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Written by Elizabeth Anderson
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis
Edited by Carolyn Kimball
Your capital is at risk.
If you are already a Halifax bank customer, it may be worth signing up to Halifax online share dealing for simplicity. The charges are in line with some other brokers, but more expensive than others. If you have a large investment portfolio you may benefit from the low annual management fee of £36. If you are new to Halifax, there may be a better platform for you that is cheaper and easier to open.
The Halifax share dealing account is run by Halifax, a major U.K. bank. It is part of Lloyds Banking Group, which also owns the Lloyds Bank and Scottish Widows brands, among others. Because they are part of the same company, Halifax and Lloyds share dealing services look very similar, but there are some differences in annual management charges.
-
Minimum Deposit:
£0.0 -
ISA:
Yes -
SIPP:
Yes
Halifax share dealing pros and cons
Pros
- Offers a free regular investment plan, meaning you will not pay charges if buying monthly by direct debit.
- There are no non-trading or inactivity fees.
- You can also see your Halifax current and savings accounts.
Cons
- Time-intensive to open an account if you are not a Halifax bank customer. You have to wait for a temporary password through the post before you can start trading.
- Separate log-in details required to register for the mobile app.
- On the pricey side for customers who are not regular investors.
Overall summary
| Feature |
Halifax
|
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
|
| Charges & Fees |
|
| Investment Choices |
|
| Mobile App |
|
| Website |
|
| Ease of Use |
|
| Education |
|
Charges and fees
Halifax share dealing charges are on the high side at £9.50 per transaction. Halifax also charges this fee for funds, which are free to trade on many other platforms. However, Halifax offers free regular dealing, meaning there are no trading charges if you commit to buying the same investment each month through direct debit.
An upside of Halifax is that you don’t need a significant lump sum to start investing. You can either pay in an amount of your choosing upfront, or you can set up regular dealing from £20 a month.
Halifax also offers Commission Countdowns a few times a month, where dealing commission for U.K. stocks is reduced to £3.50 over a two-hour time period.
Another bonus is that Halifax does not charge for international investment trades, although a currency conversion fee of 1.25% is applied.
There is an annual management charge of £36 to hold an ISA or general investment account with Halifax Share Dealing, which is lower than the £40 charged on sister platform Lloyds. The annual management charges are low for people with large portfolios.
The fee for holding a SIPP is higher at £22.50 per quarter or £45 if the value of the SIPP is above £50,000. The SIPP is administered by AJ Bell, so it may be easier or cheaper to go through AJ Bell directly. It depends on the size of your pot as AJ Bell charges a percentage fee of 0.25% a year on the value of your SIPP.
Scenario pricing: When calculating annual share dealing costs, trading frequency and account balance are the two most important factors to consider. Assuming a £30,000 portfolio in a traditional, taxable share dealing account, here are four scenarios of how much Halifax would cost based on trade frequency:
- 5 trades per year = £36 - £83.50
- 12 trades per year = £36 - £150
- 36 trades per year = £36 - £450
- 120 trades per year = £36 - £1,176
- 3 fund trades per year = £36 - £64.50
| Feature |
Halifax
|
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | £0.0 |
| Share Trading: 0-9 Deals/ Month | £9.50 - £85.50 |
| Share Trading: 10-19 Deals/ Month | £95 - £180.50 |
| Share Trading: 20+ Deals/ Month | £190+ |
| Annual Custody Fee: £0 - £250,000 | £36 |
| Annual Custody Fee: £250K-£500K | £36 |
| Annual Custody Fee: £500,000 - £1m | £36 |
| Annual Custody Fee: £1m and over | £36 |
| Bonds - Corporate - Fee | £9.5 |
| Bonds - Government (Gilts) - Fee | £9.5 |
| ETFs - Fee | £9.5 |
| Investment Trusts - Fee | £9.5 |
| Telephone Dealing Fee | £25 |
| Visit Site |
What type of trader are you?
Our guides can help you choose the right broker for you and the way you trade: whether you consider yourself an investing beginner, a more experienced active trader, or a mobile-first trading enthusiast.
Mobile trading app
The Halifax share dealing app is fairly basic but it’s easy enough to buy shares, funds and investment trusts through the app.
The biggest difficulty I had with the Halifax app was logging into my share dealing account for the first time. You need to have registered for online banking first before logging into the mobile app, although you don’t need to have a bank account with Halifax. Registering for online banking may involve creating a separate password and username as some special characters are recognised in the Share Dealing service but not the banking app, so it can get confusing.
Your Share Dealing account also needs to have been funded (have money put in) before it will show through the app. It can sometimes take a couple days for your account to show. Opening an account through Halifax can be frustrating if you are looking to trade quickly.
Website
The website for Halifax share dealing feels quite old-fashioned and looks like a bank’s in the way it is laid out. Investment information and news are not featured on the home page and it’s not easy to search for stocks by index or market. You have to put in the company name or stock ticker directly. It means you have to know what you are searching for and it’s difficult to get inspiration for new investments.
