Equiniti Shareview Fees

Memma3121

Hi, I'm new here, but hope someone can help. I hold a small ISA with Equiniti Shareview comprising 3600 Wasps Finance Bonds in an ISA. They have recently advised me that my fees are going to increase from £24 a year to £17.49 a quarter. They have told me I can transfer out for free as this is a big increase in fees, not really suitable to my needs. I don't want to cash in the bonds as they are currently worth less than they cost (as with so many investments). I tried HL but they said I'd have to cash in and rebuy (expensive on such a small investment). Does anyone know a cheaper platform I can do a direct transfer to, or will I just need to suck it up and pay the new fees? Thanks for any advice anyone can give.

schiff

What is the current value of the investment? It's difficult without knowing 

Memma3121

Thanks for replying. It’s only a small investment which is why the fees more than doubling is annoying! 

The original purchase was £3600, it’s a bond which matures in 2022 (giving me back the £3600). Currently due to the business risks associated with Covid each £1 bond is only worth approx 65p, hence I don’t want to cash it in. 

MDMD

Memma3121 said:

Thanks for replying. It’s only a small investment which is why the fees more than doubling is annoying! 

The original purchase was £3600, it’s a bond which matures in 2022 (giving me back the £3600). Currently due to the business risks associated with Covid each £1 bond is only worth approx 65p, hence I don’t want to cash it in. 

This article is suggesting that there’s a risk the term is extended in 2022 or (if the company defaults on the bonds) that they you might end up owning some of the stadium rather than getting your £3,600 back

https://www.diyinvestor.net/wasps-issue-trading-statement-as-covid-crisis-impacts-6-5-2022-retail-bond/

bowlhead99

Memma3121 said:

Thanks for replying. It’s only a small investment which is why the fees more than doubling is annoying! 

The original purchase was £3600, it’s a bond which matures in 2022 (giving me back the £3600). Currently due to the business risks associated with Covid each £1 bond is only worth approx 65p, hence I don’t want to cash it in. 

And HL are saying that they are happy for you to give them cash and buy the bonds through an ISA on their platform, but will not allow an incoming transfer of the entire Equiniti ISA including the bonds held within it? 

They are usually OK with transferring in accounts from other ISA managers without converting to cash, as long as the assets are the types of asset that they allow people to buy on their platform. Did they perhaps misunderstand you, and think that you wanted to transfer bonds held by Equiniti (and not currently already inside an ISA) into their ISA?   

The ISA rules don't allow the transfer of bonds which are not currently in an ISA, to be moved directly into an ISA, as ISA subscriptions can only be made in cash.   But assets that are already inside an ISA with manager A can usually just be picked up and dropped directly into an ISA with manager B through a standard ISA transfer process, as long as the receiving ISA manager B can handle that kind of asset and is willing to do so.

I don't imagine there is much of a ready liquid market for the bonds given it's a pretty small issue and the bondholders already had to waive their covenants given the terrible financial performance of the business at the moment. So if you think they will survive and eventually get back on track I can see why you would want to hold.

You could try asking AJBell Youinvest if you can transfer your Equiniti ISA to them - their fees are only 0.25% of the value of the assets (with a cap at about £17k-worth of shares and bonds) so would still be under a tenner a year even if the bonds rebounded to being worth £3600.

Memma3121

MDMD said:

Memma3121 said:

Thanks for replying. It’s only a small investment which is why the fees more than doubling is annoying! 

The original purchase was £3600, it’s a bond which matures in 2022 (giving me back the £3600). Currently due to the business risks associated with Covid each £1 bond is only worth approx 65p, hence I don’t want to cash it in. 

This article is suggesting that there’s a risk the term is extended in 2022 or (if the company defaults on the bonds) that they you might end up owning some of the stadium rather than getting...

Yep, thanks, I’m aware of the situation. For the amount of my investment I am happy to go with the flow and retain the bonds. I just want to move them to a different platform. They don’t even need to be in an ISA wrapper really, I just don’t want to accept a fee increase from £24 a year to £70 a year. 

Memma3121

bowlhead99 said:

Memma3121 said:

Thanks for replying. It’s only a small investment which is why the fees more than doubling is annoying! 

The original purchase was £3600, it’s a bond which matures in 2022 (giving me back the £3600). Currently due to the business risks associated with Covid each £1 bond is only worth approx 65p, hence I don’t want to cash it in. 

And HL are saying that they are happy for you to give them cash and buy the bonds through an ISA on their platform, but will not allow an incoming transfer of the entire Equiniti ISA including the bonds held within it? 

They are usually OK with transferring in accounts from other ISA managers without converting to cash, as long as the assets are the types of asset that they allow people to buy on their platform. Did they perhaps misunderstand you, and think that you wanted to transfer bonds held by Equiniti (and not currently already inside an ISA) into their ISA?   

The ISA rules don't allow the transfer of bonds which are not currently in an ISA, to be moved directly into an ISA, as ISA subscriptions can only be made in cash.   But assets that are already inside an ISA with manager A can usually just be picked up and dropped directly into an ISA with manager B through a standard ISA transfer process, as long as the receiving ISA manager B can handle that kind of asset and is willing to do so.

I don't imagine there is much of a ready liquid market for the bonds given it's a pretty small issue and the bondholders already had to waive their covenants given the terrible financial performance of the business at the moment. So if you think they will survive and eventually get back on track I can see why you would want to hold.

You could try asking AJBell Youinvest if you can transfer your Equiniti ISA to them - their fees are only 0.25% of the value of the assets (with a cap at about £17k-worth of shares and bonds) so would still be under a tenner a year even if the bonds rebounded to being worth £3600.

HI @bowlhead99 I've tried to say thanks to you a few times but MSE was blocking my posts. Us newbies are not to be trusted
Anyway I think it's sorted now, so thank you very much for your helpful info. HL confirmed over the phone that for some reason they couldn't transfer my bonds without cashing them, even though they're in an ISA wrapper. Looks like AJBell are going to be able to help me out though and their fees are MUCH lower than Equiniti even without the upcoming fee hike.
Just need the vaccine to do it's job now so everyone can get back to stadiums for sport and events and hopefully my bonds will return to a more normal value, even if I have to hang onto them beyond 2022, that's not a problem on such a little fund. Cheers again for the insights