Thats why i dont personally use an investment account to hold an emergency fund. I have a separate account (marcus if anyone cares) as it earns some interest and is pretty quick to move money in and out any day of the week in the case of an emergency.
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Thinking about keeping a cash reserve, is interest paid on money reserved for limit orders?
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So hereās my attempt to summarise a comparison of the fees to get a little perspective.
I think it needs to be acknowledge that the change in pricing structure will mean some people are potentially better off moving their ISA elsewhere depending on the types of investments they have and the amount invested.
The best comparisons would be brokers with access to larger numbers of securities. so 6000+, so im having a quick look at the following:
HL, ii, 212, AJ Bell, IG, IB
The below three may all be cheaper depending on the amount invested if you currently only invest in what they offer. so might be cheaper to move to them, but they are not strictly comparative products.
- Lightyear: donāt offer an ISA
- Vanguard: only offer Vanguard funds
- Invest Engine: only offer ETFs
Because it can get complex im only really looking at base fees and assuming the maximum investments or noting if it might be cheaper if you hold a smaller amount of assets.
HL
Their ISA for stocks and ETFs are 0.45% capped at Ā£45 a year, but has a trading fee. If you have over 10k in investments (hits the Ā£45 cap) and use regular investing in just one stock a month this is still Ā£5 more expensive.
HLs SIPP is also a 0.45% fee capped at Ā£200 a year
So a combined GIA, ISA, and SIPP is potentially upwards of Ā£245 a year + trade fees depending on investment types and amount invested. HL can be cheaper than freetrade at lower amounts in funds and with regular investing
HL does have a more mature platform than freetrade though
ii
They have a flat fee stricture like Freetrade but also have trade fees (you get a rebate from the fee making the first trade free, and this applies to regular investing making even cheaper)
However their flat fee for an ISA is Ā£10 a month, so its already double what freetrade is.
A GIA, ISA, and SIPP with ii totals out at about Ā£20 a month. So the change with plus has made Freetrade very competitive with ii
ii is a more mature platform though
AJ Bell
Similar story. though slightly different charges
ISA is 0.35% capped at Ā£3.50 a month. so cheaper than Freetrade now at Ā£42 a year. However they have trade fees at Ā£9.95 a trade or Ā£1.50 per regular investment.
SIPP is 0.25% as well but capped at Ā£10 a month, or Ā£120 a year. Combined with the ISA at the cap its Ā£162 a year.
Again, depends on amount invested it may be slightly cheaper initially.
IB
We talked about already in a previous post. Fees can be complex and they have multiple fee options.
The basics are no platform fees, but a Ā£3 per trade fee for UK stocks and a combination fee on US stocks of $0.005 per share with a $1 minimum + regulatory fees
This could be cheaper for some depending on the number of trades they do per month. obviously more than 1 UK/EU trade per month makes it more expensive than Freetrade. But they do also have more market access as its a mature platform.
IG
similar deal.
Tiered fee structure depending on the number of trades made per month. an ISA has no platform fee but they charge Ā£8 a trade for UK shares, Ā£10 a trade for US shares, dropping to Ā£3 and Ā£0 if you made 3+ trades in the previous month.
the have a fee of Ā£24 per quarter if you make no trades. (Ā£96 a year)
they dont currently offer SIPPs.
IG is more expensive than freetrade for both the general and plus account
212
[note on 212, i am biased against them, and dont trust them for various reasons soā¦ take that for what you will]
what is there to say. based just on fees which is all were really looking at in this post. 212 has a cost of Ā£0 for an ISA and no trade fees so are more competitive compared to Freetrade and basically everyone in the UK.
They dont offer a SIPP
Freetrade
I should add them just for completeness 
Flat fee structure. Ā£0 for a GIA, Ā£5 for an ISA (Ā£60 a year). stock access is tried between the free GIA (1500) and standard and above account types (6000+) which i havenāt gone into in this post specifically. There are no fees for trades.
SIPP is Ā£10 and includes ISA and GIA for a total of Ā£120 a year
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Oh and on some of the comments of why not add more tiers, keep the ISA at Ā£3 plus standard, plus plus, plus sipp etc. 
that mess is why. It gets exceedingly complex to assess fees the more options you start to add.
Some other thoughts.
