New AJ Bell Youinvest charges

bigadaj

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Regulators won't interfere in commercial business decisions. People are too used to something for nothing. Vote with your feet.

Very true, but imposing exit fees with a change to the contract seems like grounds for a complaint to me.

Thrugelmir

bigadaj wrote: »

Very true, but imposing exit fees with a change to the contract seems like grounds for a complaint to me.

Providing changes are announced in line with the contractual terms then all perfectly legal.

bigadaj

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Providing changes are announced in line with the contractual terms then all perfectly legal.

I'm not saying it's illegal, just probably not treating customers fairly.

They may be damaging their commercial standing in hiking or amending fees, however that gives a free hand for a platform to announce low charges and then up them soon after with high exit fees. They might benefit from lethargy as well as exit fees, and is something I think the regulator should take seriously.

itm2

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Providing changes are announced in line with the contractual terms then all perfectly legal.

Again, Ofcom have moved to force telcos to allow customers penalty-free contract termination in the event of a mid-contract rate hike. This seems like a comparable situation to me.

Voting with your feet is not a straightforward option when there a punitive exit charges, not to mention issues around transfer delays and time out of the market.

masonic

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Providing changes are announced in line with the contractual terms then all perfectly legal.

Contractual terms can be regarded as unfair and not legally enforceable.

bowlhead99

itm2 wrote: »

Voting with your feet is not a straightforward option when there a punitive exit charges, not to mention issues around transfer delays and time out of the market.

If you're willing to pay the contractual exit charges at £25 per line, you would not need to mention time out of the market, because you would not be out of the market.

If you're willing to face the time out of the market, you could transfer as cash, which doesn't incur transfer fees unless it's a pension (unlike for example HL who charge cash transfer fees and account closure fees for doing an outgoing ISA transfer as cash).

And has anyone here transferred from Youinvest to another decent provider and suffered issues around abnormal 'transfer delays'?

Rollinghome

I've never used Youinvest so have no direct interest but as a man on the Clapham omnibus it seems wholly unfair for terms to be significantly changed from those clients understood, as seems the case, and then to bolt the exit door against them leaving until a ransom is paid. Especially for those who went there very recently when the company already knew the changes they intended to make.

Even HL to their credit (after some prodding) recognised the unfairness of their initial position and agreed to free transfers out or alternatively, for some, a reduced platform rate. (The latter of which I accepted.) They also agreed to other changes in the post-RDR terms in response to customer discontent. Whatever is thought of their high charges, HL have shown that a reputation for flexibility and fairness is important to them.

In contrast, Andy Bell is a two time offender in demanding transfer out fees after changing the terms and imho something the FCA should be protecting clients against. A company with a history of unfairness to clients would make me very wary of using them.

itm2

bowlhead99 wrote: »

And has anyone here transferred from Youinvest to another decent provider and suffered issues around abnormal 'transfer delays'?

I transferred the other way (from HL to YouInvest) and the whole process took longer than 2 months.

ColdIron

I was on the point of transferring several hundred K to an AJ Bell SIPP on the strength of the capped charges

I'm looking at iWeb or Halifax Sharedealing as alternatives, does anyone have any experience of either of these platforms in drawdown, particularly in terms of setting up and timely dividend payments, tax certificates etc?

talexuser

Some people could well be better off under the new terms, but other people could see their fees rise from £200 a year to £800 or more a year. The fairness judgement is one of degree, if fees were hiked 10 or 20% you might say that's within "normal" business practice etc but a 4 or 500% increase with relatively large exit penalties starts to look like unfair contract.

Taking the above example transfers in cash is probably off the cards since the saving of say £400 or £600 in transfer out fees is probably less than normal stock market "noise" where the total funds might vary around 2k up or down during normal day to day variations so the sell/buy delay could end up losing a lot more if not timed carefully.