Iii

le_loup

With H-L you get these dividends in two parts, x as dividend, y as equalisation. The proportions depending on the time period that the funds have been held. The two payments would e the equivalent of the full dividend and only the tax recovery would be affected.

masonic

le_loup wrote: »

With H-L you get these dividends in two parts, x as dividend, y as equalisation. The proportions depending on the time period that the funds have been held. The two payments would e the equivalent of the full dividend and only the tax recovery would be affected.

That's what i could vaguely remember from the distant past when there wasn't an Acc version of one or two funds I had been investing into. This is one situation where Acc units make things less clear because you don't see how much is equalisation and how much is interest/dividend.

JasonPr

My dividend from a Vanguard fund was paid yesterday (should've been paid December 31).

It was paid on December 31 by HL.

Still not sure whether to stay or to switch.

JasonPr

You definitely have to differentiate between dividends and equalisation. With III, is there no way to find out what is what?

This is a serious issue since you can only calculate your CGT correctly if you know what the split between dividends and equalisation is. Similarly, you should only declare true dividends for income tax purposes, not an equalisation. (You have to deduct the equalisation from your purchase price, and this way it becomes relevant for CGT.)

When Youinvest pays a dividend, they indicate group 1 and group 2. With Bestinvest, you don't see it immediately iirc but it's indicated in the annual PDF statements (or were they every 6 months?).

Allots

xylophone wrote: »

Well, no sign of my Invesco Perpetual dividend- the latest I have had it since moving to II is 13th of the month following payment - see where we are next Tuesday...... This is disappointing since it has turned up as early as the 3rd.

My relative has phoned II again today but it's the same old story about ten working days etc - my relative says that he asked who has the use of his money while he hasn't, but the young man on the phone said that he didn't have that information.....

We are agreed that it seems incomprehensible that they get payment on time (or near it) some months but not others, and it's not even the same funds each time.

The most consistent payer is Premier Monthly income - they seem to be able to pay this very close to payment day...

Mystifying![/QUOTE

I am beginning to believe that the late payment of dividends for funds is not due to FNZ paying II late. It is simply that II have to make manual reconciliations of the dividend payment to them and then allocate this to individuals' accounts. II simply do not have the manpower nor suitably experienced members of staff to complete this process within a reasonable time frame!

masonic

JasonPr wrote: »

Still not sure whether to stay or to switch.

The anniversary of my account being opened is a week on Sunday, so I really need to make my own mind up if I want to get out with a free transfer. I must admit I've been browsing the IWeb site this evening and have downloaded and looked over the transfer form. I'm now considering whether I should follow through, open an account and get the transfer form in tomorrow's post.

Pros:
- III has been consistently overwhelmed over the past year and there is no sign of this letting up - very slow responses to queries and complaints alike
- Hidden charges on the conversion of dollar dividends (up to 3%)
- My biggest dividend paying ETF (VUSA) always pays out 2-3 weeks late, although all other dividends are received on time
- Will have to pay ~£135 if I don't switch and change my mind later

Cons:
- Owing to my holdings (ITs, ETFs, and a couple of Acc funds) I've been relatively unaffected by the main platform weaknesses
- Have received sufficient cash compensation to cover any losses from dividend shenanigans for some years to come
- Will have to give back £70 cash incentive and will lose unspent trading credit (up to £50)
- IWeb will work out a little more expensive and has even higher transfer out charges. I'll need to be even more disciplined with my trading

Decisions, decisions...

le_loup

If you are mainly ETFs and ITs, you could go back to H-L for £45 a year. That's what I did, but it does keep me out of funds. However, I have seen no downside yet and ITs are meeting all my needs.


........... and transactions happen, I'm paid on the date, the website works, the helpline helps
........... and most important of all; I am collecting very valuable free envelopes again! Hurrah!

masonic

le_loup wrote: »

If you are mainly ETFs and ITs, you could go back to H-L for £45 a year. That's what I did, but it does keep me out of funds. However, I have seen no downside yet and ITs are meeting all my needs.

If I was willing to get rid of my remaining funds and stick with ETFs and ITs, I'd move to SVS and it would be a no brainer. No platform charges, trading fee is half that of HL and I've been using them to trade shares unwrapped for a couple of years during which time the service has been faultless. However, I can't switch my remaining funds into ITs without compromising on quality.

le_loup

SVS cheap but ...
website - for example - nowhere near H-L. True, you can research in other places, but SVS seems about as informative as III - no, not even as informative as III.
Who'd have thought that I would be praising H-L?

masonic

I tended to mostly use Trustnet (funds) and Citywire/Digital Look (equities) for research, even while I was at HL.

HL has some good tools, such as 'Fund analysis'. I still have access to that and use it from time to time, but, ironically, if I moved to HL I wouldn't want to use it anymore as I wouldn't be interested in funds.

I guess my point is I'm a big believer in going to the best site for the task in hand, whether that's a free research site, my platform or a rival platform.

Even III's site has its uses - if I wanted to quickly look up an RNS or check a table of gross redemption yields for bonds or gilts, that's where I'd go.