Don't Forget Halifax Share Dealing Starts Charging for "Holding" Shares Soon

wmb194

pafpcg said:

wmb194 said:

arnoldy said:

If people are concerned about £36/yr they probably have about £1-2000 of shares. In which case ask for the paper certificate and close the account - better for client and HSDL.

Certificates are always a dreadful idea - see the threads that regularly appear about them - so better to transfer them to a cheaper broker. IIRC Freetrade is now accepting in specie transfers.

Somewhat of a sweeping statement!

The threads about certificates, in my recollection, seem mostly about inherited paper share certificates with questions about how to sell them and usually promptly answered by how straightforward it is to deposit them with an on-line broker and convert them to cash.

I have to disagree with your basic assumption - there are advantages to holding paper certificates - dividends are in our bank accounts on the due payment date, only direct holders of shares get to vote on company resolutions and there's no impact if a favoured broker gets into difficulties.

Anecdotal evidence:  In the summer of 2019 I made a mistake when thinking of certificating one of my investment trust holdings at an on-line execution-only broker held in the broker's nominee account, but with an upcoming dividend due shortly: I delayed!  A couple of weeks later, the broker* was forced into administration by the FCA because of issues at an associated advisory broker service.  It took over a year before any of the £1000+ of accumulated dividends became available and I was able to regain control of all my holdings at the failed broker some fifteen months later.  In the almost thirty years of holding paper share certificates, I've had no problems, nor can I recall having any difficulty selling them; I can routinely receive funds from a sale within two weeks of despatching the paper certificate to my on-line broker.

* The broker in question was SVS X-O and you can read the 600-odd pages of anguished posts in a thread in this very forum.  Broker failures are not uncommon and it's a risk which has to be accepted especially if using a "cheaper broker".

Do what works for you but for I stand by what I said. The threads aren't just about inherited shares they're also about worrying about name changes and whether their certificates are still valid, share splits and still keeping the old certificates so then become confused about their holding, what happens when they're lost and worrying about how to send them safely in the post to brokers to be sold, and some complaining about registrars fees to have them replaced. You need to be on the ball as a certificated holder and it seems most people just aren't. You just don't have any of this worry and aggravation with nominees.

My online brokers normally pay dividends the same or next day and e.g., iWeb will pay them out automatically to my account with a few days' delay so hardly the end of the world.  

Two weeks is an extraordinary amount of time to wait these days for sale proceeds to land.

No, brokers failing is rare and should be easy to avoid if you stick to the big boys.

You can vote nominee held shares but British brokers make you work hard for it. With my US broker it's easy, including for British companies held via ADRs, where it just sends me an email with a link to a website.

Also, with nominees you just have a speed of execution and certainty of price that certificates cannot match, what with waiting for the post etc.

lifemagic

According to the Halifax sd website, it takes up to 90 days to close an account. 

Also, many providers, eg HL, require a 'wet' signature, meaning you must send a physicsal form. For me, IG accepted a scan but it still took a few months.

user1168934

Is this IWeb? or is Halifax Share Dealing a different platform?

eskbanker

user1168934 said:

Is this IWeb? or is Halifax Share Dealing a different platform?

They're two separate platforms with different charging structures, albeit owned and run by the same company, and potentially sharing some or all technology under the bonnet....

Fingerbobs

lifemagic said:

According to the Halifax sd website, it takes up to 90 days to close an account. 

Where does it say this? 

refluxer

Fingerbobs said:

lifemagic said:

According to the Halifax sd website, it takes up to 90 days to close an account. 

Where does it say this? 

When you log in to your Halifax sharedealing account, it states this on the homepage...

"Please note, account closures can take up to 90 days to complete. We will confirm by email once your account is closed." 

I applied to close mine last week online, although it does appear to still be open. As there are currently no shares or funds in it, I'm presuming it will take a lot less than 90 days but I'll be keeping an eye on things as the deadline approaches and will phone them if necessary.

The original email received last year that detailed the prices changes made no mention of the potential 90 day closure timescale and simply said you had any time up to March 2022 to close your account. 

GeoffTF

user1168934 said:

Is this IWeb? or is Halifax Share Dealing a different platform?

Halifax Share Dealing Limited is wholly owned by Lloyds Banking Group and offers essentially the same service under the Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and iWeb brands. The charges for the respective accounts are different, and there are minor differences in the service offered. There are also minor differences in the web pages. All the accounts appear to have the same IT platform and to be operated by the same staff.

Fingerbobs

refluxer said:

Fingerbobs said:

lifemagic said:

According to the Halifax sd website, it takes up to 90 days to close an account. 

Where does it say this? 

When you log in to your Halifax sharedealing account, it states this on the homepage...

"Please note, account closures can take up to 90 days to complete. We will confirm by email once your account is closed." 

I applied to close mine last week online, although it does appear to still be open. As there are currently no shares or funds in it, I'm presuming it will take a lot less than 90 days but I'll be keeping an eye on things as the deadline approaches and will phone them if necessary.

The original email received last year that detailed the prices changes made no mention of the potential 90 day closure timescale and simply said you had any time up to March 2022 to close your account. 

Thanks, I'd missed that. 
Just submitted the closure request today (was waiting for my final withdrawal to clear into my current account). Would be a bit unfair of them to charge the new fee after closure of the account has been requested, if they don't manage to process the closure in time. 

refluxer

Just to update... I received an email from Halifax this morning to confirm that my Share Dealing account has been closed. I made the request online on 17th Feb, so the process took 18 days. 

elle_may

NewPieman said:

Remember Halifax Share Dealing Account starts charging to have an account in April......so if you just hold shares in there and do nothing....you'll be £36 a year lighter......

Confused. Does this mean if you hold any shares with them. Or is this a different account to sell your shares.