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Independent, no-nonsense ratings and reviews
Cheap. Not much else to say! Not great to use. No good supporting content. But it is cheap for people who know what they're doing and want to buy and hold with minimal charges. With no obvious pensions pedigree, expect a no frills experience.
We score each provider on about 20 different criteria including cost, service, website, functionality, customer feedback and our experience of the service. All overseen by our PhD gonk!
We score each provider on about 20 different criteria including cost, service, website, functionality, customer feedback and our experience of the service. All overseen by our PhD gonk!
Based on 61 reviews
It's cheap and it doesn't bombard me with emails to sign up to some 'premium' share tipping service. I'm just looking to hold a few blueish chip stocks to beat the bank rate of 0.01%
22/02/2021
Great low cost product for the passive investor. Being low cost the website is no frills and there's no flash app, but I'm happy not to pay extra for these :-) Unlike the main review, I've never had a single access issue with the website. Also when trading shares I just use the quote facility to get a live share price which is fine for my needs. To date I have not needed to contact their customer service so can't comment on how effective this part of the business is. If you're looking to keep costs low and you're happy to select funds/shares with your own research then I'd recommend.
19/02/2021
I have been using it for about 2 years for ftse100 and ftse250 companies. I paid £25 fee to open account (this is now £100) and £5 fee per transaction. No other fees (eg. inactivity). Does exactly what it says on the tin for what I use it for. (The only other thing I have to pay is 0.5% stamp duty when buying shares which of course you will have to pay if using other platforms). It really is easy and cheap.
07/02/2021
Awful company. I've just withdrawn my money. They don't have online support to speak of, you have to wait for someone to decide to go online to help which rarely happened. I call them and they have a 10 minute wait time, unacceptable when dealing with shares in my opinion. No live share price on their site. The fees are low but at what overall price if I buy the shares when they've gone up? I will try Hargreaves Lansdown.
01/02/2021
The main plus for me is no monthly charges you just pay a £5 fee for each trade, this works for me because I don't buy and sell all the time just every couple of months. Also I find the web site is quick and easy to use - all the information I need is in one place. Setting a stop loss on holdings is a good tool - I do not get this option on the Fidelity International platform. On the down side: initially setting up my account with iWEB did take some time due to I.D. being approved. Overall I can recommend iWEB even to a novice like me
29/01/2021
I am a customer of iWeb. Their dealing price and no charge for keeping an account is probably the only strengths. A new £100 one-off price for opening an account is a big drawback. Now, let's look at what their weaknesses or minuses: 1. No multi currency trading account 2. Very narrow exposure to international markets -good for UK or only big cap stocks in EU or USA - you can't buy small cap stocks even in EU or US 3. No Junior ISA account service available 4. Limitations to Trading Plans for international markets 5. No foreign currency hegding option It's good for investing in UK shares.
18/01/2021
Terrible at reflecting true costs particularly with funds. When markets are open they regularly show funds as frozen.
24/11/2020
For ISAs this is a very good deal, and I can find no other ISA platform that offers a trailing stop loss. But the website is very limited compared, for example, with that of Hargreaves. And I have to say iWeb's admin systems are a shambles. A month after requesting an ISA transfer from Nationwide, NW have not received a request from iWeb, while iWeb have just sent me a form for signature relating to another NW ISA that was successfully transferred 10 days ago.
18/11/2020
Iweb forgot two years ago to charge £180 annual fees (£45 quarterly admin. fees have been ok). Two lots of annual fees this year and with 'drip' auto purchase of new 'accumulated' shares (as reinvested quarterly dividends), my SIPP account has a negative cash balance now! Iweb blame Barclays bank for poor timing of cash transactions on my account. A nightmare of 9No. month delay, 'wet' signed copies of original documents 'lost in the post' and so resent, both parties blaming each other, and neither one keeping me informed (my 'phone bill skyrocketed). The Reviewer is Pre-retirement age.
13/11/2020
iWeb slightly ponderous as the pension admin is by AJ Bell but accessed initially through iWeb. Both parties are v helpful The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
13/11/2020
Website works well for buying/ selling etc. It’s not great if you want to do research but the cost is brilliant so so low. I research on other sites and then transact on iWeb.
23/10/2020
Uncomplicated efficient website and service
19/10/2020
Takes a bit of getting used to, I have called the customer help line only 2 or 3 times when stuck and they have always answered quickly and resolved the issues - even if the fault was mine.
18/10/2020
Simple to use very competitive prices. The office always helpful.
16/10/2020
Low cost but not all funds are available
16/10/2020
occasionally makes mistakes
16/10/2020
A very cost effective and simple to operate SIPP platform The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
Easy to navigate
16/10/2020
What’s not exciting about buying investment trust shares for your ISA in real time knowing the charges are absolutely rock bottom? Excellent simple crystal clear website using plain English. Helpful staff if you need to phone, reasonably quick to answer. Do your free financial research elsewhere, e.g. Trustnet (but sadly no longer Money Observer website which iweb’s rival Interactive Investor have killed off). Printing off dividend income from non-ISA investments to show your accountant is also very straightforward.