Fx fees are also a consideration. these vary between platforms. But fees alone i donāt think are the only factor. Customer support is a good factor, people are willing to pay more for HL because of that alone for example. When you start to have all your investments in a platform, you kind of want them to answer your questions and fix your problems.
terms and considering are important. Theyāre not all the sameā¦ make sure you read them.
custody is important. Another one thats not all the same. Do you know who holds your investments or how theyāre held?
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Very useful summary Eden, thanks very much. As said, I fully intend to stay with FT and donāt have an issue with the modest ISA cost increase and may even enter Plus and start a SIPP at the beginning of 2023.
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- Share ChatPlatform fee for stocks might is lower, yes.
Add a few funds in HL (not possible in FT - not saying thats a problem, just that its not possible) and a few Ā£11.95 trades and youre back at parity.
The Ā£11.95 per non-fund trade at HL is so ālast centuryā.
Yes, but noteā¦
The interest is paid into your FT account and the fee still comes out of you bank account so while it balances out at a higher level, you do still need to make the payment from your bank account.
One option is to reduce the amount you would set a standing order at by Ā£10 to offset this.
If you wanted to contribute Ā£100/month, set the SO to Ā£90 and the other Ā£10 comes from interest. You would still see Ā£100 leave your bank account monthly, Ā£90 for the investment SO and Ā£10 for the fee) and you would still see Ā£100 availalbe for investment (Ā£90 from the SO and Ā£10 from the intetest).
Also note, its not exactly Ā£10 onterest per month as some months have a different number of days but is a difference measured in pence.
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Could anyone confirm if the 1% interest paid on the 2k standard plan is paid into the ISA account or GIA?
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Depends how much uninvested cash you have in each account. ISA cash takes priority. See the Interest section of the T&Cs (currently section 25)
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Thank you o99, now I understand what is meant by āISA funds taking priorityā, I hadnāt fully grasped that before.
Now I have another question having read that part of the T&C, Iāve pasted the relevant part below. It talks about a FT ISA and GIA but doesnāt mention SIPP. Am I to understand that any money sitting in the ISA and GIA will attract interest but any money sitting in the SIPP will not?
āWhere you hold both a Freetrade ISA and a Freetrade GIA, the amount will be capped according to the combined Available Funds in the accounts. You will not receive any interest on any Available Funds held in excess of the Capped Amount.
Where you hold both a Freetrade ISA and a Freetrade GIA, the Available Funds held in your ISA will take priority over the Available Funds held in your Freetrade GIA for eligibility for and receipt of interest. This means that if the amount of Available Funds held in your ISA is equal to or greater than the Capped Amount, you will receive interest on the Capped Amount in your ISA and you will receive no interest on the Available Funds held in your Freetrade GIA.ā
Thanks this is helpful.
I donāt have a SIPP with Freetrade. But yes, based on the T&Cs I wouldnāt be expecting cash held in a SIPP to attract interest. The most relevent sentence for this is
Subject to section 6, if you are a Standard or Plus member, you may receive interest on a capped amount of the Available Funds which you hold in your Freetrade GIA or Freetrade ISA.
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Yes, that seems clear to me as well now, thank you very much.
Many thanks for the edit @NeilB, looks much better. I would have liked to have done something similar myself but didnāt know how.
Happy to receive (or be pointed to) instructions on how to do it for future if it doesnāt cause you too much hassle?
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Just me being awkward!
Start any quote with a
sideways arrow and it turns it into a quote.
Youāll need a new sideways arrow for each paragraph.
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I have cash in my SIPP and can confirm interest is not paid on it.
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I understand Freetrade has to be financially viable. However, if you are going to force a 66% increase in fees for ISA holders, you might as well throw in a web based service, which absolutely everyone has been clamouring for since the beginning of Freetrade.
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I think they will, but perhaps not with the ābetaā. Once itās more mature I think Plus will have more web features than standard which will have more than basic etc. So you always get more when you pay more.
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I am hopeful for a web based service for āStandardā members such as myself in the future. I am broadly satisfied with the new price tiers but as an ISA only customer probably came out of this the worse. I have 60 days on the old price and then will be up to the new standard price. I canāt see myself going elsewhere as I actually really like the app and it has encouraged me to save/invest every spare pound I have.
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