New HL fee structure from 01/03/26

TheTelltaleChart

I've had a couple of exchange-traded investments sitting in a Fund & Share account, attracting no fees, with no trades made since 2022, so these fee changes are probably all my fault!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857448#Comment_81857448

The main "catch" is that many investors over-trade (something which is usually bad for your wealth), so SWSD are collecting a lot of those £5 commissions.

Also, if you trade anything not priced in £, they charge an expensive 2% for FX conversion (so don't do that!).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857280#Comment_81857280

There are a few costs of investing that aren't tax-deductable (for Income Tax or CGT), but there's a lot more of that when it comes to costs of earning an living (e.g. commuting costs between home and work).

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857547#Comment_81857547

SW's FX charge is 1.5%, but it still makes no sense to buy foreign shares with SW. £5 per trade is cheap for a big established platform, but frequent trading makes little or no sense anyway. £5 is 0.01% of a £50K trade. SW does not pay interest on cash balances, but it makes no sense to hold cash with SW. SW does not support fractional shares though, so you can get ~£100 cash left over after Vanguard fund purchases in ISAs or SIPPs. SW does not support investments requiring registration as a HMW or Sophisticated investor, but these make little or no sense anyway. SW does not value index linked gilts correctly. SW's new SIPP administrator Embark does not appear to have a good reputation.

If you have a small account, the "fly-by-nights" may make sense, but I would not trust them with a 7 figure account.

disgruntled1234

In relation to the e-mails that people are receiving, the e-mails to both of my parents indicates they will both save £30-£40 per month on their HL accounts. However, my e-mail doesn't give the same information, even though I predict I'll be around £500 per year better off. There doesn't seem to be any consistency to these e-mails.

RL11

You can go to the "new fees" page on the hl website and enter the value of your holdings and expected trades and it will show you the current and future fees

disgruntled1234

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857882#Comment_81857882

yeh, I’ve done that but it just seems strange that my email doesn’t tell me the saving.

trevjl

Just put my values in as of todays prices rather than their 31/12/25 and it does roughly agree with their email figure of £8pm worse off, thats not allowing for any trades, but they are rare. Also looked at fees for last 12 months, paid £212, now going to pay £308.

Time to look elsewhere, I like their platform and customer service but not that much, I preferred the app and website more when I started with them 12 years ago.

mills112

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857756#Comment_81857756

i don't know how accurate those calculations are in their emails as they said i would be £21pm worse off but i am not sure if that is correct as it looks a bit higher than what i think it should be. i am trader, not an investor, but i only trade when there is bad news so i am an occasional trader, so my investment pattern isn't obvious. i will have to look into it and do the maths myself.

mills112

Reading briefly people's posts in this thread, looks like the following two have been identified as good alternatives

Trade 212

IWeb

I have had a look at my HL account and read the charges comparison table. It looks like I may be better off moving my ISA and certainly my Fund & Share account. The SIPP I may be better off with HL.

Anyone got opinions about the above two alternatives? Maybe have my ISA with one and Fund & Share account with the other? Do you think they are as safe for your money as HL? I am sitting in cash most of the time when there is nothing for me to trade in, so that is not protected. Therefore the platform security is very important.

jimjames

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857903#Comment_81857903

2 different versions of the email have been sent out. No idea how they decided between them but mine had the info, my fathers didn't but his fees are £1600pa, mine are a fraction of that.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81857216#Comment_81857216

Remember the £90 cap with Fidelity, covers the platform, so good value for a SIPP, and even better if you have an ISA and a SIPP.

Plus if you have largish funds, you might feel better with a long established company with Trillions of Dollars of assets under management, rather than one of the newer smaller ones.