Starting my S&S ISA again with Bestinvest

granta

Welcome back @Alexland. I had been wondering if you were ok having not seen you for some time. Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope things start falling back into place.

artyboy

Just want to be the latest one to welcome you back @Alexland - I'd totally missed your OP from the 6th. My relatively modest post count rather belies how long I've been reading your contributions, and you were most certainly missed. Not really much more I can say on the personal side other than I hope that things start looking up for you, sounds like you really have been through the mill...

On the boring practical side of things, I've been playing around with cashback (also started a separate thread on SIPP transfer bonuses). Right now I've got:

- £1000 new ISA with Bestinvest (£125 TCB)
- £1000 new SIPP with Bestinvest (£100 TCB)
- £100k SIPP xfr in to Bestinvest (£1000 cashback)
- £100k SIPP xfr in to II (£300 cashback)
- £125k SIPP xfr in to HL (£1500 cashback)

There are more ISA xfr options but I'm keeping my powder dry there for a bit longer. Ironically I've probably done better from being out of the market at the right time (SIPP xfrs came from Nutmeg, so no in specie option) than from all the cashback, but it's a nice bonus anyway.

Fidelity have previously run offers I think so I'm still sitting on some Nutmeg residue that might come in handy later. We'll see how quickly these incentives pay - currently the 2 TCB transactions for Bestinvest are tracking at zero, hopefully will uplift soon.

Alexland

Albermarle said:

Get cashback when you transfer an account with Bestinvest | Bestinvest

This offer seems to be open to existing Bestinvest customers (which I now am) so I could open a just over £1k GIA on one of my existing platforms and transfer it to a Bestinvest GIA and get another £100 on top of the existing Topcashback claim for opening/funding their ISA.

artyboy said:

We'll see how quickly these incentives pay - currently the 2 TCB transactions for Bestinvest are tracking at zero, hopefully will uplift soon.

I'm unsure you will get 2 payouts from Bestinvest via TCB for the ISA and SIPP accounts as the TCB offer terms limit cashback to one BestInvest new product per customer per calendar year?

artyboy

Alexland said:

Albermarle said:

Get cashback when you transfer an account with Bestinvest | Bestinvest

This offer seems to be open to existing Bestinvest customers (which I now am) so I could open a just over £1k GIA on one of my existing platforms and transfer it to a Bestinvest GIA and get another £100 on top of the existing Topcashback claim for opening/funding their ISA.

artyboy said:

We'll see how quickly these incentives pay - currently the 2 TCB transactions for Bestinvest are tracking at zero, hopefully will uplift soon.

I'm unsure you will get 2 payouts from Bestinvest via TCB for the ISA and SIPP accounts as the TCB offer terms limit cashback to one BestInvest new product per customer per calendar year?

Yes that's a good spot, but TCB has historically given more errors in my favour than the other way round so... 🤞

The other point about Bestinvest's own offer (I'm sure you'll have spotted it, but for the benefit of others) is that you have to send them a very specific mail to claim it once the transfer has completed. 

Alistair31

Do bestinvest still charge to transfer an ISA out? I cannot see any info on this on their website. 

Alexland

Alistair31 said:

Do bestinvest still charge to transfer an ISA out? I cannot see any info on this on their website. 

Their website links to the following PDF for their full set of charges
https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/media/qmbf33ti/keyfacts.pdf

Cancellation of ongoing services
You may cancel the ongoing service you receive from the Bestinvest Online Investment Service at any time and change to another service of your choice, which may include a new ongoing service. If you decide not to change to another service and wish to cancel your account there may be transfer fees. Please see the transfer fee section in the applicable table listed later in this document. You may also be liable for any fees, costs, charges or expenses that have accrued to the date of termination. You should also refer to the Termination clause in the applicable Terms of Business

However the referenced possible transfer fee that may apply doesn't seem to be in the later parts of the document which would make it hard for them to justify charging anything. Maybe they dropped the fee and didn't update this paragraph?

Alistair31

Alexland said:

Alistair31 said:

Do bestinvest still charge to transfer an ISA out? I cannot see any info on this on their website. 

Their website links to the following PDF for their full set of charges
https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/media/qmbf33ti/keyfacts.pdf

Cancellation of ongoing services
You may cancel the ongoing service you receive from the Bestinvest Online Investment Service at any time and change to another service of your choice, which may include a new ongoing service. If you decide not to change to another service and wish to cancel your account there may be transfer fees. Please see the transfer fee section in the applicable table listed later in this document. You may also be liable for any fees, costs, charges or expenses that have accrued to the date of termination. You should also refer to the Termination clause in the applicable Terms of Business

However the referenced possible transfer fee that may apply doesn't seem to be in the later parts of the document which would make it hard for them to justify charging anything. Maybe they dropped the fee and didn't update this paragraph?

Yeah, that’s as far as I got too. Strange. 

Considering a move to Bestinvest but this is another point of uncertainty, see my recent thread. 

masonic

A number of providers recently and quietly dropped their exit fees following the FCA's interest in banning them a while ago. It could well be that Bestinvest is among them.

granta

masonic said:

A number of providers recently and quietly dropped their exit fees following the FCA's interest in banning them a while ago. It could well be that Bestinvest is among them.

Yes, I was expecting to pay some transfer out fees to AJ Bell and they told me they no longer charge them despite having a very recent document that said they did. Wasn't publicised anywhere except by ii a few years ago

Shedman

Bit late,  but only just seen your news (from a comment you made on another thread).  I also had wondered why you hadn't been on the forums for quite a while.  Sorry to hear your news and glad to see that you're coming out the other side with a positive attitude. Pleased you managed to keep hold of the pension...it was one of the few things I was able to walk away with from my divorce fortunately which has meant that I was able to still retire early so hopefully you will be able to when the time comes as I seem to recall that you have previously put a lot of planning into that aim.  

Good to have your sage insights back again.