In my experience the website was prone to crashes and error messages, particularly when setting up an account. When registering for an account, Halifax would not accept my suggested secret password but offered no tips on what would be accepted. I had to make a couple of calls to get my account up and running. Most other investment platforms are much easier to open. I would hope to see Halifax streamline the process in future.
Investment choices
Halifax offers a choice of more than 3,000 investments. This is fewer than many of its main rivals, which offer 10,000+ investments. But the platform does allow investors to invest in bonds, ETFs, funds and stocks – all the main asset classes an everyday investor would likely want or need.
Halifax has partnered with research firm FE fundinfo to design a shortlist of 65 mutual funds, which investors should find useful rather than having to trawl through 2,500 funds. Halifax also offers an ETF Quicklist, which lists 16 U.K. ETFs.
Halifax offers a Ready Made Investment Account or ISA for people who don’t want to pick their own investments, but investors have to commit to paying £50 a month or a £500 lump sum for the ready-made ISA option.
| Feature |
Halifax
|
|---|---|
| Share Trading | No |
| CFD Trading | No |
| Funds | Yes |
| Research - ETFs | Yes |
| Bonds - Corporate | Yes |
| Bonds - Government (Gilts) | Yes |
| Investment Trusts | Yes |
| Spread Betting | No |
| Crypto Trading | No |
| Advisor Services | No |
Education
The educational materials available at Halifax are not as extensive as those offered by other platforms. However, Halifax offers good basic articles on its website around how investments including ETFs, trusts, funds and shares work. There is a YouTube video demonstrating how the Share Dealing platform works.
» New to investing? See our guide to the best U.K. trading platforms for beginner investors, based on weeks of hands-on testing and analysis.
| Feature |
Halifax
|
|---|---|
| Education (Share Trading) | No |
| Education (Funds) | No |
| Education (Retirement) | No |
| Client Webinars | No |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | No |
Final thoughts
Halifax share dealing may be worth enrolling in if you already have a current or savings account with the bank. However, if you aren’t already a Halifax customer, then other platforms — such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor or AJ Bell — are much simpler to register with. Other platforms also have cheaper trading fees, particularly if you do not want to invest monthly through direct debit.
The best feature about Halifax share dealing is its low annual management charges of £36, which makes the platform very economical for those with a large investment portfolio. Some other platforms charge percentage fees instead, which can end up more costly.
About Halifax
Halifax bank dates back to 1852, initially launching as a building society. Its investment arm Halifax Share Dealing launched in 1996. Being owned by Lloyds Banking Group, Halifax is among the five largest banks in the U.K. with the group having around 27 million customers.
How do I access my Halifax share dealing account?
Either log in through halifaxsharedealing-online.co.uk or access your account through the Halifax mobile banking app.
What are charges for Halifax share dealing?
Like all investment platforms and brokers, Halifax charges fees for investing your money. You will pay trading fees of £9.50 per transaction, although this is reduced to £0 if you are a regular investor paying through monthly direct debit. You’ll also pay a flat-rate annual management fee of £36.
Is Halifax good for share dealing?
Halifax offers a wide range of investments and offers ready-made portfolios for people not confident with building their own. So yes, it is good for share dealing, but you may find a cheaper platform — such as Trading 212 or Freetrade — if you have a smaller portfolio and are starting out.
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Methodology
For the UK.StockBrokers.com Annual Review, we assessed, rated, and ranked 17 U.K. share dealing platforms over a 10-week time period. Each broker’s platforms and features were exhaustively tested by hand and graded on 53 different variables. In total, over 25,000 words of research were produced.
We thoroughly tested and compared features of prime interest to everyday investors, including but not limited to:
- Investment choices, such as whether the broker offers trading of shares, ETFs, funds, bonds, and CFDs; and offers SIPP and ISA accounts.
- The broker’s charges and fees for investing.
- Functionality and design of mobile apps and website platform, and a fluid experience moving between app and web.
- Usability of tools such as charting and watch lists.
- Market research, such as screening, news and analysis.
- Educational resources including tutorials, online courses, videos, webinars and articles.
Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Our lead researcher and writer, Elizabeth Anderson, has more than a decade’s experience as a financial journalist and market researcher. Elizabeth’s expertise is backed by a team of veteran fellow traders, data auditors, editors and project managers who work to ensure that UK.StockBrokers.com reviews and guides are the most unbiased and complete in the industry. Read more about our team.
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Show allAbout the Editorial Team
Elizabeth Anderson, lead writer and researcher, has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. In addition to her work with UK.StockBrokers.com, she has written extensively for major publications including BBC, The Times and Bloomberg. A keen investor herself, she is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing.
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
Carolyn Kimball is managing editor for Reink Media and the lead editor for the StockBrokers.com Annual Review. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.