iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

grey_gym_sock

guitarman001 wrote: »

Thanks...

Oh man... so if I've suffered a 50% loss this year and wanted to offset that against gains to minimise CGT, that's not gonna happen?

no, it's not that bad. if you transfer as stock, the cost for CGT purposes is your original cost, not the value when transferring. (and there's no disposal when transferring, only when you actually sell.) however, your new broker's systems may (misleadingly) show the value at transfer as the cost of the shares. if you make a note of the real costs of each share, and tell the new broker, they might be able to enter the correct costs on their system.

Radiantsoul

Aureus wrote: »

Thanks. I don't suppose you or anyone else has a link to the relevant part of the terms and conditions?

When I signed up I was under the definite impression that both buying and selling of funds was free. But maybe I didn't read the fine print carefully enough.

So if I understand correctly it's £10 per fund if I sell up, but £15 per fund if I transfer the funds directly?

Pretty expensive either way. Feeling kind of stupid I was ever taken in by these guys.

I think that trackers(OEIC) are still going to be free to buy and sell, although I am not sure. I think the charge applies to traded investments which they need to purchase on a stock exchange. With OEIC they simply buy them from the provider who creates more units. It is not exactly clear though.

Jennifer_Jane

Rightly or wrongly, I'm out and will close the iii account. Rather sadly as I've been with them since they were 'Ample'. I believe that the markets have further to fall, so may have a rethink and decide when or if to return in due course. But I'll miss the buzz of the gamble.

ericonabike

Pleased to find this thread. I have around £18k tied up in iii, 12 or so in ISA, the rest in trading account. This has been 'self-selection' - I chose iii as it was a simple way of executing trades at a fixed cost. I buy the shares for the long term, so that I am not constantly 'churning'. Yet that is why, it seems, I am being penalised. I'll be complaining to iii and FOS about the changes, the lack of notice, and the penalty for exiting if you disagree with them. But I fear it's going to be a real ballache to manage...

Edit - just sent this, thanks to previous poster for text, may be useful as stock complaint format?

"
Complaint re. introduction of quarterly fee and charging for stock transfers out

You recently informed me that I will be charged a quarterly £20 inactivity / management fee from 1 July. Your FAQs state that I will still be charged a transfer out fee, if I decide to transfer my holdings to avoid paying this fee.

The introduction of a quarterly fee is a material pricing change that fundamentally alters the structure of my contract with you. Your failure to allow me to exit the contract without penalty is a breach of FSA Principles for Businesses - Customers Interests: A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly. The inability to exit without penalty as a result of a unilateral change in contract terms is also a breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Given the short timescales you have set, please reply immediately confirming that you will waive the transfer out fee. If I do not hear from you by end of day Friday 8 June, I will raise a complaint with the FOS and FSA."

gingellr

I have already sent in my forms to transfer out to my new broker (selftrade) but I have also sent an official complaint into II similar to the previous post asking them to waive the exit fees and that I will contact the FOS next week if they do not agree to do so.

As it takes 4 to 6 weeks for transfers hopefully there will be an official ruling on this before I have to pay the exit fees.

Bob_Bridges

My situation;
Have about £6k in III held in shares ( 7 different stocks). Fed in the original monies over about 8 months starting 2 years ago. Divis reinvested at present. If I sell now I will leave with some profit but had planned to leave them for years, topping up as and when spare cash allowed.

Things to do;
1) Don't panic. Have logged in this morning and switched to divis paid out. Will mean that the £20/quarter doesn't quite feel as bad.

2). Complain rationally via their secure system. Done.

3) Look at complaint to regulators as mentioned by others on here.

4) Take time to explore alternatives. May switch to different company.

5) Will let as many people as possible know how hacked off with III we all are. It does look like a bit of a panicky measure from the company.

6) Keep it in perspective; we could be starving in a mud hut in Mali.

Best of luck everyone, need to keep this thread updated with any replies from III.

Cheers, Bob

snooping_around

...........

gadgetmind

snooping_around wrote: »

Or if I decide to transfer the money to another broker, what are all the charges involved?

Cash transfers are usually free but there might be an account closure fee.

However, I have moved four S&S ISAs over the last year or so, three as cash and one "in specie", and I haven't been charged anything at any time!

pqrdef

Aureus wrote: »

When I signed up I was under the definite impression that both buying and selling of funds was free.

So was I. In fact I once had £20 in a fund. It cost 1.5% initial charge (30p) to buy and I certainly wasn't reckoning on £10 to sell.

Seems like they've already slipped changes past me at some point.

I'm thinking that if you buy through a nominee the selling/transfer/materialisation charges should be fixed at the time of buying. Otherwise things are a bit impossible.

i1189

I have decided to move - I just don't trust iii any more. I've been through the brokers I've heard of, comparing their charges on a spreadsheet - SelfTrade is looking like the likely candidate at the moment, especially as they have just updated their charges.

However, I would like to regularly invest each month in 4 funds, and I have some in each of the funds with iii. 2 of the funds have £10 minimum top up investments with SelfTrade (great), one has a minimum of £500 (higher than I was planning, but doable), and the other has £10k (far too high for me). SelfTrade say they can possibly be flexible - but has anybody had experience of how flexible they might be on the £10k minimum top up?

Thanks!