APS transfer from a stocks and shares ISA

Sue105

Hello. I inherited from my husband a stocks and shares ISA with Fidelity. Being very risk averse, I applied for an APS transfer to a Virgin Money cash ISA in Nov 2019. I left the investment where it was until the transfer was completed because I wanted to preserve the tax free status. Unfortunately, the completion date was more than 5 months later at the bottom of the Coronavirus crash. I decided to leave the investments and just move the APS as Virgin money could not hold the transfer window open for me any longer. This has meant a significant loss in value of the Fidelity investment -- although there has been some recovery since. I have complained to Fidelity, who have admitted that the delay in processing the transfer was unacceptable. They have offered me £150 (not nearly enough!) in compensation for the stress I have experienced. I expected some compensation for the loss in value but they are saying they are not liable, because I could have cashed in / sold the investments at any time without losing the tax free status and that they advised me of this in November 2019. I'm waiting for the relevant documents to come from my solicitor. Any advice on this forum would be appreciated.

masonic

The sensible course of action would have been to sell the investments and then transfer in cash, since there is always a risk of a stockmarket crash around the corner, and you deemed these investments unsuitable for your needs. If Fidelity advised you that you could sell the investments in November 2019, then I don't see how they could shoulder any of the blame for you not having done so. You mention waiting for relevant documents to come from your solicitor, if the solicitor has kept relevant correspondence from Fidelity from you, such as correspondence discussing the option to cash in the investments, then perhaps you could complain about the solicitor.

I think the offer of £150 compensation from Fidelity for the slow ISA transfer is about right. Perhaps accept this and pursue compensation for your investment loss against whoever was advised by Fidelity about the option to sell the investments, but failed to take any action.

Sue105

Thanks for your thoughts. I don't have any recollection of seeing advice from Fidelity that I could sell without losing the APS allowance. It's possible that I should have known this, but I made the wrong assumption. I think I am just going to have to 'let it go'.

Albermarle

Markets continue to improve, so if you check the value today , it should look better again hopefully.