Negotiating lower platform fee with Hargreaves Lansdown

bowlhead99

sebtomato wrote: »

After searching online, I haven't seen any evidences on people getting discounts recently from HL, so either HL never gives any discount (to set no precedence) or people do get some in some situations but stay quiet about it....

'Back in the day' (2014), people here were getting offered HL 'if you're willing to stay...' fee offers of 0.25% or even 0.2% capped at £250k (i.e. max £500 a year).

Such fee scales are no longer as useful as a customer retention tool - because those rates are not as competitive the cheapest rivals as they once were, and there's no deluge of leavers as a catalyst for them to be offered, because HL haven't recently upped fees on certain fund types.

You're right of course that if you don't ask you don't get.

Likewise if you don't expect, you don't get disappointed.

Ixel

I guess another option available is to go for ETF's. Yes, they have a rather high 'instant' dealing charge, but if you want to avoid that then you could probably invest into an ETF via the regular monthly savings facility instead (a charge of £1.50 per deal instead of up to £11.95 per deal). There's nothing to stop you suspending the regular monthly savings option after the first month too.


The charge structure for an ETF may work out cheaper than holding funds, depending on your circumstances and if there's a suitable ETF that suits your goal. Obviously there's the typical annual charge you'll pay to the ETF, much like a fund. Then there's HL's platform charge, which on a Fund & Share account there's no annual charge for holding one or more ETFs. However, on an ISA (e.g. Lifetime ISA or Stocks & Shares ISA) there's a 0.45% annual charge capped at £45 each ISA (which means you need at least £10,000 in each ISA to reach the cap).

kinger101

Just move the funds somewhere cheaper. Problem solved.

eskbanker

sebtomato wrote: »

But yes, I don't know if you have noticed, but customers are becoming more savvy now, and the supermarkets increasing their market shares recently at Aldi and Lidl, not Waitrose...

But the emergence of the low-cost players doesn't mean that Waitrose's response is to slash prices to participate in a desperate race to the bottom - they deliberately choose not to try to compete on price and instead prefer to paint themselves as higher quality, better service, etc, and to state (or at least imply) that you get what you pay for, just like HL.

Clearly many customers do perceive the cheapest to be the best, ignoring other factors, but Waitrose/HL aren't inclined to fall over themselves to attract or retain such custom and are happy to concentrate on their target market instead....

sebtomato

eskbanker wrote: »

Clearly many customers do perceive the cheapest to be the best, ignoring other factors, but Waitrose/HL aren't inclined to fall over themselves to attract or retain such custom and are happy to concentrate on their target market instead....

If it's going to the same way for HL as it is for Waitrose, then it's not going to be good news for HL, and they will want to cut their prices particularly to retain good existing loyal customers...

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/18/waitrose-to-axe-seven-more-stores-putting-700-jobs-at-risk

Yes, cheapest is not always the best, and there are of course other factors to consider: people on the high-street seeing my social status because of the HL bags I am carrying ("Look, he is shopping at HL!"), or the unique pleasure of shopping with like-minded middle class customers when I am on the HL website. Priceless...

As for Waitrose, the recent story of customers being "disappointed" to see an Aldi label at the back of a pack of "a special made" Waitrose vegetables says it all on the power of a brand vs. the actual quality of the product (sold 50% more at Waitrose). "Special made" HL Vanguard Index tracker anyone (for only 0.30% more)?

Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/aldi-waitrose-label-same-ocado-vegetables-a9208836.html

More seriously, when investors are moving massively from active to passive funds, and also HL are under the spot light for their questionable "advice" that clearly favored more some fund managers as opposed to their customers, some of the HL advantages are seriously reducing (for both small and large investors)...

Link: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4316119-passive-index-investment-now-somewhere-near-20-trillion

sebtomato

kinger101 wrote: »

Just move the funds somewhere cheaper. Problem solved.

thanks! That would surely solve a problem if I had one...but doesn't address the question I did have.

Ceme3000

If the trend towards lower fees continues and HL see it as a threat to their business model in the future, I could envisage HL introducing a parallel 'lite' platform with a handful of funds on it e.g. VLS and lower fees.

I could only see this happening if customers are leaving in droves though.

newatc

For certain, there is no harm in asking them. As it has been said, they certainly negotiated much lower fees when the new charging structure came in which is perhaps not surprising as they had always made a big selling points, up to that point, of the importance of low fees!
I suspect you've had more chance a few months back when the "Woodford issue" was at the fore.

kinger101

sebtomato wrote: »

If it's going to the same way for HL as it is for Waitrose, then it's not going to be good news for HL, and they will want to cut their prices particularly to retain good existing loyal customers...

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/18/waitrose-to-axe-seven-more-stores-putting-700-jobs-at-risk

Yes, cheapest is not always the best, and there are of course other factors to consider: people on the high-street seeing my social status because of the HL bags I am carrying ("Look, he is shopping at HL!"), or the unique pleasure of shopping with like-minded middle class customers when I am on the HL website. Priceless...

As for Waitrose, the recent story of customers being "disappointed" to see an Aldi label at the back of a pack of "a special made" Waitrose vegetables says it all on the power of a brand vs. the actual quality of the product (sold 50% more at Waitrose). "Special made" HL Vanguard Index tracker anyone (for only 0.30% more)?

Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/aldi-waitrose-label-same-ocado-vegetables-a9208836.html

More seriously, when investors are moving massively from active to passive funds, and also HL are under the spot light for their questionable "advice" that clearly favored more some fund managers as opposed to their customers, some of the HL advantages are seriously reducing (for both small and large investors)...

Link: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4316119-passive-index-investment-now-somewhere-near-20-trillion

If you do ask them for a reduction, I wouldn't make such a nebulous and inaccurate comparison with Waitrose in your discussions with them.

Aminatidi

We know people have managed it as you read from people who have done so.

I would liken it to phoning Sky and asking for a discount on your Sky package.

If they say yes all is well but if they say no you really do need to be prepared to say "I'm off" as otherwise what incentive do they have to say yes?