TD Direct sold to Interactive Investor

System

ed44 wrote: »

This is new:



Will still be leaving if they introduce transfer out fees, but this gives more time to choose a new platform.

If they offer a good service then I do not why they need to charge exit fees except to reduce competition (with exit fees a new entrant would have to offer substantially lower prices to attract customers). Also, no exit fees means that if the service goes downhill then you can change broker at no cost. Anyway I have transferred one account to IG and will be transferring my ISA if TDDI introduce exit fees.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

well, I've got shares with TD, just share account and share ISA, so will all just transfer to II at no cost?

ed44

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

well, I've got shares with TD, just share account and share ISA, so will all just transfer to II at no cost?

Yes. The fees are for transfers to other providers. III has taken over TDDI, so they are the same organisation.

darkidoe

Any progress on new pricing structure?? I am looking to pour some funds into my portfolio but slightly hesitant with the uncertainty surrounding this.

I reckon given that they are introducing new pricing, current customers have a right to exit without fees within a certain period if they choose to without any fees?

Anyone else with an all ETF portfolio having similar thoughts or ideas about where to go if the new pricing is less than ideal?

greenglide

I reckon given that they are introducing new pricing, current customers have a right to exit without fees within a certain period if they choose to without any fees?

Currently TD charge no fees for exiting, whether in specie, cash or whatever.

The new charge structure has not been announced so it is still free.

When the new structure is announced presumably we all have a while to decide whether or stay or go - they couldn't impose the new charging structure overnight.

Paying new money in surely isn't a problem as any platform you wanted to move to in the future presumably won't be charging a fee for a transfer in?

tg99

When I spoke to TD a few weeks back they indicated the new fee structure (likely to be the same or very similar to current II offering) would be announced and implemented in two to three months.

bowlhead99

darkidoe wrote: »

I reckon given that they are introducing new pricing, current customers have a right to exit without fees within a certain period if they choose to without any fees?

As highlighted in Ed44's post #141, they will let you transfer away fee-free for a year or so. That seems more than enough time.

Then Economic said he didn't see why providers charge exit fees other than to reduce competition. Personally I think it's quite legitimate to charge some sort of fee because it takes work to process exits and close down accounts, and also it will have cost them time and effort in admin and compliance to create your account in the first place, yet very few providers have an up-front 'account opening fee'.

So, if you take on their services, hold a bunch of shares/ETF assets with them without trading much (or just have a low value of funds so they only get a few pounds of platform fee) , and then later transfer out without letting them make much money out of you, you're essentially being subsidised by all their other customers. As one of those 'all their other customers' I don't really want them to have to set their £ charges or % charges higher for ongoing service just to have them give someone else a free ride, so I'm quite happy with the concept of activity-based charging (and entrance/exit is an activity).

It only becomes unfair when the service is absolutely terrible which is pushing you out the door and they want to charge you for that (at the agreed 'exit charge' rates), even though they haven't delivered the good service promised. Or if the fee structure changes radically and you are getting a big fee to exit and at the time you came in, there was no big fee to exit.

In the case of TD, they haven't got major service problems driving customers away (so far at least) and they are not introducing exit fees and planning to enforce them for existing customers for a long time after the changeover, so the point is moot.

Anyone else with an all ETF portfolio having similar thoughts or ideas about where to go if the new pricing is less than ideal?

You could search for the famous "Snowman's spreadheet" or other platform comparison tools (e.g. Lang Cat, Monevator) depending on what mix of assets you have.

On the face of it, with an all ETF portfolio you would be best served with someone having a price structure like Halifax share dealing / IWeb / x-o.co.uk, who have low or no ongoing admin fees and just charge transaction-based fees for buys and sells and perhaps a one-off account opening fee.

