iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

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brineybay wrote: »

What happens if on the 1 July 2012 there's no money in my bank account?

The bank will pay out and then hit you with charges.

brineybay wrote: »

Or what about if I asked the bank to block any charges from Interactive Investor? Could this be done.

Opinions differ, and the lawyers still have to fight it out.

foxes1884

some useful letter examples on this iii board, might help some who are annoyed like me.

on the (LLOY) Lloyds Banking Grp thread

www. iii .co .uk/investment/detail?code=cotn%3ALLOY.L&display=discussion&thread=9698000&action=list

gaps in the URL to get it to show up as a newbie cant post them cleanly.

plunt

glad to see this thread being extremely active. please all keep up dating outcomes so that we can all know. cheer

miller

It may be in the T&C's but it goes against Treating Customers Fairly IMO. Waiving the transfer out fees might go some way to sorting the situation out.

This product was sold having a key feature of no ongoing admin fees. That has now changed.

One disadvantage of going to paper certificates that has been mentioned is your details will appear on the public register. Also, possible self-assessment/tax implications by losing the ISA wrapper.

Cheers iii. Thanks a bunch.

foxes1884

It's hit their own facebook page, not good PR.

www. facebook.com /interactiveinvestors

plunt

foxes1884 wrote: »

It's hit their own facebook page, not good PR.

www. facebook.com /interactiveinvestors

http://www.facebook.com/interactiveinvestors

i1189

And if anybody would like to get hold of the CEO directly:
http://www.facebook.com/tomas.carruthers

james_09

This is probably about as far as I will take it, but for anyone interested these are the responses I have had so far via secure messages:

As you will see from my account history I make use of the regular investment facility and typically make 2 or 3 investments a quarter at £1.5 a trade.

I only invest £100 per month, or £1,200 per annum. Using the regular investments option my dealing costs are approximately 1%.

Under the new structure I will be charged £80 per annum to invest £1,200. Which means my dealing costs will have gone up over 6 times my current charges to 6.7%. I consider this to be excessive in my circumstances and will be transferring my holdings to another provider.

Given the circumstances I would appreciate it if you would consider waiving the transfer charges. I am sure you can appreciate that by completely changing your charging structure it has forced me into closing my account.

Yours Faithfully,
................................................


Thank you for your secure message.

We believe that the charges, taken as a whole, will be advantageous for many customers.
We would be very sorry to lose any of our customers and if you would like to talk through your specific circumstances, you are welcome to call us on 0845 200 3637 or 0845 88 00 267.


If you still wish to close your account, you will need to take the following steps:

First you will need to transfer your existing holdings out of your account. You can either transfer them to another broker or withdraw them as cash. Please ensure you understand the implications of withdrawing money from your ISA account. If you wish to transfer to another broker you will need to set up a new account with them and fill in their relevant transfer forms. Your new broker will then liaise with us directly.
We will not be waiving the transfer out fees.

Once the transfer is complete or your account balance is £0, you will then need to send us a secure message confirming your instruction to close your account with Interactive Investor.

Whilst we appreciate our new pricing structure may be an unwelcome development to some customers, we consider our new charges fair and that our new pricing structure and prepayment of trading commissions per quarter still remains extremely competitive.

We have taken a lead in rebating all the income that we receive on funds holdings ahead of any forthcoming changes required by the FSA and believe that many customers will benefit by consolidating their holdings with us.

......................................

Thank you for your message.

I understand that a lot of your customers will be better off, but if you check my circumstances you will see I will be substantially worse off.

I do not buy funds, only shares. So it is of no benefit to me.

As I mentioned before the change in your pricing structure is going to increase my charges six fold.

You have given me one months notice and given the current state of the market it’s impossible for me to cash in my shares without a large loss.

I therefore believe in the interest of fairness you should offer me the opportunity for me to transfer out my investments at no cost.

If you are not willing to look into my individual circumstances I will refer this to the Financial Ombudsman.

.................................

Thank you for your secure message.

Legally, we are allowed 20 working days to make changes on accounts. Therefore, we have acted within the guidelines. We are also coming into line with our competitors, who also offer similar charges.
We will not be waving transfer out fees on the accounts.

I appreciate you may still be unhappy with my response, and you are well within your rights to take it to the financial service ombudsman.

Should you wish to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0845 200 3637.

miller

james_09 wrote: »

I appreciate you may still be unhappy with my response, and you are well within your rights to take it to the financial service ombudsman.

I can't understand why they keep going on about ringing them up. It seems they have taken up an entrenched position so a phonecall would only waste our time and theirs.

They had better get used to the phrase Financial Ombudsman Service as they are going to be getting a fair bit of correspondence from them.

kfm

How much does it cost III when a complaint (whether or not it is upheld) is referred the Ombudsman?

Surely, it's cheaper for them to get rid of us and pay for our transfer than it is for them to have to deal with the FOS?