interactive investor Reviews 

I’ve used Interactive Investor for about a year and a half, alongside Trading 212. This was actually my first experience with buying shares, but I decided to leave Interactive Investor this month. Having used both, I just don’t think Interactive Investor compares particularly well with Trading 212.

There are four main things I didn’t like about it:

1. The monthly fee

There’s a monthly fee just to keep the account open. For me, this was £15.99 a month, whereas Trading 212 is free.

2. Having to use telephone dealing

There was a particular share I wanted to buy which I couldn’t buy online through Interactive Investor, so I had to use their telephone dealing service. This meant paying another £50 to buy the shares and another £50 when I wanted to sell them.

It seems pretty expensive compared with what you can do through Trading 212, and it’s also an added hassle. I think most people would much rather just be able to place the trade online themselves.

The telephone wait times are also quite long and there always seems to be a pre recorded message saying that it’s an exceptionally busy time for them.

3. The limit orders

I also found the telephone dealing process quite restrictive. If I wanted to sell a share and set a minimum price, my understanding from speaking to the advisor was that if the share didn’t sell that day, I would have to call again the following day and pay another £50 to set a new limit.

So you have to be quite careful about the price you set. Trading 212, by comparison, allows you to leave a limit order in place indefinitely.

4. The lack of transparency around the dealing price

This is probably the thing I disliked most.

On one occasion, I placed a market order and noticed that the price I actually bought the shares at was significantly higher than the live price I was seeing. I contacted Interactive Investor and was told that share prices can move quickly and that I should use a limit order if I wanted to guarantee the price.

Fair enough, so on a later transaction I used a limit order. However, I then noticed the execution price was still significantly higher than the price I had specified with the limit order.

To me, it appeared that I was effectively being charged a commission through being given a higher share price, and that commission felt somewhat hidden. That’s something I really don’t like.

With Trading 212, you get a breakdown of the costs before you make each transaction, so you can clearly see what you’re paying. I find that much more transparent. With Interactive Investor, I found the costs much harder to understand.

Overall, after using both platforms for around a year and a half, I just find Trading 212 much easier, cheaper and more transparent. That’s ultimately why I decided to leave Interactive Investor.

Thank you Hollie H at Interactive Investor for confirming that my Investment conversion request has been initiated.

I spoke to Baljeet Sandhu and he is very helpful and gave me clear answer, which is I am happy. Thank you

Spoke with Muhammad K regarding requirements for setting up a new account. He was very helpful and went out of his way to make sure everything was clear.

Fixed rate charges for trades advertised do not always apply. Watch out for small print that allows charges at higher rates on some trades.

At their home page under /our-charges it shows ii charges, with international trades supposedly at a fixed £7.99/month if you are a premium subscriber.

There is no asterisk or mention of additional charges.

However, if you complete an international trade over £25,000 the charge becomes 0.1%. I was then sent a PDF with the table (again without an asterisk), but small print showing additional charges).

This is really deceptive advertising.

Instant response from Lewis Nash via secure message, if everyone was as good as this guy the world would be a better place, explained clearly what do do to get the £200.

I wanted help setting up a SIpp contribution. Jessica A. was very knowledgeable and helped me guide through all the way form setting up my account to how to make contribution. Answerd all my questions ,I would highly recommend Interactive Investor for anyone.

Whenever I ring Interactive Investor I am always impressed by their prompt and courteous service!

Extremely good customer service. Spoke to Jordan who was extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

I always find staff are friendly and knowledgeable and generally try their best to answer any questions I may have. The only issue I have is that my drawdown pot values always seem to have errors but I think that is a problem with Barrett Waddingham who administer the drawdown rather than II although it is very frustrating when I am trying to make a transaction to meet the tax year end deadline.

Had to call with questions about withdrawing funds from SIPP and the online process involved. Jamie was really patient and helpful and made it very easy to complete. My previous calls to ii customer services also resulted in a first class service.
Thoroughly recommend.

I’m pleased to say a big thank you to the ii Transfers Team who have provided excellent support, advice and execution to me across a recent set of complex transactions involving the investment portfolios of my wife and I.
This was all done in a timely, accurate, professional-but- sympathetic fashion by all the ii staff involved. Much appreciated in a time of significant stress on my part!
Jack Kay, the most recent person involved was especially sensitive to my situation, while dealing promptly with the task in hand. Ben Parish, Lauren Bullock and Grace Garner are other members of the ii team who have contributed to the excellent service provided to me.

I contacted Interactive Investor today (1 Sep26) to try and resolve an outstanding complicated issue. Mr Mohamid Bahrami came to my rescue and without prompting, dug into my problem using all his determination and detective skills to finally resolve this previously intractable issue. I would like to compliment him on his most professional and courteous attitude throughout and give him a big thank you!
Best regards
Ossie Hall
Colonel(Ret'd) O T Hall OBE

My telephone enquiry was answered promptly and handled effectively by Vareesha who very helpfully guided me through what I needed to do, making this a very smooth process. Thank you.

Fantastic support from Sola this morning and could not have completed the task without her. She was very, very patient and understanding - many thanks

I've recently opened an account with ii and have to say that, on the whole, it's been a very easy system to navigate. However, I recently mis-directed some funds and had to call customer services. I spoke to Ezra who really could not have been more helpful and set about resolving the issue for me. I'm so grateful to have spoken with her.

Due to "the system's fault" they put me on the wrong plan and overcharged me, but refuse to refund me, as apparently it was my responsibility to spot their error and correct it.

My call was taken quickly and courteously by George and the query dealt with in a professional and efficient way. Thank you for your understanding and sociable approach George.

Absolutely horrible experience - effectively not possible to use the platform, after transferring money in.

I'm a special case, I guess - where additionally to a UK passport I'm also a Russian national and there are sanctions limiting some operations.

BUT. I'm living in the UK for 10+ years, hold investment/bank accounts on multiple platforms and never the experience was so bad, or even comparable.

While saying 'some operations might be not possible', II doesn't offer any list of the operations that would actually be possible. It doesn't allow me to buy funds that I comfortably hold on other platforms, which are also screened for 'sanctions compatibility'. Even having an hour long conversation on the phone with the support didn't allow me to learn what would actually be a possible way for me to invest money in.

This all - additional to the fact that the was effectively no information about the possible limitations at the moment when I was opening my account and transferring money in! (And the only reason limitations are in place - because they have an EU based clearing layer that I as a UK citizen have actually nothing to do with and could not know about).

Horrible!