iWeb - seems one of the cheapest Stocks and Shares ISAs - any downsides? 12 March at 5:18PM in Savings & investments 14 replies 825 views

Doc_N

Looking to move a Stocks and Shares ISA from Hargreaves Lansdown to minimise ongoing charges.  iWeb looks to have pretty low fees, with the advantage (unlike one or two even cheaper options) of the backing of a major UK financial institution. No annual charges for shares, smallish dividend charges and £100 opening charge which can be reduced to nil by a transfer in.

The intention is to keep existing and possibly future shares there under the ISA wrapper to avoid taxes on dividends and gains in view of forthcoming tax changes.

Is there any downside to iWeb that I haven't spotted?  Or maybe a better and cheaper option with some sort of track record?

wmb194

Doc_N said:

Looking to move a Stocks and Shares ISA from Hargreaves Lansdown to minimise ongoing charges.  iWeb looks to have pretty low fees, with the advantage (unlike one or two even cheaper options) of the backing of a major UK financial institution. No annual charges for shares, smallish dividend charges and £100 opening charge which can be reduced to nil by a transfer in.

The intention is to keep existing and possibly future shares there under the ISA wrapper to avoid taxes on dividends and gains in view of forthcoming tax changes.

Is there any downside to iWeb that I haven't spotted?  Or maybe a better and cheaper option with some sort of track record?

No, not really. Its website is a bit 1998, withdrawals are a bit slow - think Bacs timescales - and its customer service is very hit or miss but otherwise it's fine. If you want something with solid backing I'm not sure there is anything else that really competes.

eskbanker

Worth checking that IWeb lists the specific investments you're interested in too, as platforms don't all offer identical ranges....

GeoffTF

No real problems. I have had an account with them since 2007. Their only charge for dividends is for currency conversion if they are paid in a foreign currency.

wmb194

GeoffTF said:

No real problems. I have had an account with them since 2007. Their only charge for dividends is for currency conversion if they are paid in a foreign currency.

I assumed the OP was referring to dividend reinvestment.

"Dividend reinvestment purchases are charged at 2% of the dividend value, and capped at a maximum of £5 per stock."

https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/charges.html

easysaver

FX fee of 1.5% and no interest on cash in GIA or ISA spring to mind.

From the same group:
Halifax charge £36 per year, £9.50 a trade but a reduced 1.25% FX fee.
Lloyds charge £40 per year, £1.50 funds, £11 shares/ETFs and "just" 1% FX fee.

Do the sums I guess?

talexuser

Fine by me, you can use others for more detail research, the couple of times I've been on to customer services they have been ok, asked about funds they did not have and twice the funds appeared to buy some time later. Over the years I've saved many thousands in fees compared to a % platform.

ColdIron

Doc_N said:

Looking to move a Stocks and Shares ISA from Hargreaves Lansdown to minimise ongoing charges.  iWeb looks to have pretty low fees, with the advantage (unlike one or two even cheaper options) of the backing of a major UK financial institution. No annual charges for shares, smallish dividend charges and £100 opening charge which can be reduced to nil by a transfer in.

No annual charges for funds/OEICs, ITs or ETFs either

The intention is to keep existing and possibly future shares there under the ISA wrapper to avoid taxes on dividends and gains in view of forthcoming tax changes.

Any ISA will satisfy that intention

Is there any downside to iWeb that I haven't spotted? 

Dated and not especially intuitive website, customer service is like the parson's egg (good in parts), no analysis of your portfolio, and, frankly, confusing Research Centre

But £0 pa fees?

For large, long term, buy and hold inactive portfolios (especially funds/OEICs) it's hard to beat and likely to be around in 10 years time

I'm a happy customer

milton1970

My experience is all positive

Website is a little dated plus there is no mobile / tablet app

Low cost with pretty good customer service through online chat

They went through a bit of a dip during CV with delays in transfers but seem to have that sorted now

OldScientist

As others have said, iWeb is a no frills service

1) the website is adequate but not especially easy to navigate for some things
2) The research centre is not great although the info is mostly there, but occasionally difficult to dig out. I tend to use Fidelity for the same info, where it is more accessible (not that I do a lot of research nowadays since my set of funds is settled).
3) While they have a wide selection, some funds are missing (e.g. most of the Lindsell Train funds are not available)
4) Once opened, ISA and GIA accounts are cheap if you don't do much (I withdraw funds twice a year and rebalance based on limits, so not necessarily every year). I should probably whisper the next bit, they never did take the £25 fee, as it was then, for opening the account (I did ask customer services and they told me their accounts department weren't always on the ball! They weren't wrong). 
5) They do not pay interest on cash, which means if you do have a need for holding cash and want some return, then money market funds are the only approach (the overheads are not so bad now the SONIA rate is around 4%).

flopsy1973

OldScientist said:

As others have said, iWeb is a no frills service

1) the website is adequate but not especially easy to navigate for some things
2) The research centre is not great although the info is mostly there, but occasionally difficult to dig out. I tend to use Fidelity for the same info, where it is more accessible (not that I do a lot of research nowadays since my set of funds is settled).
3) While they have a wide selection, some funds are missing (e.g. most of the Lindsell Train funds are not available)
4) Once opened, ISA and GIA accounts are cheap if you don't do much (I withdraw funds twice a year and rebalance based on limits, so not necessarily every year). I should probably whisper the next bit, they never did take the £25 fee, as it was then, for opening the account (I did ask customer services and they told me their accounts department weren't always on the ball! They weren't wrong). 
5) They do not pay interest on cash, which means if you do have a need for holding cash and want some return, then money market funds are the only approach (the overheads are not so bad now the SONIA rate is around 4%).

I have a large cash holding in isa on iweb waiting to deploy so could I use the met market funds you refer to to gain a bit while I'm deciding. ?