iWeb increasing the account opening charge....

virenque

Account opening charge

You'll pay a one-off £25 (increasing to £100 from 4th January 2021) account opening charge for the first account you open - if you open additional accounts then these will be free to open. Please familiarise yourself with any additional charges.

So by reckoning they would now be more expensive to hold a nominal £50k in a S&S ISA than Vanguard (for instance VLS60)?

virenque

Oh actually only more expensive in the first year with one fund choice. Doh.

Alistair31

Quite the hike that. Glad I’m already in. 

Alexland

Alistair31 said:

Quite the hike that. Glad I’m already in. 

Yup they are going to limit themselves to a certain type of very calculating new customer. We would unhappily still pay £100 for the long term benefit and it's not too far different to Jarvis XO who have slightly higher ongoing trade costs and the £50+vat closure fee.

masonic

Alistair31 said:

Quite the hike that. Glad I’m already in. 

It has previously been £100. Interesting that they are trying out setting it at that level again. That they reduced it to £25 suggests it proved a bit of a barrier to new custom.

virenque

I guess they will still be a useful ISA for a large holding that you don't change/rebalance?

Alexland

virenque said:

I guess they will still be a useful ISA for a large holding that you don't change/rebalance?

Of course a very useful account well worth the £100 in the right circumstances.

Thrugelmir

Like any business majority of profit comes from relatively few customers.  Been a huge number of new account openings across all platforms. Majority are most likely uneconomic to have even opened. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Opened mine earlier this year as a dumping ground for money accumulated monthly in Vanguard.  Just done the same for my wife's money.  Was intending to do it April once she'd maxed her 20k into Vanguard, so got in early before this rise.  She's stuck the minimum £2 into the share dealing account just in case having an empty account for five months were to cause them to close it.  I'd recommend others doing the same if they're not adding to their ISA anytime soon.

notavailable

I was intending to open an iweb S+S ISA in April because I have maxed out my ISA allowance for this year already but could I open a share dealing account now with a token balance and then add the S +S ISA later for free to avoid the price increase ?

Aylesbury_Duck

notavailable said:

I was intending to open an iweb S+S ISA in April because I have maxed out my ISA allowance for this year already but could I open a share dealing account now with a token balance and then add the S +S ISA later for free to avoid the price increase ?

If you've maxed your allowance, why not open the iWeb account now and transfer in what you've accumulated?  You won't be investing again this year so why leave it where it is where it's (presumably) costing more to hold?

If you want to leave the current money where it is (perhaps it's cash?) then yes, see my post above yours. Open an ISA now for £25, it comes with a free share dealing account.  If you want to play safe, stick the minimum £2 in the share dealing account then even if they close your ISA between now and April, you can re-open one at no charge.