Best fixed fee platforms

chockydavid1983

Hi guys

Can anyone recommend some good fixed fee platforms please? I am with iWeb at the moment and have now gone over £50k with them so am looking to use another platform to reduce, albeit probably small, platform risk.
Would Halifax Share Dealing count as a different platform for these purposes? Interactive Investor doesn't seem great from what I've read on here. Does anyone have experience of Motley Fool, Lloyds Bank, The Share Centre, Club Finance or Alliance Trust?
I only need a basic service as I am an infrequent trader, holding 3 Vanguard funds and making up to a couple of trades of each per year. All I do is buy and check the value every so often, I can use other sites for analysis. I expect to be in the accumulation phase for a long while yet.

Thanks,
Chris.

Eco_Miser

Iweb is a trading name of HSDL, so share the same FSCS protection. Same applies to Lloyds Share Dealing, I think.
Since my money is actually held by the various OEICS and ITs I'm invested in (or their nominees), I'm not to bothered about having over twice the FSCS limit with Iweb.

Alexland

Frankly to get the most value from a fixed fee platform you really need to let the value grow above the FSCS limit. The risk is low but depends what proportion of your overall wealth is with this one provider. I wouldn't have more than 35% of my total ISA and pension pots in any individual FSCS registration.

However if your investments have only recently gone above £50k in iWeb it might be worth skimming off say £10k into a percentage based platform (which would still allow 20% growth headroom in the old account) which would probably be cheaper than paying for two fixed fee platforms for now. Choose one with no exit fee and you can always move it to a fixed fee platform later.

When selecting the second fixed provider then I would avoid Lloyds and Halifax as they are linked to iWeb so I would choose Interactive Investor as they would be the next cheapest reputable platform for most investment scenarios. On large sums I am willing to risk getting poor service for certainty of lower costs.

racey

Alexland wrote: »

Frankly to get the most value from a fixed fee platform you really need to let the value grow above the FSCS limit. The risk is low but depends what proportion of your overall wealth is with this one provider. I wouldn't have more than 35% of my total ISA and pension pots in any individual FSCS registration.

However if your investments have only recently gone above £50k in iWeb it might be worth skimming off say £10k into a percentage based platform (which would still allow 20% growth headroom in the old account) which would probably be cheaper than paying for two fixed fee platforms for now. Choose one with no exit fee and you can always move it to fixed fee later.

If you hold, say, £500k of funds in iWeb what risks are involved other than the normal risks of investments losing value?

Alexland

You run the risk of the client holdings not being correctly segregated from the business (as they should be) or fraud.

If the OP invests in Vanguard funds with another platform you still run those risk with Vanguard so it might be time to start using similar Blackrock funds so you are spread across the world's top 2 fund managers.

Froggitt

I'm with Share Centre. £1.80 a month. I also trade infrequently, although whenever I want to trade, I usually opt for the "frequent trader" boost for a three month period, that (£20 or so to deal for £7.50 a time) costs less than dealing at their extortionate one off percentage rates.

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

Frankly to get the most value from a fixed fee platform you really need to let the value grow above the FSCS limit.

If it is just for a few buy and hold funds, I think in a fixed fee platform like Halifax SD it is still very good value even if your investment is well under £50k, as its only £12.50 per annum platform fee.

LHW99

You could look at Vanguard if you only want Vanguard funds, but they haven't got a SIPP yet

chockydavid1983

Thanks guys.
I'll probably look at The Share Centre and maybe Interactive Investor.
Yeah, I had thought about holding other funds as well as Vanguard to reduce that risk too.
Tbh, I'm not overly concerned about either risk but I think why not for the sake of a bit extra in charges.

traineepensioner

chockydavid1983 wrote: »

Hi guys

Can anyone recommend some good fixed fee platforms please? I am with iWeb at the moment and have now gone over £50k with them so am looking to use another platform to reduce, albeit probably small, platform risk.
Would Halifax Share Dealing count as a different platform for these purposes? Interactive Investor doesn't seem great from what I've read on here. Does anyone have experience of Motley Fool, Lloyds Bank, The Share Centre, Club Finance or Alliance Trust?
I only need a basic service as I am an infrequent trader, holding 3 Vanguard funds and making up to a couple of trades of each per year. All I do is buy and check the value every so often, I can use other sites for analysis. I expect to be in the accumulation phase for a long while yet.

Thanks,
Chris.

I'm with interactive Investor for my trading & Isa account. total fees £20 per quarter (£80 per year) fixed, (£10 per trade & 2 free trades per quarter). I use VLS (among others) and trade infrequently. Suits my needs and no complaints so far (3 years).

chockydavid1983

Thanks @traineepensioner, that's god to know :-)