New HL fee structure from 01/03/26

DRS1

phlebas192 said:

I was planning to move my wife's trading account from ii to HL once her ii fee free period ended, but instead it looks like her much larger HL ISA will be going to ii. Or maybe both to Scottish Widows. Decisions, decisions.

My mother has an ISA and F&S with HL and both would hit the £150 cap so that's going to be hugely more expensive for her since she rarely trades. Somewhat surprisingly in her email it says:

"As you currently hold a Venture Capital Trust (VCT), we are pleased to confirm we have applied an exclusive discount for you. You will continue to benefit from FREE account charges to own Shares** in a Fund and Share Account for an additional 12 months, from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. For more information, please see our full offer Terms & Conditions." [the T&Cs link is personalised so I can't share it but they are pretty basic]

This is a bit bizarre since the new charges page says "There’s currently no charge to hold Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) in a Fund and Share Account. From 1 March, our 0.35% account charge will apply (capped at £150 per year)."

On this basis, I might hold off getting her to transfer elsewhere for a while to see how other companies react. I'm hoping there might be some good offers to tempt away HL customers! 

I really must read my emails more carefully.  I read this and thought Hold on but then went back to my email and hey presto I had a similar paragraph.  What is interesting is the free bit only applies to shares so bonds will incur a charge presumably but what about ITs or ETFs?

I wonder if they took this offer into account when saying how much extra you would pay each month? 

soulsaver

New price plans - ii.

For reference, above is II's proposed plan charges from Feb 01.

For example, for its 'Plus' offering, see below.

Click the link for 'Core' & 'Premium' offers.

"£14.99 per month

Good for those who want unlimited investing and a range of benefits to invest for themselves or their family.

Portfolio limit : No limit

Benefits

• All the Core plan benefits
• Free Junior ISAs for all your children
• 5 x Free family accounts
• 1 x Free monthly trade
• Buy and sell funds for just £1.49

Trade costs
Funds	£1.49 per trade
UK and US shares	£3.99 per trade
Other international shares	£7.99 per trade
Foreign exchange	Up to £50,000 = 0.75% Over £50,000 = 0.25%
Regular investments	Free
Dividend reinvestments	£0.99 per holding."

InvesterJones

DRS1 said:

phlebas192 said:

I was planning to move my wife's trading account from ii to HL once her ii fee free period ended, but instead it looks like her much larger HL ISA will be going to ii. Or maybe both to Scottish Widows. Decisions, decisions.

My mother has an ISA and F&S with HL and both would hit the £150 cap so that's going to be hugely more expensive for her since she rarely trades. Somewhat surprisingly in her email it says:

"As you currently hold a Venture Capital Trust (VCT), we are pleased to confirm we have applied an exclusive discount for you. You will continue to benefit from FREE account charges to own Shares** in a Fund and Share Account for an additional 12 months, from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. For more information, please see our full offer Terms & Conditions." [the T&Cs link is personalised so I can't share it but they are pretty basic]

This is a bit bizarre since the new charges page says "There’s currently no charge to hold Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) in a Fund and Share Account. From 1 March, our 0.35% account charge will apply (capped at £150 per year)."

On this basis, I might hold off getting her to transfer elsewhere for a while to see how other companies react. I'm hoping there might be some good offers to tempt away HL customers! 

I really must read my emails more carefully.  I read this and thought Hold on but then went back to my email and hey presto I had a similar paragraph.  What is interesting is the free bit only applies to shares so bonds will incur a charge presumably but what about ITs or ETFs?

I wonder if they took this offer into account when saying how much extra you would pay each month? 

It's a bit unclear - earlier in the charges explained document they say they're 'introducing a charge of 0.35 to hold shares' - but they mean shares, ITs, ETFs and bonds, while the 'offer' (I also have, just for having a gilt) mentions 'nil share custody charges'. And no, I don't think the offer is taken into any account when they say how much extra the 'better value for money' changes will approximately cost you.

phlebas192

DRS1 said:

phlebas192 said:

I was planning to move my wife's trading account from ii to HL once her ii fee free period ended, but instead it looks like her much larger HL ISA will be going to ii. Or maybe both to Scottish Widows. Decisions, decisions.

My mother has an ISA and F&S with HL and both would hit the £150 cap so that's going to be hugely more expensive for her since she rarely trades. Somewhat surprisingly in her email it says:

"As you currently hold a Venture Capital Trust (VCT), we are pleased to confirm we have applied an exclusive discount for you. You will continue to benefit from FREE account charges to own Shares** in a Fund and Share Account for an additional 12 months, from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. For more information, please see our full offer Terms & Conditions." [the T&Cs link is personalised so I can't share it but they are pretty basic]

This is a bit bizarre since the new charges page says "There’s currently no charge to hold Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) in a Fund and Share Account. From 1 March, our 0.35% account charge will apply (capped at £150 per year)."

