interactive investor’s fees are unlike most other platforms’. Firstly, ii uses a flat-fee pricing model. That can be beneficial if you are a high-value investor as it means you’re paying proportionally less, the more you invest. However, there are some idiosyncrasies in ii’s pricing that means that isn’t always the case. And small portfolio holders may want to think very carefully before investing with ii, as our calculations show it is often a very expensive way to invest your cash.
Subscription fees
All ii account holders pay a subscription fee – there’s no free basic account as there is with Freetrade, which also uses a flat-fee model.
There are three subscription plans available:
- The Investor Essentials plan: This £4.99 a month plan is billed as a low-cost plan for those investing up to £50,000.
It is indeed a low-cost plan if you have £50k invested. However, it’s not if you have a small portfolio. That’s £59.88 over the course of one year. If you have a £5k portfolio, that’s the equivalent of a 1.20% custody rate. For comparison, AJ Bell charges 0.25% (capped at £3.50 per month), which on £5k would work out as £12.50 per year.
In addition, you’ll need to factor in trading costs. UK and US trades cost £3.99 per trade on this plan, which is actually pretty competitive. Hargreaves Lansdown charges £11.95 per trade and only reduces it to £5.95 when you’ve traded 20+ times in a month. Be mindful that, even at £3.99 per trade, your £4.99 per month suddenly becomes much more expensive if you plan on regularly trading, and that platforms such as Freetrade and Trading 212 offer trading without dealing fees.
- Investor plan: This is ii’s most popular plan and costs £11.99 per month.
This plan includes your first trade free every month. You can add as many Junior ISAs as you have children, as well as two free friends and family members. Additional UK and US trades are £3.99.
Most providers reward you with a lower rate the more you invest. While the flat rates charged by ii become the equivalent of a lower rate as your portfolio size increases, there is a cliff edge which you’ll tip over at the £50k mark.
While you do get one free trade per month and free Junior ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) (JISAs) are tax-free savings accounts for children under the age of 18. Only a parent can open a JISA but anyone can contribute. You can choose to save for your children through either a cash Junior ISA where you will earn interest on any cash in the account, or a stocks and shares Junior ISA where you will invest your child’s savings on their behalfJunior ISAs
thrown in for the additional fee, that’s not a great deal if you don’t actually want any Junior ISAs. If you’re a buy-and-hold investor, you might not even want the free trade every month.
So again, this doesn’t seem like great value for money.
- Super Investor plan: £19.99 a month.
On this plan, you’ll receive your first two trades free each month. You can add as many Junior ISAs as you have children and up to five friends and family members for free, too.
There’s no obligation to move onto this plan once your account reaches any kind of cap, so it’s really just for those who are regularly making two or more trades per month, and/or those who require multiple JISAs.
After your first two free trades, UK and US trades remain priced at £3.99, so there’s no discount, which you might expect on a top subscription level. You do receive a discount on non-UK/US trades, however, as they drop from £9.99 to £5.99 per trade on this plan.
Managed ISA charges
If you’re investing under £50,000, then you’ll be paying £4.99 per month for the Investor Essentials plan.
If you have over £50,000, then you’ll be on the Investor plan, charged at £11.99 a month.
Portfolio investment costs also apply and range from 0.13% to 0.36% depending on whether you choose the Index style or the Sustainable option, and your risk level.
The verdict?
Interactive investor claims that its flat subscription fees can lead to savings of up to £85k over 30 years when compared to the percentage fees charged by competitors. These savings will only be achieved if you have a certain amount of capital invested, however and are based on contributions of £10k per year. Our figures suggest that it is only a narrow band of investors who will see these savings. Otherwise, this is an expensive way to invest.
For SIPPs
ii’s arrangements for A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPPs
are extraordinarily complicated – far more complicated than it feels like they need to be. Other platforms have straightforward pricing plans, so I’m not quite sure why so many different arrangements are necessary.
Your choices, if you want to open a SIPP, are:
- A Pension Builder plan which costs an eye-watering £12.99 per month. You’ll need to join this plan if the value of your SIPP is over £50k.
- A Pension Essentials plan. These are only open to people who have less than £50k invested, and costs £5.99 a month.
- Existing customers with an Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAISA
and/or General investment account (GIA) is an account designed to provide access to investments. You may be liable for tax on any income or capital gains earned within a general investment account but this can be a useful vehicle for anyone who has maxed out their ISA allowanceTrading Account
on the Investor Essentials plan can add a SIPP for an extra £5 a month. You can then invest up to £50,000 across your accounts. Above this, and you will move onto the Investor + SIPP for £21.99 a month – which is a massive amount to pay (you are paying £10 extra just for the SIPP).