I don't have an all-ETF portfolio so for me the maths is different but if I do make a move it might be to AJBell Youinvest, with whom I have had a SIPP for about five years. For a non-SIPP account the percentage-based admin fee for ETFs/shares/ITs fees caps off relatively low, the transaction fees are not outrageous (especially if your purchases are via the 'regular investments' monthly facility, which is a bit more flexible than TD's), they allow trading on some foreign exchanges, and on the funds side they have a wider range than Halifax. And the service levels are fine.

Of course it is not all about price, and some of the features that TD offer on their share dealing side are hard to find elsewhere (multi-currency cash accounts, large number of international markets, being able to trade on extended settlement terms etc). So I'll be taking a look at the new cost structure and 'enhanced' features of TD before moving; I've been with them for over a decade for an ISA, unwrapped, and a designated account.

tg99

Bowlhead99 - re your post above, are you aware of any other platforms / brokers that allow trading on extended settlement terms (the other accounts I have do not so it is only TD that I currently know of)?

bowlhead99

I don't, though I haven't done a comprehensive search.

When I first got my TD account it was one of the most full-featured execution-only online brokerages around without paying silly money. They didn't do trailing stop-losses or derivatives or CFDs on the same platform - so were a little less full-featured than the North American brokers such as TD Ameritrade where I also have an account - but had everything else I might have wanted even if I rarely used it, and they had other account types to handle the other things like spreadbets or CFDs.

Over time, other groups which were primarily funds platforms have added basic brokerage services and broker groups like TD have added/improved more on the fund platform side. But for joe bloggs the mainstream consumer, things like multi-currency cash, 10+ foreign markets, extended settlement etc are niche things that cost money to offer and the 'average' investor doesn't use. So many cost-focused online providers have never tried to add those things to 'compete', because it's not where the volume is.

If your primary purpose of being able to trade extended settlement is to make use of margin for short term plays I guess you could take a look at IG's offering - their systems platform is decent, they cover lots of markets at reasonable prices, and they have a large and well known derivatives/ spreadbet offering. So you could take exposure via spreadbets rather than literally buy now pay later on a T+10, T+20 trade. Although I only have a spreadbet account with IG and haven't tried their sharedealing which is relatively newer, I think you can place spreadbets on their spreadbet side using assets on the brokerage side as margin.

tg99

bowlhead99 wrote: »

I don't, though I haven't done a comprehensive search.

When I first got my TD account it was one of the most full-featured execution-only online brokerages around without paying silly money. They didn't do trailing stop-losses or derivatives or CFDs on the same platform - so were a little less full-featured than the North American brokers such as TD Ameritrade where I also have an account - but had everything else I might have wanted even if I rarely used it, and they had other account types to handle the other things like spreadbets or CFDs.

Over time, other groups which were primarily funds platforms have added basic brokerage services and broker groups like TD have added/improved more on the fund platform side. But for joe bloggs the mainstream consumer, things like multi-currency cash, 10+ foreign markets, extended settlement etc are niche things that cost money to offer and the 'average' investor doesn't use. So many cost-focused online providers have never tried to add those things to 'compete', because it's not where the volume is.

If your primary purpose of being able to trade extended settlement is to make use of margin for short term plays I guess you could take a look at IG's offering - their systems platform is decent, they cover lots of markets at reasonable prices, and they have a large and well known derivatives/ spreadbet offering. So you could take exposure via spreadbets rather than literally buy now pay later on a T+10, T+20 trade. Although I only have a spreadbet account with IG and haven't tried their sharedealing which is relatively newer, I think you can place spreadbets on their spreadbet side using assets on the brokerage side as margin.

Thanks. Though probably didn't word my initial question particularly well as rather than extended settlement it was more just paying on or by the actual settlement date I was interested in as per TD offering allows, rather than having to have the money deposited before you can place your buy order which seems to be the set up with other brokers I've used (though do have IG which gives you the flexibility you've noted above).

For info I did ask TD if their current set up in this regard will remain once the integration with II is fully complete (as II do not currently cater for this I believe) but they were not able to confirm at this stage.