On this basis, I might hold off getting her to transfer elsewhere for a while to see how other companies react. I'm hoping there might be some good offers to tempt away HL customers! 

I really must read my emails more carefully.  I read this and thought Hold on but then went back to my email and hey presto I had a similar paragraph.  What is interesting is the free bit only applies to shares so bonds will incur a charge presumably but what about ITs or ETFs?

I wonder if they took this offer into account when saying how much extra you would pay each month? 

I would hope that it also included ITs, ETFs and bonds but my mother doesn't hold any of those in her F&S account. Brokers mostly seem to differentiate between securities traded in real time (shares - and ITs are definitely shares, ETFs & bonds) vs funds which are not.

My mother's email doesn't actually say how much extra she will be paying but it will be £8.75 a month in account charges for the ISA minus a small amount for her very infrequent trades..

Rollinghome

jimjames said:

redux said:

jimjames said:

Eemum said:

I have approx 50k shares in a HL fund & share account, with zero charges. I don’t trade, Im just holding them long term. New charges will cost £150 p.a. Any suggestions for an alternative free or low cost home for my shares? Thanks

Can't beat iWeb now Scottish Widows as that's £0 if you don't trade

Some platforms have a flat charge such as £1.50 a time, whereas iWeb is 2 per cent of the reinvested amount, thus either lower or higher depending on size

With the introduction of the SWSD/iWeb free regular savings option there is no need to pay any fees for reinvesting dividends. Get paid as cash into the ISA and then invest using regular savings

I'm surprised they haven't fixed all the broken bits in their website before jacking up their fees (in my case at least). About 80% of my investments have long been with Iweb and was already thinking of moving the HL accounts there too.

The rise in the ISA caps will cost Mrs R and myself another £210 pa and their share trading charge is still 40% higher than Iweb.

Their nudge is just what I needed to consolidate the ISAs at Iweb.  The SIPP can stay until I take a look round.

koru

Robert_McGeddon said:

koru said:

Reg_Smeeton said:

Email just received.

My interpretation is that if you hold shares/ETFs/bonds in your LISA the cap remains at £45/year, am I right?

That’s the conclusion I came to 

Not my reading, unfortunately.

I hold only ETFs and shaes in an ISA at HL.  Annual fees capped at £45.  As I read it HL will now cap my fee at £150 p.a.

Their section on LISAs says “ There are no changes to the account charges for any investments held in a Lifetime ISA.” Seems clear.

If you use the fee calculator it shows no change in the fee for a LISA with just shares in it. 

GeoffTF

I have been offered free custody for "shares" in my Fund & Share Account for another year. As has already been observed, it is not clear whether "shares" includes gilts in this context (as it does elsewhere in the email). My HL Fund & Share account holds only gilts.

Currently, HL can trade index linked gilts only over the telephone, but index linked gilt trades are charged at the online rate. It is not clear whether this will still apply.

I will send HL a Secure Message asking for clarification. I have either got a good deal for another year, or I am being shown the door.

DRS1

GeoffTF said:

I have been offered free custody for "shares" in my Fund & Share Account for another year. As has already been observed, it is not clear whether "shares" includes gilts in this context (as it does elsewhere in the email). My HL Fund & Share account holds only gilts.

Currently, HL can trade index linked gilts only over the telephone, but index linked gilt trades are charged at the online rate. It is not clear whether this will still apply.

I will send HL a Secure Message asking for clarification. I have either got a good deal for another year, or I am being shown the door.

Do they say this is because you hold gilts (or bonds)?  If so perhaps shares is meant to cover bonds as well.  We could always wait until March to find out.

GeoffTF

DRS1 said:

GeoffTF said:

I have been offered free custody for "shares" in my Fund & Share Account for another year. As has already been observed, it is not clear whether "shares" includes gilts in this context (as it does elsewhere in the email). My HL Fund & Share account holds only gilts.

Currently, HL can trade index linked gilts only over the telephone, but index linked gilt trades are charged at the online rate. It is not clear whether this will still apply.

I will send HL a Secure Message asking for clarification. I have either got a good deal for another year, or I am being shown the door.

Do they say this is because you hold gilts (or bonds)?  If so perhaps shares is meant to cover bonds as well.  We could always wait until March to find out.

HL says this concession is because I have a gilt maturing shortly. That does not make obvious sense. I suspect that it is because I have a large account (which boots their Assets Under Management). I expect that I will not be charged for holding gilts during the first year of the new charges, but I need to have that confirmed.

mills112

marlot said:

The email says I'll be £8 a month worse off (shares and ETFs in a general investment account).

My wife will be £18 a month worse off.

I guess it's time to start researching alternatives!

My email doesn't say if I will be worse off or not, just how much they estimate the monthly fee will be.