Evestor - any thoughts ?

Dsp911

Hello all,

Anyone used Evestor or any similar platforms that they could recommend? Money investment will be modest but looking at the Financial Indepedence community, they all scream the need to invest in an index...

Thanks in advance,

DP

Davejw

Hi dp am currently using evestor, impressed with there service so far. Though to early yet s regards returns.

soulsaver

Ask what is the process for a with drawal. This is the reply I got:

We would have to ask for original or certified copies of bank details and ID as explained in the attached document* as we do not have your bank details on file. It would then take 5 workings days from the day a withdrawal feed is sent to sell down your funds and a further five to make electronic payment to your bank.

* " Identity: > Valid passport; > Valid driving license; > National identity card; > Firearms certificate or shotgun license; or > Identity card issued by the Electoral Office for NI.

Residency > Utility bill dated within 3 months (not a mobile phone bill); > Bank statement dated within last 3 months from UK regulated Bank/Building Society; > Evidence of state or local authority funded benefit (including housing benefit and council tax benefit), tax credit, pension, educational or other grant dated within last 6 months; > Instrument of a court appointment (such as liquidator or grant of probate); or > Current council tax bill, demand letter or statement.

Documents should either be originals or certified copies. Where possible, request certified copies as there is a higher risk for us handling original documents. To certify documents, the customer must ask a professional person such as:
> bank or building society official; > medical professional such as GP, dentist or registered nurse; > chartered accountant; > solicitor or notary; or > teacher or lecturer.

The person shouldn!!!8217;t be: > related to the customer; > living at the same address as the customer; or > in a relationship with the customer.

The customer must take the photocopied document and the original and ask the person to certify the copy by:
> writing 'Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me.' on the document; > signing and dating it; > printing their name under the signature; and > adding their occupation, address and telephone number, and where applicable professional registration number. "

My emphasis but their words verbatim. No phone number I can find on their site for clarification. On their described process it could take weeks to sell your investment and get your funds back."

If you find this out after subscribing you feel like you've been scammed...

bowlhead99

I think when that provider was mentioned before I had a quick look and didn't like the somewhat disingenuous way they portrayed their fees of about half a percent s being so much cheaper than investing with an 'average' adviser costing over 2.5%. That's not really the going rate for a simple multi asset solution built on index funds without tailored advice.

Still, the personal identification requirements are reasonably "normal". Some providers have moved to doing more automated/ electronic checks but needing to provide paperwork to prove who you are isn't too strange for an investment firm. If you don't do it up front you will need to do it at some point before they let you withdraw; they can't just let any old unidentified customer just dump money into the accounts, invest it for a bit and take it back nice and clean...

soulsaver

bowlhead99 wrote: »

I think when that provider was mentioned before I had a quick look and didn't like the somewhat disingenuous way they portrayed their fees of about half a percent s being so much cheaper than investing with an 'average' adviser costing over 2.5%. That's not really the going rate for a simple multi asset solution built on index funds without tailored advice.

Still, the personal identification requirements are reasonably "normal". Some providers have moved to doing more automated/ electronic checks but needing to provide paperwork to prove who you are isn't too strange for an investment firm. If you don't do it up front you will need to do it at some point before they let you withdraw; they can't just let any old unidentified customer just dump money into the accounts, invest it for a bit and take it back nice and clean...

I agree the ID stuff is standard, albeit their process is behind the times: I've not had to produce certie'd documents in YEARS.

However I wasn't just 'on' that: The way they have worded the reply implies that they wouldn't initiate the sell without the ID stuff, which could take days if not weeks. And then add to that I can't find a telephone number to clarify if that's exactly what they meant.

And I'm unimpressed with 5 working days to transfer funds out.

So you can pay in by debit card in seconds... but change your mind and it'll take maybe 3 weeks, even with your finger out, to get it back... at least two of which you'd be in the market against your choice.

poppy10_2

Seems very expensive for what they offer. High platform charge for basically just robo-allocating you to a broad risk status and offering you a set portfolio of funds.

Svejk

I transferred my ISA from another provider last year and in the 8-9 months I was invested with evestor I lost a small amount (<1% after fees, so pretty much break-even).

My bank has now set up an investment service, so I decided to transfer out the funds to the bank, which I have done via the bank rather than approaching evestor directly.

I submitted the request to transfer out about 3 weeks ago. The funds disappeared from my evestor account within a week, but so far have not materialised with my bank, which is pretty disappointing. I am assuming they are busy earning interest somewhere...:(

During this time I have not received any communication or notification from evestor. I've now sent them a message so we'll see how they respond.

shazzamma

Hi Svejk,
how did you get on?
:hello:

soulsaver

Worth pointing out that the basis on which they manage your investment has changed to discretion only.

They terminated your agreement with them if you didn't accept what they were implying is a minor change to the original terms!

And had threatened to do so on the basis that you didn't reply to emails (which you may not have received) within a time frame.

Even when they did that, they still wanted certified docs before they'd refund your cash, or even liquidate your position.

I instructed them to liquidate my holdings but it was near a month later when that actually occurred, moving me from an even position to a loss.

The reason given was there was a Japanese holiday affecting the timing.

If you ask my opinion, I'd say it's a scam, and I'm glad to be out with my funds pretty well intact.

In summary: Poor service, amateur systems, third party execution (hence the delays) and questionable practices. Avoid.

quirkydeptless

I only used eVestor to furnish a DD.

Since I've got enough PO savers now, I don't need it. I think I'll shut my account down.

Only put £6 in it with 44p interest.

At least 7.3% in 6 months isn't too shabby

rnest2002

I have had an Evestor ISA with 20k for 15 months. In general they are good, and were recovering well from the April crash, but my investment value fluctuates daily between +50 and -600. When it was +30 I asked them to cash it in so I could transfer to another ISA. They say (via web chat) they cannot do this - you must apply for a tranfer in to another external ISA, and then wait for a week, or take the cash now - thus losing ISA wrapper. But this means that you cannot control when you transfer out, you cannot optimise cash value. I wish I took the cash last week as its now  -600.  Their charges are low but you really have very little control once you give them your cash. I wanted to move it to my HL self invest ISA