Moving investments from Alliance Trust Savings to Hargreaves Lansdown: good/bad idea?

Doc_N

I've been with Alliance Trust Savings (investing wholly in Alliance Trust investment trust) for quite a while. The service has got increasingly worse, the charges ever higher, and the systems they use are impenetrable, complex, cumbersome and barely fit for purpose. Every transaction is a nightmare because of the way it's been set up.

I understand that if I move the Alliance Trust shares (in an ISA) to Hargreaves Lansdown the maximum annual charge will be just £45. Rather less than the £120 charged by Alliance Trust Savings, but the real aim is to find a company better geared up to dealing sensibly with customers.

Any thoughts on Hargreaves Lansdown please? Are they OK to deal with, and apart from the £45 pa (which seems remarkably low) are there any other charges to watch out for?

A_T

If your only holdings are in ATST then the maximum charge will be 45. Each time you sell and buy it will cost 11.95.

Doc_N

A_T wrote: »

If your only holdings are in ATST then the maximum charge will be 45. Each time you sell and buy it will cost 11.95.

Good point - I need to check out the differences between ATS and HL on the costs of investing monthly regular savings into ATST. And the costs of dividend reinvestments etc.

Regular dividend reinvestment £5 for each transaction
Regular buy (direct debit) instructed by post £5 for each transaction
Regular buy (direct debit) instructed by online monthly dealing service £1.50 for each transaction

The ATS regular buy instructed online (£1.50 pm) looks to be on a par with HL at first glance.

Audaxer

Seems a good idea to move in view of your experience with Alliance Trust, and from what I've heard the customer service at HL is very good, and if you are investing in ITs the platform charge is only £45 per annum.

My only question would be why would you keep all your investment in the one Investment Trust?

Alice_Holt

I have an ISA with AT, and a SIPP with HL.
HL have by far and away the better customer service and online systems.

I totally agree with your comments about the deteriorating AT service. I moved a SIPP away from them when written dealing instructions were incorrectly actioned. Other correspondence (I fund my nieces' SIPP - so can't deal online) had been ignored (or lost).
I'm now thinking of transferring my ISA to II, as I have lost confidence in AT. The last query I raised with them took 6 weeks for a (unsatisfactory) response.

I have had no such problems with HL, the only disadvantage is that it is more expensive (having a mix of funds & IT's).

As HL is cheaper for you than AT - I would certainty recommend you to move platforms.
The regular DD monthly dealing charge with HL is £1.50 for shares.

Doc_N

Audaxer wrote: »

Seems a good idea to move in view of your experience with Alliance Trust, and from what I've heard the customer service at HL is very good, and if you are investing in ITs the platform charge is only £45 per annum.

My only question would be why would you keep all your investment in the one Investment Trust?

Fair point. Partly to keep the charges down, partly because it's a very widely invested trust, and partly because it's pretty much impossible to second guess which are going to be the best performing trusts from year to year.

Audaxer

Doc_N wrote: »

Fair point. Partly to keep the charges down, partly because it's a very widely invested trust, and partly because it's pretty much impossible to second guess which are going to be the best performing trusts from year to year.

Fair enough. My concern would be that it's nearly 100% equities so fairly high risk. I am also wary about putting a significant amount in any individual Investment Trust as unlike funds they are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as you are a shareholder of the company.

ColdIron

I can't speak for ATS but HL's ISA Investment Trust charges are much as stated. £45 maximum annual charge, £11.95 share dealing or £1.50 with monthly savings, automatic reinvestment 1% (£1 min £10 max), £25 + VAT account closure fee and £25 transfer fee per line (or £25 as cash). If your main driver is ease of use and customer service, HL's web site is the best out there and customer service is tip top. Pricey for funds but competitive for ITs, you'll have to judge what the value of the customer offering is worth to you

jimjames

If you only have one holding then why use HL? Personally I'd use iWeb as that's £25 one off and no annual fees at all. Only other fees are £5 for buy/sell. The latest dividend reinvestment for me cost £1.26 including stamp duty.

How much trading do you do?

Doc_N

Audaxer wrote: »

Fair enough. My concern would be that it's nearly 100% equities so fairly high risk. I am also wary about putting a significant amount in any individual Investment Trust as unlike funds they are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as you are a shareholder of the company.

I'm happy with the equities but I do take your point about the compensation scheme.

Perhaps naively, I've always worked on the basis that it's the underlying shares that provide the value and keep things secure, but I suppose there's always the risk of some kind of internal fraud that destroys a large part of the underlying value somehow.

And Alliance Trust is such an old-fashioned, outdated outfit that I do wonder how good they are at risk management.

Doc_N

jimjames wrote: »

If you only have one holding then why use HL? Personally I'd use iWeb as that's £25 one off and no annual fees at all. Only other fees are £5 for buy/sell.

How much trading do you do?

Precious little trading, as such. Just a regular monthly payment in, invested straight into ATST.

Maybe iWeb or one of the other really low cost options is an alternative? Hadn't really considered it. Are there any drawbacks?