Switching Out of Funds Network to HL Vantage

mike88

Has anybody done this? I've substantial holdings held within Funds Network and would like to take advantage of the annual commission rebates offered by Hargreaves Lansdown within their Vantage account.

Unfortuneately I cannot find my Funds Network terms and conditions but recall there are exit penalties for transfers out (not withdrawals).

slinga

Won't HL pay for any exit penalty.

Give them a ring.

dunstonh

FNW have no penalties on transfer out.

psychic_teabag

I think you can only transfer Fidelity's own funds as a stock transfer, and any non-Fidelity funds have to be transferred as a cash transfer (ie sold by Fidelity then rebought by H-L) but I may have got that wrong.

jimjames

I transferred from FundsNetwork to HL. They will not transfer FN as stock regardless of the manager (mine were Fidelity & Jupiter) and FN will send the cash to HL for you to reinvest.

HL were doing an offer where they paid the transfer costs (£25 I as I recall)

psychic_teabag

I dug out the reply I got from H-L when I asked a little while back:

The terms of transfer for Fidelity Fundsnetwork that we have been provided with, stipulate that Fidelity’s own funds can be transferred to us as stock. However, any non Fidelity finds that you hold on the Fundsnetwork platform can only be transferred as cash. With a cash transfer, the funds are sold you will therefore be out of the market for the period of the transfer, however the ISA status is maintained.

If you have a mixture of Fidelity and non Fidelity funds in the ISA, you can complete one authority for those that can only be transferred as cash and another authority for those funds that could be transferred as stock. Please attach a cover letter with your application to confirm your instructions. You are able to confirm if the funds that you currently hold are available to be repurchased on the Vantage platform by checking our website and searching the fund within the ‘fund research and discounts’ section or by calling the Helpdesk who will be able to confirm.

In the transfer forms that come with the Nov 2010 issue of Investment Times, the ">" footnote reads

For Fidelity funds see Fidelity. For NON-Fidelity funds see "Fidelity Funds Network"

where Fidelity can be transferred as either stock or cash, but FFN as cash only. No exit fee in either case.

However, a newer bit of blurb I got doesn't have this extra detail. Perhaps something has changed ..?

soulsaver

You may have thought of this but:
Any unit trusts that have to be cashed for the transfer will suffer the bid offer spread (unless an oeic) too. L&G UK Alpha ,a top performer, for example, has a spread of nearly 10%! HL will discount the initial fee element when buying back but that will still see you c. 5% down for the pleasure, in addition to missing any gains being out of the market - probably a week at least. Getting that back at 0.25% (is it?) pm may not be self funding in an attractive horizon; any fitting that situation probably best given extra 'staying put' consideration.
Also beware that bid/offer spreads that seemed innocuous when you bought a fund may not be the same now, so don't rely on memory.

mike88

Thanks very much for the replies.

Transferring out is not an option if stock has to be sold and re-purchased. I have over £200k tied up in Funds Network and the costs associated with transferring out mean that I shall have to stay put.

psychic_teabag

There was another note in some H-L blurb that said if you are transferring more than 40k in non-ISA funds, that could go as a stock transfer. I'd suggest getting in touch with H-L - they seem pretty keen for people to transfer their ISAs, so they might be flexible in what they're prepared to offer you.

barak

mike88 wrote: »

.....I've substantial holdings held within Funds Network and would like to take advantage of the annual commission rebates offered by Hargreaves Lansdown within their Vantage account.....

mike88 - I'm not clear exactly how you hold your investments with FFN but you don't necessarily have to transfer out of FFN to get commission rebates. You just have to find an IFA/discount broker [not HL!] that will give you some rebate and appoint them as your agent with FFN.

talexuser

barak wrote: »

mike88 - I'm not clear exactly how you hold your investments with FFN but you don't necessarily have to transfer out of FFN to get commission rebates. You just have to find an IFA/discount broker [not HL!] that will give you some rebate and appoint them as your agent with FFN.

I agree, this is good advice, phone up Chelsea Financial Services who deal with Fundsnetwork and they could well rebate 1/2 of the 0.5% annual cashback to you for no advice. I think Elson Associates will do the same. I would haggle for even more with your size of investment. Let us know how you get on.