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
-
Flat £3 monthly platform fee
-
No commission for international investments
-
Wide choice of investment options
-
Ready-made portfolios
-
Invest in IPOs
Cons
-
High £9.50 commission for UK investments
-
Platform isn’t completely user-friendly
-
Steep foreign exchange (FX) fee of 1.25%
How we rated Halifax's investment features
| Feature | Rating | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | ★★★★★ 3.2/5 | Halifax offers decent value for some investors, but it’s not the cheapest. |
| Investment choice | ★★★★★4.3/5 | It offers a wide range of investments with access to plenty of markets. |
| Safety and security | ★★★★★ 5/5 | Halifax has plenty of safety features in place to protect investors and offers a secure place to invest. |
| Account types and products | ★★★★★ 4.2/5 | You can invest with lots of options, using most major tax-efficient accounts. |
| Ease of use | ★★★★★ 3.8/5 | Halifax offers an investing experience that most customers seem happy with but it does have its flaws. |
| Tools, resources and features | ★★★★★ 4/5 | 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 | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Platform fee | Share dealing account/ISA £36/year SIPP 18 to 25 account |
| 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 |
| Investment choice score | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| 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 | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| 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 | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| 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 | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| 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 | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| 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.
