iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

pdotie

plunt wrote: »

steps:
1) message them using their internal mailing system, they will reply within 24 hours according to their policy (maybe they will change that too!)
2)if it gets rejected file a complaint to the financial ombusman
3) if that fails then appeal it

Messaging system said 72 hours when I just sent them a question asking if it applied to someone who just held an ISA account. I have a dormant trading account with them, but an ISA with a small amount of shares invested in it which I bought through a former employer's sharesave. I was simply holding this for the long haul, but the charges would eat into it in a big way.

If they say that the charges will apply to account holders who only have an ISA, then I will be taking this a little further.

xemeter

@ JIMMYJONES

I'm more or less in exactly the same position. As far as I can tell there are no other alternatives available. And here's me thinking that the capitalist system was meant to drive efficiency and make competitive alternatives!!

Perelandra

munchymum wrote: »

Newbie here, hoping someone more experienced can clarify what the situation with iii is. They are trumpeting this income rebate thing - at their example 0.64% rate, this income would just about outweigh the £80 annual fee on my current investment. But what I do not understand is whether or not the other funds supermarkets also offer this rebate? I've had brief looks at x-o and IWeb, and I can't find it mentioned. Anybody know?

It varies.

Firstly, this will only be on funds, so that will rule out x-o. If you buy shares, ITs, ETFs, trackers I doubt there will be much, if any, rebate.

The rebate given can vary significantly, depending on how much of the trail commission the broker rebates. This link:

http://www.candidmoney.com/actionplans/actionplan3.aspx

is a starting point to see how the commissions vary from one broker to another (don't take that link at face value, though, as the portfolio you choose may vary significantly form the one that Candid Money chose!). Take note of the importance of portfolio size, as the annual fees charged by some brokers can make them more/less attractive for different sized portfolios.

I'm somewhat sceptical of the 0.64% figure that iii have quoted, as that's just an illustrative figure, and I've not been able to find any specific figure for a specific fund to check it by. It's also not clear whether that's just the trail commission, or includes any platform as well.

Perelandra

rail.link wrote: »

Also, any alternatives for monthly funds investment with no iii style charges ?

Which sort of account do you have- ISA, SIPP or an unwrapped trading account?

xemeter

Perelandra wrote: »

I'm somewhat sceptical of the 0.64% figure that iii have quoted, as that's just an illustrative figure, and I've not been able to find any specific figure for a specific fund to check it by. It's also not clear whether that's just the trail commission, or includes any platform as well.

And apparently RDR was to increase transparency

kfm

Does anyone know (off the top of their heads) what providers usually charge to "transfer in" shares that are in certificate form? How about the charges for transferring holdings from a standard share account to a S&S ISA with the same provider?

I'm thinking of materialising my holdings as certificates and then holding as such until other providers have announced their new pricing structures. That way I don't need to transfer holdings from III to another provider only to find out later I'm going to get stung again.

I understand I'd lose my S&S ISA allowances from previous years which I've used but I don't see many choices at the moment.

Perelandra

xemeter wrote: »

And apparently RDR was to increase transparency

I don't think that's come in yet, though?

xemeter

I thought it was done in response to the impending rdr

Perelandra

xemeter wrote: »

I thought it was done in response to the impending rdr

Probably, yes, as I can see the scenario:

(Previously):
iii receive commissions from the funds, and don't charge a fee

(current):
iii receive commissions from the funds, which they rebate, and charge a fee:

(post RDR):
iii apologise that they're no longer allowed to rebate commissions, as these have been outlawed... but still charge the fee.


(note- I don't know what the outcome of the RDR is going to be.

At the moment, though, the opaque commission structure is still in place, and iii's rebate is currently more opaque than the other brokers.

grey_gym_sock

kfm wrote: »

Does anyone know (off the top of their heads) what providers usually charge to "transfer in" shares that are in certificate form?

almost always, nothing.

How about the charges for transferring holdings from a standard share account to a S&S ISA with the same provider?

that's not allowed by the ISA rules. except for new issues of shares, you can only put shares in an ISA by buying them on a stock market. so you'd have to buy and sell. some providers might waive the selling commission for a "bed and ISA". but you'd have at least: buying commission, stamp duty, bid-offer spread.