The new Innovative Finance ISAs have been four years in the making and will bring fresh competition to the likes of Rate Setter and Zopa.
- Fully regulated
- Only P2P lending platform to sit within the new ring-fenced Barclays Bank UK PLC
- Fully transparent investment options
- Choice of three return rates for investors depending on their risk appetite:
- ustUs Adventurous: Target Rate p.a. 9.61%
- JustUs Balanced: Target Rate p.a. 6.41%
- JustUs Prudent: Target Rate p.a. 4.32%
Three new Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) paying a tax-free return of up to 9.61% have been launched by ethical peer-to-peer lending platform JustUs.
JustUs is the brainchild of financier, Lee Birkett and is chaired by Derek Zissman, former vice chairman of KPMG UK, co-founder of KPMG’s Corporate Finance and Private equity practices and ex-Barclays Wealth and Investment Management board director.
Unlike other peer-to-peer lending platforms, JustUs is completely transparent and fully regulated. Its website allows people to choose exactly where they want to invest their money, along with pictures and detailed plans of the property or development that their money will support.
The new IFISAs are aimed at savers who are uninspired by poor returns but do not wish to invest in the stock market.
Founder and Chief Executive of JustUs, Lee Birkett, said: “Individuals and investors will for the first time know exactly what they are investing in. Lots of the other peer-to-peer platforms started out like this but somewhere along the way reverted to a ‘black box’ system, with no visibility for people to know where their money is going. Our customers are mostly high net worth individuals and high earners, who want a better return on their savings and investments.
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Those using JustUs can lend to borrowers with great credit histories, secured against property, and also to consumers with a less-than-perfect credit history, but who have friends or family members, with great credit histories, willing to stand as guarantor. There are three risk options people can choose from, starting with Prudent that will return 4.32% through to Adventurous returning up to 9.61% p.a.”
All three IFISAs pay monthly interest, with no fees, and have security in property. All JustUs cash is held within the new ring-fenced Barclays Bank UK PLC.
All earnings in the JustUs IFISAs are tax-free, up to the standard £20,000 annual ISA allowance. Investors can withdraw funds when they need them and replace them when they want to. Existing ISAs can be transferred to the JustUs IFISA quickly and simply.
When it comes to risk and protections for clients’ money, JustUs is one of the few peer-to-peer lenders that has maintained full transparency since its inception in 2016.
Birkett and his backers, who include advertising agency boss turned angel investor Sir John Hegarty via his business incubator The Garage, Soho, believe that with interest rates still at a record low, new products for savers are urgently required.
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JustUs is for everyone, it’s an exciting evolution for the sector, which can only become more relevant as savers become increasingly fed up with humdrum returns.”