In all circumstances, this cannot be considered a low-cost SIPP.
A foreign exchange (FX) fee is added to all trades involving foreign currencies. If you buy a stock that trades in US dollars, for example, and your home account is in GB pounds, you’ll need to pay an FX fee.FX fees
You’ll need to pay these fees if you want to buy or sell assets that aren’t traded in GBP, so anytime you trade a USD stock, for example.
The fees you pay at ii will vary according to the value of your trade:
- Less than £25,000 = 1.5%
- £25,000 – £49,999 = 1.25%
- £50,000 – £99,999 = 1.00%
- £100,000 – £599,999 = 0.50%
- £600,000 – £999,999 = 0.25%
At the lower end of the value scale, these are some pretty high steep fees, as this comparison table illustrates:
And look how that adds up and makes a difference to overall costs in this example:
It’s easy to forget FX fees when calculating platform costs, but it’s a costly mistake to ignore them if you plan to invest even moderately in non-GBP assets.
However, there is a possible way to avoid paying FX fees with interactive investors. It only applies to general trading accounts and SIPP accounts, so no get-out for ISA holders unfortunately, but ii allows you to trade in multiple currencies. Potentially, this means you could convert your currencies at a cheaper money exchange, and then deposit and withdraw in the same currency as the assets you want to trade. It’s hassle, but it might be worth it if you trade large volumes of foreign assets or plan to make high-value non-GBP trades.
For more information on how to do this and which exchanges offer the best currency conversion rates, visit our dedicated FX guide.
I should stress, this isn’t something you need to think about if you only hold assets listed on UK exchanges, but with FX fees as high as they are at ii, it’s worth considering all avenues if you intend to trade non-GBP assets with this provider.
Trading fees
The monthly subscription fee for Investor Essentials, Investor and Super Investor plans include a Trading Account.
- Whichever plan you are on, all UK and US shares, bonds, gilts and funds are £3.99 per trade.
- Non-UK/US trades are £9.99.
If you’re on the Investor plan:
- Your first trade each month is free.
- All other UK and US trades are £3.99.
- All non-US/UK trades are £9.99.
If you’re on the Super Investor plan:
- Your first two trades per month are free.
- All other UK and US trades are £3.99.
- All non-US/UK trades are £5.99.
Although I’ve stated that ii can work out as good value for money for some larger portfolio holders, there are some cheeky additional charges for those making very large trades:
- Trades of UK shares, funds (unit trusts and OEICs), bonds, gilts and exchange-traded products with a trade value of £100k or more incur a £40 charge.
- Trades of US shares worth £100,000 or more incur a fee of 0.04% of trade value.
- If you buy or sell other international shares with a trade value of £25,000 or more, it’s 0.10% of trade value.
I’ve not seen that kind of step-up in fees for large trades at any other provider.
Inactivity fees
There’s a tick in the box for inactivity fees as, unlike most of its competitors, interactive investor does not charge them at all. That’s handy if you plan on buying and holding assets for long periods of time, and don’t want to have to make a trade just to prevent the penalty kicking in.
Withdrawal fees
Requests for withdrawals can be made through your online account or app.
There is no charge for next-day UK (GBP & Euro) withdrawals. For same-day UK and EUR withdrawals, and other currency withdrawals, you’ll pay £15.
Deposit fees
It’s free to top up your investments each month with ii’s regular investing service.
Minimum deposit
The minimum deposit for an initial investment is £1. You can also invest as little as £25 a month using ii’s free regular investing service.
Interest paid on uninvested cash
ii currently pays interest on cash balances of between 1.26% The annual equivalent rate (AER) is used to describe the percentage of interest you’ll receive on your savings and investments. AER accounts for compound interest whereas the gross interest rate does not. AER is also known as APY (the annual percentage yield). AER
and 3.56% AER depending on the value and type of account.
Rates have recently been lowered in response to the Bank of England’s rate change and are currently:
For cash held within ISAs and Junior ISAs:
On the first £10,000 1.51% AER
£10,000.01 – £100,000 2.02% AER
£100,000.01 – £1m 3.04% AER
£1m+ 3.56% AER
For cash held within General Trading Accounts:
On the first £10,000 1.26% AER
£10,000.01 – £100,000 1.92% AER
£100,000.01 – £1m 2.94% AER
£1m+ 3.56% AER
For cash held within SIPPs:
On the first £10,000 2.27% AER
£10,000.01 – £100,000 3.04% AER
£100,000.01 – £1m 3.30% AER
£1m+ 3.56% AER
For comparison:
All figures were correct at the time of publishing. While we attempt to update figures as soon as we become aware of changes, the most accurate way to obtain the latest data is to check with the provider directly.