Hargreaves Lansdown charge 0.45% pa - Alternatives?

naedanger

Actually I think the short version is now slightly better because it is starting to pre-empt the response from HL that you should have complained sooner.

(They have not yet said this to anyone but it would not surprise me if they start to at some point. However, because they were so poor at communicating that their charges were increasing for many people, I think people will be able to complain for a long time to come. Since they may only become aware of the increases when they see their effect.)

tightfisteddave

I think there will also be a lot of HL customers who are not aware or don't really understand this. When the monthly "loyalty bonus" payments stop and are replaced by charges then it may wake a few customers up. Will be interesting to see how quickly HL make the change to the clean funds which will trigger this activity.

masonic

tightfisteddave wrote: »

I think there will also be a lot of HL customers who are not aware or don't really understand this. When the monthly "loyalty bonus" payments stop and are replaced by charges then it may wake a few customers up. Will be interesting to see how quickly HL make the change to the clean funds which will trigger this activity.

They're all going to get a taste of it next week when their old February loyalty bonus doesn't cover their new platform charge.

zagfles

tightfisteddave wrote: »

I think there will also be a lot of HL customers who are not aware or don't really understand this. When the monthly "loyalty bonus" payments stop and are replaced by charges then it may wake a few customers up. Will be interesting to see how quickly HL make the change to the clean funds which will trigger this activity.

The "loyalty bonuses" won't stop, they'll increase! Unless the customer has made the conscious decision to switch to clean funds (which can take months anyway). HL aren't doing it automatically, don't think anyone is (are they?)

masonic

zagfles wrote: »

HL aren't doing it automatically, don't think anyone is (are they?)

II is apparently converting everyone automatically in the coming months, but will give people the opportunity to opt out if the clean class has a higher net charge than the dirty class.

tightfisteddave

zagfles - yes absolutely right.

I was thinking more about the time when the switch to the clean funds happen - and therefore there aren't any "loyalty bonus" funds held on account to pay the charges. Passive customers who haven't taken much notice of new charging will see their increased loyalty bonuses cease and a charge being applied when they didn't have to think about paying one before. If they remain passive then they could get hit with extra charges relating to HL selling part of their holdings to pay the costs.

My guess is HL wont be in any rush to make the switch. However when they do i'm hoping that many customers will wake up.

Wouldn't be surprised though if next set of results from HL shows more customers more money more profits etc.