shares question

cavper

Hello

I bought some shares about 10 years ago and was advised to leave them, they are now worth about £2000

The original company I was using transferred the shares to Alliance Trust Savings.

I am now being charged £72 fees.

Do I have to stick with alliance Trust or can i transfer them to another company to look after. if so who would you recommend?

Ii am a complete beginner when it comes to this

Thanks in advance for any replies

Cavper

gkerr4

i'm not sure what 'fees' can be applicable to be honest.

What is the company? is it a UK listed share?

if you have a paper certificate, open an online dealing account - most are free to transfer in paper certificates. You open the account, send in the certificate and a couple days later they appear on your online account - then you can sell them, buy more or whatever you feel like.

bowlhead99

A number of companies charge quarterly or annual fees to maintain a dealing account or nominee service - ATS will be one of them. Having your shares in electronic account maintained by a broker allows for faster trading, and no risk of losing your share certificate and having to buy an insurance indemnity to get someone to reissue the paperwork.

If you don't want to use a provider who charges an annual fee, your choices are to transfer the ownership back into your name as a physical paper share or to simply move the shares electronically to a provider who doesn't charge an annual fee for an inactive account.

Someone like x-o.co.uk will provide a cheap way of holding the shares and doesn't (currently) charge inactivity fees for an account that just sits there with nothing going on, and lets you trade at £6 a time when you do want to sell up. Or they will transfer into your own name and arrange for a paper certificate to be issued for a relatively small fee so that you can put the certificate under your mattress. With your own paper share, you can trade with whoever you like when the time comes. Be aware that if you go the paper route, most brokers charge extra fees or at least cause time delays if you don't actually have your shares sitting electronically in their account and want to deal from a bit of paper.

cavper

thank you very much for your replies, I will have a look at x-o.co.uk
cavper