iii introducing quarterly £20 charge

TechnoBadger

*** iii will refund the £20 already taken if you leave them before the end of July. See this from their recent Secure Message / email which the FSA would have told them to send:

Fee Free Exit

...however if you do wish to close your account with us in light of these changes, we will make it as simple as possible and offer a fee free exit for all customers who do wish to close their account.

• We believe that any customers who do not agree with pricing changes are entitled to receive a fee free exit
• Any customers wishing to close their account should contact us by 5 pm on 31 July 2012 with their intention to close their account.
• Customers who want to transfer their holdings to a new broker will have their transfers completed free of charge if we have received the new brokers' transfer request before 5pm on 31 July 2012
• If we have received a customer's notice of intention to close their account or to transfer holdings as set out above before 5 pm on 30 June 2012, we will not apply the first quarterly fee while the transfer or closure process is underway. Otherwise we will refund the first quarterly fee as part of a fee free exit as set out above. If we have already received instructions regarding your account, you do not need to contact us again.

So open an account elsewhere and transfer away! ***

westy22

Whats the process of transferring holdings?

1. Find a new broker who suits your needs
2. Open a trading account and/or an ISA with them (as appropriate)
3. Complete the new broker's Transfer Form
4. Send the signed transfer form to the new broker
5. The new broker will contact iii and arrange everything for the transfer

TechnoBadger

Here's iWeb's 'Switch to Us' page:

http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/trading-services/switching-to-iweb.asp

jimkenyon

On the 6th July Interactive Investor took £20 from my bank account despite the fact that I have transferred to another broker. Transfer form was with them before the 29th June (acknowledged by them). Also had secure messages saying that they wouldn't take the fee. As a result of Interactive Investor's fee my bank account became overdrawn.

TechnoBadger

jimkenyon wrote: »

On the 6th July Interactive Investor took £20 from my bank account despite the fact that I have transferred to another broker. Transfer form was with them before the 29th June (acknowledged by them). Also had secure messages saying that they wouldn't take the fee. As a result of Interactive Investor's fee my bank account became overdrawn.

I take it that you've phoned them by now - what did they say?

antonio1

You'll love this. I've got an ISA and trading account, linked. The £20 was taken from one (correctly because I've not yet left) but a dividend reinvestment just made from the other account had commission deducted. I queried why the dividend commission was payable on top and they said the £20 is only usable against trades in the account from which it's debited. NOT usable against any linked accounts. Glad I'm leaving....

grey_gym_sock

well, that doesn't seem consistent with their new pricing FAQ:

http://www.iii.co.uk/newpricing/faq

I have more than one account - will I be charged twice?

The fee is only charged at a client level, so customers with an investment and ISA account will not be charged twice. The £20 credit towards your trading in the quarter can be across multiple accounts and includes real-time and regular investments as well as dividend reinvestment. Our SIPP customers will be exempt from the quarterly fee.

(italic emphasis added)

antonio1

You would expect that to be the case wouldn't you, shame they're not applying their own rule! Well spotted. Anyway I'll leave it as they'll have to refund the £20 on transfer out and then the dividend commission would be correct.

JohnRo

I'm still waiting for a commission charge refund on stocks sold as part of closing down my account with them. The transaction took place on the 15th June and the settlement date was 20th June.

I have contacted them since this transaction completed and the money from it withdrawn and was told that if the account is closed before the £10 refund lands then it will be forwarded to my nominated bank account. That was nearly 3 weeks ago though.

It's a small amount so not losing sleep but it seems they're taking liberties, perhaps their system is in meltdown processing all the account changes and closures. The account is still open despite being told in a secure message it would be closed at the end of June as per my request, neither the £20 quarterly fee or the £10 refund have been applied as of today.

Would you consider this delay excessive?

artic99

Agh, another one only noticing it once the charge came out, my bad.

I opened my S&S ISA with III this financial year and have only been funding it 3 months now via the regular investment option. With only having one £1.50 purchase per month this new charge increases the costs significantly for me and the invested amount we are talking about is pretty much peanuts.

The problem I'm seeing is that you are only allowed to open one S&S ISA per year, seeing as I opened this one this year am I right in thinking I am not allowed to open another and transfer out? If this is the case the only option I see is to cash out and lose my S&S ISA allowance for the year or suck up the charge. Someone please tell me I'm wrong?

Thanks.