I can see why T212 was left out ā the comparison is not pretty at all.
Including forex commission, investing Ā£100 in an Isa will cost you 15p with T212 over a year.
With FT, itās Ā£72.47 if you pay monthly. Thatās a difference of more than 48,000%.
To be honest, I am 29, looking to invest each month and build up a substantial sum of money with dividends being reinvested.
Based on this, HL looks trustworthy for me.
From what I can see the ISA is free but they take a fee per account per year, but this is basically the same fee as paying FT for my account. They do charges per trade but I will just make fewer but larger trades.
I am actually willing to pay a bit extra for HL as FT have now lost my trust. Do you know if HL support ISA transfers from FT? Or do I need to cash out and then deposit the money into HL in the new ISA year?
It shows. which is interesting considering how many people apparently care about where their shares are supposed to be held.
in any case even with 212, theyāve already started introducing fees and its not like theyāre going to stop.
If youāre happy with them, thats fine. I doubt free trade is going to introduce CFD betting to make money to keep some customers happy or change how they hold shares.
People saying FT is better due to ethics should remember that FT wanted to go big on crypto when it was the wild west. This would have given the VCs money but many poorer people would of lost lots. They only have their morals due to timing as they would of been on the bandwagon if granted and we would be here with people losing lots of money to fund the service.
No one is going to open an ISA to invest just Ā£100 though. Thereās no point unless you are investing enough that tax becomes a consideration
You think FT wants people who invest Ā£100 a year?
They will be trying to get rid of people like this.
They will waste customer support time / cause a headache / cost FT money.
By your own calculation these customers are paying T212 15p a year. Let them have them!
Like everything nowadays - this penalises the poorest members of our community most. This change will mean that I am going to have to substantially reduce one months investments so that I do not lose out Ā£2.40 a month or Ā£28.88 a year in pension contributions. The trouble is FreeTrade will end up with Ā£119.88 up-front by a year instead of Ā£143.85 being invested in my pension!
Financially it makes sense for FT, I am sure (subject to how many customers they lose) but it is bloody annoying for me and I am sure others. I suppose it is better than them going bust though - and everyone is being affected by inflationary pressure.
I will reconsider my position but it may be easier to stay put. Iāll have to see if I can get a SIPP and ISA for less elsewhere first.
I donāt like that there was zero discussion with the community about a potential price increase.
@Freetrade_Team at what point will we be able to set up annual payments and how do we do this is we decide to stay?
HL also have a 1% FX charge for non UK share transactions under Ā£5k.
As Iāve said above - you are going to be significantly worse off vs sticking with FT.
I guess it was inevitable as the company looks for long term sustainability but yes, still bloody annoying!
If youāre investing regularly into the same stocks every month then HL can be relatively inexpensive.
For example. If youāre investing in just stocks, the platform fee is capped at Ā£45 a year.
If youāre investing regularly every month into the same stocks then you can setup regular investments. Ā£1.50 a trade.
but ad hoc investments will be Ā£11.95 a trade (unless you make loads)
in terms of the safety of your investments. Both HL and Freetrade have a very similar setup in terms of how they do custody of assets. the only major difference is that HL use euroclear and Freetrade use Drivewealth to manage US stocks. so US stocks with HL are actually CDIs. theyāre transparency on this with both companies is fairly cear and quite similar. (similar situation with ii)
HL however also makes a profit, and has a long track record. I believe currently Freetrade still donāt make a profit (most neobrokers donāt) and obviously have been relying in vc investments. this isnāt uncommon for new companies.
so in terms of risk, HL is less risky, Freetrade does have some risk in terms of the company being young, and its path to profitability. However Freetrade have also been making changes to improve the business from what ive heard recently, and obviously the price structure change. However your investments are in a custodian structure thats fairly well done in a way thats done by most major brokers.
For transparency, I have an account with Freetrade and HL, and use them for now for different things.
Even then just seems to be a bit out of nowhere. Can anyone here justify the increase with what theyve given us in the last 12 months. We dont even have a desktop version
Sadly, as I expressed in my post not so long ago, it does seem to me that Freetrade is no longer supportive to minor folks out there, those who were supposed to benefit from modern investing platforms aimed at the new generation of retail investors.
Even worse, compared to the aforementioned competitor, Freetradeās offering falls short in pretty much all areas: fees, availability of stocks (which are limited in Freetradeās basic plan), and the application itself- Freetrade is mobile-only and doesnāt provide a rich browser-based experience.
Sadly, thatās a no from me. Iāll just keep my modest investments in the portfolio but definitely am not going to invest any more via Freetrade.
I think the reality is FT needs a road to Profitability fairly soon. Investors appetite for big crowdfunding campaigns or IPOs has diminished.I think VCās are being more cautious and I donāt think a Ā£1Bn + IPO is on the horizon any time soon unfortunately.
It is a bit disappointing that new features seem to come so slow. These rises would have gone down a bit better if most of the highly requested features where in place
My issue is I do not believe FT will be around here for the long haul. Regular changes to their pricing structure must clearly show that they cannot get it right and are trying to become financially viable. However, every time they change it I lose trust that they will get it right.
For that reason I am uncomfortable holding ~90% of my savings with freetrade in case they go under. HL are more expensive but they are also stable and going nowhere. Iād feel comfortable having my money with them, even if it costs a bit more. I just need to work out the pros and cons (e.g., how much more it will cost), if I am happy with it then my gut will tell me to jump ship
New features dont come at all even when they add stocks ive never seen anyone ask for the ones theyve given us. I am happy to pay for quality but im not getting that
120% increase in FX fee for a Basic user?
Poor thinking indeed.
When they kept promising X,Y and Z soon and never materialising followed by going quiet except when they want votes etc doesnāt help. FT went from being the cool kid to being a hermit. They need their mojo back and hopefully find it very quickly.
Your shares are held in nominee in a segregated account.
If FT were to fail your shares are totally safe and will just be transferred to a new broker.
This isnāt a mickey mouse company - itās properly regulated and has safeguards to protect you.
They wont even read any of this. Didnt even do a poll for options
TBF I am 100% comfortable in FT being secure. At worst it may take a short time to access if things went downhill but they will probably get bought on the cheap by someone else.