II confirm takeover of EQi

wakeupalarm

Yes, I need the annual statements, dividends, etc.  The messages to do with changing their charging structure, takeover, etc I can live without.  But still the messages I am referring to are not accessible from their online system, so surely they should not be charging for online access to these. They state they have access to all messages as they have been archived.

eskbanker

wakeupalarm said:

Yes, I need the annual statements, dividends, etc.  The messages to do with changing their charging structure, takeover, etc I can live without.  But still the messages I am referring to are not accessible from their online system, so surely they should not be charging for online access to these. They state they have access to all messages as they have been archived.

It does seem questionable that key documents would be archived (to the point you'd be expected to pay for their retrieval) along with other more routine messages, have they archived all messages over n years old with all more recent ones still visible?  Have they advised what their archiving policy is?

Grogged

You can always make a subject access request , which will include your messages.
If you're not sure how, look up ico.org.uk.

masonic

wakeupalarm said:

Yes, I need the annual statements, dividends, etc.  The messages to do with changing their charging structure, takeover, etc I can live without.  But still the messages I am referring to are not accessible from their online system, so surely they should not be charging for online access to these. They state they have access to all messages as they have been archived.

A company would normally have terms specifying availability of historic messages. If they do not, and they have set a precedent in which they were previously available but now are not, then that would seem not to be treating customers fairly and good grounds for complaint. If you cannot access information from the 2020/21 tax year then this may obstruct you from fulfilling your obligations to HMRC.

Are you sure it isn't an IT glitch? It reminds me of the infamous TSB IT fiasco where I was unable to access any of my credit card statements for several months and made that the cornerstone of my FOS complaint.

Tugboat

Is there any further update regarding EQI Lisa's, are they being transferred across to ii? When does the £10 monthly fee kick in? 

masonic

Tugboat said:

Is there any further update regarding EQI Lisa's, are they being transferred across to ii? When does the £10 monthly fee kick in? 

They won't be transferred to II. II doesn't want them, just as it didn't want the Share Centre's LISA accounts. You can read the FAQ about LISAs here: https://eqi.co.uk/info/interactive-investor

What will happen to my LISA?
As ii does not offer a Lifetime ISA, it will not be moved to the ii platform.

At a future point, it may well be the case that an agreement is reached to move EQi LISAs to another provider, although no plans have been confirmed as yet.

It is possible once OneFamily deals with the influx of accounts from the Share Centre it will be after some more LISAs, but the situation with Equiniti Group is different in that it will still be operating corporate investment accounts, so is perhaps not as desperate to offload the LISAs.

csgohan4

I switched my EQI Lisa last month, I would rather have destiny in my own hands and know who to switch to under my terms. 

Capitano

I must say I am unhappy with this deal. I have just had to waste an evening jumping through hoops for this change. As I see it, the only people to profit from this are EQI. There is no advantage for the poor customer. Also, if you only trade infrequently, it looks to me as if this platform will be more expensive than EQI once the initial 6 month price match is over. Thanks EQI

LittleMax

I have just found out that my Mum has Santander shares held in a Shares ISA which was transferred from Eqi to Interactive Investor. She showed me a letter that indicates a refund of fees for the first 6 months but she is now paying £9.99 per month.  This will swallow up all of the dividend each year.  

My late father used to look after the financial affairs of both of them,and Mum is unable to tell me anything of the history of these shares.  I suspect looking through other threads that she had them as Alliance and Leicester shares orginally and that Dad had put them in an ISA on a lower cost platform.  So that I think helps me understand what on earth Dad was playing at, as it didn't make much sense to me!

As she only holds a relatively small number of shares, she does not need to worry about the tax as it is comfortably within her existing tax allowances.  So my initial thought was to just close the account down and for her to hold the shares - annoyingly the adviser at II started to put this in motion, but then called to say it was not possible to transfer the shares out as paper shares  as they are overseas stock.  I have been told that the only options are to sell or to transfer to another platform.

It looks as though Mum also has a Hargreaves Landsdown ISA with some Royal Mail shares.  This seems to charge 0.45% so looks to be a much more cost effective way to also hold these Santander shares.  So I was going to contact HL and request that the Share ISA with II be transferred to HL.

Does this seem the best move?  I am looking for simplicity as we just want to hold the shares and for Mum to have as much of the dividend as possible - she is 81.  We may possibly sell if they rise sufficiently or else my sister and I will eventually inherit them.

Thank you in advance and please forgive any naivety on my part.  This is a situation that I have inherited from my late father, who I know will have just been trying his best for my Mum.

pje

If the 0.45% is less than £9.99 then go for it
you may fund the cost of selling a small overseas holding extortionate as there are likely to be foreign exchange charges on top of dealing costs