Leaving HL without transfer charges

Jerry2014

Looking back over this thread I can see examples where HL have replied either by secure message or letter.

Whichever it is, 5 working days to a secure message is a poor response rate. If they prefer to send a letter they should at least acknowledge the secure message.

I see from Doctor Who's previous post that his letter says they agreed to waive exit fees for complaints pre 31st March. It will be interesting to see what they say about complaints made during April, which is also before the new charges take effect.

I did telephone HL enquiring about the offers of reduced fees (I had read about online) back in March. They categorically denied such offers existed. That's when I started looking for a new platform for my ISA.

naedanger

Jerry2014 wrote: »

I see from Doctor Who's previous post that his letter says they agreed to waive exit fees for complaints pre 31st March. It will be interesting to see what they say about complaints made during April, which is also before the new charges take effect.

I don't think 31st March has any significance to anyone who has not yet complained. HL appear to be giving all those who formally complain the opportunity to exit without charge provided they send HL their transfer application within approx one month of receiving the offer.

While HL may at some point time bar complaints I suspect they will not succeed if the complainant takes their case to FOS.

This is what the financial ombudsman service states:

The complaints-handling rules set time limits for consumers to refer complaints to the ombudsman. After these time limits have expired, the business can choose to object to the ombudsman looking at the complaint on the grounds that it is “time-barred”.

Generally, these time limits are:

six months from the business sending the consumer a final response (which has to mention the six-month time limit); and
six years from the event the consumer is complaining about (or - if later - three years from when the consumer knew, or could reasonably have known, they had cause to complain).

So customers should have about six years to complain, possibly longer.

But if a customer is given the opportunity to exit without charge and they don't take that opportunity then they will probably not win. In other words those given one month to send their transfer request to HL should make sure they do so. Otherwise their opportunity will be lost and they will probably have no grounds for complaint.

Growingmyown

After being fed up with low cash ISA rates, I decided to put my allowance for this tax year into a S&S ISA. I was about to call Invesco direct to pay in the £11k (as I did last year) when I read online that I could get 0% entry fees (I paid 3% last year). I then read - I'm sure I read - an old MSE guide which suggested HL. So after comparing HL's annual fee for the fund I wanted (inc. the 0.46 platform fee), I realised that I could save money by transferring my existing ISA from Invesco across to the HL platform (in addition to putting in a new 11k allowance). So I happily sent off the transfer forms a week ago.

Then I read the new MSE stocks and shares guide. Worse - then read this forum. Argghh!! I don't fully understand the details, but it worried me enough to send HL a secure message to stop my transfer. I did this last night. They replied today to say that they had stopped the transfer.

I can't do anything about the £11k I've already put into their Vantage platform, but I now have time to read up on the other platforms. I don't want to be hit with death tax or exit charges; and obviously, I don't want to pay higher fees than necessary.

So thank you for this forum!

grey_gym_sock

there are certainly cheaper platforms than HL, but HL are a lot cheaper than going direct and paying 3% up front.

Deneb

My ISA transfer from HL to CSD has now completed after two months to the day. One question for anyone who has been in the same position and knows the answer - do I have to now explicitly instruct HL to close my Vantage account or will they take it as read being that all my holdings have been transferred out?

I noticed that they paid me 11 pence interest just after the cash element had been transferred, but when I tried to transfer this to my nominated account HL's system wouldn't let me, as it said that there are charges outstanding on the account. Looking further, they've billed a service fee for March after already acknowledging the transfer 2 weeks earlier. Good luck to them in trying to collect that, but I notice their T&Cs say that any money owing to me less than £5 will be donated to charity so I doubt I'll see the 11 pence.

If they want to push for the management fee (which is also less than a fiver) I'll tell them I donated that to charity as well.

masonic

Deneb wrote: »

do I have to now explicitly instruct HL to close my Vantage account or will they take it as read being that all my holdings have been transferred out?

They will close your ISA account, but any other accounts (e.g. Fund & Share) will stay open unless you tell them to close them. Remember to do so by the end of June to avoid paying their £30 closure fee.

Doctor_Who

Deneb wrote: »

My ISA transfer from HL to CSD has now completed after two months to the day. One question for anyone who has been in the same position and knows the answer - do I have to now explicitly instruct HL to close my Vantage account or will they take it as read being that all my holdings have been transferred out?

My situation is slightly different.....my ISA transfer to II is complete, all my cash and funds appear in my II account and II tell me the transfer is complete......however, £100K of funds are still showing in my HL ISA, and this is a week or two after these funds appeared in my II account. Hence I can't close my HL ISA.

HappyBirthday

masonic wrote: »

They will close your ISA account, but any other accounts (e.g. Fund & Share) will stay open unless you tell them to close them. Remember to do so by the end of June to avoid paying their £30 closure fee.

Is that end of June or second of June. I am getting out and hope to achieve it all by then to avoid closure fees.

Due to personal circumstances (not being at my home address), I am doing it the "less clever" way, turn all ISA investments to cash, transfer as cash to iWeb Isa account. Buy new ISA funds and take the opportunity to rebalance. Hope the market drops while I am in cash! I hope this method will be quicker and easier in terms of the transfer.

masonic

HappyBirthday wrote: »

Is that end of June or second of June. I am getting out and hope to achieve it all by then to avoid closure fees.

You're right, it's the 2nd June. For some unknown reason, I had the 30th June stuck in my head.

badger09

badger09 wrote: »

Good to hear some transfers have completed but I expect there will be further delays due the new ISA season

I sent my ISA transfer form to IWeb on 13 February and complained to HL re exit fees etc on 15 February. Won't bore you with the details of subsequent action/inaction, but nothing has happened yet .


Is there any point asking HL what is holding up the ISA transfer?.

Update
I sent a secure message to HL yesterday asking when transfer might happen. Probably sheer coincidence but today some of my ISA has disappeared from HL and appears in IWEB.

I'm only invested in one fund but my last purchase is still sitting with HL :cool:

Probably my fault for dealing after I'd sent the transfer forms, but I'd received a letter from IWEB dated 14 March, saying HL 'were unable to action our transfer request at this time' so I thought it would be ok to add to my holding on 17 March

Is it safe to assume that the remaining holding and my uninvested cash will be transferred automatically?