AJ BELL Revised charges from October

accumul8

Likewise, my charges rise by over 300% and I only moved from HL because of the £200 cap on charges.
But it will cost £25 per line plus £75 to transfer unless we can persuade them to waive transfer charges on the grounds that this is an unwarranted and substantive change to their terms and conditions. Is there something in the FCA's guidelines about this?

ex-pat_scot

I'm just hoping that Alliance Trust don't follow suit.
I'm capped at £180 odd per year as a SIPP charge.

EdSwippet

accumul8 wrote: »

But it will cost £25 per line plus £75 to transfer unless we can persuade them to waive transfer charges on the grounds that this is an unwarranted and substantive change to their terms and conditions. Is there something in the FCA's guidelines about this?

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, no.

I found at least two rulings where the FOS sided with AJ Bell's insistence on applying transfer out charges even though the transfer out was occasioned by a huge increase in fees:

http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=66755
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=53000

There may be others also (mine, somewhere, maybe!). Apparently there is nothing to prevent a platform from increasing fees to any level it wishes, including transfer out fees, and then insisting that existing customers who signed up to previous charging tariffs must now pay the new and increased ones.

coyrls

EdSwippet wrote: »

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, no.

I found at least two rulings where the FOS sided with AJ Bell's insistence on applying transfer out charges even though the transfer out was occasioned by a huge increase in fees:

http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=66755
http://www.ombudsman-decisions.org.uk/viewPDF.aspx?FileID=53000

There may be others also (mine, somewhere, maybe!). Apparently there is nothing to prevent a platform from increasing fees to any level it wishes, including transfer out fees, and then insisting that existing customers who signed up to previous charging tariffs must now pay the new and increased ones.

[FONT=&quot]I think the current circumstances are a bit different from the ones quoted in those two judgements. In both cases the contract clause used to justify the change in charges was: “changes in regulatory requirements”, as the changes were made in response to the RDR. The current changes cannot be justified by that clause. The only one that could apply is “to avoid cross-subsidy between accounts e.g. where the provision of certain services is being charged on an uneconomic basis” but I don’t think that a customer could reasonably expect a 300%+ price increase under this clause.

[FONT=&quot]If anyth[FONT=&quot]ing, I would say that the changes create cross-subsidy between accounts[FONT=&quot], with th[FONT=&quot]ose with large fund holdings cross subs[FONT=&quot]idis[FONT=&quot]ing other accounts.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT]

_pete_

I understand that the new charges apply from 1 October.

Given that it can take 6-8 weeks to transfer a fund-based SIPP, does this mean that it is already too late to avoid transfer charges? Or is the transfer date regarded as the date that the transfer application is submitted to the new platform?

_pete_

_pete_ wrote: »

I understand that the new charges apply from 1 October.

Given that it can take 6-8 weeks to transfer a fund-based SIPP, does this mean that it is already too late to avoid transfer charges? Or is the transfer date regarded as the date that the transfer application is submitted to the new platform?

I think I've answered my own question:

If we give notice of an increase in our transfer out fee you will be offered an opportunity (for a period of no more than 3 months from date of notification) to transfer to another registered pension scheme at the existing transfer out fee.

From their SIPP t&cs. Sounds like we have 3 months to effect the transfer.

Eric_the_half_a_bee

_pete_ wrote: »

Sounds like we have 3 months to effect the transfer.

3 months to avoid any increase in the transfer out fee. Are they proposing any increase in the transfer out fee?

_pete_

Eric_the_half_a_bee wrote: »

3 months to avoid any increase in the transfer out fee. Are they proposing any increase in the transfer out fee?

Ooops. No, you're right - they're not!:o

accumul8

... but they have not made 'an increase in our transfer out fee'. They have increased all other fees but the transfer out fee remains the same (at least as far as I can see). So I don't think the 3 months applies in this case.

(Sorry, I see I have duplicated the post above)

bigadaj

Sounds like an opportunity for some lawyers if the regulator doesn't act.