ISA Dealing Charges

A question about : ISA Dealing Charges

Hello Everyone

I have a Stocks & Shares ISA with a provider charging Ј9.95 per trade I make. However, they also offer 'regular investing' for Ј1.50 a time.

This got me thinking about the possibility of cutting my dealing charges. I don't trade on a regular basis, maybe a couple of times a year, but instead of paying the Ј9.95 could I pay just Ј1.50? What would stop me from setting up the regular investing for the stock I want to buy, allowing the trade to go through once, get charged the Ј1.50 and then cancel the regular investing? Would the provider see what I've done and try to claw back the difference?

Just a thought.....

Best answers:

• Providers are able to offer the reduced fee by pooling the purchases made by their investors so that they can reduce the number of trades they need to make. It doesn't really benefit them for you to invest every month - it is more important that a number of people all want to invest in something at the same time so that they can place just one buy order.
  I sometimes make use of my platform's regular investing service to top up a holding in a one-off purchase.
• I've certainly done similar with Halifax in the dim and distant past.
  It removes control over the timing of the buying of the shares. But I don't feel qualified enough to time a purchase any better than a randomly timed deal.