Does anyone hold a LISA with EQi?

OldManLogan

Hello All,
Does anyone hold a LISA with EQi? I've recently transferred in and I'm trying to get some clarification on fees. After much research I found they would be the cheapest as they charge 0.2% custody fee (with a 2 quarter fee holiday) and zero charges for buying funds if I do it manually rather than set up a regular investment.
Now that my account is open they have confused the matter as they have opened a complimentary dealing account for me, as apparently this has to be open so that the 0.2% custody (and any management fees for funds held) can be taken by direct debit from my bank rather than from any cash in the LISA or having to sell any equities (as I'd prefer the fees to be taken direct from my bank). 

I've spoken to them about the transfer and when I mentioned the fees the advisor is claiming I'll now be charged the £17.49 base and product fee along with the 0.2% LISA fee as I have the dealing account open? I'm pretty sure this as wrong as they didn't sound confident and this contradicts all of the info on their site, I'm waiting for a response to clarify.

I just wondered if anyone has experience with the EQi LISA and can confirm what they have bee charged please?

Thanks in advance

Alexland

Yes I agree the EQi charges are nuts as they seem to depend on which order you opened the accounts. If you applied for the LISA first then the dealing account should be complementary. I can see why even their own staff are having problems understanding the model.

It should get a lot easier if/when the Interactive Investor takeover happens as they will probably move you onto their platform at the £9.99 per month flat fee model (ouch!). Glad I didn't transfer ours from AJ Bell now.

OldManLogan

Alexland said:

Yes I agree the EQi charges are nuts as they seem to depend on which order you opened the accounts. If you applied for the LISA first then the dealing account should be complementary. I can see why even their own staff are having problems understanding the model.

It should get a lot easier if/when the Interactive Investor takeover happens as they will probably move you onto their platform at the £9.99 per month flat fee model (ouch!). Glad I didn't transfer ours from AJ Bell now.

Yes, the fees seem very complicated, I'm sure I had it correct it was just when the advisor seemed confused I started questioning it.
I've read about the proposed takeover, do you think it's likely that they will move all customers onto the flat £9.99 fee? Luckily this transfer has gone through this financial year so if that's the case I'll probably transfer out to AJ Bell after April.

Alexland

OldManLogan said:

I've read about the proposed takeover, do you think it's likely that they will move all customers onto the flat £9.99 fee? Luckily this transfer has gone through this financial year so if that's the case I'll probably transfer out to AJ Bell after April.

Yes it seems very likely they will move you to one of their 3 service plans starting at £9.99 per month as that's what they did after they bought Alliance Trust Savings and that's also what they are now doing to The Share Centre customers. They did make an exception for TSC Junior ISAs but not TSC Lifetime ISA customers.

https://citywire.co.uk/investment-trust-insider/news/interactive-our-charges-are-better-for-alliance-trust-savers/a1218976

https://www.share.com/ii/cost-and-charges

You can transfer ISAs at any time during the tax year however it might be cleaner to do it once all the contributions and bonus are added for the year. With AJ Bell you need to be under 40 to do a transfer in. At least AJ Bell have only just updated their prices so should be stable for a few years.

OldManLogan

Alexland said:

OldManLogan said:

I've read about the proposed takeover, do you think it's likely that they will move all customers onto the flat £9.99 fee? Luckily this transfer has gone through this financial year so if that's the case I'll probably transfer out to AJ Bell after April.

Yes it seems very likely they will move you to one of their 3 service plans starting at £9.99 per month as that's what they did after they bought Alliance Trust Savings and that's also what they are now doing to The Share Centre customers. They did make an exception for TSC Junior ISAs but not TSC Lifetime ISA customers.

https://citywire.co.uk/investment-trust-insider/news/interactive-our-charges-are-better-for-alliance-trust-savers/a1218976

https://www.share.com/ii/cost-and-charges

You can transfer ISAs at any time during the tax year however it might be cleaner to do it once all the contributions and bonus are added for the year. With AJ Bell you need to be under 40 to do a transfer in. At least AJ Bell have only just updated their prices so should be stable for a few years.

Thank you that's really helpful, really frustrating though as I started the transfer just after New Year then read about the proposed take over on the 17th! The £1.50 per purchase of funds with AJ Bell put me off as if I did this twice a month (contribution and bonus) it would be £36 a year on top of 0.25% LISA fee and any fund fees. EQi seemed better initially but £9.99 a month won't be worth it with the current value of my LISA. I'm 40 this October so hopefully the takeover is announced soon if it's going to happen, at least I will know where I stand then with prices and can transfer to AJ Bell if needs be. Wish I had just done that in the first place now!

Alexland

Yeah those £1.50 fund or scheduled trade fees are annoying but less significant now our LISAs are big enough to benefit from capping on holding an ETF.
If you go with AJ Bell then try and minimise trade volumes by holding an accumulating investment, contributing over less months and investing the bonuses with the next contributions.

OldManLogan

Alexland said:

Yeah those £1.50 fund or scheduled trade fees are annoying but less significant now our LISAs are big enough to benefit from capping on holding an ETF.
If you go with AJ Bell then try and minimise trade volumes by holding an accumulating investment, contributing over less months and investing the bonuses with the next contributions.

Thank you, do you think its maybe worth transferring now before any takeover is announced? I'm just thinking it could get messy and a transfer could drag out once the takeover is in process and accounts are being migrated to II?

Alexland

OldManLogan said:
Thank you, do you think its maybe worth transferring now before any takeover is announced? I'm just thinking it could get messy and a transfer could drag out once the takeover is in process and accounts are being migrated to II?

Hmm tricky. If you get out now you might escape without paying any fees and before their transfer department might get overloaded. But then it might not happen and it might be a while before they change the fee structure. Still you are 40 soon....

OldManLogan

Alexland said:

OldManLogan said:
Thank you, do you think its maybe worth transferring now before any takeover is announced? I'm just thinking it could get messy and a transfer could drag out once the takeover is in process and accounts are being migrated to II?

Hmm tricky. If you get out now you might escape without paying any fees and before their transfer department might get overloaded. But then it might not happen and it might be a while before they change the fee structure. Still you are 40 soon....

Yes the fact I'm 40 soon is the main worry, not till October but if its announced soon and then there are any delays/problems with a back log of transfers it could get tight. Looking at the AJ Bell LISA info it looks like they can transfer funds in, so no need to sell funds first with EQi, but they can take 6 to 8 weeks to transfer in.
AJ Bell's transfer process seems similar though in that I open the LISA with them and complete the transfer forms and they start the process, so in theory even if there is a hold up in the transfer the actual LISA account would be open with them within a week or so, pending checks etc? So in theory as long as I start the process and open the LISA before I'm 40 then even if the funds transfer takes place after that should be ok?
Also do you know if there is a minimum amount of time you need to hold a LISA with a provider (EQi or other) before you can transfer out? Can't find any info for this, I've only had the EQi one open for a week and a half and first funds purchase only cleared yesterday!

Alexland

Yes I expect the age 40 limitation at AJ Bell only applies to opening an account rather than however long the transfer takes to complete. If you are going to do an in specie transfer you would need to check exactly the same investment is available on the new platform. There is no minimum time to hold the EQi account.

OldManLogan

Alexland said:

Yes I expect the age 40 limitation at AJ Bell only applies to opening an account rather than however long the transfer takes to complete. If you are going to do an in specie transfer you would need to check exactly the same investment is available on the new platform. There is no minimum time to hold the EQi account.

Thanks again, really helpful. I only hold Vanguard 60/40 at the moment and plan on doing so for a while so no problem with availability on AJ Bell.