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Not sure which financial institution to do business with? If you’d like to find out more about Virgin Money, here’s the dish.
The Virgin brand has delved into the waters of various markets in recent years, and in 1995 Richard Branson's behemoth branched out into finance. Based in the UK, Virgin Money is fully owned by the Virgin Group, and was originally known as Virgin Direct. Following on from its expansion in the UK, offering credit cards, loans, mortgages, insurance and pensions, Virgin Money began operating in Australia when it introduced its credit cards. This expansion built upon the brand's local recognition, which started with the record label and presence of city centre superstores, and continued with the launch of the Virgin Blue budget airline. Virgin Money Australia is partly owned by the Macquarie Bank Pty Ltd, and was followed on the international stage by the launch of Virgin Money South Africa in 2006, also in the field of credit cards.
Virgin products and services
Virgin Money prides itself on the same things that has made the Virgin Group's other products a success internationally – an informal and simple to use interface visible on its website, for one. Expanding at a steady rate from credit cards into other finance areas, Virgin Money Australia now offers superannuation, which arrived in 2005, as well as home loans, which were introduced in 2006. It competes with the big banks through its series of user-friendly incentives. Virgin credit cards, for instance, incur no annual fee, have a low ongoing interest rate and no interest for the first six months after a customer transfers their balance to a new Virgin card. Rates on superannuation and home loans are similarly intended to be customer-pleasing and flexible, with various rewards. Superannuation is managed by Macquarie Funds. Low fees and the “DIY” selection of asset mixes have led to its relative popularity. In addition, the breadth of the Virgin holdings has enabled Virgin Money to get a foothold into the competitive home loan market – at the time of writing, people taking out a home loan with Virgin Money are rewarded with two free tickets to anywhere in Australia flying with Virgin Blue airlines. It’s an interesting use of company clout and one that, yet again, may trigger changes to an otherwise very conservative Australian financial services sector.
Contact Virgin Money
Virgin Money,
GPO Box 18,
Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1800 080 000