Hargreaves Lansdown - Terrible service

dwp3

In case anyone is disenchanted with the new charging structure and wants to close their account ...

I spent ages searching for an account closure link, then finally contacted them to ask. Turns out it's simple :

"If you have no investments and under £50 cash, and withdraw your money, your account will close automatically".

Might save someone some time.

dealsearcher

Which new charges are you objecting to?

dwp3

According to articles in the sunday paper and online, some people are leaving HL because their new annual fees are 0.45%, whereas other providers are 0.35, 0.25 or even 0.2%.
Personally this doesn't affect me at the moment because I have only a very small amount of cash with them right now, but if I decided to move to another provider in the future I would face an exit fee of £25+VAT, far larger than my current holding. So I may just go now before the charge takes effect.

ColdIron

Don't forget that for people with non-index trackers funds at HL, they will actually be better off than they were before. HL are still expensive it's just that before they were even more costly it's just that people didn't know by how much as there was no transparency

takesyourchances

ColdIron wrote: »

Don't forget that for people with non-index trackers funds at HL, they will actually be better off than they were before. HL are still expensive it's just that before they were even more costly it's just that people didn't know by how much as there was no transparency

So if you have say a Vanguard Lifestrategy with HL as a core and a selection of active funds as well along with it, it may make sense to stay with them?

I am with HL, amounts are not huge so far 12K in S&S ISA and small SIPP started. At the moment I am considering staying with them, maybe down the line when the pot sizes grow review it. But with amounts now it seems hassle and not huge on fees at the moment.

I have 6 active funds in my S&S ISA and soon maybe 7 and then the Vanguard LS.

Thanks

ColdIron

takesyourchances wrote: »

So if you have say a Vanguard Lifestrategy with HL as a core and a selection of active funds as well along with it, it may make sense to stay with them?

I am with HL, amounts are not huge so far 12K in S&S ISA and small SIPP started. At the moment I am considering staying with them, maybe down the line when the pot sizes grow review it. But with amounts now it seems hassle and not huge on fees at the moment.

I have 6 active funds in my S&S ISA and soon maybe 7 and then the Vanguard LS.

Thanks

The Vanguard and active funds are different cases. Previously £24 pa for the VLS was quite good value, particularly for larger amounts. With the new fees the break even point is £5,333, less than that and you are better off now but with more you will be paying increasingly higher fees than before

Though the active funds have become a little cheaper (albeit still more expensive than the competition) I can't swallow the VLS becoming more expensive so I will be switching that to Charles Stanley Direct at 0.25% instead of 0.45%. Since I hold this unwrapped I'll simply turn it into cash, withdraw and re-buy with CSD before the account closure fee comes into effect in June

I'm still undecided about my active funds in the ISA, the amounts are not great and I may decide I like the 'Waitrose' service enough to stay, especially bearing in mind the exit charges and extra complication involved in an ISA transfer

PS I believe the situation with a SIPP is different but I haven't read up on that

takesyourchances

ColdIron wrote: »

The Vanguard and active funds are different cases. Previously £24 pa for the VLS was quite good value, particularly for larger amounts. With the new fees the break even point is £5,333, less than that and you are better off now but with more you will be paying increasingly higher fees than before

Though the active funds have become a little cheaper (albeit still more expensive than the competition) I can't swallow the VLS becoming more expensive so I will be switching that to Charles Stanley Direct at 0.25% instead of 0.45%. Since I hold this unwrapped I'll simply turn it into cash, withdraw and re-buy with CSD before the account closure fee comes into effect in June

I'm still undecided about my active funds in the ISA, the amounts are not great and I may decide I like the 'Waitrose' service enough to stay, especially bearing in mind the exit charges and extra complication involved in an ISA transfer

PS I believe the situation with a SIPP is different but I haven't read up on that

Thanks ColdIron, this is the problem I see is that I have a VLS tracker and active funds together wrapped in an ISA with HL.

My VLS is at the moment around £6500 so will start to go above the £24 per year that would be the rates now until the change. As I have 6 active funds with that, this is what is confusing me on it all and I would like to open a US Small Cap fund in the new tax year that would bring them to 7 funds.

I am wondering with 6 to 7 active funds as well would it makes sense to stay with HL as mine are all wrapped together in an ISA with them.

My SIPP with HL is a sole VLS 80% and I am thinking of adding the Vanguard Small Cap tracker and keeping the SIPP passive.

I think I would pay a bit more for the "Waitrose" service to stay, I do like the set up and it is the passive trackers and 6 / 7 active funds wrapped in an ISA with HL that is the confusing part and the exit charges to consider as well on top if changing providers.

Thanks.

jimjames

There is no reason why you can't move the VLS to another provider and keep the other funds with HL.

I did that last year and it's worked out ok. As long as the ISA funds are not from the current tax year then you don't have to move the whole amount as one transfer

ColdIron

The only problem I can see with that is you can only add to the VLS or the other funds in any one year

takesyourchances

Thanks Jim James for your post, I did think of that type of idea with the VLS, but as ColdIron said above that is the problem as I would like to be drip feeding the VLS and the active funds as well throughout each year together.

There will be a lot I am sure with the VLS and active funds with them in ISA's.