Fletch

Really? Are they denying financial responsibility for it? Can't see how this would need to go to an ombudsman - clearly seems to be caused by a technical shortcoming on their part.

As far as I am aware, the £1000 exemption only applies to buying shares via a stock transfer form. There is no consideration when buying electronically.

In the first instance they go to IG. IG then redistributes the dividends to individual investors.

Just as a caveat - bear in mind the following from the commisions and charges page: *Note for multi-currency accounts: These figures apply to clients who opt for the default setting of 'instant currency conversion'. Clients who choose to convert currencies manually will pay commission of 2 cents per share with a minimum charge of $15 on US stocks.

No, I as far as I am aware both accounts are aggregated, so there is only one quarterly charge (but don't quote me on that).

There are a limited selection of ETFs/Investment trusts, though not all are available for putting in an ISA due to tax rules, and I think there are some that IG will only allow 'professional' clients to trade (apparently too complex for us mere mortals). There is a screening tool that shows the availability of ETFs on IG https://etfscreener.ig.com But yes, my feeling is that IG concentrates on its CFD/SB service, and to be fair that is what it is known for. It offers share trading (possibly as a means of attracting further clients into CFD/SB trading), but I think you'll find the level of share trading options and service do not rival more dedicated providers such as HL. Ultimately, you pays your money and you takes your choice...

Fundamentally, I think the main focus of IG is on the provision of CFD/Spreadbetting accounts, because that is where they make the most money. Share trading is a bit of a poor second cousin, and the options available probably reflect that. However, short of the 'free' companies, IG's charges for share trading are about the lowest out there. I do something similar to what you want to do, though obviously every month I have to make the investments myself rather than have it happen automatically. It's not a big deal for me, and I prefer to do it with IG rather than pay for the privilige of an 'automatic' option with someone like HL.

I do not have an IG Smart portfolio so I cannot say for certain, but my interpretation on how they work is that you decide on an overall risk profile and then pay into them - the actual investments are chosen by the manager of the scheme and not by you. It's a bone of contention amongst many people, but IG doesn't have much in the way of automatically investing in stocks of your own choice other than manually trading them yourself (which of course will be subject to the normal dealing charges).

If you want your deposits to be automatically invested, then IG Smart Portfolios are probably the only option IG provide that is close to what you are looking for, the charges are listed as being 0.72% per year for holdings <£50,000 : https://www.ig.com/uk/investments/smart-portfolios However, bear in mind that beyond the level of risk you want to take on, you have no say in the investments that your money gets funneled into.

The waiver based on a holding of £15,000 or more is only applicable to IG Smart Portfolio investments - shares/funds in a normal share/self managed ISA account do not count towards the total. In this case the only way to avoid the custody fee is to make the minimum number of trades per quarter (3).

Just as an aside, it should be noted that the commission waiver is applied on a monthly basis. That is to say making three trades in a month will only grant you the waiver in the following month - any additional trades (beyond the three needed to gain the commission reduction) made in the same month will still be subject to a £10 commission.

There is some financial data under the 'Market Data' option, though not sure if that is what you are looking for

History -> view full history You can filter the transactions by timeframe and further limit it to show dividends only.

Whilst I sympathize, there's not much that can be done other than take your business elsewhere and make IG aware of the reasons. Maybe if IG starts to lose customers, they might buck their ideas up a bit with regard to customer support which seems to be somewhat lacking at the moment.

As far as I am aware, the pay date for L&G was last Thursday. Strangely, I have been paid a dividend for Highland Gold which was last Friday, but still waiting for L&G to appear.

You're best to contact the ig helpdesk (and given the coronavirus farce, it's probably best to email, unless you want to wait for hours on the phone). It's unlikely that anybody on this forum could do anything to solve your problem other than suggest you contact IG.

At a guess, it's because the base currency of the stock is different to the base currency of your account and so it is being affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate. Saying that, I don't know for sure so it might be worth contacting the helpdesk to confirm the reason for the variance.

I would tend to agree with dmedin. It's a large amount of money to drop on something you admit to know nothing about. I don't really trade in those leveraged ETFs, but I don't think most of them are intended to be held long term. Maybe try trading on a demo account before you risk large amounts of money. But hey, it's your money, and sometimes the best lessons come with cost. Good luck with whatever you decide.

IG seem a bit tardy when it comes to dividend payments. I've had some that take weeks to appear.

Yeh, the 0.5% FX fee is listed on IG's charges page - though you do need to scroll down a bit to find it. https://www.ig.com/uk/investments/share-dealing/costs-fees

Since you are a frequent trader (waiving the commission charge), and the base currency of your account is GBP, the only other charge I am aware of is the 0.5% currency conversion fee.

You're not paying tax on anything within the ISA. That is fundamentally the point of it. Unless of course the government decides to change the rules at some point in a desperate bid to raise some money.

Since IG holds the shares on your behalf, they are paid the dividend which is then distributed into your account.

Default currency for LSE is pence, not pounds - 10 shares is £9.548 (ignoring commission).

Shrugs. Don't kill the messenger. I suspect a lot of people fund their account with a card, but each to their own.