Hargreaves Lansdown reduced their fees…or did they?
Financial Interest was founded by Damien Talks Money (384,000 YouTube subscribers) to teach the personal finance lessons he wished he'd been taught at school.
Last updated 25th February 2026
9 min read
Hargreaves Lansdown – the UK's most popular broker – has caused a bit of a stir by announcing a shake-up of its fees, due to take effect from 1 March 2026.
According to them, the changes are designed to "provide even more clients with better value for money".
And at first glance, that claim doesn't look outrageous: some fees are coming down, and dealing charges on shares and ETFs are being cut.
But as ever, the devil is in the details.
Once you look past the headline reductions and whip out the calculator, it becomes clear many investors will actually end up paying more than they do today.
First, here's what's changing:
- Annual platform fee on SIPPs and stocks & shares ISAs reduced from 0.45% to 0.35% on balances up to £250,000
- ISA plus Fund and Share account fee caps increased from £45 to £150 for ETFs and shares
- SIPP account fee cap lowered from £200 to £150 for ETFs and shares
- Fund & Share account fund holding fee cut from 0.45% to 0.35%; new 0.35% fee introduced for holding shares and ETFs
- Share and ETF dealing fees reduced from £11.95 to £6.95 per trade
- New fund dealing fee of £1.95 per trade to buy or sell funds online.
The more eagle-eyed (and mathematically astute) among you may have clocked that while the headline platform fee has dropped from 0.45% to 0.35%, the fee cap has shot up to from £45 to £150 for holding shares, bonds and ETFs across all of HL's main accounts.
For many investors, this "lower" fee actually translates to a higher bill.
Below, we'll run through the different account types and investment choices, and show how these changes might impact investors.
Financial Interest provides guidance, not advice. If you’re unsure about anything, speak with a qualified adviser. When investing, your capital is always at risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
ETF investing
In practice, the increased £150 fee cap means that anyone with a total pot of £13,000 or more in shares, ETFs or bonds will pay significantly more than they did previously – and anyone with a pot of around £42,000 or more will pay the full £150.
| £10k ETF pot | £50k ETF pot | £100k ETF pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £45 | £45 | £45 | £11.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
| New fees | £35 | £150 | £150 | £6.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
While HL has cut trading fees to £6.95, this could always be avoided by using their monthly regular investing service, and is unlikely to move the needle for ETF investors who trade infrequently. Plus, it's reduced from a high fee to a... slightly lower, but still high fee.
Mutual fund investing
Those investing in mutual funds inside HL's stocks & shares ISA are set to fare better – the 0.35% account fee reduction from 0.45% will actually have a bit of an impact:
| £10k mutual fund pot | £50k mutual fund pot | £100k mutual fund pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £45 | £225 | £450 | £0 |
| New fees | £35 | £175 | £250 | £1.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
This slight improvement doesn't automatically make HL competitive for mutual fund investors, though – especially once you compare it properly with the rest of the market. More on that shortly.
There's no set cap on mutual fund investing – but due to the way the fees are laid out, the most you'll pay per account is a whopping £3,750 per year (compared to £4,000 previously). For reference, there are options on the market that would charge you £0 for exactly the same investments.
Now this is where some investors could really feel screwed over.
Until now, there was no platform fee at all to hold shares, ETFs or bonds inside HL's General Investment Account. From March, the same cap and fees apply as within HL's ISA – a 0.35% annual charge on balances up to £250,000, capped at £150 a year.
And again, trading fees have come down from £11.95 to £6.95.
For mutual fund investors, the same changes apply – an account fee reduction to 0.35%, and a new trading fee of £1.95.
While this again means mutual fund investors will feel a positive impact, ETF or share investors will be significantly worse off:
ETF investing
| £10k ETF pot | £50k ETF pot | £100k ETF pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £0 | £0 | £0 | £11.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
| New fees | £35 | £150 | £150 | £6.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
Mutual fund investing
| £50k mutual fund pot | £100k mutual fund pot | £500k mutual fund pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £45 | £225 | £1,500 | £0 |
| New fees | £35 | £175 | £1,750 | £1.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
Our fees are based on generic examples. Check out Hargreaves Lansdown's new charges calculator to see what you'll actually pay. Remember to set the trade quantity to '0' if you're investing via direct debit.
HL SIPP fee breakdown
There is some genuinely good news here – albeit in a fairly narrow lane.
All of the same changes apply to HL's SIPP (and their junior SIPP). However, the £150 cap is an upgrade for investors holding shares, ETFs or bonds, as it was previously £200.
Pretty significant savings for those with a larger pot – though one that could easily be wiped out with just a handful of trades for those with smaller balances.
ETF investing
| £10k ETF pot | £50k ETF pot | £100k ETF pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £45 | £200 | £200 | £11.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
| New fees | £35 | £150 | £150 | £6.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
Mutual fund investing
| £10k mutual fund pot | £50k mutual fund pot | £100k mutual fund pot | Trading fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous fees | £45 | £225 | £450 | £0 |
| New fees | £35 | £175 | £250 | £1.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
Other considerations
Account fees stack
Importantly, that £150 fee cap applies per account type.
So, if you hold a stocks & shares ISA and a Fund and Share account, for example, that's two lots of increased fees you could end up paying.
This is in contrast to brokers like Vanguard, where an overall fee cap applies no matter how many accounts you hold with them.
Mutual fund investors also have an effective fee cap because of HL's sliding fee structure – 0.25% between £250,000 - £1m, 0.10% on £1m to £2m, no charge over £2m.
