Trading 212 - what do we think?

guido_mortgages

Hi all,
New to the forum so please be gentle with me. I want to invest in a cash ISA (haven't used my allowance up for 24-25 yet) and I am seriously considering Trading 212. I've used Shawbrook Bank and Charter Savings Bank in the past and had good experiences with them so I'm not new to online accounts. I know Trading 212 are MSE recommended so they should be fine and I'm aware of all the usual FSCS limits. But something about them is making me a bit nervous for some reason. I worry that £20k is a lot of money to potentially lose if things went wrong. What do you think, do we trust them? Have you had any experiences with them, good or bad? I suppose I'm looking for a bit of reassurance, Thanks in advance.  

Alexland

My experience of their service has been fine but I wouldn't go above the FSCS limit with them and would hold cash elsewhere too as you never want to be reliant on one institution for giving you access to cash in a moment of need.

Eyeful

1. MSE does not recommend any product. They just tell you what is on the market.

2. The process is the same for any product.
(a) First you use the the FCA register to obtain the to obtain the companies FRN & verified contact details.
Don't skip this step as you will be told of companies with a similar name &
any known scam clones of Trading 212 (there are a few so be careful).
 https://register.fca.org.uk/s/
Example:
Trading 212 (FRN= 609146)
Website, www.trading212.com

3. Then you go to the FSCS register to check if and how much of your money will be protected.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/check-your-money-is-protected/
Type in the FRN and how much you are going to save there.
When you do this you find that Trading 212 itself has no FSCS protection.

4. When you go to the Trading 212 web site & look under Cash ISA, you find that they are acting as a middle man.
The FSCS protection will come from the banks that Trading 212 uses to put your money in.

5. The question then is:
 How am I protected if Trading 212 goes bust before depositing my money into one of their partner banks
Click on Cash ISA in the link below.  
https://www.trading212.com/money-protection

6. If you are still worried than open a Cash ISA directly with a bank that has FSCS protection.
Have a look here:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1583864/Best-savings-rates-Isas-Cash-Isa-accounts-fixed-rate-Isas.html
 https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/

Hope this helps

guido_mortgages

Eyeful, yes, that is very helpful, thanks very much.

savvysavings2024

I first deposited £10k in their cash ISA in July 2024.

I made a withdrawal of £2k in October 2024 - this was smooth and problem free.

In Dec 2024 I deposited a further £11k+ to maximise my 2024-2025 ISA allowance.

At the beginning of this month, my 1 year fixed term ISA with Virgin Money from my 2023-2024 allowance matured. I completed the transfer request with T212 on 1st Feb and the funds appeared in my T212 account on 4th Feb.

Another easy and problem free transaction.

So I have done each transaction - deposit, withdrawal and transfer and all have been easy and straightforward (as was opening the account, as was changing my name on the account to my married name after my wedding in Jan upon providing a photo of my marriage certificate).

Everything I've needed to do has been easy and problem free. My husband has now also opened a cash ISA with them and we will both be depositing our allowances with them come April.

As someone else has advised, I wouldn't go over the amount protected by the FSCS. Of the £40k (plus interest) I have at present, 59% is with NatWest, 32.43% is with Barclays and 8.51% is with JP Morgan.

As I don't hold any other savings with these providers, I don't need to worry that my funds aren't protected.

Whilst I know it's easy enough to work out daily/weekly/monthly interest on accounts that only show or apply the interest annually, I like seeing it daily with T212 (shows daily and gets applied monthly) plus they have one of the highest interest rates for cash ISAs and we're quite a bit higher than the "loyalty" rate Virgin Money were offering had I stayed with them for last years allowance (though I don't know if T212 will reduce following the recent cut in interest rates)

Albermarle

guido_mortgages said:

Hi all,
New to the forum so please be gentle with me. I want to invest in a cash ISA (haven't used my allowance up for 24-25 yet) and I am seriously considering Trading 212. I've used Shawbrook Bank and Charter Savings Bank in the past and had good experiences with them so I'm not new to online accounts. I know Trading 212 are MSE recommended so they should be fine and I'm aware of all the usual FSCS limits. But something about them is making me a bit nervous for some reason. I worry that £20k is a lot of money to potentially lose if things went wrong. What do you think, do we trust them? Have you had any experiences with them, good or bad? I suppose I'm looking for a bit of reassurance, Thanks in advance.  

There are a lot of threads about T212 on the forum, especially if you scroll onto the next page after the current one. 

