Fidelity SIPP cash back offer

jaybeetoo

Receive £50 to £1,500 cashback if you apply to transfer your pensions to Fidelity by 27 March 2020.

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/pension-transfer/?p=0&c=10

Alexland

This is a good offer, especially for those with large accounts that would benefit from higher cashback and the £45 fee cap on holding exchange traded investments however our experience has been that getting Fidelity to pay the transfer cashback and exit fee reimbursement (if applicable - claim form required) is hard work.

The cashback terms require you to wait 90 days after the completion of the transfer but even then they didn't do anything proactively without us chasing them for a further couple of months. During this time they promised specific payment dates which they missed without comment. Even chasing them is slow and painful as it takes around a week to get a reply to a secure messages. You end up with a Cash Management Account which I asked them to close but got no reply to the secure message.

They keep emailing and leaving voicemails to invite me to Fidelity Wealth seminars at their newly refurbished London HQ. I wonder if I could consume £45 of free drinks and nibbles each year?

Alex

StellaN

Alexland wrote: »

This is a good offer, especially for those with large accounts that would benefit from higher cashback and the £45 fee cap on holding exchange traded investments however our experience has been that getting Fidelity to pay the transfer cashback and exit fee reimbursement (if applicable - claim form required) is hard work.

The cashback terms require you to wait 90 days after the completion of the transfer but even then they didn't do anything proactively without us chasing them for a further couple of months. During this time they promised specific payment dates which they missed without comment. Even chasing them is slow and painful as it takes around a week to get a reply to a secure messages. You end up with a Cash Management Account which I asked them to close but got no reply to the secure message.

They keep emailing and leaving voicemails to invite me to Fidelity Wealth seminars at their newly refurbished London HQ. I wonder if I could consume £45 of free drinks and nibbles each year?

Alex

Not my experience Alex, I'm afraid. I completed a SIPP transfer for my husband to Fidelity last August (I'm already with them so am aware of the pro's and cons). The £500 cashback offer he was due to receive was 90 days after the closing date of the offer (30 September) and he duly received the sum on the 3 January 2020. This was my experience as well when I made the switch but that was some time ago but I didn't have to chase them. We both had to fill out the exit reimbursement forms at the appropriate time (they give you 6 months after the transfer date) and although you have to provide the official paperwork from your previous platform or pension provider (original copies) we did receive the £500 sum but it did take a while, however all in all we are very happy.

The new software is far better than the previous website and they now offer a lot more IT's and ETF's than previously, therefore if you only hold ETF's or IT's then the £45 cap is excellent. Also, when you go into drawdown there is no charge for this so that is another plus and no exit fees if you're unhappy.

Albermarle

The cashback terms require you to wait 90 days after the completion of the transfer

If I remember correctly the cashback is paid 90 days after the cashback offer ends , not from the actual transfer date .
I also had no problems with the cashback . 95 days after the end of the offer I received a cheque for £500 and my wife one for £50. She received also the exit reimbursement fee promptly after sending off the paperwork.

transfer your pensions to Fidelity by 27 March 2020.

These cashback periods at Fidelity are like sofa shop sales. As soon as one ends another one begins
A J Bell and Interactive investor also have them from time to time .

if you only hold ETF's or IT's then the £45 cap is excellent. Also, when you go into drawdown there is no charge for this so that is another plus

So the £500 cashback means effectively zero fees for you for 11 years . Not sure how this adds up for Fidelity to operate a drawdown account for nothing , but might as well take advantage !

Alistair31

So can this cashback offer be used in conjunction with them refunding transfer out fees ?

Contemplating moving my SIPP from AJBell.

bowlhead99

Alistair31 wrote: »

So can this cashback offer be used in conjunction with them refunding transfer out fees ?

Contemplating moving my SIPP from AJBell.

They are separate offers with separate sets of T&C's and they don't say that claiming one precludes the other:

Get £50 to £1,500 cashback if you apply to transfer by 27 Mar 2020. We also cover up to £500 if your current providers charge exit fees (exclusions, T&Cs apply to both offers and can be found below)

The cashback offer T&C is under 'cashback offer terms and conditions / see full terms and conditions', https://www.fidelity.co.uk/pension-transfer/?p=0&c=10#cashback-offer

while exit fees T&C's are further down the page under how to transfer to fidelity 'will you help pay my exit fees?' /read the terms & conditions

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/pension-transfer/?p=0&c=10#433879

Alexland

Albermarle wrote: »

If I remember correctly the cashback is paid 90 days after the cashback offer ends , not from the actual transfer date.

