Hargreaves Lansdown transfer obstructions

Chordeiles

Chordeiles wrote: »

I've noticed I no longer get the usual emails from them

It turns out this was a glitch in their systems (and not just a problem for me). In the early hours of 1st June a whole bunch of emails I should have received during May seemed to get released !

And the problem on which they seemed reluctant to reply, well after chasing it I got a typiclal HL support "cut and paste" reply that told me lots I already knew, but failed to address my actual question (I wish I had a pound for every time they did this to me). So at the second attempt I did get them to acknowledge the problem I was reporting, I received a very courteous 'phone call thanking me for bringing the error to their attention, and assuring me it would be fixed. But more than six weeks later the problem still isn't fixed. It's a fund that every other platform calls "class B" but HL call it "class I". Yes, I know HL frequently offer different classes, but in this case the ISIN code is the same ! Hence should transfer neatly to my new SIPP provider except the wordy description is plain wrong.

However, having said all that, I should probably retract any accusation that they are being deliberately obstructive in the matter of my transfer. On reflection I don't think there is anything personal involved, it's just that they aren't as good as their level of fees might lead one to expect.

Thrugelmir

Chordeiles wrote: »

On reflection I don't think there is anything personal involved, it's just that they aren't as good as their level of fees might lead one to expect.

As a business they'll protect themselves foremost from any risk of imposed financial penalty. Simply not worth the risk. Nor the bad publicity that's generated from the ensuring media coverage.

seacaitch

Chordeiles wrote: »

It's a fund that every other platform calls "class B" but HL call it "class I". Yes, I know HL frequently offer different classes, but in this case the ISIN code is the same ! Hence should transfer neatly to my new SIPP provider except the wordy description is plain wrong.

Which fund is this exactly?

soulsaver

Don't forget to check HL for later divis arriving in your account... they'll not email you about them.

Chordeiles

seacaitch wrote: »

Which fund is this exactly?

FP Miton Income (ISIN code for accumulation version is GB00B29LZ803). Since you asked the question I thought I'd post links to this fund on the HL website and the same fund on another platform. But when I went to the HL website I see they finally fixed it within the last day ! Maybe they read this forum

Me, I had finally decided to sell it anyway before the transfer (could not have waited this long), I guess if I had still held it I would have had an email from them advising of the correction.

Chordeiles

soulsaver wrote: »

Don't forget to check HL for later divis arriving in your account... they'll not email you about them.

Are you saying they won't transfer across automatically, albeit in dribs and drabs for six months after the transfer ?

I thought Selftrade were bad (I left them during their "money laundering" crisis of 2014 and sale from SocGen to Equiniti) but at least all the trailing dividends arrived safely at HL, I did check but needed to chase nothing (on that front, everything else was a mess !).

Chordeiles

It's eight weeks to the day since Alliance Trust Savings received my SIPP transfer application, and today I received a letter from Hargreaves Lansdown asking me to fill in their own "SIPP Transfer Out Form". Now the eight weeks is pretty abysmal but I'm not blaming HL for that, it took a couple of weeks (and a chase-up) to even get ATS to look at my transfer application (they apologised for the backlog in that department, but it doesn't look good). Happily I'm transferring out "in specie", otherwise the loss so far over 8 weeks would be £4905.22

However the form that HL have just sent me tells them nothing that wasn't already on the form that I sent to ATS - information that was on a page bearing my signature and thus clearly designed to be sent to the previous SIPP provider. So this extra form is clearly designed to delay the transfer. It is accompanied by a letter asking me if I really want to transfer out, an invitation to discuss it to see if there is "anything we can do" - so I called them yet again but they were still not interested in addressing my main issue (increase in SIPP charges in phased drawdown, because of the way they will spit the SIPP into two accounts and apply charges separately to each).

jamiex

I'm currently in the process of transferring my Standard Life pension into a SIPP with II.

It's been about 6 weeks so far. Took about a month for me to receive Standard Life's transfer out paperwork after sending in the II form, and it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted that to SL. I haven't heard anything yet.

Once I login and see the funds have been sold, I'll know the transfer is happening. Not sure why the process takes so long though.

Looks like Standard Life work a lot quicker than HL though!

dunstonh

It's been about 6 weeks so far. Took about a month for me to receive Standard Life's transfer out paperwork after sending in the II form, and it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted that to SL. I haven't heard anything yet.

Std Life dont issue discharge forms any more. Havent done for many years. They usually action transfers within 24 hours of receiving the instruction via ORIGO or the paper instructions.

Not sure why the process takes so long though.

Probably as you are not doing it quite right. You are requesting things not needed. If SL had to generate that stuff, it would take longer as they probably need to do it manually. Plus, when that stuff is completed, you return it to the receiving scheme. You do not send it back to the originating scheme.

Typically, if the receiving scheme informs SL on Monday, the pension is transferred by the Wednesday. SL is one of the fastest out there.

AnotherJoe

I transferred money INTO HL from another pension a few weeks ago (a substantial amount).

There was a hiccup which required a phone call and a letter from me and then another phone call. Essentially (and in hindsight) it was down to them being ultra careful about making everything 100% correct when there were teeny little issues which any "sensible" person woudl have said didn't matter.

Maybe had i been transferring it out i'd have come to the conclusion it was a conspiracy to stop the money leaving (which makes no sense*) so should I instead have concluded that it was a conspiracy to stop money going in? No, its just them being ultra picky. Dont forget they have big fines imposed on them if they screw up, maybe it takes an extra week or 6 but if thats (say) a £100k fine, and also if you are the person processing that and dont fancy losing your job because you cut a corner, you will stick to the process.

Here for example is a recent case where a CSR helped out a "customer" (who was actually a fraudster) by evading process and ended up with the real customer getting money stolen from his Paypal account. Now imagine its something similar but pensions. All happening because they didnt stick rigidly to a process.

* It makes no sense because the money will go out eventually, why would they impose a lot of costs on themselves to draw the process out? Those staff could instead have been helping clients and making them a better organization to work with and therefore retaining other clients.