LynseyLoo13

I opened an account with T212 last summer, only added £500 to see how it worked. All went smoothly. Have now added 3 ISAs from 3 other providers to it (total is £79,000) and all fine. I then opened one for my husband, added 2 ISAs from other providers and all fine. At Christmas I opened one for my mam and one for my dad. All fine 😉

cookster

savvysavings2024 said:

I first deposited £10k in their cash ISA in July 2024.

I made a withdrawal of £2k in October 2024 - this was smooth and problem free.

In Dec 2024 I deposited a further £11k+ to maximise my 2024-2025 ISA allowance.

At the beginning of this month, my 1 year fixed term ISA with Virgin Money from my 2023-2024 allowance matured. I completed the transfer request with T212 on 1st Feb and the funds appeared in my T212 account on 4th Feb.

Another easy and problem free transaction.

So I have done each transaction - deposit, withdrawal and transfer and all have been easy and straightforward (as was opening the account, as was changing my name on the account to my married name after my wedding in Jan upon providing a photo of my marriage certificate).

Everything I've needed to do has been easy and problem free. My husband has now also opened a cash ISA with them and we will both be depositing our allowances with them come April.

As someone else has advised, I wouldn't go over the amount protected by the FSCS. Of the £40k (plus interest) I have at present, 59% is with NatWest, 32.43% is with Barclays and 8.51% is with JP Morgan.

As I don't hold any other savings with these providers, I don't need to worry that my funds aren't protected.

Whilst I know it's easy enough to work out daily/weekly/monthly interest on accounts that only show or apply the interest annually, I like seeing it daily with T212 (shows daily and gets applied monthly) plus they have one of the highest interest rates for cash ISAs and we're quite a bit higher than the "loyalty" rate Virgin Money were offering had I stayed with them for last years allowance (though I don't know if T212 will reduce following the recent cut in interest rates)

Hi, I'm looking to open a Cash ISA with 212 trading.
I believe that interest is paid monthly?  Is that added to your account or transfer to a dedicated external account.

Thanks

slinger2

cookster said:

savvysavings2024 said:

I first deposited £10k in their cash ISA in July 2024.

I made a withdrawal of £2k in October 2024 - this was smooth and problem free.

In Dec 2024 I deposited a further £11k+ to maximise my 2024-2025 ISA allowance.

At the beginning of this month, my 1 year fixed term ISA with Virgin Money from my 2023-2024 allowance matured. I completed the transfer request with T212 on 1st Feb and the funds appeared in my T212 account on 4th Feb.

Another easy and problem free transaction.

So I have done each transaction - deposit, withdrawal and transfer and all have been easy and straightforward (as was opening the account, as was changing my name on the account to my married name after my wedding in Jan upon providing a photo of my marriage certificate).

Everything I've needed to do has been easy and problem free. My husband has now also opened a cash ISA with them and we will both be depositing our allowances with them come April.

As someone else has advised, I wouldn't go over the amount protected by the FSCS. Of the £40k (plus interest) I have at present, 59% is with NatWest, 32.43% is with Barclays and 8.51% is with JP Morgan.

As I don't hold any other savings with these providers, I don't need to worry that my funds aren't protected.

Whilst I know it's easy enough to work out daily/weekly/monthly interest on accounts that only show or apply the interest annually, I like seeing it daily with T212 (shows daily and gets applied monthly) plus they have one of the highest interest rates for cash ISAs and we're quite a bit higher than the "loyalty" rate Virgin Money were offering had I stayed with them for last years allowance (though I don't know if T212 will reduce following the recent cut in interest rates)

Hi, I'm looking to open a Cash ISA with 212 trading.
I believe that interest is paid monthly?  Is that added to your account or transfer to a dedicated external account.

Thanks

It's added to your account.

Sea_Shell

Another satisfied customer.

I'd built up about £17k in my cash ISA with T212.

Needed £13k for a major purchase later this week.

Requested the withdrawal first thing yesterday (Saturday) and my banking app pinged to tell me the money had hit my account later that afternoon.

Was expecting to have to wait until Wednesday.

slinger2

Similar here. Withdrew £1k from T212 (non-ISA) Invest account on Saturday and the same today Sunday. Both times it says it might take up to 3 days and both times it was in my bank account within a few seconds.

Should add that I always initiate deposits and withdrawals from the T212 end. I then have to approve the payment in my banking app. Never had an issue, always arrives in a matter of seconds. Probably haven't ever moved more than £5k at one go. Might be slower for large amounts.