Peer-to-peer lending platform FOLK2FOLK has launched its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA).
The IFISA has been created to give investors the opportunity to support British businesses within their local area whilst earning tax-free interest on their FOLK2FOLK loans.
Created in 2013, FOLK2FOLK helps create and sustain financially, and socially, successful local communities, empowering local businesses requiring debt finance by matching them directly with investors through its lending platform.
CEO of FOLK2FOLK Jane Dumeresque said: “We’re delighted to give our lenders the opportunity to earn tax-free interest from their FOLK2FOLK loans. It’s something our Lender community has asked for since we began our journey in 2013 and it’s something to be excited about. The launch of our IFISA comes at a time when investors are starved for yield, with most interest rates set well below inflation. At FOLK2FOLK we’re able to offer consumers an alternative income opportunity; one that now provides welcome tax-free interest earned through the ISA wrapper.
“We believe our IFISA returns will not only offer a source of monthly income for investors, enabling them to support their lifestyles and achieve their financial goals but also encourage more people to support and lend to local UK businesses. We offer our lenders great interest rates within a transparent structure, a great feeling of local participation and the opportunity to make a huge impact on the communities in which they live.”
FOLK2FOLK’s IFISA Lenders will earn either 5.5% pa, or 6.5% pa tax-free interest on capital, depending on the loans available for investment. The IFISA is currently only available to existing lenders for the investment of new money. With a minimum investment of £20,000, the IFISA requires lenders to use their full 2017/18 ISA allowance. All business loans are secured against land/property.
Dumeresque added: “The businesses our lenders support – those local, rural and entrepreneurial businesses – are the businesses that knit the very fabric of our society together. They drive past them every day; they eat in them, buy from them, stay in them and, in many ways, make them possible. They’re part of a growing national movement to help build and sustain financially and socially successful local communities, helping to create jobs, increasing opportunity and encouraging rural diversification and growth; something that’s essential to our pre-and post-Brexit success. It’s an amazing thing for them to be part of.
“The majority of our loan opportunities currently exist within the areas covered by our network of local branches. However, as we continue to grow and open new branches over the coming months the opportunities for lenders to invest locally will only increase.”
