Closure of the abrdn Investment Trusts Saving Plans

jak22

It's not about whether iWeb manage ITs at all or the specific ones managed by abdrn - they came up in search results OK but when clicking though just a couple of days ago they only showed ticks for Eligibility for Share Dealing Account and not for ISA and SIPP - not something I'm "misunderstanding" but glitches arent confidence inspiring. Best to check with them.

wmb194

jak22 said:

It's not about whether iWeb manage ITs at all or the specific ones managed by abdrn - they came up in search results OK but when clicking though just a couple of days ago they only showed ticks for Eligibility for Share Dealing Account and not for ISA and SIPP - not something I'm "misunderstanding" but glitches arent confidence inspiring. Best to check with them.

You must be new to iWeb/Halifax Stockbrokers; glitches are its thing but overall it's a cheap, no-frills service that works reasonably well.

Markkus

Dogbyte009 said:

I just had one of those. Don't want to switch to ii since I already have an account with another platform so have to look at doing a transfer.

Note that "current abrdn Investments Limited withdrawal fees will apply".  Does anyone know what those are?

I do have an ii account.  But this puts too many eggs in one basket, so I would consider a transfer elsewhere.  

Rheumatoid

I have just had a couple of letters about this. We have a policy each for both our children. The policies are in mine and my wife's name but they seem to be designated trusts for our children (Product = ASI investing for children). If we sell it seems only me and my wife need to consent but who will the money go to and who will be liable for any capital gain if there is one? I'm happy for the children to have the money (only around 3k each) but want to minimise the costs of doing so.
Thanks.

Dogbyte009

Markkus said:

Note that "current abrdn Investments Limited withdrawal fees will apply".  Does anyone know what those are?

I think it may depend on which funds you have in your plan. For Murray Income Trust, for example, it's £10 + VAT for a share plan or £15 + VAT for an ISA.

sheughwater

I've just received the same notifications for my three children.  I have had their accounts open for a long time (since toddlers) and they have a remarkably substantial amount built up- £25k+ each, just through steady saving.  It really is not clear what happens once the funds are sold- or who is liable for capital gains.  I thought the whole point of the trust was to avoid capital gains as they are children with no income? Two of my children are now over 18 but are both students.  I doubt they will be over any CGT threshold.

I will phone and find out more.  Not ideal to close a product and not make it clear what happens next.  Still a bit annoyed that I now deal with a company that can't spell their own name.

Rheumatoid

sheughwater said:

I've just received the same notifications for my three children.  I have had their accounts open for a long time (since toddlers) and they have a remarkably substantial amount built up- £25k+ each, just through steady saving.  It really is not clear what happens once the funds are sold- or who is liable for capital gains.  I thought the whole point of the trust was to avoid capital gains as they are children with no income? Two of my children are now over 18 but are both students.  I doubt they will be over any CGT threshold.

I will phone and find out more.  Not ideal to close a product and not make it clear what happens next.  Still a bit annoyed that I now deal with a company that can't spell their own name.

Let us know how you get on. Thanks

wmb194

sheughwater said:

I've just received the same notifications for my three children.  I have had their accounts open for a long time (since toddlers) and they have a remarkably substantial amount built up- £25k+ each, just through steady saving.  It really is not clear what happens once the funds are sold- or who is liable for capital gains.  I thought the whole point of the trust was to avoid capital gains as they are children with no income? Two of my children are now over 18 but are both students.  I doubt they will be over any CGT threshold.

I will phone and find out more.  Not ideal to close a product and not make it clear what happens next.  Still a bit annoyed that I now deal with a company that can't spell their own name.

Do you have the original documentation? When I opened one in 2014 it was made abundantly clear that it wasn't a bare trust account in the child's name with me as trustee but actually it was in my name and I was liable to the tax.

At that time there was no option to open a bare trustee version of the account.

sheughwater

wmb194 said:

sheughwater said:

I've just received the same notifications for my three children.  I have had their accounts open for a long time (since toddlers) and they have a remarkably substantial amount built up- £25k+ each, just through steady saving.  It really is not clear what happens once the funds are sold- or who is liable for capital gains.  I thought the whole point of the trust was to avoid capital gains as they are children with no income? Two of my children are now over 18 but are both students.  I doubt they will be over any CGT threshold.

I will phone and find out more.  Not ideal to close a product and not make it clear what happens next.  Still a bit annoyed that I now deal with a company that can't spell their own name.

Do you have the original documentation? When I opened one in 2014 it was made abundantly clear that it wasn't a bare trust account in the child's name with me as trustee but actually it was in my name and I was liable to the tax.

At that time there was no option to open a bare trustee version of the account.

I will have to go back and look at that, thank you.  I opened these around 2007 and I understood it to be a bare trust but will have to check the original documents. I was new to investing then and wanted to do the right thing.  It is entirely possible I have been plugging their away money in the wrong way all this time.  It is all going to cover university fees now anyway.  I was hoping they'd have a nest egg to start life, at best they will have less debt. 

Rheumatoid

Has anyone had any follow up from this. I returned signed forms requesting that the policies are closed and money returned.

I heard nothing within a couple of months to confirm receipt of these forms and even got reminders that I would need to act to express my preferences.

I then wrote to them for confirmation of receipt of forms and that they had received my instructions. The response I got was this:

Thank you for your email.

We will also need a sale instruction as well as your returned consent form.

We can sell all or part of your holding once we receive your instructions in writing. Please ensure you include the following details:

Account number
Client name(s)
Client address
Number of shares to be sold or the value of cash you want to raise
Trust(s) that you wish to sell the shares in
All client signatures

Please send to:

abrdn Investment Trusts       
PO Box 11020
Chelmsford
CM99 2DB

You can also fax your instruction to us on 0330 1233 797 or 0044 1268 44 1534 from outside the UK.

When we receive your instruction we will place your deal. If we receive your instructions by fax or post by 5.00pm, we will place your deal on the next working day. We will carry out any instructions we receive after this time on the following working day.

We apply a dealing charge of £10 plus VAT (£12)  to sell your shares and we will collect the fee from your sale proceeds.

Providing we have received all the required documents from you, we will send you a cheque three business days after the date we sold your holding. If you would prefer us to send the proceeds to your bank account, we will first need to verify your bank details. To do this, please send us a void cheque or original paying in slip for the bank account you want us to send payment to.

If you need any further information please contact our Customer Services department on 0808 500 0040. We are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

If you are calling us from outside of the UK, please call us on 00 44 1268 448 222.

Kind regards,
Kayleigh Harrison
Client Services Written
abrdn Investment Trusts        

I do not see why I need to do this as they have already received the instruction as a response to their original letter regarding closure of the trusts. In any case I would not have known anything about this had I not contacted them. I am outside of the UK at the moment and do not have access to the policy details which I expect I will need if I call them.

What communications has anyone else had from them since their original communication about the closure of these plans?

Thanks