Best sharedealing account with no monthly fee?

midnight_child

Hi folks,

I have an invest direct account with HSBC and I had a letter telling me they are now going to charge me £10.50 per quarter for the privilege of having this account.

Im pretty annoyed that they have given me just 6 weeks notice of this (they say that stocks are a 2-5 year investment so it may not be that I can just cash out immediately).
I only have about £7k invested in a few individual companies (most under S&S ISA) and I only make a few buys/sells per year. Not planning on investing any more so I want to transfer it somewhere where I wont have to pay an account fee, and can sell at my leisure.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
MC

richy999

The Monevator web site has a table showing the 'UK's cheapest online brokers';

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Not sure how up to date it is but it might be a good place to start looking.

george4064

x-o.co.uk
iWeb Share Dealing
Halifax S&S ISA Share Dealing

EdGasket

Also have a look at AJ Bell YouInvest.

x-o is cheapest but limited to UK shares and will only deal with corporate actions by post which is annoying if you aren't home much to receive the post!

iWeb are the cheaper version of Halifax but think they have had some issues lately and possibly introduced charges. I left Halifax as their platform was always down when you needed it most.

grey_gym_sock

iweb now charges £200 (!) to open your first account, though then no on-going fees for keeping accounts open.

halifax share dealing charges £12.50 per year for an ISA (so not nothing, but low). no account fees for a taxable account.

there are no account fees (for ISA for taxable accounts) with:

x-o

ajbell youinvest

svs securities

saga share direct (only available to over 50s)

TD direct (no account fees on certain conditions, such as minimum balance - unsure if you have enough for that to work)

and there are a few more providers who charge fees for an ISA but not for a taxable account.

but if you want a single provider for ISA and taxable account, with no fees for either, i'd be inclined to ajbell youinvest - they are 1 of the more efficient providers, IME.

george4064

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

iweb now charges £200 (!) to open your first account, though then no on-going fees for keeping accounts open.

halifax share dealing charges £12.50 per year for an ISA (so not nothing, but low). no account fees for a taxable account.

there are no account fees (for ISA for taxable accounts) with:

x-o

ajbell youinvest

svs securities

saga share direct (only available to over 50s)

TD direct (no account fees on certain conditions, such as minimum balance - unsure if you have enough for that to work)

and there are a few more providers who charge fees for an ISA but not for a taxable account.

but if you want a single provider for ISA and taxable account, with no fees for either, i'd be inclined to ajbell youinvest - they are 1 of the more efficient providers, IME.

I've had a look through AJBell's website ISA charges, it appears that there is a 0.20% pa charge for funds/structured products and there is zero charge for stocks/ITs/ETFs etc..


Is that correct?

grey_gym_sock

george4064 wrote: »

I've had a look through AJBell's website, it appears that there is a 0.20% pa charge for funds/structured products and there is zero charge for stocks/ITs/ETFs etc..


Is that correct?

yes: no fee providing you stick to stocks/ITs/ETFs etc.

midnight_child

Cheers guys.

There is certainly a few for me to look through. I also want to pay a visit into my local HSBC branch to get some clarification on the "notice of variation", as I have several accounts attached to my sharedealing account and want to know exactly what the score is with regards to if I keep say an ISA and move the taxable. I also want them to be aware that I am not impressed and am considering moving all the other accounts that I have with them (main current account, 3 savings accounts, and a mortgage). Will report once I have some concrete details on this change - so much harder for them to fob me off in person.

MC

gt94sss2

I also have to find a new broker - and a option I am considering (in addition to the ones mentioned above) is: http://www.tddirectinvesting.co.uk/

Everyone has until the end of March to transfer their HSBC accounts without penalty or fees - thankfully not 6 weeks!

But interested to know the outcome of your visit to HSBC - I think this change is going to upset a lot of their customers.

Regards
Sunil

midnight_child

The letter I have says that quarterly fees start on 1st Jan and will be collected 3 months in arrears. Don't know what happens if you close the account between 1st Jan and 31st march, but that is one question I will be demanding an answer to.


On their website I can find nothing about this change in policy, so someone could apply online to open an account today, based on their current terms, then start sharedealing without knowing they will be facing account fees in a few weeks time.
I did get a copy of their fees booklet while I was there and learned that they also charge £15 for each line of stock that is transferred to another provider. I will be asking them if they plan to waive this fee over the next few months as the only reason I wish to cancel my business with them is the change to the terms.


Right, where's :money:?


MC

Pinkle

A Hargreaves Lansdown Fund & Share account (i.e. non-SIPP, non-ISA) has a zero annual charge for holding shares, investment trusts and ETFs. There is a charge for holding unit trusts.

Online share dealing charge is £11.95 (less if you trade a lot).

http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/fund-and-share-account/charges-and-interest-rates

I looked at the Monevator link which does not seem to clearly reflect the above.