ISA Stocks & Shares Transfer HL & Woodford

jonesypeter

Hi,
I'm in the process of transferring my stocks and shares ISA from HL to iWeb.

I received a letter from iweb this morning to say that they can't transfer my Woodford Equity Income Z GBP Acc fund. The only options they gave me is to sell them (Which of course I can't!) or cancel the transfer.

I assume the Z class is the specially negotiated reduced fee version that HL Negotiated.

Am I stuck with HL until I can sell the Woodford fund?

Thanks

ColdIron

Might be worth a read
https://citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/news/woodford-investors-finally-freed-from-hargreaves-platform/a1249319

Reed_Richards

You don't have to transfer the entire ISA; you could do a partial transfer so it does not have to be all or nothing.

bowlhead99

jonesypeter wrote: »

Am I stuck with HL until I can sell the Woodford fund?

As per the quoted article above, you should be able to exchange your special Woodford share class held by HL for the standard Woodford share class offered by everybody else. May need to follow up and enquire with them, as that is a relatively recent stance they have taken.

However, as HL have said they will not charge a platform fee on the Woodford fund shares during the period of suspension, you can perhaps achieve a decent effective result by partially transferring away your other non-Woodford holdings, keeping the Woodford shares at HL for a while (for free), then eventually selling or moving the Woodford holding at some point in the future once it stops being un-redeemable and free to hold at HL.

jonesypeter

My understanding @bowhead99 is that you have to transfer complete years worth of contributions?

to_jackie_too

bowlhead99 wrote: »

As per the quoted article above, you should be able to exchange your special Woodford share class held by HL for the standard Woodford share class offered by everybody else.

My reading was that they will let you transfer you special Woodford share class to another platform which hasn't previously carried that class at all. Link's Q&A (woodford.linkfundsolutions.co.uk/questions-and-answers/) says:

Link wrote:

Transfers between platforms across all share classes, but not share class conversions, will now be allowed with immediate effect (10th July 2019). This includes where the receiving platform does not currently have access to the share class being transferred. (They will be able to open a new account in that class to support the transfer) This is intended to facilitate cross platform transfers where there is no change to the beneficial owner. This supports investors by providing them with the freedom to move their investments between platforms.

However, that is just Link's point of view, and IWeb can be awkward about accepting transfers in of investments that they wouldn't currently allow you to buy.

jonesypeter wrote: »

My understanding @bowhead99 is that you have to transfer complete years worth of contributions?

For the current tax year's contributions, you must transfer either all or none of them. For earlier years, partial transfers are allowed.

Reed_Richards

jonesypeter wrote: »

My understanding @bowhead99 is that you have to transfer complete years worth of contributions?

As Bowlhead99 isn't around at the moment and I suggested the partial transfer, allow me to confirm that it is only the ISA contributions made in the current tax year (since 6th April 2019) that must be transferred all together. Transfers from previous years' contributions can be partial and split-up any way you like.

PS You would be particularly unfortunate if you had managed to invest in a Woodford fund between 6th April 2019 and the suspension on 3rd June 2019 so I assumed it belonged to an ISA from a previous tax year. I should have been explicit about that.

jonesypeter

Just an update on this. I had a long conversation with iWeb this afternoon. They won't do the 'Z' to 'C' class transfer, even though I pointed them to the article.

They are allowing me to transfer my other funds and leave the Woodford fund with HL (Which as HL are not charging fees currently) seems like the best plan. Although of course apart from the initial £25, iWeb don't charge any fees.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.