The bank’s investment arm will be bringing in a customer administration fee but it will reduce its online dealing commission from 1 April 2021.

However, it confirms customers won’t need to pay any new admin charges for a year, until April 2022.

The flat-rate customer administration fee will stand at £36 a year to cover the cost of running its service. This covers its Share Dealing account, ISA and ShareBuilder.

For those customers with more than one account, you’ll only pay this fee once.

The amount will be taken from the cash part of accounts in April each year (first fee in April 2022). If the account doesn’t have enough cash, Halifax said the remaining balance will be taken by direct debit or from a customer’s debit card.

Alternatively, it may need to sell some of a customer’s investments to cover the cost, though it added it will always notify account holders before this move.

But, Halifax is doing away with its ISA administration fee so customers will no longer be charged an annual £12.50 from April 2021. Instead, this fee will be replaced by the flat-rate customer administration fee as above.

It is also reducing the online dealing commission for all trades from £12.50 to £9.50 from April 2021.

Halifax added that customers have a year (until 31 March 2022) to decide if the account is right for them and before admin charges are collected.

Winners and losers of the fee changes

Ben Yearsley, director of Shore Financial Planning, said: “Halifax Share Dealing is still fairly competitive.

“In the past, banks have been expensive but these new charges are good for share dealing and ISAs.

“As an example, Hargreaves Lansdown charge a standard £11.99 a deal and Charles Stanley direct charge £11.50 a deal.

“Halifax is even competitive on the admin fee. But, if you only invest a small amount then the Halifax fixed charge is uncompetitive. However, if you invest the full £20,000 ISA allowance, it is competitive.”

‘Service sustainable for the long-term’

A Halifax spokesperson, said: “We regularly review our pricing so that it continues to offer customers value for money, whilst ensuring our service is sustainable for the long-term.

“Customers will have a year between the new fees being introduced and the charges being applied, providing time for them to decide if this is the right account for them.”