Best ISA for holding Shares

romanovski

Hello everyone!

My first post here, i often read the boards, and I guess it's a testament to how good the information here is that i never felt the need to post until now to ask a question. I certainly don't feel qualified enough to answer anyone elses, but now i'm registered, perhaps that will change.

Anyway, i have been investing my savings over the last couple of years into funds though a Hargreaves Landsdown S&S ISA, and despite the credit crunch, am not doing too badly (mainly because of the gains i made in emerging markets last year)

However, i have also bought some stock in a couple of companies through the ISA and have decided that in the future I would like to do this rather that hold as many expensive, underperforming funds.

The HL ISA though does not appear to be particularly cheap place to hold stock, but i'm not sure where is? Most of the guides about S&S on the site talk about holding them outside an ISA.

Can anyone tell me the cheapest places to hold stock within an ISA?

Many thanks
R.

debbie42

I've used two share dealing services: Halifax and Selftrade.

Selftrade have a fixed £25 annual charge for maintaining the ISA and charge £12.50 for a trade.

Halifax (from memory) charge a percentage of funds for ISA management, and £11.95 for a trade.

When I was choosing a place for my ISA, it worked out cheaper to go with Selftrade, in terms of the available cash I had, and they offered more in terms of setting automatic trading facilities (e.g. stop losses) etc.

I've been happy with both.

<edited to say> If you open a Selftrade account, check first whether they have any referrals available. We each got £50 when I referred my husband, which helps with dealing costs!

chris1

HSBC Invest Direct don't make any annual charge for their ISA.
HTH