Halifax share dealing review
- Price per trade
- £9.50
- Min. initial deposit
- £20
Our verdict
Halifax offers a well-rounded investing experience with plenty of investments and different ways to invest, but how does it compare for features and fees?
Halifax’s share dealing platform isn’t quite as detailed or attractive as some of the newer platforms on offer. It does have a transparent fee structure, but it’s quite pricey.
For UK investments and funds, the commission comes in at £9.50 per trade. For US stocks and international shares, there’s no commission, which is much more appealing, however there is quite an expensive foreign exchange (FX) fee of 1.25%.
Halifax does also offer ready-made portfolios, which can be a good alternative to something like a robo-advisor platform where you pick from 3 risk-based portfolios that come with quite low management costs.
Pros
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Flat £3 monthly platform fee
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No commission for international investments
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Wide choice of investment options
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Ready-made portfolios
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Invest in IPOs
Cons
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High £9.50 commission for UK investments
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Platform isn’t completely user-friendly
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Steep foreign exchange (FX) fee of 1.25%
How we rated Halifax's investment features
Feature | Rating | Details |
---|---|---|
Fees | 7.4 Great | Halifax offers decent value for some investors, but it’s not the cheapest. |
Investment choice | 8.7 Great | It offers a wide range of investments with access to plenty of markets. |
Safety and security | 10 Excellent | Halifax has plenty of safety features in place to protect investors and offers a secure place to invest. |
Account types and products | 8.3 Great | You can invest with lots of options, using most major tax-efficient accounts. |
Ease of use | 8.2 Great | Halifax offers an investing experience that most customers seem happy with but it does have its flaws. |
Tools, resources and features | 8.3 Great | Halifax offers plenty of tools and resources, apart from social features. |
Halifax is known mostly for its banking offering. It’s a household name for customers across the UK, but it actually has a share dealing service on offer too. Halifax set up its share dealing brokerage in 1997, when it floated on the stock market. It has since grown to offer a much more comprehensive range of shares to its retail customers.
Halifax was the first in the UK to offer a regular share investment plan, known as ‘ShareBuilder’ and has since expanded into more products. Find out whether Halifax is the right investment platform for you.
Halifax fees
Fees score | 7.4 Great |
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Platform fee | Share dealing account/ISA £36/year SIPP £22.50/quarter (portfolio under £50,000), £45/quarter (portfolio over £50,000) 18 to 25 account £0 |
UK shares | £9.95 |
US stocks | £0 |
International shares | £0 |
Funds/ETFs | £9.95 |
Foreign exchange (FX) fee | 1.25% |
Regular investing | Yes (no commission) |
Telephone dealing | £25 per trade |
Withdrawal/deposit fee | £0 |
Inactivity fee | £0 |
Halifax is a bit of a weird one for fees because it’s extremely cheap in some areas, but quite expensive in others. So, whether it works out cheap for you will largely depend on how you plan to invest.
For the share dealing account or stocks and shares ISA, it costs a flat £36 a year (which works out at £3 per month). This will suit those with larger portfolios because it can be cheaper than being on a percentage based structure where your fees will grow in line with your holdings.
One unique element with Halifax is that it has no platform fee if you open up an 18 to 25 account (if you’re within this age bracket), making it an appealing choice for younger investors.
When it comes to commissions, Halifax hits both ends of the spectrum. It’s excellent value for international investments because there’s no commission to pay (just the 1.25% FX fee). However, for all other UK investments, including funds, investment trusts, bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – it’s a steep £9.50 per trade.
You can avoid this high commission by setting up a regular investing plan. So if you want to invest a certain amount each month in say, a global equity ETF, you don’t pay any commission for ETF investing if you’ve scheduled it in advance.
If you opt for the self-invested personal pension (SIPP) to invest for your retirement, there’s a steeper platform fee of £22.50 per quarter (which works out at £7.50 per month) if your portfolio is under £50,000 and £45 per quarter (£15 per month) for portfolios over £50,000.
