The basics
How transfer-out charges work
Transfer-out charges are one-off costs you may pay to the provider you are leaving, not the provider you are joining. They are separate from annual platform fees, and they depend heavily on how the assets move. A cash transfer sells your investments and moves the proceeds; among the providers modelled here it is almost always free, but it takes you out of the market while the transfer runs. An in-specie transfer (also called a stock transfer) moves the investments as they are; it keeps you invested, but this is where per-holding charges appear.
Never withdraw ISA money yourself to move provider. Withdrawn money loses its tax wrapper, and paying it back in uses up your current-year allowance. The official transfer process is started by the new provider and keeps the wrapper intact.
- Leaving as cash
- Free, or no charge listed, at all 15 providers compared here.
- Moving investments as they are
- Four providers charge per holding: AJ Bell £25, J.P. Morgan £20, Freetrade £17 (US holdings only), XTB €25/$25.
- The one rule
- Never withdraw to switch. The new provider runs the transfer and the tax wrapper stays intact.
Provider comparison
Transfer-out charges by provider
Every charge below was checked against the provider's own published fee schedule or help pages on ; the exact page is linked in each row. "£0, not listed as a charge" means those pages include no transfer-out charge but do not print an explicit £0 either. Barclays is marked unconfirmed because its own pages do not list a transfer-out charge, and the £0 suggested by other sources does not come from Barclays itself.
"In specie" (also called a stock transfer) means your investments move to the new provider as they are; a cash transfer sells them first and moves the proceeds.
| Provider | Leave as cash | Move investments as they are (in specie) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell | £0, not listed as a charge | £25 per holding | AJ Bell charges and rates |
| Barclays Smart Investor | £0, unconfirmed | £0, unconfirmed | Barclays investment costs |
| Dodl | £0, not listed as a charge | £0, not listed as a charge; moves as cash and/or investments | Dodl ISA features |
| Fidelity | £0 | £0 | Fidelity charges and fees |
| Freetrade | £0 | £0 for UK holdings; £17 per US holding; other markets are sold to cash | Freetrade transfer help |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | £0 | £0; normal dealing charges apply if you sell first | Hargreaves Lansdown transfer help |
| IG | £0 | £0 for electronic shares; £100 per paper certificate | IG costs and fees |
| interactive investor | £0 | £0 | interactive investor charges |
| InvestEngine | £0 | £0; the new provider must accept the same ETFs | InvestEngine transfer help |
| iWeb | £0 | £0 | iWeb charges |
| J.P. Morgan Personal Investing | £0 | £20 per holding, if J.P. Morgan agrees to move investments; its standard transfer sells them to cash | J.P. Morgan fee schedule |
| Moneybox | £0, not listed as a charge | £0, not listed as a charge; eligible funds and ETFs only, US stocks are sold to cash | Moneybox transfer help |
| Trading 212 | £0 | £0; moving investments means moving the whole ISA, partial transfers go as cash | Trading 212 transfer help |
| Vanguard | £0 | £0 | Vanguard fees explained |
| XTB | £0, not listed as a charge | €25 or $25 per holding; Spanish shares 0.10% of value, minimum €100 | XTB stock transfer costs |
Educational comparison only, not financial advice or a recommendation to stay with or leave any provider. Providers change fee schedules; verify the current schedule with the provider before starting a transfer.
Worked example
What per-holding charges add up to
Per-holding charges scale with the number of holdings you move, not their value. Moving ten holdings as they are costs £250 from AJ Bell (£25 each) and £200 from J.P. Morgan Personal Investing if it agrees to move them (£20 each). Moving ten US holdings from Freetrade costs £170 (£17 each); its UK holdings move free. A two-fund portfolio pays £50 from AJ Bell and nothing at most other providers in the table.
A free cash transfer is not automatically cheaper. Selling and rebuying means time out of the market, possible dealing charges on the way out and back in, and bid-offer spreads. For large portfolios a fixed per-holding charge can be small next to those costs; for small portfolios it can dwarf a year of platform fees. Annual running costs for the receiving provider can be estimated with the ISA fees calculator.
FAQ
ISA transfer-out fee questions
Do UK ISA providers charge to transfer out?
Most providers in this comparison charge nothing to transfer an ISA out as cash. The main exceptions are per-holding charges for moving investments as they are: AJ Bell charges £25 per holding, J.P. Morgan Personal Investing charges £20 per holding where it agrees to move investments, Freetrade charges £17 per US holding, and XTB charges €25 or $25 per holding.
What is an in-specie ISA transfer?
An in-specie (or stock) transfer moves your investments to the new provider as they are, without selling them. A cash transfer sells the investments first and moves the proceeds. In-specie keeps you in the market but can attract per-holding charges and usually takes longer; cash transfers are usually free but leave you out of the market during the transfer.
Should I withdraw my ISA money to move provider?
No. Money withdrawn from an ISA loses its tax wrapper, and paying it back in uses up your current-year allowance. Always use the official ISA transfer process, which the new provider starts for you.
Does the fees calculator include transfer-out fees?
No. The calculator ranks recurring annual platform, dealing, and FX costs. Transfer-out charges are one-off costs that depend on the provider you are leaving and how you move the assets, so they are compared separately on this page and deliberately kept out of the annual ranking.