Virgin Money Club M

The Virgin Money Club M Account is a packaged bank account: a current account that bundles insurance and other perks alongside everyday banking. What marks it out is a worldwide family multi-trip travel insurance policy, which comes with winter sports, golf and wedding cover as standard, plus worldwide family mobile and gadget insurance and UK and Europe breakdown cover¹. The account also opens the door to exclusive savings accounts and offers, such as the Regular Saver Exclusive and the M Access ISA¹.

The travel insurance is the main draw for most people considering Club M. It covers the account holder, a partner and up to four dependants, as long as every adult insured is under 75 and lives at the same address¹. The policy is underwritten by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd and administered by Cover-More Insurance Services Ltd, trading as Travel Guard¹. Club M customers can also add an instant access savings account, the Club M Saver, which pays interest quarterly and is only available with the account³.

Virgin Money's business has transferred to Nationwide Building Society, and that changes how deposit protection works: eligible deposits with Virgin Money and Nationwide now count together towards one £120,000 per person limit⁴. More on that below.

What the Club M Account includes

The Club M Account sits in Virgin Money's current account range as the one built around insurance. Alongside the travel policy, it includes worldwide family mobile and gadget insurance and UK and Europe breakdown cover². Club M customers also get access to concierge services through the travel insurance package⁷, and the account can be registered for Virgin Money Cashback, the provider's rewards scheme, which is open to holders of several Virgin Money accounts including Club M⁸.

Everyday banking works much as it does elsewhere. The fee information document for the account lists no fee for Direct Debits, standing orders or incoming SEPA payments⁹. Arranged overdrafts are offered on the Club M Account, and the online overdraft request form is available to holders who have had the account for more than six months¹⁰. How overdraft interest and charges are worked out is covered in our guide to overdraft charges.

Holding a Club M Account also unlocks accounts that are not open to the general public. Virgin Money describes these as exclusive accounts and offers, naming the Regular Saver Exclusive and the M Access ISA, and its savings pages confirm that exclusive issues are open to holders of eligible Virgin Money current accounts such as the M Plus Account, M Account or Club M Account¹. The Club M Saver, covered below, is the one tied specifically to this account.

Club M travel insurance: who is covered and where

The insurance is a worldwide multi-trip policy, so it covers repeated trips over the year rather than one holiday. It covers you, a partner and up to four dependants, provided all adults insured are under 75 and live at the same address¹. Cover starts the moment the Club M Account is opened, though any pre-existing medical conditions may not be covered until medical screening with Travel Guard has been completed⁷.

The policy wording sets out what each part of the cover pays:

Winter sports cover runs to 17 days of winter sports travel a year in total⁵, and if sickness or injury stops you skiing, the policy pays up to £75 for every 24-hour period you could not ski, up to £500⁵. For equipment claims, the amount paid depends on the age of the equipment: 90% of what you paid if it is up to a year old, falling to 20% up to five years old and nothing beyond that⁵.

There are countries the policy will not touch. Claims are excluded for trips in, to or through Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, the Crimea region, and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, including where a trip was booked to one of these places even if you do not go⁵. The policy is governed by the law of whichever part of the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands you live in⁵.

Pre-existing medical conditions and upgrading your cover

The policy's definition of a pre-existing medical condition is broad: any medical condition for which, in the 12 months before purchasing, you have had symptoms, consulted a doctor or received treatment, including regular prescribed medication¹². Virgin Money's guidance adds that this includes past conditions, conditions under investigation and long-term conditions requiring ongoing treatment or monitoring, such as asthma, diabetes, heart or mental health conditions¹³.

Some pre-existing conditions are covered by the Club M policy and some can be covered by paying an additional premium¹⁴. The practical step is medical screening with Travel Guard: cover starts when the account opens, but pre-existing conditions may not be covered until screening is complete⁷. This matters because, as Which? notes, insurers usually will not cover pre-existing medical conditions unless they have been declared and added to the policy¹⁵.

One rule catches people out. Travel Guard cannot cover some of your conditions and not others: cover will either be provided for all of them or none of them⁷. So a condition that screening declines can block cover for conditions that would otherwise have been accepted, and in that case the whole family's medical cover on the policy is affected. To discuss screening or upgrade cover, call Travel Guard on 01273 740 981 or email virginmoneytravel@travelguard.com⁷.

What Club M travel insurance does not cover

The exclusions fall into three groups: where you travel, what you declare and what the policy was never meant to do.

Where you travel. If the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against all, or all but essential, travel to your destination, the travel insurance will not cover the trip¹⁶. The policy wording goes further: you will not be covered if you do not follow any advice or recommendation from the FCDO, the World Health Organization or any government or official authority at any destination you are travelling from, through or to¹⁷. On cancellation, you can only claim if the change in FCDO advice is not due to an epidemic or pandemic such as COVID-19¹⁶.

