Hoodless Brennan - Alternative provider with no monthly charge - advice please?

patwa_2

Hello,

I know that the regular advice for this sort of thing is to contact an IFA, however I'm hoping there may be at least a few people in the same situation as me who could offer some advice on this.

I have an online account with Hoodless Brennan. However, HB are closing their online service and transferring existing accounts to TDWaterhouse unless alternative instructions are explicitly given to HB.

I'm fine with the transfer, except that it seems TDWaterhuse levy a £10 per quarter charge on inactive accounts. I have approx £1000 of holdings in my current HB account and am happy to just leave them there until the financial markets improve. So, moving to TDWaterhouse, given that I don't make any other regular trades, is not a viable option.

I was wondering if anyone here had experience with other providers who don't levy a charge for inactive accounts, but whom also offer good rates for the occasional trade I may wish to make, and which have good customer service.

Thanks for any help on this. The deadline for the decision is 10 July, but if I'm not going to move to TDWaterhouse I have to have my account with the alternative provider open before this.

waqas

In the same boat as you aswell, byt have 10k invested.

From what I have read, its either iii or halifax or sharecrazy

patwa_2

Hi,
Thanks for those, I'll start checking them out. If you do finally make a decision, perhaps you wouldn't mind posting back- I'll do the same from here. I'm sorry I can't stay with TDWaterhouse, they do seem to have some good research facilities, and I'd rather have an all-in-one site for both checking my stocks and research. But I'm willing to forego that for a reliable company without a monthly charge.
Best,
H.

King_Weasel

The Share Centre have a low quarterly charge (not an inactivity fee) and low transaction costs where the transaction value is also low. More details on this site.

cepheus

I think some of the sharebuilder accounts have no annual fee, and low trading, these seem appropriate for very small holdings

http://www.iii.co.uk/sharedealing/?type=portfolio

Buddy195

patwa wrote: »

Hello,

I know that the regular advice for this sort of thing is to contact an IFA, however I'm hoping there may be at least a few people in the same situation as me who could offer some advice on this.

I have an online account with Hoodless Brennan. However, HB are closing their online service and transferring existing accounts to TDWaterhouse unless alternative instructions are explicitly given to HB.

I'm fine with the transfer, except that it seems TDWaterhuse levy a £10 per quarter charge on inactive accounts. I have approx £1000 of holdings in my current HB account and am happy to just leave them there until the financial markets improve. So, moving to TDWaterhouse, given that I don't make any other regular trades, is not a viable option.

I was wondering if anyone here had experience with other providers who don't levy a charge for inactive accounts, but whom also offer good rates for the occasional trade I may wish to make, and which have good customer service.

Thanks for any help on this. The deadline for the decision is 10 July, but if I'm not going to move to TDWaterhouse I have to have my account with the alternative provider open before this.

Why not simply look at the other thread for ideas. Odd that you open a thread when exactly the same thing is on the same page and has got loads of info in there!

patwa_2

Hi,

Thanks for the link which I'll have a look at this evening.

As regards opening a different thread, I admit that I should search the board more carefully. If the other thread was just below this one, than I doubly apologise. I'm partially sighted and using a screen reader/magnifier, so often I miss things that are very close together. I'll try not to make the same mistake again in the future.

patwa_2

Hi,

A quarterly charge is also less preferrable, as although it's not an inactivity charge it's going to take a big chunk out of any returns for stocks which have a low value holding - basically paying for doing nothing with low dividends (less than £5 total per holding). I'll look at the sharebuilding accounts though, and see if I can transfer to them.

laffer

what about the fool ~?

skylight

The fool, iii and Halifax shares are all operated by Halifax Share Dealing - all offer a £1.50 sharebuilder thing.

Which is okay, but iii refused me due to my credit rating. :rolleyes: So I guess it would be the same for the others within the group.

Dave101t

just checked on the sharecrazy site, they are moving from HB to another one (smaller company) but the charges will remain the same (9.99 flat fee) or may even go down. no subscription, inactivity fee's or anything. quite relieved as alot of my shares are not worth the paper they arent printed on!