocks and shares ISAs into an IFISA. ISAs from previous tax years do not count towards the current year's annual ISA allowance, so this is a way to increase your exposure to P2P lending. For more information surrounding transfers, please email lending@investandfund.com

How do I transfer existing ISA(s) to Invest & Fund from other Provider(s)?

The transfer authority form is available from your ISA dashboard. Select the type of ISA you currently hold: Cash ISA, Stocks and Shares ISA or IFISA and complete the details for your current ISA provider. All or Part? Select “ALL” only if you wish to transfer all of the current year’s subscriptions as well as all previous years’ subscriptions in the account. Select “PART” if you wish to transfer all or part of a previous year’s subscription and /or all this year’s subscription.
Once completed, click on the download Transfer Authority form. (Alternatively, you can request the form to be posted to you). This form will need to be printed off, signed, dated and posted to the address shown on the first page: Invest & Fund 32 Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AY.

How long will it take to transfer my existing ISA to Invest & Fund?

There is no guaranteed time frame for transfers into the Invest & Fund Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). This can depend on the type of ISA you are transferring and how quickly your current ISA provider can complete their work and transfer the funds to Invest & Fund. Based on current HMRC guidance see the following link , transfers to an IFISA should take no longer than 30 calendar days. It is always best to ask your existing provider how long it will take them. Unfortunately, it can take longer, especially if your existing provider sends the funds as a cheque. The funds will only be allocated to your IFISA account when they have cleared in our client bank account and when we have received the accompanying Transfer History Form (THF) from your current ISA provider.

Please note that we are only able to accept transfers in cleared funds so, for example, if you have a Stocks & Shares ISA that you want to transfer then you will need to will need to instruct your ISA Manager to sell the investments before being able to transfer the proceeds to your Invest & Fund IFISA.

If you are concerned that your ISA transfer is taking longer than the above timescales, please contact your ISA provider in the first instance but you can also let us know and we can see if there is anything we can do to help. Once the funds arrive from your previous ISA provider, the cleared funds will be applied to your Invest & Fund IFISA account and available to lend on Invest & Fund loans. Funds in your IFISA account will not earn interest until you have lent them to a loan and the loan has been drawn down.

How can I lend from my Invest & Fund IFISA?

All lender categories will have the option of lending from their IFISA via a Auto-Lend, however only when account assets are £2,500 or greater will the Auto-Lend become active and automated lending will commence. Lenders who have categorised as High Net Worth, Sophisticated or Professional may choose to lend either using a Auto-Lend or self-directed investing.