Considering leaving Selftrade ISA

Colxfile

[STRIKE]I have noticed that with the changeover from Squaregain to Selftrade, the "No commission if you buy iShares within your ISA" offer has gone, making trading commission £12.50 now. The offer was the main reason I set up an ISA with them (In the Comdirect days), so I could reinvest my dividends at no extra cost. Consequently, I am considering my options.

I have 3 types of iShares to the value of ~£3200 (Approx £2k in one, £100 in another and £1k in another). Selftrade impose a charge of £10.00 per holding to transfer stock out. Liquidating it comes at a price of £12.50 per trade.

The following possibilities come to mind:
Transferring:
a) Close the ISA and have the iShares transferred to me.
b) Transfer the ISA to another provider.

Sell the lot, transfer the proceeds back to me, Close the ISA and...?
c) ...bank the cash. (I've got a decent enough rate on my mini cash ISA)
d) ...live a wonderful life of debauchery. Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, luxury holidays and such.

I'm more minded towards option (b), since the original plan was to invest and reinvest dividends as cheaply as possible. If there is anywhere that would allow me to hold the ETF's in an ISA and do cheap trading and not charge a massive management fee, then that would be ideal. But I could always hold the iShares myself and receive the divis as beer money.

Any thoughts, pointers and pitfalls for me to be aware of?[/STRIKE]
Ignore - I'm an idiot. Sorry

Thanks in advance.

cheerfulcat

Selftrade have said that they will continue with the iPlan - not sure why you think otherwise? It still says " With our iPlan savings scheme we won't charge you any commission if you purchase ETFs within a Selftrade self-select ISA or PEP" here.

Whatever you decide, if you are going to hold stock market investments it makes sense to hold them within an ISA so I would transfer rather than close it.

Colxfile

Sorry, you are right.

I got the idea because when I tried to make a purchase of up to an amount (Say 100) it only seemed to let me by up to about 90. And I went "Hmmm...". But it seems that if I do "Buy x" then it doesn't add on the £12.50.

Sorry abt that.

cheerfulcat

Hi there,

No worries. There has been a bug in Selftrade's system which causes it to add the commission to purchases when you set a £ amount rather than a number of shares. If you telephone them ( using the geographical number, of course - 020 7517 4691 ) they can do the transaction over the phone. Selftrade has a presence on TMF, where they explained the problem.