This is a general question. I was in discussion with some of my friends in various other platforms like HL. I find a lot of them still skeptical about using 212, though I said it is protected by FSCS and FSA regulated. Has anyone had any bad experiences in term of service or cause for concern in 212? Has anyone got position more than protected 85k in 212. Pardon my ignorance. I have just started using 212 for last few months with 10k in various pies.
I am new to trading 212. Initially at the start had some issues. But the admin team were helpful and resolved the problem within the same day (couple of hours).
So far so good! Hoping the same continues from a customer service point of view.
that 85K protection is a mere formality for most of your friends probably within the assumption that they are holding SIPPs. That 85k is only relevant in a worst scenario, where the broker goes insolvent at the same time as the custodian (which is a different company) and you lost all.
Your investments as in stocks and shares are ringfenced and creditors for the brokers will have no access to them. So if T212 goes bankrupt tomorrow, after some legal proceeds you’ll get your shares from the custodian. That 85K will kick in if you have any money left in your accounts in trading 212.
I am at the moment using Interactive Investor and HL for my SIPPs and I’ve used quite a few others. I am expecting to move my II SIPP when the product launches here but keeping HL as I still need access to HKEX
I don’t mind paying 5-10£ per transaction, makes no difference to me but my biggest issue with II and HL is their % based fees, especially 1.5% FX fee (on both) Ask your friends to find a “compounding calculator” and see what difference does a 2% vs 0% fee makes over 20 years. that’ll convince them 
On another note, your friends will not see Trading 212 recommended in places like money saving expert or other similar places. I’ve written there once that “hey I find these charges from II very expensive, and looking for an alternative” my account got banned in less than 1 hour
edit: and yes with the addition of SIPP I’ll be way over 85K limit. but then again that 85K limit is irrelevant in most cases.
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This isn’t 100% accurate. Correct on the 85k covering cash. But administrators can also come for you for processing fees, administration fees, and transaction fees for transferring your shares and managing the administration of your assets. The 85k will generally also cover this if your eligible and the FCA agrees.
The protection may also cover some instances where there are issues with your investments, but they are sparing on the details of exactly what this means and when it would be covered and not.
Ring fencing does not necessarily guarantee that you wouldn’t have to sell some to cover the fees to get access to your investments if the 85k didn’t cover all fees and costs. Only that the investment company (212) have your assets separated from their operations.
@Eden you are correct, yes there might be fees for handling transactions during that under estimation process and yes FAC will likely cover those.
but what I am trying to point out in this post is that £85K cover (or people keep asking about the EU cover of €20K) is not necessarily your upwards boundary of investing in a company.
Most people on this forum think if they have 500K invested and the broker is bankrupt, you’ll get 85K and 425 will evaporate, which is not necessarily true.
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Thanks @kali and @Eden for clarifying. It is reassuring to know that the stocks and shares are ring fenced from creditors to 212. I hope to stay and continue with 212 as I find it very user friendly and 0% commission. I have SIPP with St James place as advised by a financial advisor a few years ago. Poorly managed portfolio so far!
just one last bit of clarification, this ringfencing is not exclusive to T212, every UK established broker must have it.
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Completely agree.
You don’t see people with million pounds ISA accounts splitting it across 1000 brokers for FACS protection. It’s kind of silly when you think about it.
When you look at investment platforms like vanguard with absolutely huge sums under management, the kind of event that would see your ring-fenced assets disappear the FCSS protection wouldn’t matter any more because the economy would be destroyed.
The only real concern is if is company wasn’t ring fencing your assets, used them, and then you never got them back.
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