Halifax Sharedealing

IronWolf

I use Halifax as my second broker, I like them because they offer a good range of AIM and US shares and accept W-8BEN forms.

Their online trading layout is ok, nothing special, but what really annoys me is they charge a fee for placing orders if they don't get filled.

DiamondLil

Thank you. IWeb is one to consider then.
I'm also considering moving to HL and holding only investment trusts as an option.

bowlhead99

If you are moving to all investment trusts, and using HL, you would still be paying an annual percentage charge (up to their cap) for the ones in the ISA wrap even though you're not using the fund platform facilities.

Some others don't charge any annual fees for the ISA and brokerage facility (e.g. x-o.co.uk) ; others that are less of a bargain basement offering will have an ISA admin fee but often less than HL's £45, and some will entirely waive their annual ISA admin fee if you have a certain balance with them - e.g. TD Direct waives the annual ISA admin fee if you've got over £5.1k in it each year and doesn't charge an admin fee on the normal unwrapped trading account if you have it linked to an ISA. So with TD or X-O as examples, you would be paying zero per year after the transaction fees to buy or sell.

Nocto

I was with Halifax for over ten years and never had any problems with them. Good service, prompt dividends, etc.

Only reason I transferred out was because they don’t rebate trail commission.

I opened an account with iWeb a few months ago. Not used it yet, but the site looks exactly the same as Halifax’s. Nothing flashy, but it does the job.

I think I’m correct that Halifax use their own platform (which iWeb also uses), which implies they do most of their own administration. Not 100% on this though.

DiamondLil

Ah, thanks Bowlhead; I've looked at comparison tables 'till I'm cross-eyed and hadn't noticed the minimum balance requirements on TD Direct.

HopScotch

I've used Halifax Sharedealing for two and a half years now, never any issues but as somebody said earlier they aren't the cheapest option.

The online service is easy enough to is and does a decent job!

Chickereeeee

DiamondLil wrote: »

Thank you. IWeb is one to consider then.
I'm also considering moving to HL and holding only investment trusts as an option.

I moved from HL to Halifax even though a significant proportion of my hodlings were ITs and shares. I did not want platform charges for a particular investment type to be a factor in deciding my investment strategy.

Plus, I did not want to find that I had moved to funds over time, and then have to swallow HL's exit charges to nove to iWeb!!