10/10/2020
Great website, simple to use and affordable however transferring in another ISA has been most painful and i can only describe iWeb as incompetent. 3 months of chasing every few days and they still can't get a valuation, you can't speak to anyone in transfers and no one contacts you to give you an update even with multiple promises. Complaints are the same nothing happens and no one resolves your issues. Open an account direct with them but don't bother trying to give them more business.
02/10/2020
Excellent value with a fair website. I have transferred high cost ISAs from other providers into iweb and they accept practically all holdings and then once in Iweb I can switch to better investments. My only concern with iWeb is how they are sustainable as there is so few charges?
27/09/2020
Instead of a quote got "We no longer allow investment in this stock". I was trying to buy an investment trust! Iweb appears to be staffed by school leavers trying to reduce their workload by using conservative wording of KIDs to justify deleting the stock from their list. Expert advice says that Iweb is for investors who know what they are doing. However Iweb says it is only for those who do not know what they are doing and who need to be protected from any risk.
03/09/2020
Cheap and easy to use with good telephone support. I use other websites for research, e.g. Morningstar, and save money. I can’t understand why the site is described as boring! If you want to pay higher charges go elsewhere, if you want entertainment go to Disney. Plenty of independent and free research is available on the www.
22/07/2020
Low cost dealing at a price. Pretty limited research facility. I use Stockopedia for share screening. iWeb could take a lesson here to add value.
18/05/2020
Unflashy and basic but if you want cheap, transparent trading it's the one. It's easy to use once you get used to it and communication has up to now been very good. Little research advice but that can be obtained at all sorts of other places anyway so why pay extra for it. No proper app, but perfectly easy to trade on your phone Despite thinking of spreading risk over several providers, I've decided I won't go anywhere else. Lastly, the "best of" lists don't often recommend iWeb. This is wrong, and saying "I don't like it" is fine but be prepared to pay more for one you do like.
07/03/2020
Very good cheap dealing. Love it.
16/02/2020
I have had an account with iWeb for over 10 years, and it has consistently been one of the best value sites available. Easy to use and good communication.
28/01/2020
Well, haven't much to compare it with, but it seemed the cheapest at the time and for someone who just wants to look for index funds, that was the major criterion for me, although it does have company/fund information too :)
23/01/2020
I have held this account for years and it has consistently been the best value I can find on the market. Does everything I want.
13/01/2020
IWeb is cheap and basic. They only charge £5 per trade. Vanguard is £7.50 and interactive investor about £10 (with fees refunded if you trade at least twice a month. AJ Bell trades are about £7.50 each. IWeb is slow and SIPP contributions take several months from April 6th to be completed with HMRC 25% allowance (£720 to boost £2880 sum to £3600 maximum for non tax payers). No debit card payments was available last year either, to fund annual allowable SIPP contribution. My IWeb SIPP is transferring to Vanguard this year, if they accept it with only a 25% tax free amount already withdrawn.
03/01/2020
I think your assessment is somewhat unfair. I have six figure ISAs which cost almost nothing to operate - I buy once a year, simple low cost trackers (iWeb offer all the Vanguard, Blackrock, L&G index trackers, all a low cost index investor would need). Their service is fine too, you can contact them by live webchat or by phone. They produce tax certificates for unsheltered accounts promptly - the quickest of my three brokers. The website is as easy to use as any other IME. They aren’t cost effective for small accounts, or if you want to trade every month.
12/12/2019
2 other members of my family use iweb for ISAs and I use it for an ISA and SIPP. The ISA ongoing charge is free and ideal if you don't trade often. Although the website is basic, you can download funds to a spreadsheet to keep track. The SIPP is controlled by AJ Bell and charges are reasonable and compare favourably to others. I recommend iweb.
22/11/2019
The website is very basic. No flashy graphics and no hard sell pop up adverts, but it does what it is supposed to do. It's a simple and cheap service that works well. A single £25 fee is required to open your account, but there are no further platform running costs (no annual percentage charges). There is a trading fee of £5 per trade, so if you only make one purchase per year (for example, 20K filling your ISA quota) it's an annual cost of £5, which is hard to beat.
01/08/2019
I transferred my wife and my portfolio from Hargreaves Lansdown to iWeb, saving £1500 per annum. We tend to make our own decisions, so iWeb are great. The range of UTs are a bit limited, not as many as HL. However for SIPPs stick with HL when you look at drawing your SIPP. I think they work out cheaper.
21/07/2019
Charges suck the life out of your savings. Their low charges are ideal. What could be better??
30/06/2019
Cheapest platform around. Very easy to deal and only £5 per trade. No charges for ISA account except £25 initial fee. Very happy with site, easy to use. Wide range of exchanges and funds. If you don’t want advice, or to pay for it, what more could you need?
03/04/2019
Very good value for money, especially for large portfolios. The website is simple with no frills and easy to use, but fund research capabilities are limited. I have found other brokers' fancy websites a nightmare to use and much prefer iWeb. There is plenty of readily available information on funds from the providers themselves and sources such as Morningstar. Call centre staff have also been helpful. Recommended.
