Would be interesting to see Freetrade roll out a debit card functionality.
If you look at the serious wealth management/brokers in the United States, Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley offer debit cards attached to their brokerage account.
The UK does have some (eToro, …), but this could be a great feature.
I don’t think they would need a banking license for this. An e-money license may suffice.
It might be a cool feature, allowing to pay for stuff from your GIA account…
I wonder what would be the cost for Freetrade and I hope it makes sense in terms of Freetrade’s economics
And to be completely honest I can’t wait to flash a Freetrade pink debit card.
Let’s check the numbers and make it work. Bring it on 
Not only would that require a banking licence, but in getting one that may void EIS/SEIS for investors, which would not go down well. Let’s just focus on doing one thing well for the time being.
An EMI license would not suffice and/or is unattainable by a stock broker?
I’m not familiar with the other debit card offerings but I imagine having a debit card attached to your account would only be useful to spend your margin on things without having to sell your investments. A cool feature but considering FT has always been quite anti-margin/leverage I don’t think they would go for it.
Yeah, but it’s such a useless feature, I’m honestly surprised that you support it. Makes no sense to waste resources on something like this.
Very true but be honest we would all LOVE a Freetrade card in our wallets 
Like we’re in the Dennis the Menace fan club?
Would be such an excellent idea! Yes to a Freetrade debit card.
Why do you think that?
Because there are a gazillion banks and other financial services firms offering that. You also shouldn’t treat your investment account as a bank account. That just encourages short-term and bad investment behaviour.
But most of all, it’s a massive opportunity cost to freetrade. They get absolutely nothing out of it, but would need a lot of resources to develop, maintain and support it. Freetrade is slow enough at developing anything. If they’d actually do this, I’d bet for Freetrade to go bankrupt fairly quickly since it shows they don’t understand the business and market they are in.
What does this accomplish? What problem does this solve for Freetrade’s customers?
Fair enough. Maybe it’s a vanity moment on my part
In practical terms, how would it actually work?
Would you have to keep an uninvested cash balance to be used, or would Freetrade have to liquidate some of your stock to cover the transaction?
If they do sell stock to cover it, people will inevitably complain they didn’t want to sell that particular stock, or they got a bad price & etc.
Freetrade would also be taking the risk of advancing you the cash from the sale until the trade settles.
As stated above, Freetrade is an investment app and I think investments should be kept far away from any day to day spending.
Shiny cards are cool though.
You could just get your own Freetrade metal business cards made - hell you could even have your own QR referral code printed on them!
And maybe a beautiful picture of an attractive cow printed on the other side.
I’d like to get an AJ Bell one with a nice cow on the back.
I really can’t see this happening, given Freetrade’s development cadence this could eat up years of development when they have more important things to focus on with their core business.
I am more then happy with my Pink Freetrade socks.
I’ll give you a pat on the back if you want…
Prehaps a pre-paid debit card where moeny can be uploaded and kept separate from GIA or ISA.