Before you can start using My Plans you need to go through a simple registration. 

Firstly go to the My Plans log in screen at scottishfriendly.co.uk/my-plans

Then click on the register button, you’ll find it underneath where is says not yet registered. This takes you to the registration screen. 

You’ll need certain personal information to hand, so make sure you have your client reference number, your policy number, your date of birth and your postcode. Enter these details in the relevant boxes and click continue.

The next screen will ask you for a username between 8 and 15 characters long. Make sure you check the availability of your username before proceeding with the check availability button. When you have a username that’s free, enter and confirm your email address. Then choose and enter a memorable word, again between 8 and 15 characters long. Then choose a memorable word hint that will help you remember it in the future. Next enter and confirm the password you want once more between 8 and 15 characters long.

Almost done.

At this point you can opt out of a paperless account by checking the box on screen but you can always change this at a later date in My Plans. Then just click the register button.

You’ll receive an email containing a link to complete your registration. Click on the confirm registration button and you’re finished.

So, you’ve registered with My Plans – great!

Now you can log in.

To log in go to the My Plans login screen at scottishfriendly.co.uk/my-plans. Enter your username, password and date of birth. Then click continue.

Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten some of your login details. Just click on the ‘Forgotten your log in details’ button.

You’ll need to provide the security information you can remember to confirm your identity.

If you can’t remember any of it, you’ll need to call our help line.

Once you’ve entered your details correctly just click ‘Submit’. You’ll then get an email with either your confirmed username or a link to change your password or memorable word.

The next screen will ask you for 3 characters from your memorable word. Enter these using the drop-down boxes then click ‘Log-in’ to be taken to your summary screen.

You’re now logged in and ready to start.

Here are some of the ways My Plans gives you control over your investments.

It’s easy to view all of your Scottish Friendly ISA policies and their balances and certain details about any other legacy policies you may have with us.

You can easily apply for new policies within your Scottish Friendly ISA and view other products offered by Scottish Friendly, too. You can also download a PDF version of certain pages.

In any existing policy, you have an actions list, you can add a single lump sum payment, stop regular payments, if you have these set up already, or set up regular payments if you don’t.

You can transfer an existing ISA with another provider into your Scottish Friendly ISA, view your entire transaction history, switch funds within an individual policy or make a partial or full withdrawal from any of your policies.

There are more films explaining how to do these in detail later on.

Finally, you can also change the description of your policy.

It’s also easy to view details for any investment and change them if necessary. You can also search for and view your correspondence under the 'My correspondence' tab.

You can view your contact details and bank details under the 'My details' tab and change them if necessary; this is also where you can change your paperless account option.

Changing your login details is easy too, so everything is always 100% secure.

Finally, just select' logout' to log yourself out of My Plans.

To start a regular payment first log into My Plans and select the policy you want to start a regular payment into. Then click on 'set up a regular payment' under 'actions'. 

This will then open the 'set up regular payments' application form.

Fill in the fields as you require. 

For instance the amount you want to regularly pay, the date of the direct debit, the selection of funds, their split and the payment increase percentage. Then click 'continue'. 

The following screen is your details, this will be fully completed and greyed out, except for the National Insurance drop down, if we don’t already hold it on record. 

You can add it at this stage if you have it to hand or leave it as ‘no’ if you don’t. Then click continue. 

On the next screen you will see your current bank details filled in, but you can change these if you want to use a different bank account. 

Remember to confirm the account is in your name and that you are the only signatory required to set up a direct debit. Then click 'continue'.

Nearly there.

On the confirmation screen, just check the details are all correct and confirm that you’ve read the declaration and key features document. Then click 'submit application'. 

That’s it. You should now see the complete screen with the option to log back in to My Plans to view your policies again.

To stop a regular payment first log into My Plans and select the policy you want to stop a regular payment to. 

Then click on 'stop regular payments' under actions. A popup window will appear to check you’re sure you want to stop this payment. If you’re 100% sure, then click 'submit' to go ahead and stop the payment. 

On your summary screen it should now read 'there are currently no regular payments' under the payments heading. 

To increase or decrease a payment, log in to My Plans and on the summary screen, select the policy with the payments you want to increase or decrease. Then click on 'view' which is next to 'your regular payment' under the heading 'payments'. 

On the My Investment screen, click on the 'change' button. This is next to the 'click here to change your payment'; this then opens up the fields for the payment amount. 

Just enter how you want to either increase or decrease it, you can also amend the payment date here as well as the annual payment increase percentage. To save your changes click 'submit'. 

The next screen will show the changes you have made and confirm that they will be applied to the account on the next working day.

At some point you may want to switch funds within a particular policy, here’s how.

Log in to your My Plans summary screen and select the policy that you want to switch the funds within. Then go to the heading 'actions' and click 'make a fund switch'. 

On the fund switch screen enter the total amount in pound sterling that you want to switch, in the box which says 'fund switch amount'. 

Under 'fund switch details' enter the amount that you would like to switch out of a particular fund, where it says 'switch out details'. 

These can be taken from any fund or a combination of funds you have set up, but they must total the value entered in the 'fund switch amount' field above. 

Only the balance of funds you currently have set up will be shown here but it is worth noting that switches normally take place on the first pricing day after you complete the instruction. 

So the price at which your funds are invested could be higher or lower than the current balance displayed. Once you’ve done that, scroll down to the switch in details, here you can switch into another fund if you already have it within your policy or add a new fund to switch into.

If you want to add a fund, select the one you want to add from the drop down menu and click 'add'. This will now appear in the fund list below.

Once you’ve chosen the fund you want to switch into you need to enter the split percentage of where you want the switch out amount to go. These values must total 100%, a red alert will appear if they don’t. 

Once you’ve completed the 'fund switch amount' field, the 'switch out details' field and the 'switch in details' field, click 'submit'. 

Don’t forget while you are processing the switch you can find out more information on each of the funds by following the links above each section. 

You will then see a screen confirming that your request has been received and will be processed.

You can also use My Plans to withdraw funds from a policy.

Firstly, go to the summary screen and select the policy you want to withdraw funds from. Then click 'make a withdrawal', which you’ll find under 'actions'. 

Once on the withdrawal screen, you can choose to either specify an amount or withdraw the full amount from your policy. If you choose withdraw full amount then the withdrawal amount section will vanish. 

Depending on the policy, you will be given the option to close the account or leave it open. However, certain policies will be closed automatically. 

Withdrawals usually take place on the first pricing day after we receive your instruction. This means the price at which your units are sold could be higher or lower than the current balance displayed. When you’re ready, click 'submit'. 

You’ll then see confirmation that your request has been received and will be processed.

Alternatively, if you want to specify the amount you’ll need to enter the amount in pound sterling into the box under 'withdrawal amount'. You’ll be able to see your current balance and the balance after withdrawal to make this easier. 

You then need to choose whether you want the amount to be split proportionately between all your funds, if you have more than one, or if you want to specify different amounts from each fund yourself. 

If you select 'split my withdrawal proportionately' then it will automatically calculate the split and show this in the table of funds below. This will be shown as a percentage of each fund based on the amount held in each individual fund to the whole policy value. 

If you do this, you can then click 'submit' to go to the confirmation screen but if you want to specify the amounts, select this and enter the amount for each fund you want to withdraw money from. 

The total must match the amount entered in the 'withdrawal amount' box above, then just click submit to go to the confirmation screen.