IGBH vs VTC

IGBHBiShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

VTCAVanguard Total Corporate Bond ETF

In short

IGBH Long corporate credit without the long-bond rate ride: IGBH holds investment-grade bonds maturing in 10+ years, then swaps away most of the duration. 0.14% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027.

VTC Most cheap corporate bond funds sell you one slice of the maturity curve. VTC buys the whole investment-grade corporate market, short to long, for 0.03% a year, and since 2025 it owns the bonds directly instead of stacking three Vanguard funds.

Stated mandate

IGBH The fund tracks an index intended to reduce interest-rate risk in a portfolio of long-duration investment-grade corporate bonds, using interest-rate swaps to manage duration.

VTC The Fund seeks to track a broad, market-weighted corporate bond index, specifically the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index. It uses an indexing approach focused on investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporate bonds.

Why people hold it

• IGBH Owns investment-grade corporates maturing past ten years, then layers on up to ten interest-rate swaps of staggered maturities to hold portfolio duration near zero.sec.gov
• 0.14% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 (0.39% gross): below the category median, and the same net fee as unhedged LQD at 0.14%, derivatives overlay included.
• Trading since 2015 on BlackRock's own hedged index, pays monthly, and the rate-hedge wrapper is a rarity in a category stacked with plain trackers.

• VTC 0.03% a year against a 0.19% median for investment-grade corporate ETFs. On this exact Bloomberg index, nothing in the group charges less.
• One ticker, the full corporate curve. Top-graded rivals like VCIT, IGIB and IGSB each buy a single maturity band; VTC's index spans short, intermediate and long fixed-rate corporates.
• No overlays, no active tilts, no credit guesswork. Market-weighted indexing of investment-grade, fixed-rate, taxable corporates, and the portfolio hews tightly to that mandate.
• Income lands monthly, not quarterly, which matters if bond coupons are doing real work in your cash flow.

Worth knowing

• IGBH The swaps target rate risk, not credit risk. Spread widening can still move long-dated corporates, and a series of swaps is an approximate offset, not an exact one.sec.gov
• Gross fee is 0.39%. The 0.14% net rate rests on a waiver running through February 28, 2027, and renewal past that date is the issuer's call.
• Plain corporate bond trackers cost less (SPBO at 0.03%, USIG at 0.04%) for anyone who wants the duration rather than paying to hedge it off.

• VTC Whole-curve means long bonds in the mix, so prices move more with interest rates than a 1-5 year slice like IGSB does.
• The plumbing changed in March 2025: Vanguard moved it from holding three underlying corporate bond ETFs to buying the index bonds directly. Same objective, same index.sec.gov
• Moderately traded rather than a volume heavyweight, so spreads can run wider than the busiest corporate bond funds, particularly in choppy markets.

Full IGBH profile⁠

Full VTC profile⁠