ISA Transfer out Fidelity S&S (Cash portion)

sg1009

Has anyone else managed to get Fidelity to allow the transfer of their ISA cash to another provider?

I've recently sold some of my stocks and shares thinking I could transfer out the cash portion in my Fidelity ISA. I'm told by the ISA destination that Fidelity have rejected the transfer because it's a partial transfer. Looking on their FAQs:
https://help.fidelity.co.uk/site/transferring-investments/accept-partial-transfers
yes, it does say: 'When requesting transfers out, this must be 100% of your account.'

I took this to mean the whole of the cash portion. If I can't transfer my cash then I'm going to have to cash in all my shares and ETFs.

Looking through old posts I think some have managed but certainly some of you have the same issue.

masonic

The FAQ seems clear that they will not accept instructions for a partial transfer. It is not 100% of your account if you do not transfer the whole ISA (including assets and cash). Given it has been rejected for this reason, there probably isn't a workaround that will work now (other than transferring the whole ISA somewhere else, partially transferring the cash where you want it to go, then fully transferring the remainder back - likely to be costly).

What is the end result that you are trying to achieve?

sg1009

I didn't want to sell off all of my funds in one go. I've got holdings of FTSE250 trackers and China that I'd like to leave in place longer in the hope of better recovery. The destination would have been spread over numerous FinTech ISAs I've been using and like more at the moment.

masonic

sg1009 said:

I didn't want to sell off all of my funds in one go. I've got holdings of FTSE250 trackers and China that I'd like to leave in place longer in the hope of better recovery.

You could transfer the whole ISA in specie, then the funds you still hold would not be sold. Fidelity doesn't charge for this. Some other providers make a charge per line of stock so you could end up paying something to transfer back (Fidelity will refund such charges, but I'm not sure if this circumstance would be covered). But at least you wouldn't be out of the market.

sg1009 said:

The destination would have been spread over numerous FinTech ISAs I've been using and like more at the moment.

Sounds ominous. If you are referring to Innovative Finance ISAs, then be careful as a number of investors have suffered 100% losses by investing in the equivalent of mini-bonds issued within IF ISAs.

sg1009

I think I'm going to be forced to cash in everything and close my Fidelity account then. It seems archaic for them not to allow movement of my own money freely. Their high charges and inability to move with the times are my main reasons for wanting to move some value away. Vanguard may get the tracker business from me, though I've not done my research fully on them yet. 
P2P lending gets my vote for the other investments as I've been in that for the past 12 years.

masonic

sg1009 said:

I think I'm going to be forced to cash in everything and close my Fidelity account then. It seems archaic for them not to allow movement of my own money freely. Their high charges and inability to move with the times are my main reasons for wanting to move some value away. Vanguard may get the tracker business from me, though I've not done my research fully on them yet. 
P2P lending gets my vote for the other investments as I've been in that for the past 12 years.

Fidelity have moved with the times in that they have responded to pressure from the FCA to stop charging for transfers. It's perhaps not so surprising that now they don't want to entertain customers coming to them wishing to make partial transfers out to a number of different providers, as they have to cover the administrative costs. Perhaps this will be an unintended consequence of the FCA's stance.

Fidelity has a very cheap offering for those with circumstances to suit. The £45 per year cap on custody charges (for exchange traded instruments) is great, especially as it applies to their SIPP as well as their S&S ISA. Vanguard might work out better for you, but its 0.15% charge is not capped until you are paying £375 per year. Be warned that Vanguard also does not give people freedom to partially transfer as they wish, though there is some flexibility offered. To move to Vanguard you will likely have to sell your existing holdings, unless they are Vanguard funds. Move elsewhere and you would have the potential not to sell and face time out of the market.

eskbanker

sg1009 said:

I think I'm going to be forced to cash in everything and close my Fidelity account then. It seems archaic for them not to allow movement of my own money freely.

There's no point in playing the 'it's MY money' card - as soon as you deposit it into the custody of an institution, you agree to bound by that organisation's terms, so if you really want to have total unfettered control of your own money then you're pretty much stuck with notes under the mattress....

sg1009

It's a wonderful way to keep you locked into their product. If you have diversified and own a number of funds in the ISA wrapper, what are the chances you'll be ready to sell all the funds at the same time. If you sell off the funds that are doing well, you either need to invest it in a low yielding fund or stay in cash until you've cashed in the rest.

masonic

sg1009 said:

It's a wonderful way to keep you locked into their product. If you have diversified and own a number of funds in the ISA wrapper, what are the chances you'll be ready to sell all the funds at the same time. If you sell off the funds that are doing well, you either need to invest it in a low yielding fund or stay in cash until you've cashed in the rest.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you can transfer an ISA without selling all/any of your funds.