08/03/2019
Fantastic if you know what you want to do. Minimising costs is my aim and this platform is great for that whilst letting me invest as I wish to.
02/03/2019
Well, we're always told to consider charges, so if your interest is equities and you know what you want, then this could suit you. Yes it's basic, but if you don't need a helping hand, why pay more?
17/02/2019
It’s a winner on price and the website is improving, but very poor customer service when you phone up, and very limited on funds (they don’t have some of the big well known funds).
16/02/2019
I've been using IWeb for 4 years and it's very good value if you want the flexibility to deal in low-cost tracker funds, as well as shares and ETFs for a large portfolio, without paying a big percentage-based platform fee. Very occasionally there are problems with the website but frankly it's rare. A couple of niggles: >Unlike Hargreaves and A J Bell you don't get invited to participate in IPOs. >You can't deal in Retail Bonds using the site, but you can deal by phone for no extra cost...and I've always found the dealers efficient and helpful.
13/01/2019
It is extremely good value. There is no platform fee and trades are only £5 each. Website is fairly basic but more than adequate
19/12/2018
Easily the cheapest platform for large ISA portfolios. The best part is zero charges if you've stopped dealing, and are just leaving your pot untouched.
04/12/2018
No comment.
10/11/2018
Very basic service at low cost i.e. £5/share purchase trade. Confirmation documents are easy to download and file in user friendly format. IWeb is owned by Halifax which is part of Lloyds bank group, so backed by a large banking institution. Website links are poor, daily share price changes are not easily viewable phones. Phones are not always answered promptly. IWeb does not do SIPP accounts itself (they are subcontracted to AJ Bell), so lack of expertise here. I was encouraged to become a customer by their cost/value for money.
07/11/2018
Awful platform to navigate for beginners and absolutely no frills! But great for investors with large portfolios who know what they are doing. The platform charges are unrivalled because, after the initial £25 opening charge there aren’t any, its free! Dealing charges are also very cheap at £5 across the board, you don’t even have to trade a minimum number of times to get this rate.
30/09/2018
The range of funds is limited, with many well known funds not being available. Even a fund they listed in their tools could not be bought once. Often fund trades fail and you have to phone them up. They do answer, at least. One month fund trades took almost a week to complete. Avoid.
06/06/2018
It's £5 a deal. Always works for me. Love it.
03/05/2018
Excellent cost wise, you get used to the website with practice, and if more research is needed there is lots available online.
21/04/2018
Very cheap to buy and hold funds. Not great on user-friendly website or fund research, but if you are an experienced investor I think they are excellent value for money.
30/01/2018
Provides a dealing service suitable for my needs. Clearer information pages on individual stocks.
30/01/2018
Cheap, I think.
30/01/2018
Good value. The website is very basic.
30/01/2018
Very cheap, no recurrent fee, great value for long-term hold portfolio. Website is basic so maybe not for beginners but it's now my preferred platform.
26/09/2017
It is possible to combine low cost and great service.
26/09/2017
I like the low charges.
04/07/2017
Very helpful when I transferred from Alliance Trust Savings in Feb 2014. Good basic web site, perfectly adequate for someone investing in Investment Trusts (and bonds & shares on the main markets). A low cost way of spreading my investments accross more than provider. They don't provide access to open offers & have withdrawn support for LSE special funds market, which have both constrained my investment choices. Very basic, good within the limits of what it provides. Low cost (only paid �25 to join). Does provide some investment information but I stick with other sites that I am used to (Interactive Investor, Trustnet etc.)
04/07/2017
Basic service and value for money. Would prefer better research and access to extra services like level 2 share prices. I think it is the cheapest in the market
A
04/07/2017
Happy with both
04/07/2017
Had low opening charge when I started with them.
04/07/2017
Very cheap to hold shares and ISAs, no running charges. Website is not user-friendly - definitely 'cheap and cheerful' but okay for a confident/experienced investor Cheaper than the others but much more limited range of services.
04/07/2017
Didn’t work when we tried to open a test account. Didn’t have the energy to keep trying after 24 hours of the same error message.
This isn't a flash service which will engage or inform. But we do get the odd email from customers fighting its corner when we don't include it in our analysis. It will let you (mostly, when it's working!) buy and sell investments. And hold them in an account for you. At probably the lowest cost in town.
Stocks and Shares ISA
Investment Account
Pension
Funds from other groups
Stocks and shares
Pick your own funds
Pick your own shares
iWeb outsource their drawdown services to AJ Bell which can make admin slightly more complex and arduous, and customers say iWeb lack expertise to help with pension and drawdown queries.
iWeb is very low cost. It’s a no-frills stockbroker operated by Halifax Share Dealing. I repeat, no-frills.
To open a pension account there is an opening fee of £25, and then £5 per trade.
There is a wide variety of investments on offer, including shares and funds. Best for those who know exactly what they are doing, are solely interested in minimizing cost and are not making too many fund transactions.
Provider Size: | Investment platform operated by Halifax Share Dealing, owned by Halifax bank. |
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