TheShareCentre - Taken over by Interactive Investor

NWDave

I have a JISA with The Share Centre for a while now - not much in it (less than £500) as the stock invested had a turn for the worse! Anyway they are being taken over by Interactive Investor and their fees by comparison are horrendous and as such I am looking for alternatives. Has anyone got any recommendations - lowest fee for obvious reasons and reasonable service as I don't need to log in or invest on a regular basis? I used this platform as it allowed me to import an old Child Trust Fund so not sure if that now makes any difference as its in an JISA Wrapper? My thanks in advance.

areader

For low % fees have a look at AJ Bell's YouInvest or Tilney's Bestinvest platforms.

To be fair to Interactive Investor they are one of the few platforms that offer a flat rate fixed price service charge which would be advantageous for larger investments. Obviously complete unsuitable to pay charges of £120 per year for a £500 ISA!

Albermarle

Fidelity have recently reduced charges for JISA to zero .
https://www.fidelity.co.uk/junior-isa/fees-and-charges/

NWDave

Thank you both - thats really helpful - Martin could do with including this in the JISA section as there is no help for self invested accounts of this nature!

Alexland

Fidelity are not yet accepting inbound transfers of existing JISAs so you might want to either wait a few month (but the II fees are horrendous for that account valuation) or consider Vanguard as the next best low cost option for that account valuation assuming you are happy with their limited, but adequate for most situations, investment choices.

ManofNorfolk1805

I have 4 separate Junior Investment Accounts (classified as Share Accounts) for each of my four grandchildren on which I pay £2.00 per month on each. They contain small shareholdings in various quoted companies. The way I understand it, these will be be taken into one "umbrella" account on which I will pay £9.99 per month, and if a phone conversation with their Customer Service Section two weeks ago is to be believed, a further £29.99 on each account as they are treated as "bare trusts". The basic increase of £1.99 per month is not a concern, but Share Centre have not yet been able to tell me how Interactive Investor will allocate this across the four accounts. It appears to me that Interactive Investor do not want my business, so I am looking for another provider who may. An online enquiry to A J Bell did not elicit any response. I cannot be the only grandparent in this situation. Any ideas?

bowlhead99

ManofNorfolk1805 said:

I have 4 separate Junior Investment Accounts (classified as Share Accounts) for each of my four grandchildren on which I pay £2.00 per month on each. They contain small shareholdings in various quoted companies. The way I understand it, these will be be taken into one "umbrella" account on which I will pay £9.99 per month, and if a phone conversation with their Customer Service Section two weeks ago is to be believed, a further £29.99 on each account as they are treated as "bare trusts". The basic increase of £1.99 per month is not a concern, but Share Centre have not yet been able to tell me how Interactive Investor will allocate this across the four accounts. It appears to me that Interactive Investor do not want my business, so I am looking for another provider who may. 

II do have an additional £29.99 fee for corporate and trust accounts, primarily because (a) there can be more compliance involved than for running an account for a single individual and (b)  they can get away with it.  I don't know if they charge it for a 'bare' trust which is effectively being run for a single individual, but they might well want to do that because of the potential hassle of dealing with multiple trustees and signatories.

If  the 4 accounts you mention are not actually trust accounts, but simply chunks of your own money which you've chosen to 'designate' with the 4 grandkids' initials for your own ease of admin, then there presumably wouldn't be any need to charge the high premium for running a trust account. 

An online enquiry to A J Bell did not elicit any response. I cannot be the only grandparent in this situation. Any ideas?

You can have a bare trust account at AJ Bell (https://www.youinvest.co.uk/investing-for-children/dealing-accounts-for-children) and their platform fee is charged at 0.25% of your account balance per year; if you are only holding shares / ITs / investment trusts the 0.25% is capped at £30 a year, so someone with £2,000 in the account would pay £5 a year;  £10,000 in the account would pay £25/yr (similar to the £2 a month you're currently paying); but someone with £20,000 or £100,000 would still only pay £30/yr. for the account.    

The caps are independently per account, as far as I know - I've used them for several years but never tried to run two accounts of the same type.  If they don't reply to an 'enquiry' email, try phoning them. We all know some businesses are dealing with things less efficiently at the moment due to lockdown etc.

With A J Bell, for the less-mainstream account types such as bare trust accounts and designated accounts (they offer both), you have to fill out a paper application form, as there isn't an online option. 
https://www.youinvest.co.uk/sites/default/files/useful-forms/AJBYI_DA_baretrust_application_form.pdf
or
https://www.youinvest.co.uk/sites/default/files/useful-forms/AJBYI_DA_designated_application_form.pdf
, in each case supplemented by a transfer form for the account from which you're transferring:
https://www.youinvest.co.uk/sites/default/files/useful-forms/AJBYI_DA_transfer_application_form.pdf

DavidT67

Also trying to exit from The Share Centre, moving to AJ Bell rather than be migrated to Interactive Investor. 

So far lots of letters enticing me to stay, offering to match Share Centre fees for six months, JISA fees for life, etc.,  but distinct lack of clarity around number of accounts and subaccounts II would create and what their total costs would be.

To date no action from The Share Centre on the four JISA and four bare trust transfers out I've requested.  Clock ticking down on time to start FOS complaints process.

jimjames

Another option for low activity accounts would be iWeb. £25 to open account and then no ongoing fees other than £5 to buy or sell each time so long term hold is essentially free until you sell

masonic

jimjames said:

Another option for low activity accounts would be iWeb. £25 to open account and then no ongoing fees other than £5 to buy or sell each time so long term hold is essentially free until you sell

Do they now offer a Junior ISA?

NWDave

Hello all - well I am back and I cant begin to say how upset I am with the misleading communication I have had with this transfer from the ShareCentre to ii.

I had an email from The Share Centre saying that ii would honour the admin fee for the life of the account that I enjoyed with TheShareCentre (£12 a year I think it was) I am sure others had the same email?

So move forward to this evening and I get a secure message from ii after I questioned what I read on my welcome pack, stating that they will take the £9.99 a month and then reimburse the difference between what I would have paid back to the account, and to make matters worse would only be for 6 months? Just wow! Its also not clear what account the money will be paid back to as if its the JISA I assume I cant get that back which being furloughed is money I could do well without having to miss.

Has anyone out there had this happen and if so what on earth do I do? The account is invested in stock that has dropped to under £100 so in 10 months I will have paid in fees what the stock is worth - of course the stock could recover but what an absolute farce and utterly disgusting that a promise has seemingly not what it appeared or has changed from what was promised. I am having to contact my email provider to try to recover that email back!

HELP!!!