Transfers of S&S ISA from HL to II

naedanger

Geoffo_M wrote: »

Thank you so much - if it's the middle response (shown here above) do you think it's important to write a letter rather than send an email to underline the formality of the complaint. Maybe send recorded delivery? Sorry, I might be asking this too soon & be lucky & have need to do so. Appreciate your advice thanks

There would be no advantage in writing a letter, the content is what matters. In that scenario I would probably add a line or two to the message adding a further issue to the complaint, being that they had failed to handle your first complaint properly by not informing you of their complaint process or of your right to take the matter to FOS. But the most important thing is to say right at the start that it is a formal complaint.

masonic

Borrowedtune wrote: »

Is it OK to do that ? I was assuming that once the transfer process had started that switches either wouldn't be possible or would complicate/extend the transfer process.

I am 5-6 weeks into the HL to ii transfer with no visible progress so far, but meantime the Ukrainian situation has led me to think that one or two switches in my portfolio may be worthwhile.

From what others have posted, it seems any changes made during the transfer can result in the wrong number of units appearing at the new platform. The unit trust managers will be re-registering a specified number of units from HL to ii - if that changes halfway through, they would likely need to either cancel and start again, or raise a new re-registration for the units bought or sold.

Borrowedtune

Thanks, that was my hunch but I didn't know for sure and I hadn't noticed it having been mentioned on here already.

Stanley_St

masonic wrote: »

From what others have posted, it seems any changes made during the transfer can result in the wrong number of units appearing at the new platform. The unit trust managers will be re-registering a specified number of units from HL to ii - if that changes halfway through, they would likely need to either cancel and start again, or raise a new re-registration for the units bought or sold.

I appreciate that dealing when in a transition phase may on occasion be inconvenient for the platforms arranging it. But when transition times are taking two months or more, it does seem unreasonable to expect the customer to avoid all activity on an account.

I am generally a buy-and-forget investor, but while I am waiting to leave HL for iii I have been dealing more than usual. Partly because not all my HL holdings can be held with iii, partly through not wanting to miss out on an IPO, but mainly because these things are on my mind more at the moment...

sorcerer

masonic wrote: »

From what others have posted, it seems any changes made during the transfer can result in the wrong number of units appearing at the new platform. The unit trust managers will be re-registering a specified number of units from HL to ii - if that changes halfway through, they would likely need to either cancel and start again, or raise a new re-registration for the units bought or sold.

Your spot on, this is what has happened to me, I had 7500 units in a fund then bought another 500 units after the transfer has begun, and only 7500 units has appeared in my new broker. I am hoping they are not going to try to charge me another £25 fee, for transferring the remaining units. If they do I will just sell them and transfer them as cash.

naedanger

Geoffo_M wrote: »

Well I've received a reply from HL today, I think it's good news but I'm unsure about one thing. There's a lot of blurb about how they think their pricing is fair but then they say:-

"In your case however, we recognise that you feel very strongly on this particular issue. HL have always tried to be viewed as a fair and reasonable company and as such, given our strength of feeling, we would be happy as a gesture of goodwill, to waive our transfer charges, for any transfer request received within one month of the date of this letter. We shall also ensure our new charging structure is not applied to your account while the transfer takes place. I trust you feel this to be a reasonable outcome to your complaint" (they also enclose their complaints procedure & a form I can contact the ombudsman with).

What I'm puzzled by is when she says it applies to any transfer requests received within one month from today, as my request was at the beginning of February, does that mean I don't qualify for their fees to be waived? I just requested then for my entire holdings to be transferred. What is my next step, contact her and ask or assume I do qualify & write and formally accept her "gesture of goodwill"? Thanks for your advice, hoping we might have got somewhere now?

It is simply a standard letter that is sent to everyone who formally complains. Many of them will not already have started their transfer, so for those people HL want to be clear they need to act within a specified period - they don't want to give an open ended offer. If you have already requested the transfer you have obviously met the condition.

Just accept the offer and perhaps check that they have received everything they need to process your transfer.

Geoffo_M

Well I've just received the refund from my exit fees but have now lodged an official complaint with II about how 3 funds are still not showing as being transferred across, I just hope they've not disappeared into thin air. This whole transfer has bordered on farcical in that we were originally told 6-8 weeks and it's now over 9 weeks. Goodness knows when the balance of my portfolio will show up. Any others still waiting too?

masonic

Geoffo_M wrote: »

Any others still waiting too?

My last fund turned up at II a few days ago and HL has just (finally) removed a fund they were hanging onto despite it appearing at II two weeks earlier. All that is left is a small cash balance, which will obviously have to go by cheque and take a week to clear, which means I should be fully transferred within a couple of weeks from now, meaning the whole process will have taken about 13 weeks (or 11 if you don't count the cash).

le_loup

But you should count the cash. This is truly disgraceful. Mine is just a little over 9 weeks. Still got one fund and £0.17 left with H-L and 3 funds missing from both. A fortnight to receive a cheque transferred from H-L then a full week for II to clear cash is disgraceful.
Unfortunately I have not recorded all the dates of the comings and goings so a complaint about either company or the fund managers is going to be too short of the necessary detail. Had I known, it would have been in immaculate detail and the Sunday papers and/or ombudsman would have a field day. Exit charges? That's just the half of it!
Oops! Do I sound a bit cross?

masonic

le_loup wrote: »

But you should count the cash. This is truly disgraceful. Mine is just a little over 9 weeks. Still got one fund and £0.17 left with H-L and 3 funds missing from both. A fortnight to receive a cheque transferred from H-L then a full week for II to clear cash is disgraceful.

I'm obviously feeling uncharacteristically dispassionate about it because I really can't say it bothered me. I've not paid any fees on the HL side during the transfer, so no loss there. I did some tidying up of my holdings prior to the transfer, so had no inclination to place any deals. In other circumstances it could have been more annoying and obviously the industry should be ashamed of the archaic process they are using.

Unfortunately I have not recorded all the dates of the comings and goings so a complaint about either company or the fund managers is going to be too short of the necessary detail. Had I known, it would have been in immaculate detail and the Sunday papers and/or ombudsman would have a field day. Exit charges? That's just the half of it!
Oops! Do I sound a bit cross?

From what I gather from various snippets of information gathered through secure messages with II and HL, as well as details posted here, HL appears to be a little slow getting the initial paperwork sent out to the fund managers (it's tough getting those signatures from Mr H. and Mr L.), which has probably added 1-2 weeks of unnecessary delay to the process. It seems each fund manager then writes a letter to the receiving platform, waits for the receiving platform to reply acknowledging receipt of the units, then writes a letter to the sending platform informing them the units have been transferred. I'm guessing that each letter sits in someone's 'in tray' for a few days before being acted upon. Then we have the issue that II appears to have been accepting units, but not crediting them to the appropriate nominee account for up to 2 weeks (based on my experience) - helpfully backdating the transaction date to when they actually received the transfer. Then let's add another 2 weeks for the transfer of cash by cheque and it adds up to a total of around 7 weeks of unnecessary delays caused by the terrible process, the blame being spread somewhat evenly between all three parties - that's nearly half the total transfer time wasted in to-ing and fro-ing. If you want to complain about that, you have to complain against 2 platforms plus all of the fund managers involved, which itself would be fairly exasperating.