What you declare. Claims relating to pre-existing medical conditions are not covered unless the conditions were declared and accepted for cover¹². Mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, are excluded unless you told the insurer and it agreed to provide cover, where advice or treatment was received in the two years before the account was opened or the trip was booked⁵. For COVID-19 claims, the insurer accepts only a PCR test result or a verified lateral flow or antigen test result with a certificate; an at-home lateral flow test uploaded to the NHS or another website is not accepted¹⁶.

What the policy does not do. It is not private medical insurance: it only covers emergency medical treatment abroad during the trip¹². Business travel is not covered, though non-manual paid and voluntary work, including bar work, is¹⁸. Drones are not covered under the gadget insurance¹⁹. There is also no cover if you have not left enough time to travel to and register at the international departure point, or if you refuse to give your details or register with the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES)¹⁸. Remember that travel insurance only covers non-refundable costs, so contact your travel provider first for a refund¹⁶.

How to make a travel insurance claim

Claims for the Club M policy are handled through the Club M existing customers page on Virgin Money's site²⁰. For the wider Virgin Money travel insurance range, claims for all sections except gadget cover go to a claims service on +44 (0) 1403 788 701, by email or through the online claims portal, while gadget claims have their own line and claim form²¹. You can track a claim on the online customer portal²⁰.

Two details in the policy wording affect how much a claim pays. If you claim for lost or stolen money, you pay an excess of £50 per person, per claim⁵. And legal action claims under the relevant section are excluded if made more than 180 days after the incident⁵. Which? advises getting evidence in place early, as insurers usually won't pay out without documentation¹⁵.

If something goes wrong with the service rather than the claim itself, complaints about the sale or administration of the policy go to the Virgin Money Travel Insurance Complaints Team, claim complaints (except gadget cover) to the claims administrator, and gadget cover claim complaints to the gadget insurer, with the addresses in the policy's support pages¹⁸. A consumer unhappy with the outcome can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Club M Saver: an instant access account for Club M customers

The Club M Saver is an instant access savings account available only to Club M Account holders: it may only be opened if you have a Club M Account in the same name or names⁶. There are no minimum or maximum balance restrictions and no need to pay in regularly⁶, which makes it usable as a place to park spare money alongside the current account rather than a committed savings plan. Our page on current accounts and savings accounts explains the difference between the two kinds of account.

Interest is calculated on a daily basis and paid on the last working day of each calendar quarter²³, which the account terms list as March, June, September and December²⁴. Interest is paid gross, meaning no income tax is deducted before it reaches you; any tax due is paid directly to HMRC⁶. How much tax, if any, depends on your circumstances, and our guide to interest and tax explains the rules. The current interest rate is on Virgin Money's site.

Because the Saver is exclusive to the Club M Account, closing the current account or switching away from Club M generally means the Saver goes too. Virgin Money's other current accounts have their own linked savers, such as the M Plus Saver for M Plus Account holders, so the pattern is consistent across the range²⁵.

How to open a Club M Account or add the Saver

The Club M Account can be opened online or by calling Virgin Money on 0800 678 3654¹. As with any current account, you will need to prove your identity and address; our guides on how to open a bank account and the ID you need set out what to expect and what to do if a bank refuses you.

If you already have the Club M Account but not the Saver, the Saver can be opened online or by calling the same number⁶. An arranged overdraft, if you want one, is requested through Virgin Money's online form, which is available once you have held the account for more than six months¹⁰.

Switching to Club M from another bank can be done with the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), which Virgin Money states is free to use to close an old account and move across²⁴. The service guarantees your incoming and outgoing payments are moved, and our guide to the switch service explains the timeline and protections, including what happens to payments sent to your old account.

FSCS protection for your Club M money

Virgin Money's business has transferred to Nationwide, and this changes the deposit protection calculation. Eligible deposits with Virgin Money and Nationwide are covered together, up to a total of £120,000 per person⁴. The Club M Account page states the same: combined deposits with Virgin Money and Nationwide are covered up to £120,000 per person¹.

In practice, this means money in a Club M Account, a Club M Saver and any Nationwide savings accounts all count towards one shared limit rather than separate ones. A saver with large balances across both brands has less headroom than the old per-bank limits might suggest. Our guide to FSCS protection explains how the scheme works, and the page on the Virgin Money accounts moving to Nationwide covers what else the transfer changes for customers.

The insurance that comes with the account is separate from deposit protection. Insurance complaints and claims are handled through the insurer and the Financial Ombudsman Service rather than the FSCS, and the policy's own terms, summarised above, set out what is and is not covered.