Cheapest way to buy funds discussion

Chippy_Minton

Thanks blinko and dunstonh.

blinko wrote:

by the way anyone know whats happend to chartwells website

I was surfing there today, so I think it's just a temporary blip.

As well as Chartwell, I've been looking at Hargreaves Lansdown, Intelligent Money, Cavendish, Comdirect and IDealing today. Getting brain ache because of all the different charges and terminology they use! I've fired off some questions but had no replies yet...

Like what do Cavendish mean by a 'plan'? It's not defined on their FAQs or Renewal Commission Service Summary. Is a plan all the funds held within a single PEP/ISA, or a single fund held within a PEP/ISA, or something else?

Intelligent Money looks the best for my situation - does anyone have any experience of them? £35 a year to transfer all my funds seems like a very good deal - where's the catch (if any)? I have several funds purchased via Allenbridge and Fidelity direct and held within a Fidelity FundsNetwork account. Can I change these 'agencies' to IM and still keep the funds within FundsNetwork? And can I purchase a multiple fund ISA through FundsNetwork with them?

Thanks for any info.

adamdavid

Getting brain ache because of all the different charges and terminology they use

I know what you mean! I'm looking at Chartwell and Hargreaves Lansdown, as well as Fidelity FundsNetwork. Hargreaves Lansdown looks best for me, but I've got no experience with them. I like the idea of Chartwells cashback system.

This is all so complicated - my brain now hurts.

Does anyone have any experience with Hargreaves Lansdown?

blinko

whats chart wells cash back system like ?

blinko

i have been with HL for a couple of months and they seem to be pretty good not had any complaints so far

erb

adamdavid wrote:

Does anyone have any experience with Hargreaves Lansdown?

See my earlier post at the begining of this thread.

adamdavid

Just thought I add a little extra comment about this topic.

I decided to go with Hargreaves Lansdown, taking out my ISA for this year and transferring my PEP to them. In all my dealings with them so far they have been absolutely superb. They respond to emails quickly (usually within a couple of hours) and they have been quick and efficient in all my dealings so far. The only time I've had to phone them so far was because I wanted to carry out a fund switch for less than £1000 which could not be carried out online. The phone call took less than three minutes and the deal was completed by the following day, and I'd received confirmation by post the day after that. All in all, Hargreaves Lansdown seem to be brilliant. They offer low cost investment in unit trusts/oeics, as well as a low cost SIPP.

All in all Hargreaves Lansdown are great! :T

josephjago

My experience with Hargreaves is they are very good till there is a probem and then they do the least they can to assist. I have just under 200k invested through them. From time to time I would need to transfer cash via debit card into my account in order to place orders as quickly as possible. This worked fine for a long time, till one day my card was declined. To cut a long story short although there were sufficient funds in my account I am still unable to transfer funds in this way, despite numerous calls and emails. I have now voted with my feet by dealing through hoodless and brennan for the purchase of stocks and shares, and will be moving my funds from Hargreaves once I have done my home work as to who to transfer to. The test I believe of a well run company is how helpful they are at dealing with problems and complaints, a big thumbs down to Hargreaves on this count.

dunstonh

The test I believe of a well run company is how helpful they are at dealing with problems and complaints, a big thumbs down to Hargreaves on this count.

You are not using them for the service though. Remember they are a discount IFA. They are just facilitating the purchase. This is where a discount provider will often fall down and the price you pay (or lack of) when things go wrong.

The choice is pay less and get less service or pay more and get more service. Many will get by not needing the extra service. Some, like yourself, did need it.

superjames4

Intelligent Money looks the best for my situation - does anyone have any experience of them? £35 a year to transfer all my funds seems like a very good deal - where's the catch (if any)? I have several funds purchased via Allenbridge and Fidelity direct and held within a Fidelity FundsNetwork account. Can I change these 'agencies' to IM and still keep the funds within FundsNetwork? And can I purchase a multiple fund ISA through FundsNetwork with them?

Thanks for any info.[/QUOTE]


hi there

did you get anywhere with Intelligent Money? I too am currently Fundsnetwork via Allenbridge. From reading the stuff it looks as though you just register with IM and pay the £35, then switch fundsnetwork advisor reference from Allenbridge to IM and wait for the cash to roll in?

Is my interpretation correct? And has anyone ever used them? I can find lots of talk and press articles - but no-one who actually has any experience!

thanks

James

dunstonh

Is my interpretation correct? And has anyone ever used them? I can find lots of talk and press articles - but no-one who actually has any experience!

Press articles that have appeared have come as a result of promotions in disguise.

You should be aware that many funds do not pay trail commission or pay less than 0.5%. You could end up switching to IM, paying £35 a year and get less than £35 back in refunded trail. I bet loads have found themselves in that situation.

Their commission calculator is way off the mark with real world examples. Try typing £10,000 as an ISA with no regular and 10 years and it comes out saying commission will be £1520. Even if you assumed the 0.5% commission you are looking at £50 a year which is a long way from that £1520 over 10.

With ISAs, you would be far better off with HL or Bestinvest if you require no servicing. If you would like servicing then switch it to a new model IFA (rather than old model).