Halifax does also offer the option for automatic dividend reinvestment which is charged at 2% of the dividend value (capped at £9.50 per stock). It does also offer the option to use different trading order types (like limit orders and stop losses), which it calls a “TradePlan”. It costs £2 to set up but if a trade is executed, the commission for that trade will be reduced by £2.
If you opt for one of Halifax’s 3 ready-made portfolios, there’s an ongoing management fee of 0.25% for the “cautious” portfolio, and 0.24% for the “balanced” or “progressive” portfolios.
Halifax investment choice and stocks
Investment choice score | 8.7 Great |
---|---|
Asset options | 7+ |
Markets | 3+ |
Number of investments | 8,000+ |
Number of ETFs/funds | 2,900+ |
Fractional shares | |
Minimum deposit | £0 |
Minimum investment | £0 (at least one share) |
Halifax has a large selection and variety of investments available, covering a decent range of assets. The fund selection is probably one of Halifax’s greatest strengths, with around 2,900 to choose from.
The lack of fractional shares is a pain, but if you don’t mind that, Halifax offers a lot for investment choice. Here’s a breakdown of the some of the major assets types you can invest in with Halifax:
Along with all of these, you also have the option to invest in investment trusts, ready-made portfolios and initial public offerings (IPOs). The 3 ready-made options are:
- Cautious. Lower risk.
- Balanced. Medium risk.
- Progressive. Medium to high risk.
The option to invest in IPOs is a pretty unique offering. It’s usually very hard to invest in an IPO unless you’re an institutional investor. Halifax has teamed up with PrimaryBid to offer investors this feature, which lets you buy stocks before they’re available to the general public.
Is Halifax safe?
Safety and security score | 10 Excellent |
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Biometric login/2FA | |
FCA regulated | |
FSCS protection | |
SSL certificate | |
Public company |
Halifax is a sturdy and safe place for investors, scoring full marks in our safety and security assessment. As you’d expect, it’s regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
When it comes to security, Halifax has an excellent reputation. It’s part of the Lloyds Banking Group, which is a FTSE 100 company and is one of the world’s largest banks.
Your deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which means that you’ll be able to claim up to £85,000 if Halifax were to go bust.
Halifax account types and products
Account types and products score | 8.3 Great |
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General investment account (GIA) | |
Stock and shares ISA | |
Self-invested personal pension (SIPP) | |
Lifetime ISA (LISA) | |
Junior ISA (JISA)/Junior SIPP (JSIPP) | |
Business Account | |
Interest on cash balances |
Halifax has a decent range of account on offer, including:
- General investment account (Halifax calls this a share dealing account)
- Stocks and shares ISA
- Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)
- Cash ISA
- Business accounts
- Other cash savings accounts
Halifax share dealing account
The general investment account (GIA) is Halifax’s most basic account. Here are some of its features:
- Choose from a range of investment options, including shares, funds and ETFs
- Search for investments with its screener
- Suitable for you if you’ve used your ISA allowance for the year
There aren’t any tax advantages to trading with a GIA, like there are with a stocks and shares ISA, which we cover in a second.
If you make more than £3,000 in each tax year then you have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on the portion over this amount. And if you breach your £500 dividend allowance, you’ll also have to pay tax.
Halifax stocks and shares ISA
The Halifax stocks and shares ISA lets you use your annual ISA allowance to invest and you can use up to your full allowance each tax year. The allowance is £20,000 in the 2024/2025, which means you can invest up to £20,000 without paying UK tax on your profits.
Other than the tax benefits, the regular share dealing account and stocks and shares ISA are pretty much the same, including the features and the fees.
Halifax self invested personal pension (SIPP)
This account lets you save up for your retirement with tax benefits. SIPPs are a type of personal pension that give you more control over what you invest in.
You can’t withdraw your pension until you turn 55 (rising to 57 in 2028). You can transfer existing pensions over to your Halifax SIPP and consolidate them all in the same place.
You can invest in shares, ETFs and more than 2,500 funds with the Halifax SIPP.
