Fidelity half price ISA offer

justine68

I'm thinking about investing in a shares ISA, and I see Fidelity are running an offer where they refund 50% of the annual management charges.

Has anyone got experience with Fidelity? Is this a good offer?

waiax73

Justine,

please beware! The offer seems really tempting but when you look into the details, you realise it's just a simple bait+scam. Why?

1) They refund 50% of the AMC only for the first year - after that you pay the full 100% which makes them damn expensive.

2) If you decide to switch your investments during the first 12 months - you lose the discount.

3) They say that there's no initial charge on all funds, but when you dig deep enough, you'll find out that this is true only for some of them (mainly fidelity's funds).

4) You might save some cash over the first year (assuming that you don't switch in the first 12 months and your a first-time investor) compared to other providers, but from a long-term standpoint, you will loose loads.

So again - please beware!!

Hope this helps
Cheers

talexuser

It's a reasonable offer for the year it lasts. But you can go through intermediaries that continue rebates after that 1st year, which will work out cheaper over time if you reinvest. Also the Fidelity % does not apply to any increases in value over the 12 months, it is calculated only on the original investment.

The whole thing is complicated until the retail review is bedded in and we see the difference in charges between different classes of the same funds through various providers.