Updated: 18th January 2022
Halifax Share Dealing Review
Offering a a fully fledged dealing service since the 1990s, and backed by Lloyds, one of the biggest banks in the country.
Overall Score 3.5
Overall Score
Our View
What accounts are available?
Despite being around a long time, the Halifax Share Dealing offering has not kept pace with the market. There no Junior or Lifetime ISA, for example. That being said the three major account types that most people need (the general investment account, the ISA and the SIPP) are available. Just don’t expect options to help you invest for your children or grandchildren – you’ll need to look elsewhere for that.
We upweighted scores for providers who had the basic accounts available - ISA, SIPP and GIA.
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What kind of investments can I make?
While the choice of accounts may be a bit limited by some people’s standards, Halifax Share Dealing scores top marks for the range of investments you can buy, sell or hold on their platform. That means UK as well as 7 international markets for shares in companies, as well as a full range of what are called pooled investments – so funds, investment trusts and exchange traded funds.
Score 5
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What services do they offer?
For the additonal services Halifax offer, they are mid-table. It’s neither as wide as the market leaders, nor as restricted as the likes of sister brand IWeb. Monthly investing is available and Halifax are unique in their Sharebuilder service which means you can buy small amounts of shares each month, and if there’s not enough money to buy a full share you get fractions too, so your money is fully invested and there’s no residual amount left over. Also available are Tradeplans – basically a range of order types which trigger when certain criteria are met.
Score 3.5
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How much does it cost?
Again very much middle of the road for Halifax on charges, neither expensive nor cheap. They are more expensive than they once were as their platform charge went up by a factor of three in April 2021, but on the plus side it’s still relarively low and is a fixed fee, not a percentage model. Charges for buying and selling shares have come down a little in recent years, but they don’t match (oddly) either sister company IWeb, or the free services available elsewhere.