Are You Happy With Your SIPP Provider?

Retyre

I wasn't sure if the forum rules allow me to call a pole or score of SIPP providers so I thought I'd phrase this in the positive and ask members to put up the name of their SIPP provider if they are happy/impressed.

Thanks!

TH1878

I've been particularly impressed with the Liberty Options SIPP but they don't have an investment platform - they are a pure SIPP provider.

Thrugelmir

TH1878 wrote: »

I've been particularly impressed with the Liberty Options SIPP but they don't have an investment platform - they are a pure SIPP provider.

Second this. Use them through X-o ( Jarvis Securities). Corresponding directly with real people is a novel experience in this call centre dominated age.

Playing_with_Fire_2

I'm with BestInvest. It's mostly online, which I prefer. I dislike that they only pay in the tax relief when they receive it, and it bugs me that they send me an email and paper letter to tell me that they WILL claim the tax relief but nothing at all when they actually pay it in.

The range of funds is fine for me (plenty of Vanguard), and the % based fee is good for me at the moment, but I outgrew it sooner than I thought and would probably go straight to fixed fee if I was doing it again.

Thrugelmir

Playing_with_Fire wrote: »

I dislike that they only pay in the tax relief when they receive it

When would you expect to receive it?

Kendall80

Playing_with_Fire wrote: »

I'm with BestInvest. It's mostly online, which I prefer. I dislike that they only pay in the tax relief when they receive it, and it bugs me that they send me an email and paper letter to tell me that they WILL claim the tax relief but nothing at all when they actually pay it in.

The range of funds is fine for me (plenty of Vanguard), and the % based fee is good for me at the moment, but I outgrew it sooner than I thought and would probably go straight to fixed fee if I was doing it again.

I'm with BestInvest also and have the same issues/concerns.It can actually take upto 2 weeks to move from their account into mine once received. It is also very unclear on the statement which is tax relief and which is my deposit. They do however seem to have improved regarding the piles of paper they used to send following every deposit. The range of funds is perfectly adequate although the site usability feels a little clunky. I wouldnt be too keen to use it for trading individual shares even with the relatively low £7.50 transaction charge.


That said, they are low fee for SIPPs at 0.3% with no annual charge. So I cant complain too much. I should have a few years yet before I switch to fixed fee platform.

dunstonh

Thrugelmir wrote: »

When would you expect to receive it?

Most providers on the intermediary side pre fund tax relief. On the DIY side, it appears most do not prefund but wait until they get it.

Some providers will also pre-fund withdrawals and fund switches.

For people paying in each year, using a provider that does not pre fund can cost as much as 0.5% in lost returns on the contribution. So, its something that is worth noting when looking at the charges.

Prefunding is expensive to the provider. So, you tend to find (in very general terms as exceptions apply) that providers with low charges or those that cant afford to pre-fund are the ones that wont.

Thrugelmir

dunstonh wrote: »

For people paying in each year, using a provider that does not pre fund can cost as much as 0.5% in lost returns on the contribution. So, its something that is worth noting when looking at the charges.

Prefunding is expensive to the provider. So, you tend to find (in very general terms as exceptions apply) that providers with low charges or those that cant afford to pre-fund are the ones that wont.

The prefunding is not expensive to the provider. The prefunding is expensive to the customer. As it's the customer that bears the cost in one way or another. There's no magic money tree.

gadgetmind

I also use BestInvest, but mainly because I've on a "grandfathered" deal where we pay a fixed fee for investing in equities/ETFs/ITs rather than a percentage fee, which saves us a fortune as we've got £600k+ on their platform between ISAs, wife's pension, and an old pension of mine that I'm no longer paying into.

dunstonh

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The prefunding is not expensive to the provider. The prefunding is expensive to the customer. As it's the customer that bears the cost in one way or another. There's no magic money tree.

it is expensive to the provider as they could have millions of pounds advanced to clients at any one time. Some pension providers cannot afford that.

HL don't prefund but they are one of the more expensive companies and more than most IFA based platforms that do prefund. So, it doesnt follow that consumers are covering the cost. They could be paying more and getting less (or vice versa). it just another consideration that should not be underestimated if you are making regular contributions to a pension.

gadgetmind

Of course, we do need to keep in mind the relevance of pre-funding to the OP, which is exactly zero!