Hargreaves Lansdown Review 2024

Is Hargreaves Lansdown regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Is Hargreaves Lansdown safe?

To be certain that a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• the background of the broker.

How you are protected

This is important for you because the investor protectionamount and the regulator differ from entity to entity.However, this is not an issue in this case, as all customers are covered by Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Limited.This means that due to the FCA regulation you get investor protection for an amount of up to £85,000.

Background

Hargreaves Lansdown was established in 1981. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.
Hargreaves Lansdown is listed on the stock exchange, which is a big plus for safety as it means the broker releases financial statements regularly and transparently.
Being listed on a stock exchange, providing financial statements and being regulated by a top-tier authority are all great signs for Hargreaves Lansdown's safety.

Find your safe broker

Account base currencies

At Hargreaves Lansdown, the only available base currency is GBP.

If you have a personal bank account in a currency other than GBP, then you will be charged a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

Hargreaves Lansdown charges no deposit fees.

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Hargreaves Lansdown withdrawal fees and options

Hargreaves Lansdown charges no withdrawal fees.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Hargreaves Lansdown? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took 2 business days.

How do you withdraw money from Hargreaves Lansdown? You can only withdraw funds to a nominated bank account in your name. Follow these steps:

• Once logged in, hover over the 'My Account' button on the top right
• Select your 'Fund & Share Account' from the options
• On the right side of the page, select 'Withdraw money'
• Enter the amount you wish to withdraw and follow the instructions on the screen

Can you open an account?

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What is the minimum deposit at Hargreaves Lansdown?

The required Hargreaves Lansdown minimum deposit is $0.

If you want to use the robo-advisory service Portfolio+ or invest in Venture Capital Trusts, the minimum account balance is £1,000 and £3,000, respectively.

Account types

How to open your account

For UK residents, the account opening process is straightforward. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. They only require the most basic information and that you top up your account with a minimum of £1 during the process for verification purposes. If they manage to electronically verify your details you won't even need to provide an ID or proof of address.
Things start to get complicated if their electronic verification fails, or if you're not a UK resident.
Why would your verification fail? This can happen for a number of reasons: for example, if you recently moved, or recently moved to the UK. For a definite answer, you will need to contact Hargreaves Lansdown.
If your verification fails or you're an EEA resident, then you will need to fill in their physical application form and post documents verifying your identity as well as your address. All in all, you would need to send the following:

• filled-in application form
• a copy of your: passport / driving license / firearms certificate or shotgun license / recent evidence of entitlement to a state or local authority funded benefit, tax credit, pension, educational or other grants
• a copy of your: current council tax demand letter or statement (issued within the last three months) / current bank statement (postal issued, within the last three months) / utility bill (postal issued, within the last three months)
• FOR UK ONLY: a cheque with the initial amount you wish to deposit in your account / direct debit instructions

Look and feel

The mobile trading platform is the same as the web platform. It is well-designed and easy to navigate.Unlike the web trading platform, you cannot set alerts and notifications on mobile.

Login and security

Hargreaves Lansdown provides only a one-step login for its mobile platform. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company's list of security changes.

You can log in using biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

What we really like about it is that when searching for a stock, for example, the results also display related News.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop loss
• Stop trailing

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til time (GTT)
• Fill or Kill (FOK)

Alerts and notifications

You cannot set alerts and notifications on the Hargreaves Lansdown mobile platform.

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Hargreaves Lansdown has its own self-developed trading platform.
Hargreaves Lansdown's web trading platform is available only in English.

Look and feel

Hargreaves Lansdown has a well-designed and easy-to-navigate trading platform.However, it cannot be customized.

Login and security

Hargreaves Lansdown provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure and adding this feature should be high on any company’s list of security changes.

However, they give you a Secure Number after registration, and each time you log in, you have to enter your password and three randomly selected digits of this Secure Number requested by the system.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

You can search by typing both a company's name or asset's ticker and during the search, a relevant list appears.
If you search for funds, you can also search by selecting the fund provider or the sector. HL also has a separate Fund Finder service, where you can search for funds using filters by provider, sector and fund type, as well as funds recommended by HL analysts for their performance potential.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop loss
• Stop trailing

If you are unfamiliar with some of these terms or want to learn more, read our overview of order types.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til time (GTT)
• Fill or Kill (FOK)

Alerts and notifications

You can set price alerts and notifications on the Hargreaves Lansdown web trading platform.

This is only available for UK stocks though. We missed the ability to set alerts for non-UK stocks.
The range of alerts is limited. You can set alerts only for price moves, dividend payouts and regulatory news announcements.

Portfolio and fee reports

Hargreaves Lansdown has clear fee reports.

These reports can be found in the 'My Account' section.
When you select an asset, you can check the costs it would incur over the next 5 years, for a £5,000 trade. It would better if you could modify this trading scenario manually.

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Hargreaves Lansdown's product selection is great compared to its closest competitors. Both Interactive Investor and AJ Bell Youinvest offer fewer stock markets to trade on.

Stocks and ETFs

Hargreaves Lansdown gives you access to European and some North American stock exchanges.You can also trade penny stocks.
The broker's stock and ETF offering are average.

Funds

Hargreaves Lansdown's mutual fund selection falls behind competing brokers.

This selection falls behind competing brokers. Both Interactive Investor and AJ Bell Youinvest make more fund providers available.

Bonds

Hargreaves Lansdown's bond offer is limited, and only around half of the bonds can be traded online (the rest only via phone).

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Interest paid on uninvested cash

Hargreaves Lansdown pays up to 2.2% on uninvested GBP on share/fund dealing accounts.

We recommend Hargreaves Lansdown for beginners and buy-and-hold investors looking for great customer service and easy-to-use trading platforms.

Below you can find links to all aspects of Hargreaves Lansdown in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our Hargreaves Lansdown fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the Hargreaves Lansdown minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your Hargreaves Lansdown account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the Hargreaves Lansdown account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the Hargreaves Lansdown trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Hargreaves Lansdown customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is Hargreaves Lansdown legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether Hargreaves Lansdown is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Hargreaves Lansdown good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on Hargreaves Lansdown?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on Hargreaves Lansdown guide

I want to trade options, are they available at Hargreaves Lansdown?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Hargreaves Lansdown?

What is the minimum account balance at Hargreaves Lansdown?

Check out the current account balance requirements at Hargreaves Lansdown in our What is the minimum account balance at Hargreaves Lansdown article.

Looking for commission and fees data for Hargreaves Lansdown?

We collected them in Hargreaves Lansdown commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from Hargreaves Lansdown?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on Hargreaves Lansdown.

How do you add money to Hargreaves Lansdown?

We wrote about it How To Add Money To Hargreaves Lansdown Account?