Charges

We have made our charges simple and competitive, so that you can spend more time on what matters.

Our benefits

  • Free account for 18-25 year olds.
  • Free regular investing with our regular investment service.
  • Commission-free international trading, FX charges of 1.25% still apply.

General charges

  • £9.50 per online trade to buy and sell funds and UK stocks.
  • £36 annual customer admin fee covers ISA and Share Dealing Account.
  • SIPP annual charge of 0.25% on investment value (capped at £16.50 a month).

Our Interest Rates

We do not pay you interest on cash balances held within your ISA or Share Dealing Account.
See our interest rates for our Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).

Cash Balances

Any uninvested cash is held in a cash management account, which is part of your Share Dealing Account, ISA or SIPP – This is not a bank account. We hold this uninvested cash in line with FCA rules, for your protection.

We receive interest payments, which vary, depending on the total balance held and market interest rates.

For SIPP we currently expect to retain between 1.25% to 1.75% over the next 3 months.

Interest retained is used to develop our products and services.

Bank of Scotland offer a range of savings accounts that do pay interest on cash balances.

How much cash should I hold?

There is no requirement to hold a minimum balance - You should make sure that there is enough cash held to cover charges, when they are due.

Understanding our charges

  • What is the customer admin fee?

    We charge a single fee of £36 a year to hold an ISA and a Share Dealing Account. This is  the same as £3 a month, and is free for 18-25 year olds.
    For our SIPP there is an annual account admin charge of 0.25% of the value of your investments (charged monthly up to a maximum of £16.50 a month).

    How we collect the customer admin fee

    For ISAs and Share Dealing Accounts:

    • The fee is due in April, and we collect it in full each May.
    • If your Share Dealing Account doesn’t have enough cash to cover the fee, we’ll try to take the remaining amount from any ISA or ShareBuilder accounts that you hold.
    • If this isn’t possible, we’ll collect the amount by Direct Debit or debit card.
    • If we can’t collect the fee, we may need to sell some of your investments to cover the cost. We’ll always try to contact you before we sell your investments.

    How is the customer admin fee shown on the Statement?

    • This will show as a debit in April.
    • If you had enough cash to cover the fee in your Share Dealing Account, you’ll see this on your Cash Movements Schedule as a debit on your cash balance.
    • If your Share Dealing Account didn’t have enough cash to cover the fee, you might see two separate debits to cover the total amount. This is where we’ve collected the fee from your Share Dealing Account and ShareBuilder/ ISA.
    • If none of your accounts had enough cash to cover the fee, the outstanding amount is taken by Direct Debit or debit card. This will show as a debit when the fee was due and as a credit when the fee was paid.

    Why is the customer admin fee debit date different to the date it left my account?

    • In April, your Statement will show a debit on your account – this is the fee creation date. 
    • If your fee was taken by Direct Debit or debit card, you’ll also see a credit with the narrative ‘payment received’ - this could be dated the following month.

    For our SIPP

    • The fee will be collected from cash held within your account.
    • If we can’t collect the fee then we may need to sell some of your investments to cover the cost. 
    • We’ll always try to contact you before we do this. 
  • Online UK and fund trading

    We charge £9.50 for online dealing per trade, this covers:

    • Funds
    • Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
    • Investment Trusts
    • Bonds
    • Gilts

    Online International trading

    We don’t charge you any dealing commission for International trading online. An FX charge of 1.25% still applies.

    Telephone trading

    You can trade through our telephone service for £25 per trade.

  • Government taxes and levies

    Stamp Duty

    When you buy a UK stock, you’ll pay Stamp Duty to the Government. Stamp duty is 0.5% of the value of the investments you buy (1% on Irish stocks). You don’t pay any Stamp Duty on AIM stocks or Exchange Traded Funds.

    PTM Levy

    Any trade over £10,000 will also be liable for a levy of £1.50, which is paid to the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (PTM).

    Spanish Transaction Tax

    Spanish Transaction Tax (0.2%) is an additional tax payment when you buy some Spanish stocks. Examples of these are Banco Santander and International Consolidated Airlines Group.

    Fund manager charges

    Fund managers will charge you various fees such as an ongoing charge or transaction fees. They put the details of these in the Key Investor Information Document for each fund.
    We apply the individual dealing charges as you place the deals. We break these down on the transaction screen.

  • Regular Investments

    You can trade regularly with our commission-free scheduled investment service.

    Dividends

    Dividend reinvestment purchases are charged at 2% of the dividend value and capped at a maximum of £9.50 per stock.

    TradePlans

    We offer a range of TradePlans (including limit orders and stop losses) to help you control the risk involved with stock market investing. TradePlans are available on any CREST eligible UK stock.
    Each TradePlan you set-up costs £2 and if a trade is executed then we’ll reduce the dealing commission on that trade by £2 per trade.
    For ISAs and SIPPs, there is no charge to set-up a TradePlan. This means our standard commission rate will apply to any trade carried out if a TradePlan triggers.

    More about TradePlans

18 – 25 Investing

Invest in your future for free with our Invest Wise accounts. Pay no account fees until you’re 26 and benefit from free regular investing.

 Invest Wise accounts

18 – 25 Investing

Invest in your future for free with our Invest Wise accounts. Pay no account fees until you’re 26 and benefit from free regular investing.

 Invest Wise accounts

The value of an investment can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invest. If you are not sure about investing, seek independent advice. Tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and may be subject to change.

Bank of Scotland Share Dealing Service is operated by Halifax Share Dealing Limited. Registered in England and Wales No. 3195646. Registered Office: Trinity Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 2RG. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under registration number 183332. A Member of the London Stock Exchange and an HM Revenue & Customs Approved ISA Manager.