£11.75 fee to reissue a dividend cheque over £30

wookie66

Currently sorting out unclaimed dividend cheques for deceased relatives shareholdings in various companies

Equiniti / Computershare / Capita Registrars all charge extortionate fees to reissue dividend cheques in the name of the beneficiary

These range from £11.75 to £12 for each dividend cheque over £30 and £30 for each dividend cheque above £100!! Thats nearly 30% of the dividend payment for starters!!!!!

In their letter each of the company registrars state these fees are to cover their "admin charges"

So if i want to get ten cheques each over £30 reissued, they will charge a fee of £117.50 or £120 depending on which Registrar is dealing with the dividend payment

Im dealing with Equiniti, Capita and Computershare for the various share holdings

My question is does anyone know if these fees are bona fide and has anyone ever tried to challenge these on fairness

This smells very much like the disgraceful charges banks and credit card companies used to charge before the legal challenges from consumers began

I fail to comprehend how it can cost the Registrars between £11.75 to £30 just to get a divi cheque reissued.

Whats more they dont have any cap on these charges. I fail to understand this since dealing with say ten cheques surely aint gonna take em ten times longer to process???

Would anyone know if these fees have been challended since accordng to my calculations I will have to stump up approx £1000 in fees before getting the unpresented cheques Im holding reissued

Any views would be appreciated....and yes I did write to the registrars seeking clarification on the fees and whether these could be reduced but got a standard reply back saying "charges are to cover our admin costs"

Surely these fees need to be looked into by some sort of financial Ombudsmen?

Jake'sGran

I can only suggest that you make a formal complaint. Each of these companies will have their own complaints procedure, I think.. If they were banks you would have to exhaust their complaints procedure before complaining to the Financial Ombudsman. Also, you would get an accurate answer from Diana Wright in The Sunday Times Question of Money. It is a shame that the deceased relatives did not give you power of attorney before they popped off especially as it seems you are the executor of the wills. Most of my shares are held in trustee accounts with stockbrokers and I use the dividends to buy more shares. Are the dividend cheques you refer to all over six months old?