That's true if your transfer is quick and completes within the offer period but otherwise you have to wait until 90 days after the transfer completes (terms from current offer period below). I guess they would process the ones after the end of the offer period in one batch (giving the customers a good experience) and maybe forget about the others that dragged on longer until the customers start chasing then make an adhoc mess of organising the payment (our experience).

"Cash back payments will be sent to you within 90 days after the closure of the Offer (27th March 2020). If your transfer has not completed by then, we will pay within 90 days after the completion of your last eligible transfer."

Alex.

Alexland

Alistair31 wrote: »

So can this cashback offer be used in conjunction with them refunding transfer out fees ?

Yes they told me you could take advantage of both offers although I am still waiting to see the money on my exit fee refund claim. This thread has acted as a reminder to chase them again today - although I have a seperate spreadsheet that tracks our various unpaid claims.

Alistair31 wrote: »

Contemplating moving my SIPP from AJBell.

If you hold mainstream exchange traded assets in a high value SIPP then I don't see why you would continue to pay the AJ Bell £100 pa capped fee when Fidelity are offering the incentives and a £45 capped fee given the trading fees are equivilent (£9.95 versus £10.00 per trade with discounts for regular/reinvestment). I don't mind paying the AJ Bell £30 capped fee on our Lifetime ISAs which we recently transfered from HL. I find the ETF choice on AJ Bell is still a bit better than Fidelity.

Alex

bowlhead99

Alexland wrote: »

If you hold mainstream exchange traded assets in a high value SIPP then I don't see why you would continue to pay the AJ Bell £100 pa capped fee when Fidelity are offering the incentives and a £45 capped fee given the trading fees are equivilent (£9.95 versus £10.00 per trade with discounts for regular/reinvestment).

I do use AJ Bell and more of my assets are exchange traded than open-endedfunds.

However, Fidelity's search tool doesn't have as large a range of ETFs or offer as much in the way of overseas stock markets as AJB; their "investment finder" page doesn't even seem to have all LSE listed shares let alone mainstream European ones or Asian ones. And for the things I might want which are funds rather than exchange-traded, Fidelity are 40% more than AJB (0.35% be 0.25%).

So, they're not for me.

But I could see why someone who just wanted a pension entirely built out of mainstream ETFs would like what Fidelity's price structure. Presumably Fidelity hope that some of those customers are tempted into other products over time (including Fidelity's own products).

As the ethos behind SIPP was originally to allow self investment across a wide range of investments, the Fidelity offering has fallen short for a while, thought it's better than it used to be (in the old days they were really just offering Fundsnetwork stuff rather than the brokerage (shares, ITs, ETF) side of things. Unfortunately as they were not what I wanted 'back in the day' when I was doing a broad review of service providers, my apathy/ aversion to change means that they have an uphill struggle to tempt me over, and I'd only qualify for £500 of their max £1500 cashback...

behind_the_sofa

Alexland wrote: »

If you hold mainstream exchange traded assets in a high value SIPP then I don't see why you would continue to pay the AJ Bell £100 pa capped fee when Fidelity are offering the incentives and a £45 capped fee given the trading fees are equivilent (£9.95 versus £10.00 per trade with discounts for regular/reinvestment).

What if you are holding US ETFs (which you bought before the PRIIPs regulations made buying them difficult/impossible) on which your annual saving on dividends received without deduction of 15% US withholding tax comes to more than £100? (Or just: more than £55, to account for the difference in capped fees between AJ Bell and Fidelity.)

Albermarle

However, Fidelity's search tool doesn't have as large a range of ETFs or offer as much in the way of overseas stock markets as AJB; their "investment finder" page doesn't even seem to have all LSE listed shares let alone mainstream European ones or Asian ones.

I think it is pretty clear that the Fidelity platform is not targeting more sophisticated/pro active investors, and the range is more than enough for the vast majority of their customers,

And for the things I might want which are funds rather than exchange-traded, Fidelity are 40% more than AJB (0.35% be 0.25%).

Fidelity are more competitive for funds when you have £250K on the platform ( and this can be the total of all accounts ) as the service fee drops to 0.2% . Critically this rate applies to all funds and not just the amount above £250K ( like the discounted rates with HL and A J Bell ) and even applies to any other family members.
Also one plus point for Fidelity is that apart from the service charge : dealing charge of £10 and regular investment charge of £1.50 there are no other charges for anything , including drawdown, one off with drawals ; no exit fees etc
So it is horses for courses , they have a niche for a certain type of investor, particularly those in or near drawdown, who have over £250K and/or have part/all of their investments in exchange traded products. Also them being a long established global solid player and unlikely to be sold or merged has an attraction.