We have ranked and compared UK brokers and investment platforms that pay the most interest on uninvested cash held on account. As Interest rates are at recent highs of 5.25% some brokers will pay you interest on your cash to encourage you to keep it with them, rather than transfer it out to higher-paying interest accounts.
Best Interest Rates on Uninvested Cash
| Broker | Cash Interest | Interest Starts At | DIY or Managed | Our Rating | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.749% | £8k | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 4.35% | £1 | DIY & Managed | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 3.89% | £10k | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 1.95% - 4.96% | £1 | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 1.75% - 3.75% | £1 | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 1.5% - 3.7% | £1 | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
|
 | 2% - 5.3% | $10,000 | DIY | See Offer Capital at risk |
Which brokers and investment platforms pay the most interest on uninvested cash?
Currently, Interactive Brokers (4.749%) and Bestinvest (4.35%) pay the most interest on uninvested cash. So, if you think the markets are due a downturn and have stepped away into cash, you can still get some pretty decent returns with those two investment accounts.
However, there are some terms and criteria, which mean that Interactive Brokers is better for larger portfolios and Bestinvest is better for smaller ones.
Across all accounts, it is SIPP accounts that have the best interest on cash balances.
Interactive Brokers – up to 4.749% interest
IBKR offer the most interest on uninvested cash (4.749%), but you only get the full amount if you have over £80k ($100k) on account, including cash and investments). If you have less than £80k you do not receive interest on the first £8k. It’s not great for small accounts though as there is no interest payable on balances and portfolios below £8k ($10k).
Bestinvest – up to 4.35% interest
Bestinvest pays 4.35% on all cash held in any of your accounts. So, unlike Interactive Brokers you can still receive interest on cash if you have an account balance less than £10k.
Saxo – up to 3.89% interest
Saxo pays up to 3.89% interest on uninvested cash with no lock-in period or cap and your rate tracks the market on a daily basis. But, as with IBKR, if you have less than £10k on account you don’t get any interest. The more you have on account the better interest rates you receive. To get the top 3.89% interest on cash you need over £1m in a VIP account. The below table demonstrates how much you would receive from each account type, with different portfolio balances.
| Account Type | £5k | £12k | £49k | £103k | £249K | £1m |
| Classic | 0% | 0.07% | 1.34% | 3.10% | 3.29% | 3.40% |
| Platinum | 0% | 0.07% | 1.44% | 3.32% | 3.53% | 3.64% |
| VIP | 0% | 0.08% | 1.53% | 3.55% | 3.77% | 3.89% |
AJ Bell – up to 3.7% interest
AJ Bell pay the most interest on cash balances for their SIPP and Junior SIPP accounts where you can earn up to 3.75%, but for stocks and shares ISAs and shares dealing accounts the most you can earn is 2.45%
| Cash balance | SIPPs | ISAs & GIA |
| £0–£10,000 | 3.20% | 1.95% |
| Above £10,000 | 3.70% | 2.45% |
Interest rate payments are paid quarterly and they are scaled so for example you had £50,000 cash in an AJ Bell account. £10,000 of this money would earn the ‘£0–£10,000’ interest rate, while the remaining £30,000 would earn the ‘Above £10,000’ interest rate. You also can’t combine your SIPP and ISA balances to get better interest rates, as they are charged separately.
Interactive Investor
As with all Interactive Investor pricing structures, they are a little complex, as a lot of it is scaled and dependent on what type of account you have. For ii’s ISA, Junior ISA, and trading accounts, cash balances will receive 1.75% interest on the first £10,000, 2.75% on the value between £10,000.01 and £100,000, with 3.75% paid on the value over £100,000.
| Cash Balances | ISA & JISA | Share Dealing | SIPP |
| Up to £10,000 | 1.5% | 1.50% | 2.25% |
| £10,000.01 to £100,000 | 2.5% | 2.5% | 3% |
| Over 100,000 | 3.5% | 3.50% | 3.5% |
Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown never likes to give too much away when it comes to fees, but they are at least paying interest on cash balances whereas brokers like IG are not.
| Account balance | GIA | ISAs | SIPPs |
| £100,000 + | 2.2% | 3.7% | 4.2% |
| £50,000 – £99,999.99 | 2% | 3.2% | 3.9% |
| £10,000 – £49,999.99 | 1.7% | 2.95% | 3.65% |
| £0 – £9,999.99 | 1.5% | 2.75% | 3.45% |
eToro – up to 5.3%
To get interest on your free cash balance with eToro you need to activate it and typically they don;t make it easy. You have to log into your “club dashboard” and activate the interest on cash option. You only get interest with eToro when your overall balance is above $10k (2%), and to get the best interest rate of 5.3% you need a “Diamond” account with a NLV (net liquidation value) of over $250,000).
| Account Type | Gold | Platinum | Platinum Plus | Diamond |
| Total balance required | $10,000 | $25,000 | $50,000 | $250,000 |
| Annual interest rate | 2% | 2.40% | 5% | 5.30% |