Halifax ease of use
Ease of use score | 8.2 Great |
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Apple iOS rating | 4.8/5 |
Google Play rating | 4.7/5 |
Ways to contact customer service | Phone, email and app |
UI/UX | Bad |
Desktop or mobile app | Both |
Halifax scored fairly well in our ease of use assessment with a few ways to contact the customer service team and generally positive reviews for its app.
Most reviewers seem to enjoy the Halifax app on Apple and Android devices. On the App Store it has an impressive 4.8 out of 5 from over a million reviews and on Google Play, it has a marginally lower 4.7 out of 5 from over 200,000 votes (as of February 2024).
One thing to note is that these reviews are the whole Halifax banking app and not just specific to the investing experience. Also when testing the user interface, we found Halifax to be quite clunky on both the desktop platform and mobile app.
Halifax customer reviews
Score | Rating |
---|---|
Trustpilot | 1.5/5 |
User reviews | 4/5 |
On Trustpilot, Halifax has quite a low 1.5 out of 5 “bad” rating from over 4,000 reviews. For other reviews provided to Finder, it has a more impressive 4 out of 5.
Halifax tools, resources and features
Tools, resources and features | 8.3 Great |
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Analysis features | |
Tools for investing/trading | |
Social features | |
Learning resources | |
Additional Features |
Halifax has lots of tools and resources packed into its comprehensive platform. The only area where it’s lacking is the social investing aspect, with no community forum or way for investors to connect and share ideas.
With Halifax, there’s plenty of features like:
- Interactive charting
- Investment research and analysis tools
- Fund and ETF research insights
- Ability to use a range of trading order types via TradePlan
- Option to invest in IPOs at an early stage
- A free account for 18 to 25 year olds
- Learning materials
- Ready-made portfolios
Halifax offers a lot, the only thing we wish is that it was packaged and delivered in a nicer way that’s easier to interact with. Unfortunately, it lives up to the cliche of banks being stiff and boring.
Who might Halifax suit?
This platform is going to be best-suited for those who want to invest using a well-known bank. The account works out cheap for some investors, especially if you’re aged between 18 and 25, because you don’t have to pay admin fees.
If that’s not you, why not compare share trading platforms to find the right fit to match your style.
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Far too slow to pay out dividend income
Used to quicker before but now takes a week to pay out fund dividend income. Also slapped on a £36 annual fee for doing absolutely nothing. Chat never works. Whole operation feels like it's decades old. *** Avoid if you want good service. ***
Lie'd To
Used to be happy with them until out of the blue they wrote to tell me a £36 admin fee was due for payment which I knew nothing about when I spoke to their c/s rep Neil they claim they sent an email which I've never seen, he told me that he would waive the admin fee on this occasion I asked him to sell all my shares and close the account, he completed the deals but left the a/c open I had to apply to close and 3 weeks later I find they have taken the admin out of my account anyway, not impressed now going to Ombudsman. I wouldn't recommend
Awful
Now charge £36 a year to do nothing the computer does it all, also takes days for funds to clear once shares sold not a good service at all just closed my account down , other better options.
Avoid...just had enough
They used to be ok...especially as an execution broker, but now it has got to the stage where they are far more concerned about paperwork, compliance etc and take far longer to update things than other brokers. If you don't actually want to do anything beyond leave your £xxx invested in one or two companies or funds then they may be ok, but if you want to buy / sell / manage your investments then be prepared for the odd welcome bolt from the blue...like not being able to add to an Investment Trust that you hold for a week. Admin can be a real problem as when my wife opened her ISA, Halifax opened another one for her! (Is this the Boris effect where the rules don't apply to them? One stocks and share ISA per person per financial year) You can't speak to anyone more senior than your customer service / complaints handler. What they are told, effectively goes.
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder
easy to navigate and use
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder
Good quality
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder
Easy to use and purchase shares, very friendly when contacted by phone as well
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder
affordable, easy to use services with good sources for research
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder
It keeps your details safe and private and means there are fewer ways for things to go wrong: Express sign-in - Sign in securely and quickly with your fingerprint on compatible iPhone and Android devices, and with Face ID from iPhone X
Via customer survey commissioned by Finder