Plum: savings, ISAs and investing in one app

Plum is an app for saving and investing, not a bank. It offers a variable cash Isa you can open from £1, alongside investments held in Isas and a general investment account, all run through its mobile app rather than branches or phone banking¹. There are no current accounts, overdrafts or mortgages, and the app is the only way to use it.

That distinction shapes what Plum is good for and what it is not. Because it is not a bank, money you hold with it is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the way a bank deposit is, and there is no overdraft, no mortgage and no branch to walk into. What it does offer is a way to hold tax-free savings and investments in one place, alongside tools that nudge you to put money aside.

This page covers what Plum sells, who can open an account, how its ISAs and investing work, how to complain, and where your money sits while it is with the firm.

What Plum offers: savings, ISAs and investing in one app

Plum sits in the category the industry calls investment platforms. A platform lets you hold investments inside one or more tax-efficient wrappers, which in practice means a self-invested personal pension, an ISA, or a general investment account⁶. Plum's own range is narrower than that: it covers ISAs and investing, and it does not sell pensions.

The ISA is the centre of the offer. An Individual Savings Account is a product that allows tax-free investment into cash, funds and equities, so any growth or income inside it is not taxed in the normal way⁷. There are four types available to adults: the cash ISA, the stocks and shares ISA, the innovative finance ISA and the lifetime ISA⁸. Plum's ISA range covers the first two of those and the lifetime version, which is dealt with below.

Alongside the ISA, Plum offers a general investment account, which is an ordinary taxable investment account rather than a tax-free wrapper. That matters for two reasons. First, investments held outside an ISA can generate a tax bill, and capital gains tax applies to shares held outside a wrapper¹⁰. Second, holding a general investment account changes what you can do with an ISA, as the Bed and ISA section explains.

If you are new to this kind of product, the section guide on ISAs sets out how the wrappers differ, and the investing guide covers what platforms do and how charges usually work. Plum publishes its own current charges on its website.

Plum's ISAs: cash, stocks and shares, and Lifetime

The three ISA types Plum offers behave quite differently, and the differences matter more than the brand name on the account.

A cash ISA holds money as cash, so the value does not move with markets but does lose ground to inflation over time. A stocks and shares ISA holds investments, so it can rise or fall, and the money is usually not accessible at short notice without selling something. A lifetime ISA is aimed at two specific purposes, buying a first home and retirement, and comes with conditions on when the money can be taken out without a penalty.

Whichever you choose, the tax treatment is the same in one respect: growth and income inside the wrapper are not taxed in the normal way⁷. What differs is the risk you take and how quickly you can get at the money.

Transfers between ISAs are possible but not automatic. It is possible to switch to another product, but not all ISAs will accept transfers, and the provider should switch the fund rather than sell and rebuy, so that the tax breaks are not lost⁷. If you are moving an ISA to Plum, or away from it, the receiving provider arranges the transfer. NS&I, for example, tells customers that they can transfer an ISA balance to another provider and that the new provider will arrange it¹¹.

Investing with Plum: fractional shares and a general investment account

Plum offers investing in fractional shares inside a stocks and shares ISA². A fractional share means you own a portion of a single share rather than a whole one, which lets a small amount of money buy a slice of a more expensive company¹².

That is a relatively recent change in the rules. Regulations made in 2024 allow certain fractional interests in shares, also known as fractional shares, to be held in a stocks and shares ISA and a Child Trust Fund¹³. The detail is that a fractional interest is an interest in a fraction of a share where the account investor holds the beneficial interest in a fraction that is less than one whole share, under the terms of a contractual arrangement between the investor and the account manager¹⁴. In plain terms, the ISA rules now recognise part-ownership of a share as a qualifying investment, and Plum is one of the providers that offers it¹⁵.

Plum is not alone in offering this. Freetrade, Moneybox and Plum all currently offer investing in fractional shares². If fractional shares are the feature you want, that is a market with several providers rather than a single one.

The general investment account is the other half of the investing offer. It is not tax-free, so gains and income can be taxable, and capital gains tax applies to shares held outside a wrapper¹⁰. The tax guide covers how that works.

