The Cashback for Bank or Investment Accounts Discussion Thread

flaneurs_lobster

clairec666 said:

happybagger said:

Anyone think the IG (in ISA, SIPP or GIA) offer worth a punt? £200 for a "lottery" of free share value min £50 up to £1k, looks like it needs to be kept until the end of March
https://www.ig.com/uk/bonus-shares-jan-26

Sounds too good to be true, or am I missing something? Invest £200 and guaranteed at least a £50 bonus, and possibly more? Of course there's the risk that your investment may lose money, but unless there's a massive crash you're likely to be covered by the bonus.

flaneurs_lobster said:

topyam said:

easysaver said:

IG - January 2026 Bonus Shares Promotion
Invest £200 or more and get between £50 to £1000 in bonus shares
https://www.ig.com/uk/bonus-shares-jan-26

Invest in GIA, ISA or SIPP

Extracts from t&cs:

5. You must satisfy all of the following conditions to participate in the Promotion:

A. Be a UK resident and aged 18 years or older; and

B. Make a First Trade between 17 January 2026 and 30 January 2026 (inclusive); and

C. Open at least £200 worth of trades by 30 January 2026; and

D. Hold at least one open position in your Share Dealing Account until 28 February 2026.
...

8. The shares that you receive as part of the Welcome Share Bonus will be credited to your GIA. They will not be credited to your ISA or SIPP even if your First Trade was in an ISA or SIPP. We will do this by 31st March 2026.

Is anybody doing this?
Any feedback from previous similar promotions from ig? 

Did the previous IG free shares promo, the terms were a little less arduous, open account, buy £50 worth of shares, leave them alone for 2 months, get free shares - I got £100 worth. Did do three £1-ish trades in that time, wasn't sure if was going to be liable for their quarterly custody charge for not doing at least 4 trades. 

They've announced that this charge has been abolished in the last week.

Shares now all sold (up a tenner) - easy free money. 

Previous post

wmb194

Shedman said:

winkowinko said:

Yes, the t's and c's aren't clear, and also seem to be lacking info on things like the funding window for example.

Just wondered if anyone has had any success. On the face of it, it looks like there's £500 to be made for opening 3 accounts, each with only £500 in.

From the 4th bullet point it would seem that 30 days from opening is the funding window otherwise CS reserve the right to decline commissions 

Charles Stanley

In the past the problem with CS is its fees but it looks like you can avoid the £60+ annual fee and transaction costs by investing in its own CS branded funds so I think this is what I’ll do. 

https://www.charles-stanley.co.uk/services/invest/diy/online-investing/rates-and-charges#tab-4-platform-charge

artyboy

happybagger said:

Anyone think the IG (in ISA, SIPP or GIA) offer worth a punt? £200 for a "lottery" of free share value min £50 up to £1k, looks like it needs to be kept until the end of March
https://www.ig.com/uk/bonus-shares-jan-26

Maybe the GIA or ISA, but their process for opening a SIPP via a 3rd party administrator company was so utterly awful that I gave up.

bioboybill

I'm still getting shafted by Etoro. Opened my account and deposited £5K on 9th Jan. Got no shares and told I had to transfer to USD investment account to qualify. Since then the USD has tanked and I'm £95 down with further £30 fx fee to come if I give up. Been told twice that I am now qualified. On 16th told it was passed on to Operations department to apply, but 9 days later nothing, and being ignored apart from Trustpilot agent who apologises and pretends to escalate. I have a phone call booked with my account manager on Monday, but expect the same crap service.

I filled out their official complaint form online this morning, with a view to complaining too the FOS if they don't sort this, and a few minutes later got a standard reply thanking in me for opening a ticket, but saying they've marked it as solved!

I was quite happy to leave my money in for 3 months, and I accept investments can go down, but I didn't expect wrong advice screwing me with fx fees and a tanking dollar. And no bonus to boot!

