Close Brothers in drawdown

IanSt

Hello all,

I've been looking into a good platform to use to consolidate a few of my pension pots onto.

At first I thought that one of the flat fee platforms would be best for me, but I must admit that I'm seriously considering Close Brothers on finding that they charge a low 0.25%, no charges for fund purchases or selling, no annual charges for being in drawdown and no transfer fees should I decide that they are not for me.

The zero annual charge for being in drawdown is a definite plus for me, so is there anyone out there with Close Brothers who is actually in drawdown who can confirm the no annual charge. Note I realise there is a £60 fee to put it into drawdown.

The reason for my caution is that although their website says there is no charge, others would seem to disagree. i.e. it shows as £90 on snowman's spreadsheet, http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/, http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/compareresults.aspx and https://www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/options-for-cashing-in-your-pensions/income-drawdown/compare-pension-drawdown-plans-and-charges-ax1628r13rdk.

I've had a google around and can't find anything about recent charges in their fees, so am puzzled why they would all have the annual fee at £90.

Many thanks

SnowMan

The £90 will have been from their previous charges document.

They appear to have quietly changed this and there is no sign of a £90 charge now. The latest document seems to be dated 8/5/2018 so perhaps that is when it changed.

The 2 documents that mention charges I can find are

https://www.closebrothersam.com/docs/default-source/self-directed-service-library/guide-to-sipps.pdf?sfvrsn=13

https://www.closebrothersam.com/docs/default-source/self-directed-service-library/pricing/charges_factsheet.pdf?sfvrsn=42

I note that they do now disclose their charge for a UFPLS of £60, they previously did not disclose this as I noted in the spreadsheet.

The big potential problem with Close Brothers is their fund range. They've never made it clear what funds they offer. Do they offer a full range of funds and ETFs? Or is their fund range just restricted to their own funds and some specialist funds.

So I think you need to contact them to ask a few questions about their charges and their range of funds and ETFs.

If you are able to report back on their fund range that would be really useful. If they do only offer a very restricted range, then I will remove them from the spreadsheet.

IanSt

Close Brothers platform charge for funds is 0.25% (IIRC your spreadsheet has that at 0.35%) and they say there is definitely no annual fee for any drawdown arrangement.

They told me to register to see the funds available (there would be no obligation to invest should I change my mind after seeing the list) - unfortunately their registration process failed and someone will apparently be in touch to finish off the process. So I'll be back once I've been able to get on.

Cheers

IanSt

Hi SnowMan,

It's taken longer than I'd have liked, but I've now managed to get registered and logged onto the Close Brothers website and their Search tool says it offers over 4000 investments. They don't specify the exact fund managers, but from the searches I've done they do seem to include most (if not all) of the usual suspects and range from Aberdeen to Vanguard.

It is a pity that they don't offer a document somewhere that specifies the exact fund range they offer, but I think it's definitely worthwhile keeping them on your spreadsheet.

Cheers