Halifax ISA Investor - Confused advice

baldbloke_2

I am disappointed that I have to resort to asking for clarification of this on a public forum - but Halifax have given me different answers over the past week to the same question.
I have invested my £4k for 05-06 and am happy with the spread between 5 of their Investor Funds. Now I am considering possibilities for 06-07 and simply asked Halifax if I can invest a further lump sum for 06-07 and divide it between a partly same & partly different or completely different group of funds under the umbrella of the ISA Investor. I want to leave this year's investment alone - I am happy with the balance.
I have been told that (a) yes I can choose whatever funds I want (b) I can only have 5 funds at any one time and will need to switch out of a number of my existing funds if I select a partly different choice of funds next time (c) I can have whatever funds I want but can only choose 5 at the time I make my investment.
I realize the people there are under pressure and the product is complex but this is poor customer service really. Each call involved the person going away and seeking advice and yet I am still confused.
No wonder people go to those providers who specialise in these matters and leave the banks etc alone.
If anyone has managed to do what I am thinking of doing then any advice would be appreciated.
Many thanks.

regularsaver1

only financial advisers can deal with this product within the branch's (PFA's)

have a look on the website where you can view your plan

its best to probabaly call the halifax financial services in York

david78

The only thought I have is you could transfer your existing funds to a funds supermarket ISA. This could probably be done as a stock transfer without having to sell and buy back your units/shares. Then you would have less restrictions on what Halifax funds you buy next year, and could buy funds from different fund managers if you want. My guess it would be cheaper than Halifax's wrapper too.

baldbloke_2

regularsaver1 wrote:

only financial advisers can deal with this product within the branch's (PFA's)

have a look on the website where you can view your plan

its best to probabaly call the halifax financial services in York

I have to tell you that it is the financial centre at York that I have been speaking to - hence my disappointment at their contradictory advice.
I use their online service without problem but simply wanted advice for next year ie 2 days time on 6th April
If equity ISAs are meant to appeal to ordinary folk like me then some providers need to make their rules simpler for their staff and ISA investors to understand.

baldbloke_2

david78 wrote:

The only thought I have is you could transfer your existing funds to a funds supermarket ISA. This could probably be done as a stock transfer without having to sell and buy back your units/shares. Then you would have less restrictions on what Halifax funds you buy next year, and could buy funds from different fund managers if you want. My guess it would be cheaper than Halifax's wrapper too.

Thanks. I have been looking at Fidelity funds & others and I am sure you are right about ease of use and cost.

david78

Don't forget if you buy the ISA wrapper for your funds through a discount broker you can save on the initial charges on your investments in 2006/07. Say 5% saved on a £4000 investment - thats £200 saved.

More moneysavings.

You can invest in Fidelity's FundsNetwork through most of the discount brokers, and they do their own ISA accounts too.

Mikeyorks

Halifax have this centralised at their Fund Mgt unit in York, as I think you have gleaned. And no one else in Halifax will discuss it.

Regret they are the only ones who can give you a definitive as to how they are prepared to allocate your funds. Suggest you email them in order to get a specific ... but even then?? They do, however, promise to respond to Emails within 48hrs.

Similarly found them disappointing, last year, when opening SS ISAs for myself / wife. The application form wouldn't accept our joint current account - so I put the 2 x £4ks into a joint Halifax web. Saw the funds disappear - and then the £4k for my wife re-appeared next day! Just in the process of ringing them as the post arrived - with a letter for my wife advising the ISA was cancelled as it hadn't been funded!

Rang them - to be told the funds had to be in an individual account - as per ISA Regs. So why did mine work?? Difficult not to get uptight with them and point out I had funded Halifax cash ISAs from a joint account the previous week. Asked if the cancelled ISA could be resurrected. 'No - you have to re-apply'. Did so, put the funds in a Web specific to my wife and seemed OK.

Got the paperwork a few days later. Same account ref as that which had been cancelled 'and could not be resurrected'. Strangely I wasn't in any way surprised.

Try emailing them? But they are frustrating for an allegedly functionally specific unit

david78

I don't understand.

Why not go somewhere else if the Halfax are so bad.

Would you rather be with a houshold name everybody knows but who have difficulty administrating your account, or go with a specialist company that most people will not know (except perhaps the enlightened few) but are absolutely on top of their game.

baldbloke_2

david78 wrote:

I don't understand.

Why not go somewhere else if the Halfax are so bad.

Would you rather be with a houshold name everybody knows but who have difficulty administrating your account, or go with a specialist company that most people will not know (except perhaps the enlightened few) but are absolutely on top of their game.

You are right of course. It's just that when you are new to all of this and your own bank appears to offer a ready-made solution it's easy to go along with what they offer. I have looked at both Fidelity and even L&G and am most impressed by them both. I wanted to see what the options were with the Halifax for my second year of ISA investing - and I have found out that my best options probably lie elsewhere as you say.

regularsaver1

my isa investor hjas performed quite well, no initial entry or exit fees

if i wanted to withdraw, it would be in ym account within 4 days

Mikeyorks

david78 wrote:

I don't understand.

Why not go somewhere else if the Halfax are so bad.

I also shop elsewhere!

But I do find the Halifax products, year on year, to be good. So it's a relatively small price to have to put up with the idiocies of their call centre on the odd occasion I can't do something online. And their online functionalities have matured over the years - into an excellent system.

That said - started taking the paracetamol early last night, just in case the new year ISA facility wasn't working online today. Fortunately didn't have to resort to the 'phone.