The worst financial services company CS I have encountered.

masonic

bioboybill said:

I'm still getting shafted by Etoro. Opened my account and deposited £5K on 9th Jan. Got no shares and told I had to transfer to USD investment account to qualify. Since then the USD has tanked and I'm £95 down with further £30 fx fee to come if I give up. Been told twice that I am now qualified. On 16th told it was passed on to Operations department to apply, but 9 days later nothing, and being ignored apart from Trustpilot agent who apologises and pretends to escalate. I have a phone call booked with my account manager on Monday, but expect the same crap service.
I filled out their official complaint form online this morning, with a view to complaining too the FOS if they don't sort this, and a few minutes later got a standard reply thanking in me for opening a ticket, but saying they've marked it as solved!
I was quite happy to leave my money in for 3 months, and I accept investments can go down, but I didn't expect wrong advice screwing me with fx fees and a tanking dollar. And no bonus to boot!
The worst financial services company CS I have encountered.

Maybe what happens when you replace CS agents with AI agents?
https://www.financemagnates.com/fintech/exclusive-etoro-to-lay-off-7-of-staff-globally/amp/

clairec666

masonic said:

clairec666 said:

happybagger said:

Anyone think the IG (in ISA, SIPP or GIA) offer worth a punt? £200 for a "lottery" of free share value min £50 up to £1k, looks like it needs to be kept until the end of March
https://www.ig.com/uk/bonus-shares-jan-26

Sounds too good to be true, or am I missing something? Invest £200 and guaranteed at least a £50 bonus, and possibly more? Of course there's the risk that your investment may lose money, but unless there's a massive crash you're likely to be covered by the bonus.

There are cash-equivalent ETFs you could consider to eliminate investment risk. I would suggest this offer is relatively weak compared to other investment offers we see, with the vast majority likely only getting a £50 benefit. Participating now may rule you out of a future, more generous, offer.

Thanks. I was purely looking at the percentage return - at least 25%. And only having to commit £200. I might still hold out for a better offer in future though.

happybagger

artyboy said:

happybagger said:

Anyone think the IG (in ISA, SIPP or GIA) offer worth a punt? £200 for a "lottery" of free share value min £50 up to £1k, looks like it needs to be kept until the end of March
https://www.ig.com/uk/bonus-shares-jan-26

Maybe the GIA or ISA, but their process for opening a SIPP via a 3rd party administrator company was so utterly awful that I gave up.

I'm ISA'd out and SIPP'd to my limit this year (I have no more income until April) so for me it would be the GIA anyway, so I hadn't looked into the SIPP option

andyhicks88

Shedman said:

winkowinko said:

Has anyone done the Charles Stanley Direct offer on TCB?

Charles Stanley Direct Offers, Discounts & Cashback Deals

Presumably you can receive the bonus for each one you open (SIPP/ISA/GIA), or is it capped at 1 per person?

To me it seems to be difficult to pick out from the T&Cs on TCB what, if any, are the requirements to qualify for the cashback.  Obviously one is the need to put £500 in but the other T&Cs are a bit strange (well to me anyway).  I don't get what reference to Actions in the 2nd bullet point is about.  And what's the 3rd bullet point about account funded transactions being batch uploaded after 6 months....is this indicating you need to hold on to the account for at least 6 months?   

On the face of it it looks a good offer (£150 for the Investment account) and if pick one of their multi asset funds then no platform fees.  Might have a punt.

I have a feeling only one of them will track rather than multiple but I'm interested to see, hopefully one of us takes the punt and we find out!

Nick_C

I opened a Santander S&S ISA a couple of weeks ago, and bought £100 worth of Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity Fund.

In the app, it says “ISA wrapper in place – No”

I don’t understand why.  Should I be worried about this? 

winkowinko

How regularly (if at all) do platforms allow you to receive transfer cashback?

I will soon be transferring my ii S&S ISA and SIPP to Freetrade for the 1% bonus, but it got me thinking, would this be my one and only opportunity to receive cashback from Freetrade? Likewise, if I wanted to return to ii in a year or two, would I be eligible for whatever transfer bonus they might be offering then?

Do you only get one opportunity from each provider?