Interactive Investor - An Incompetent Firm

masonic

xylophone wrote: »

According to what my relative reports, he was told that the "custodian" of funds held on their platform is FNZ.

That's even more interesting. It wasn't clear prior to this whether FNZ were acting as custodian or simply providing administration support. I wonder when the change took place and whether it overlapped with accounts switching to II this year.

coyrls

masonic wrote: »

That's even more interesting. It wasn't clear prior to this whether FNZ were acting as custodian or simply providing administration support. I wonder when the change took place and whether it overlapped with accounts switching to II this year.

The FNZ service is explained on their Website http://www.fnz.com/, I think they provide the full service, I don't think Cofunds sits below FNZ.

coyrls

masonic wrote: »

Interesting. That probably explains why the finger has been pointed at FNZ for certain issues, which probably wouldn't be the case if they were still using Cofunds.

Trustnet Direct would therefore also have the same issues with late payment of dividends. That's well worth knowing as they'd otherwise be a contender for those unhappy with II and reluctant to crawl back to HL.

They have the same issue with transfers and I'm certain they will have the same issues with dividends. I'm unhappy but none of the alternatives look good to me, for my requirements and size of portfolio. At minimum I need a fixed or capped charge.

DiamondLil

I have now been waiting more than five months for my funds to move to III.
I sent a secure message on Monday of this week marked "Official Complaint" when there were three funds still not showing in my account.
Almost immediately, (the following morning) one of these funds appeared. Of the remaining two, one is still with the previous provider, despite me having sent off duplicate stock transfer forms as the first lot went missing; the other fund has disappeared completely.
And I haven't had a reply to my message.
In my husband's account, all funds have moved across; but a dividend payment due on the first of this month still isn't showing.

On the plus side however, a dividend payment due on 31st. July was in his account on 4th. August.
And a (online) purchase of shares was executed immediately.

Charles Stanley, on the other hand, have been a lot more attentive and efficient, although I started my account with them from scratch (no transfer in).

masonic

coyrls wrote: »

The FNZ service is explained on their Website http://www.fnz.com/, I think they provide the full service, I don't think Cofunds sits below FNZ.

So I now understand. It seems like prior to this FNZ's main customers were life insurance companies and pension providers, where things tend to move quite slowly. It appears they are not up to the job of running a DIY platform.

Fortunately, they do not (as far as I can see) have anything to do with the sharedealing side of things, so if you invest in shares, ETFs or ITs, then the issues can be avoided. Of course if you do that, you'd only pay £45 per year for a portfolio held at HL, so the temptation to switch back under the 12 month guarantee next year will be difficult to resist (although it is also possible to pay nothing at all with only those holdings if moved elsewhere).

Borrowedtune

After very nearly 6 months, all my SIPP funds (16) have finally arrived at ii from HL.


None of them are in the clean versions - this is supposed to happen for free by October apparently. That's OK with me, it makes it easier to check that no units have gone missing.


Two of my (5) ISA funds have still not arrived from HL.
None of my ISA funds (7) have yet to arrive from Co-funds.


The weird thing is that all my non-arriving ISA funds are also held in my SIPP.

Imnoexpert_2

I have received a reply to my formal complaint.

It shows III incompetence. I was feeling sympathetic and thinking they were just the victims factors beyond their control but no longer.

The good news is I have had £100 credit for the delays. Well worth asking for!

The bad news is that the letter contains factual inaccuracies which they have already been told about and does not address my specific problems (let alone actually put them right). They still insist that I own many holdings which are not mine.

They can't even get things right when they are dealing with an official complaint and are threatened with the Ombudsman. I despair!

I have replied to them again and will keep you posted.

coyrls

I'm starting to worry about the safety of keeping funds with III. I and others have been honest, in my case and others with reporting holdings at double the transfer value and others with owning funds that are not theirs. An alternative approach would have been to sell all the holdings (including the ones wrongly credited) move the cash to a cash ISA and close the III account. In these circumstances, III would not be able to reconcile their holdings to the remaining customers. What is the protection against this eventuality? Would customers lose their funds and not be compensated?

le_loup

No. They would rightly be able to come against you because the money would not, legally be yours. So eventually there would be a conversation between you and them about the return of the excess.

Nixter

Imnoexpert wrote: »

The good news is I have had £100 credit for the delays. Well worth asking for!

Can I confirm if you actually received the £100 in compensation?
We were promised £100 over a month ago but have yet to see a trace of the money...