Opinions/Experience with Hargreaves Lansdown?

DennisTenus

Hi,

I recently opened a S&S ISA with them and put a little bit of money in it to try it out. Was going to transfer my Cash ISA until I noticed the terrible reviews at trustpilot .. can't post link as i'm a new person here

Quite worried/shocked now!

What are people's opinions/experience of them?

Seems a lot of people don't have problems until they try to leave.... the other main complaint is the charges but even if I had 100K it would only cost £450 a year, is that a lot considering how much that amount should make?! Am i missing something?

I'm only really interested in investing in funds so what would be cheaper alternative? I've seen people mention iweb ... is that this iweb-sharedealing ? Website doesn't seem anywhere near as professional, still it's not the most important thing i guess!

Thanks

eskbanker

DennisTenus wrote: »

I'm only really interested in investing in funds so what would be cheaper alternative?

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030

HL are generally regarded as a high-cost and high-quality offering on the basis of you get what you pay for, but inevitably subjective opinions abound and I imagine that if you look up the others at Trustpilot you'll get a similar mixed range of views.

Tom99

Halifax with charge £0 for you £100K or £12.50 if within an ISA. I have no trouble with the Halifax website.

le_loup

H-L Brilliant but expensive.
So is my car.

Arthurian

Haven't had a problem with HL myself, and love their website. Haven't tried to leave them yet, though. I did recently notice that John Lewis gets a one star review on Trustpilot, also Debenhams. Maybe only the disgruntled leave reviews?

jimjames

Arthurian wrote: »

Maybe only the disgruntled leave reviews?

I think you're probably right that unhappy people are more likely to leave a review.

I've been with HL for over 10 years now and they do have high charges so I no longer use them for my ISA. Their SIPP is fairly good value so I still have that.

I certainly wouldn't rate them as a 1 and can't say there is anything to worry about based on reviews you'd see there.

DennisTenus wrote: »

even if I had 100K it would only cost £450 a year, is that a lot considering how much that amount should make?! Am i missing something?
Thanks

"Only £450 a year" that's £4500 over 10 years just in fees and without considering the lost growth from that money. The same amount would cost £25 with iWeb but if it's not an amount you're bothered about that's fine - you're very lucky!

DennisTenus

eskbanker wrote: »

HL are generally regarded as a high-cost and high-quality offering on the basis of you get what you pay for, but inevitably subjective opinions abound and I imagine that if you look up the others at Trustpilot you'll get a similar mixed range of views.

Thanks yes I guess so

Tom99 wrote: »

Halifax with charge £0 for you £100K or £12.50 if within an ISA. I have no trouble with the Halifax website.

Ah! I see.. so does it have lots of funds and similar stuff to the HL website to invest bits of money in?

le_loup wrote: »

H-L Brilliant but expensive.
So is my car.

Mine too! hehe

Arthurian wrote: »

Haven't had a problem with HL myself, and love their website. Haven't tried to leave them yet, though. I did recently notice that John Lewis gets a one star review on Trustpilot, also Debenhams. Maybe only the disgruntled leave reviews?

Very good point! Thanks

jimjames wrote: »

I think you're probably right that unhappy people are more likely to leave a review.

I've been with HL for over 10 years now and they do have high charges so I no longer use them for my ISA. Their SIPP is fairly good value so I still have that.

I certainly wouldn't rate them as a 1 and can't say there is anything to worry about based on reviews you'd see there.



"Only £450 a year" that's £4500 over 10 years just in fees and without considering the lost growth from that money. The same amount would cost £25 with iWeb but if it's not an amount you're bothered about that's fine - you're very lucky!

I see but over 10 years I'm hoping that 100K would be 150K++ for example (I know it's not guaranteed etc)

So do all the other option generally have website similar functionality to HL? So i can pick funds and see performance and figures etc and invest bits of money in them as i choose and move it about etc?

Maybe it's me and I know this isn't that important but the iweb website seems very basic and not very pro to me... of course it's not top priority just seems a bit odd!

iweb is iweb-sharedealing ?? do they do funds?

I don't understand why websites like this don't have "demo" accounts so you login as if you had a real account and have a look around and play about with fake / virtual money to check out the full site... would be so simple to do... this whole part is hidden until you sign up!

Thanks all for the reply much appreciated!

jimjames

iWeb is very basic, I'd always recommend HL for someone new. I'm pretty experienced so am happy with a less flash website and low prices. Some people like Aldi, others prefer Waitrose.

iWeb do sell funds as well as shares but are more limited compared to HL and have less tools to compare. If you like the site and are happy with the functionality then I'd stick with HL.

DennisTenus

I cant post links yet so just to confirm iweb is iweb-sharedealing dot co dot uk right?

Chordeiles

DennisTenus wrote: »

if I had 100K it would only cost £450 a year, is that a lot considering how much that amount should make?! Am i missing something

Yes, you are missing something. Always keep tabs on costs, they seem small at the time but (thanks to the miracle of compounding) you will retire a lot wealthier if you keep a lid on charges.

As for Hargreaves Lansdown, they are good, in some ways the best out there. Nevertheless they aren't good enough to justify the charges when your portfolio moves above (say) £100,000.

And they aren't quite as good as they think they are ! Their high opinion of themselves can give them a nauseating arrogance if you ever find you don't see eye-to-eye with them. Compare this with Alliance Trust who are pretty rubbish really (but cracking value for larger portfolios !), if you complain at least they have the humility to put themselves in your shoes to see what they look like from the customer's perspective.

I heartily agree that Hargreaves Lansdown can be recommended to those just setting out on the investment path. Just don't stay with them too long as your portfolio (and experience) grows. Chances are they will have p!$$ed you off by that time and you will be ready to move on.

DennisTenus

Thanks, good advice. So would you say on balance that I should stay with HL and transfer my cash ISA in? It's currently earning tiny amounts and in one of the almost top rate accounts atm.


For interest why are Alliance Trust rubbish?


If I hadn't opened this account and was asking who to go to apart from iweb who would you recommend?