Previously, the most you could ever pay in account fees was £4,000. Now, it's £3,750 – but again, that's per account type.
That's potentially thousands in annual fees if you hold very large balances across different accounts, when some platforms offer zero account fees.
FX fees remain steep
Disappointingly, HL's FX fees remain high for most investors, dropping from 1% all the way down to 0.99% for the majority of retail investors. That might not sound like a lot, until you consider that some platforms charge as little as 0.15%.
On a £1,000 investment into US shares, that's a £9.50 difference – and one that could soon add up.
How does Hargreaves Lansdown compare to other providers now?
Even if HL's fee changes are saving you a few quid, it's really important to zoom out and compare them to the market as a whole.
Here's what you’d pay in account fees and trading commissions investing into ETFs or mutual funds in a stocks & shares ISA across a range of providers – some of whom charge no account or trading fees whatsoever:
ETF investing
| Platform | £10k ETF pot | £50k ETF pot | £100k ETF pot | Trading fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hargreaves Lansdown | £35 | £150 | £150 | £6.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
| Vanguard | £48 | £75 | £150 | £0 (when using bulk dealing) |
| AJ Bell | £25 | £42 | £42 | £5 (£1.50 with monthly direct debit) |
| Freetrade | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Trading 212 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| InvestEngine | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Mutual fund investing
| Platform | £10k mutual fund pot | £50k mutual fund pot | £100k mutual fund pot | Trading fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hargreaves Lansdown | £45 | £175 | £450 | £1.95 (£0 with monthly direct debit) |
| AJ Bell | £25 | £125 | £250 | £1.50 |
| Vanguard | £48 | £75 | £150 | £0 |
| Freetrade | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Prosper | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Maybe throwing in quite so many commission-free platforms was a bit gratuitous – but you get the point.
For most investors, Hargreaves Lansdown's fees are simply very high for what you're getting.
You're paying a premium to invest through a broker that will send you a letter, and might pick up the phone if you call – a level of service you can also get from more traditional platforms like AJ Bell or Vanguard, but for less on many portfolio sizes.
And while it's true that many newer, low-cost platforms don't support mutual funds, both Freetrade and Prosper do – with no platform fee and no dealing fees.
Which raises the question: why pay hundreds – or even thousands – in platform fees, when you could pay nothing at all?
ISA offers
Get a free US share bundle worth between £50-£500 when you open a new IG account, use the code FS500, and invest at least £500 before the 30th April 2026. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 30/04/2026 Get free fractional shares worth up to £100 when you join Trading 212 and deposit at least £1 via our link, or use promo code FIN within your account. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Get 1% cashback up to £5,000 when you transfer to IG using the code TRANSFER5K, make an investment, and hold it until 31st May 2027. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 31/05/2026 Claim a free share worth between £10-£100 when joining Freetrade. Minimum deposit £50. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Get up to £100 in free fractional shares when joining Lightyear via our link, or using promo code ‘FIN’. Minimum deposit £100. T&Cs apply. Affiliate link. Get £100 to £3,000 cashback with an Interactive Investor ISA, SIPP or Trading Account. Terms and fees apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/05/2026
Promo code worth up to £100 with Trading 212
Up to £5,000 cashback when you transfer to IG
Get up to £3,000 cashback with Interactive Investor
SIPP offers
Get a free US share bundle worth between £50-£500 when you open a new IG account, use the code FS500, and invest at least £500 before the 30th April 2026. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 30/04/2026 Claim a free share worth between £10-£100 when joining Freetrade. Minimum deposit £50. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Get 1% cashback up to £5,000 when you transfer to IG using the code TRANSFER5K, make an investment, and hold it until 31st May 2027. Terms apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 31/05/2026 Get £100 to £3,000 cashback with an Interactive Investor ISA, SIPP or Trading Account. Terms and fees apply. Affiliate link. Expiry date: 01/05/2026
Up to £5,000 cashback when you transfer to IG
Get up to £3,000 cashback with Interactive Investor
Still a winner for junior ISAs
Even though HL is an affiliate of ours, as you can tell, we don't pull any punches when it comes to breaking down what's actually good value for investors.
That said, we have to give them credit where it's due for their junior stocks & shares ISA. It's still completely free to invest, and offers a great range of funds and ETFs.
However, they are going to be introducing an FX fee for foreign shares – this won't impact many investors, but something to bear in mind if you're planning on betting your child's university fund on the continued rise of Nvidia.
Lifetime ISA fees remain unchanged
HL have decided not to meddle with the account fees on their LISA, which remain 0.25% on balances up to £1m, capped at £45 per year. This is actually pretty decent, and puts them on a par with AJ Bell.
However, as with their other accounts, they're introducing a £1.05 trading fee for buying or selling funds, and reducing their trading fee to £6.95 for shares, ETFs and bonds.
Bottom line
HL themselves say that once these changes take effect, "most clients will pay less, or about the same as before" – a statement that's about as lukewarm as the middle of a microwave lasagne.
If they were that confident that a significant proportion of investors would be saving money, surely they'd be shouting it from the rooftops?
If we're being slightly cynical, you could see this as a classic bit of fee-engineering: make the headline number look friendlier, while quietly nudging up what a lot of investors will end up paying.
The reality is that, for many, the fee cuts giveth with one hand, and the new caps and charges taketh away with the other.
And while it's true that some mutual fund investors will see their annual charge trimmed a little, the simple fact remains: you could invest elsewhere and not have to worry about fees at all.
Financial Interest provides guidance, not advice. If you’re unsure about anything, speak with a qualified adviser. When investing, your capital is always at risk. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
