Iii

coyrls

Linton wrote: »

I have had a large iii ISA for over 6 years and am reasonably happy. For £100K its £80/year which includes 8 trades against about £250/year for AJ Bell. They may not handle US share paperwork - if you want to go into the esoteric use H-L or AJ Bell. But for straightforward UK shares and funds iii is fine.

PS looks like YouInvest is 2%/year now - they must have cut their prices

The AJ Bell YouInvest 0.2% custody charge for funds and structured products is capped at £200/year.

juliamarsh

AMWG wrote: »

Thanks - certainly got the impression from this thread that III aren't great, but didn't know if AJ Bell were the same or worse!

Everybody I know of who has moved from III to AJ Bell says the difference is unbelievable. AJ Bell is efficient, they reply to messages promptly and they pay all dividends on time. They are a bit more expensive but not that much and for the difference in service it is more than worth the money. III are cheap but the level of stress they cause you significantly outweighs any money saved . If I could wave a magic wand I would definitely move to AJ Bell! Don't touch III with a bargepole!!!!!:eek:

coyrls

AMWG wrote: »

Thanks - certainly got the impression from this thread that III aren't great, but didn't know if AJ Bell were the same or worse!

Well there's not an 89 page thread on AJ Bell and people tend not to post when things are going as expected, so that should suggest that AJ Bell are better.

Nocto

AMWG wrote: »

Hi all,

Apologies if this gets asked a lot! Trying to decide on a low-cost SIPP provider, and have the field narrowed down to AJ Bell Youinvest and III.

I don’t have a SIPP with II, but nearly two years ago I transferred my trading account to them. With the benefit of hindsight I wish I hadn’t, despite the fact that they are cheap and have saved me a lot of money.

The first problem I had with them was late dividends, with the first dividends which II were responsible for paying me arriving over a month late. As a new customer this caused me a lot of worry and a few sleepless nights wondering where my money had gone, and whether my investments were safe with them (Had someone just run off with my money? Hence no dividend payments..!). The situation has improved with last months dividends paid on time, and although previously some were paid very late (the worst being nearly six weeks), they were always correct when I eventually received them. I hope that this problem is now resolved, but only time will tell.

The second problem was last years tax certificate. I am used to receiving these in May, and expect the figures to be correct! Not waiting until October to receive an incorrect one, followed by a second attempt in November, and finally they had another go in January. I have no idea if the final certificate was correct or not, as I had long since worked out the figures for myself…

Finally was the conversion of my old ‘dirty’ funds into the new ‘clean’ units. What could possibly go wrong?! Well, I’ll give them credit for not messing it up as badly as they could have. After conversion all my holdings were the correct value (I’d been having nightmares about them getting decimal points in the wrong place…), but two had been converted into the wrong units! Honestly I think that it would have been less frustrating to try to teach my cat Latin, than it was trying to explain to II the error of their ways… They have now admitted their mistake (thanks juliamarsh for giving it to them with both barrels!), and say they will be re-converting the funds. This issue is still unresolved.

I think that whilst you’ll probably save money with II, you have to ask yourself is the hassle worth it?

Why am I still with them? Well, given their unique ability to mess things up (and then deny that they’ve even done anything wrong!), I’m not yet feeling masochistic enough to initiate a transfer. Also, I’m less enthusiastic about spending money than George Osborne, so I can’t deny that I like their low fees… I just hadn’t intended my cheap DIY investment platform to be quite as ‘do it yourself’ as it turned out to be!

AMWG

Thanks everyone, makes the decision nice and easy! I emailed a few basic questions to AJ Bell and III - AJ Bell replied promptly, via a robot but I can live with that. III just didn't reply, appears to be symptomatic.

Linton wrote: »

I have had a large iii ISA for over 6 years and am reasonably happy. For £100K its £80/year which includes 8 trades against about £250/year for AJ Bell. They may not handle US share paperwork - if you want to go into the esoteric use H-L or AJ Bell. But for straightforward UK shares and funds iii is fine.

PS looks like YouInvest is 2%/year now - they must have cut their prices

I think III is a bit more, based on their charges on their website - I read it as £96 p.a. admin (inc VAT) plus £80 fee payable in quarterly installments, so £176 p.a. total (including 2 trades a quarter).

coyrls

AMWG wrote: »

I think III is a bit more, based on their charges on their website - I read it as £96 p.a. admin (inc VAT) plus £80 fee payable in quarterly installments, so £176 p.a. total (including 2 trades a quarter).

That would be for a SIPP, Linton has an ISA and so doesn't pay the £96 SIPP fee. Another reason for going with AJ Bell for a SIPP is that they manage their own SIPP, the III SIPP is managed by the Lifetime SIPP company, which adds another layer and leads to some complications with contributions (you need to fill in a paper form for each contribution).

planteria

that's interesting coyrls, what about if someone sets up a regular payment to their iii SIPP?:think:

coyrls

planteria wrote: »

that's interesting coyrls, what about if someone sets up a regular payment to their iii SIPP?:think:

You can set up Direct Debits, the form is here: http://cdn1.iii.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/II/Jan2016/SIPPForms2016/10.II_SIPP_Direct_Debit_FORM10.pdf

All explained (http://cdn1.iii.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/II/Mar2016/19.II_SIPP_Paying_Into_Your_iiSIPP_Notes_FORM19_0316.pdf):

Contribution forms
Whichever way you choose, we’ll need you to complete a contributions form. This includes your confirmation that you’re entitled to
receive tax relief.
Contributions and transfer forms
are available on our website.
A new form is needed whenever you amend your payment or make an additional one. The completed and signed form should be sent
to the address shown on the form at the same time as you pay funds into your SIPP bank account. This is because we can’t normally
release funds from that account into your SIPP with us until we have received the matching contributions form.
A SIPP bank account is required by FCA regulations and is managed by our SIPP trustees. It provides a record of all monies you, or
anyone else, pays into (or money you withdraw from) your SIPP. We’ll advise you of your bank account details when you open your
SIPP. Money in that bank account is, like other cash savings, covered by the FSCS.
Once money has been paid into the bank account and is cleared, our administrators will pass it across for crediting to your SIPP, ready
for you to invest.
In the same way, where we collect basic rate tax relief for you, this is also credited to your SIPP bank account and then passed across
and added to your SIPP. Dividends and any other income received from your investments, however, go straight into your SIPP.
Making regular contributions
The contributions form includes the option for you to make regular contributions; monthly, quarterly, bi annually or annually. We’ll
collect these from your bank account via direct debit on the first working day of the month. Just complete the direct debit authority.
Your bank will typically need 10 working days to set up the direct debit before we can collect your first payment, so please allow for
this in your timings.
Your employer, or another person, can also arrange for their contributions to your SIPP to be collected by direct debit. Obviously, they
will need to sign the direct debit authority.
When amending the amount you, or they, are paying by direct debit, we’ll need your new instruction 10 working days before the next
payment is to be collected. And a new contributions form to reflect the changed amount.

stringer_bell

"Your Buy Order order status changed to Failed.
Reason: Order rejected

Stock Name: Fidelity UK Smaller Companies Y Acc
ExpiryDate: 15/04/2016
Start Price: GBP 2.189
Value: GBP 250"

any idea why? never happened before

bigadaj

stringer_bell wrote: »

"Your Buy Order order status changed to Failed.
Reason: Order rejected

Stock Name: Fidelity UK Smaller Companies Y Acc
ExpiryDate: 15/04/2016
Start Price: GBP 2.189
Value: GBP 250"

any idea why? never happened before

Is the value below the minimum order?