SIPP Transfer from AJ Bell to Interactive Investor

ianthy

Having done the usual end of year review of costs/fees AJ Bell is charging £1,194 for my SIPP V a possible move to Interactive Investor £239.88 ( £19.99 x12). I don't want to be 100% driven by fees - CS and management of the account is important too. There is also another £318 to be saved on fees on my OH's SIPP currently £378 with AJ Bell V II with their family and friends £5 per month deal. We both carryout very few trades a year - maximum 5 in total. 

Question - has anyone transferred their SIPP into II and how long has it taken/issues? Any feedback on general customer service and responsiveness would be helpfull too. 

Thank you for reading.

Ianthy 

spg1

I transferred my SIPP from AJ Bell to II a couple of years ago (I had no issue with AJ Bell but II just worked out a fair bit cheaper for my portfolio).  They also had an offer on which from memory was a £500 incentive for the amount I was transferring which made it even more attractive. I seem to remember the transfer process was pretty quick. 

I have found II to be good so far – I like the simple and cheap fees and think their platform is very user-friendly. Other than scheduled maintenance I can’t remember the platform ever not being available.

However, I haven't really had need to contact them for anything or draw down from my pension yet (probably next year) and perhaps that's where there can be significant differences in customer service between platforms.

EdSwippet

My own II SIPP is an AJ Bell refugee, transferred across several years ago to avoid a six-fold increase in my charges from a Youinvest price uplift.

Happy customer. Interactive Investor operates smoothly and efficiently for what I want. Drawdown is fully online, and takes around three to six working days end-to-end to arrange; entirely fit for purpose. Given what I hold, the cost savings over the years compared to AJ Bell now total a pretty substantial amount.

ianthy

EdSwippet said:

My own II SIPP is an AJ Bell refugee, transferred across several years ago to avoid a six-fold increase in my charges from a Youinvest price uplift.

Happy customer. Interactive Investor operates smoothly and efficiently for what I want. Drawdown is fully online, and takes around three to six working days end-to-end to arrange; entirely fit for purpose. Given what I hold, the cost savings over the years compared to AJ Bell now total a pretty substantial amount.

Thank you .. this is very hepful feedback. 

ianthy

spg1 said:

EDITED; I seem to remember the transfer process was pretty quick. 

I have found II to be good so far – I like the simple and cheap fees and think their platform is very user-friendly. Other than scheduled maintenance I can’t remember the platform ever not being available.

However, I haven't really had need to contact them for anything or draw down from my pension yet (probably next year) and perhaps that's where there can be significant differences in customer service between platforms.

Thank you .. very helpful.

Chickereeeee

Just (about a month ago) transferred a SIPP from AJ Bell to Ii. It took about two months (In specie) from memory. 

I find AJ Bell much quicker on the customer service side. ii now say they try to respond with 5 days(!) and I have had a few instances where it has taken more than that. Also, they have changed their secure messaging system, so you do not get an acknowledgement of any Secure Messages you send.

They have a few other 'features' that came as a surprise: e.g. certain etf dividends being paid in $, whereas it was £ in AJ bell. Also, I don't know if this is usual, but I tried to consolidate 2 SIPPs onto the Ii platform. After transfer, I found this meant I could not use their faster online  crystalisation method, and had to use forms.

Once it's settled down, I imagine they will be OK.

hoc

We've transferred several from AJ Bell to II and have no regrets. To confirm and add to a few comments already:

• expect 1-3 months to transfer depending on the type of holding
• AJ Bell customer service is quicker to respond, this is true, however their customer service is very unhelpful as they simply copy paste from their hand book. II takes longer but actually addresses the question.
• II does not unnecessarily convert back and forth to GBP in a SIPP on each buy, sell or dividend. This can be the biggest saving over headline rate comparisons with AJ Bell.

IvanOpinion

I transferred from Aviva to II a few years back.  I transferred in cash (rather than in specie) and it only took a couple of weeks - I was surprised how fast it was - apparently if both source and target had access to the same software (name escapes me at the minute) then it can happen quickly.

jiggy2

Dont forget to look at ii's refer a friend scheme as it covers SIPPs as well (you get referred by someone and then you refer your OH). Could be another £300 to £400 combined benefit to you.

Albermarle

IvanOpinion said:

I transferred from Aviva to II a few years back.  I transferred in cash (rather than in specie) and it only took a couple of weeks - I was surprised how fast it was - apparently if both source and target had access to the same software (name escapes me at the minute) then it can happen quickly.

The system is called Origon I think . A pension I transferred from Aviva to Fidelity in cash took less than 48 hours !
Apparently Aviva are known to be quick off the mark with transfers.

bownyboy

A couple of years ago I transferred a number of mine and my wife’s pensions to ii including

- peoples pension
- NEST
- Standard Life
- Fidelity 
- Aegon 

Those using the ‘Origo’(?) system usually took a few days. The longest took about 6 weeks from memory.

These were all cash transfers as we then went all in with Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap.

No issues whatsoever since then, but then I’ve never needed to contact them and am not in drawdown yet.