Who can open a Plum account

Plum's accounts are for adults. The age rules that apply across this market give the shape of it: NS&I, for example, requires anyone buying Premium Bonds to be 16 or over and to have a UK bank account¹⁵. Junior products work differently, and for a Junior ISA a child aged under 16 can only have an account opened by a parent or legal guardian, while children aged 16 or 17 can open their own¹⁶.

Beyond age, the practical requirements are the usual ones for a UK investment platform: you need to be a UK resident for tax purposes to use an ISA, and you need a bank account to move money in and out. Plum's own eligibility rules, including any minimum amounts, are set out on its website.

If you are weighing up whether an app-based provider suits you at all, the getting started guide covers the basics of opening an account and what to have ready.

Plum's welcome bonus: how it is earned and paid

Plum has run promotional offers for new customers, and the pattern across the market is worth understanding even though the terms change.

A welcome bonus is normally conditional. A credit card example makes the shape clear: one card offers 18,000 welcome bonus points with a first card purchase made within 90 days of taking out the card¹⁷. The two features that matter are the qualifying action and the deadline. Miss either and the bonus is not paid.

Bonuses are also usually taxable in a way people do not expect. A cash bonus from a provider is not the same as investment growth, and it may have its own tax treatment. Because Plum's own bonus terms, amounts and deadlines change, and because this page does not carry product figures, check the current terms on Plum's website before relying on any offer. The savings guide explains how promotional rates and bonuses generally work.

Banking with Plum is app-only

Plum is exclusively app-based, along with Moneybox². There is no branch, and no desktop version of the account for managing your money.

That is a real constraint for some people. Most banks give telephone and online access plus branch instructions, but only a small number give access to the mobile app, which is the mirror image of Plum's position¹⁸. If you need to manage money without a smartphone, or you want a person to speak to at a branch, an app-only provider is the wrong shape for you.

There is a separate service for people who cannot open a bank account at all, but it is only available if you cannot open a bank account, so it does not help someone who simply prefers not to use an app¹⁹.

The practical test is simple: if you would be comfortable doing everything on a phone, app-only is workable. If not, the current accounts guide covers providers with branches, phone lines and online banking.

Plum is not a bank: what that means for your money

This is the section that matters most, and it is worth reading slowly.

Plum is not a bank. It does not offer current accounts, overdrafts or mortgages, and money with it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the way a bank deposit is. What it does have is FCA authorisation as an investment firm, which is what makes it answerable to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹.

Where does your money sit? Plum holds customer funds with Citi Bank³. That is the normal arrangement: many investment platforms hold your money in separate client money accounts, usually with UK banks²⁰. The separation is the point. Your cash is kept apart from the firm's own money, so if the firm failed, the cash should be identifiable and returnable rather than swallowed by the firm's creditors.

Two limits are worth stating plainly. First, client money protection covers cash waiting to be invested or withdrawn, not the value of investments themselves, which rise and fall with markets. Second, if you hold investments and the provider fails, the investments are held in your name and can normally be transferred to another provider, but their value is whatever the market says it is.

How to complain to Plum and when to go to the Ombudsman

Start with Plum. A formal complaint to the firm is the first step, and it is a required one: the Financial Ombudsman Service asks consumers to complain to the company involved before bringing a complaint to it²².

The firm then has a deadline. FCA rules allow firms a maximum period of 8 weeks to investigate a complaint and send the customer a final response letter⁴. The same eight-week limit appears across the ombudsman's own guidance: if the business does not send a final response letter within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with the response, you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman²⁶. For complaints that do not involve a payment from your account, the business has eight weeks to respond²⁸.

If eight weeks pass with no final response, or the response does not resolve things, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the next step. It is free to the consumer, and it can order a firm to put things right. Consumers may complain to the firm and seek redress from it, and refer the complaint to the ombudsman if the firm does not satisfy the complaint and it is appropriate to do so²⁹.

The ombudsman can only look at complaints about firms that are authorised by the FCA, which is why Plum's authorisation matters in practice rather than just on paper²⁰.