This is awesome. The graphic confused me at first but the blog post explains it.
I was a Plus member but dropped down to just having the ISA, so this subscription change is an upgrade for me at little extra expense. Obviously I can’t speak for people without ISAs or those with SIPPs, I look forward to reading the reactions.
Basic seems to be pretty generous too.
PS. I don’t even care if LISAs become an add-on on top of the PLUS subscription, I just want to escape my AJ Hell
It’s says SIPP has been added to my Plus, but it asks for a card to pay for it if I try to open one. (I’m on Free Plus as a founding member, so it shouldn’t need my card number)
I would think those on just an ISA would be happy with greater stock selection and a little bit of interest on 2K which might offset some of the price increase if utilised.
Now makes the Vangaurd vs Freetrade ISA comparison a little different when only investing in VWRL etc.
The cut off to when Freetrade becomes cheaper is now £60k, but at least they are opening the account to more stocks so all users are at least receiving something extra.
1% interest is negligible as can gain more in an easy access savings account, but can see the appeal.
so how does the monthly payment work and is there a yearly payment option on the £4.99 one as not sure about everyone but paying yearly is more convenient
Whilst I haven’t been using Freetrade at all for over a year now, it is good to see some innovation on the subscription plans and I hope it works well for the team and the customers.
I like limit orders as much as anyone else, but forcing an increase in fees to existing ISA holders is going to put off a lot of people for the future. Freetrade’s ethos has always been encouraging people to “get in for the long run”, and now a little over three years in… fees increase by 66%?
I am worried that this will damage trust in the brand, that has already recently been damaged by the “T&C stocks lending” fiasco. This is still the best product on the market for cheap investing, but it needs to restore its reputation to where it was in 2020.
I would recommend a step back, or lowering the Standard plan to £3/month.
I’m an ISA only user as well and, although I’ll pay £2 more per month, I don’t really mind as I know that FreeTrade have to finance themselves somehow and I always said I was prepared to pay a bit more.
Unfortunately I won’t have the money to make it worthwhile until at least January but I am considering upgrading to Plus next year now that the SIPP is free. I had considered getting a SIPP with FreeTrade without touching my other pensions but when it was costing £7 per month as well as having to pay Plus, the measley £25 per month or whatever it is that I would put into the SIPP just wouldn’t have been worth it.
Personally, I’m pleased with the outcome of this price review. Much fairer and removes the annoyance I think was felt by many of being locked out of a lot of stocks.
EDIT - also the £4,000 at 3% is very attractive. I usually hold cash for emergencies and until now, 1.7% was the best I could get from an instant access account and mostly it’s been a lot lower than that. Obviously not worth Plus only for that, but if I’m getting it for the SIPP anyway, then all good.