iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

ianrich

Just got the email. I have about £400 worth of shares bought with "Portfolio Builder" and cannot justify £80 charges to keep this account going.

Gutted to be honest, I started using this to build a little nest egg for retirement and at £1.50 a trade and no other charges it seems a good way to go.

Don't see any other option now other than closing my account.

Anyone found out how to close the account? can't see it on the website.

grey_gym_sock

creativ wrote: »

Puts me off iii and any other share dealing site for life and buying shares as well.

what about certificated dealing?

Does anyone know if there is a charge for closing account or transferring out shares?

not for closing the account. £15 per share to transfer to another nominee account, or £20 per share to get paper certificates.

guitarman001

Say whaaaat???
I've lost THOUSANDS on crappy investments and have to hand on for dear life in another else my net wealth will halve. Should have put it ALL in savings accounts. SO I can't sell out right now. But I WILL be!!

What if you sell all your shares? Do they charge you for just having an account with them?? They were always the cheapest - now who is? I've HAD IT with stock market investing. This absolutely reeks. Reel 'em in with no fees then stick it to them. I'll be cancelling the account as soon as I can if that's what it takes not to be charged.

drmdmcgwn64

I just got the email today. I am appalled. I only do very occasional trades mainly purchases using the portfolio builder (maybe 5 or 6 a year) so this hugely increases the cost of buying small numbers of shares.
I don’t think £80 per year would even be covered by my dividends.
The main reason I went with iii was because of the lack of maintenance charges. Surely if we complain they should waive the transferring out charges? What do you think?

What the best other option for small holdings with a small amount of trades a year?

grey_gym_sock

drmdmcgwn64 wrote: »

What the best other option for small holdings with a small amount of trades a year?

i think it's best to be pessimistic, and assume all providers of nominee-based dealing accounts will introduce similar charges at some point.

certificated dealing is an option, but may be uneconomic for smaller holdings.

or, instead of buying individual shares, buy investment trusts (probably through their own saving schemes), or HSBC trackers (directly with HSBC).

Jegersmart

OneADay wrote: »

What a bunch of .... - I mean I have very small share holdings and today they send me an email (not even a letter but an email) telling me they are introducing £20 quarterly charge from 1st July 2012.

No option than to sell - shareholding so small, not worth transferring out.

Basically companies need to make money to provide a service to you. If you are not doing any trading and have a very small amount of funds deposited then it is not possible to make a profit on you and they want ot get rid of you. I would transfer out having done due diligence as to current and planned charges via other vendors. The difficulty is, who can make a profit out of you (and therefore be able to offer you a service)?

Good luck!

J

Glen_Clark

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

or, instead of buying individual shares, buy investment trusts (probably through their own saving schemes),

Yes Investment Trusts often subsidize their small investor schemes in order to narrow the discount to NAV, because it is an embarrassment to the management. Also its better for them to have lots of small shareholders who are less likely to turn up at the office and give the management a grilling - as did a large shareholder in F&C European Investment Trust who sacked F&C for poor performance and transferred control to Edinburgh Fund Managers.
But all these administration or dealing costs are charged to the fund so you are still paying for them. If you are a long term investor you are really losing out because you are contributing towards the high administration costs of short term and small shareholders.
The only way to avoid paying someone else to look after your shares is to do it yourself.

xemeter

So, can someone explain exactly what the charges are please?

DonnySaver

New Pricing Changes

• We are introducing a quarterly fee of £20, which gives you:
  • The first two real time trades (funds or equities) you make in each quarter, or
  • A combination of regular monthly investments and real time trades up to the value of £20 in each quarter.
• To buy or sell funds we are introducing the standard charge of £10 for a real time trade or £1.50 for regular monthly investments
• We will pass on to you ALL income we receive from any fund investment you hold with us. On a typical fund with a 1.5% Annual Management Charge, this would be 0.64% of your investment every year

grey_gym_sock

Glen_Clark wrote: »

But all these administration or dealing costs are charged to the fund so you are still paying for them. If you are a long term investor you are really losing out because you are contributing towards the high administration costs of short term and small shareholders.

good point. however, at least for a small investment, buying an investment trust and implicitly subsidizing its saving scheme is going to be cheaper than the costs of certificated dealing. it would be helpful to see estimates of the actual cost of this subsidy.