Interactive Investor Fees Query

Triumph13

Just wondered if anyone is in drawdown on the II 'pension builder' plan and confirm if I'm reading the website correctly.  I currently have the full £21.99 a month package and have both a SIPP (in drawdown) and an ISA with >£75k.  I only do two or three trades a year.

It looks as though I would be better off moving my ISA elsewhere and moving to the pension builder plan at £12.99 a month.  Especially if I then cancel my direct debit, so they take the charges from the pension instead, ie from pre-tax money.

Not earth shattering savings, I admit, but every little helps

coyrls

I am in drawdown on the II Pension Builder plan and pay £12.99 a month.  My ISA is elsewhere.  The £12.99 is taken from my SIPP.  You should check with II that if you cancel your direct debit that the charges will be taken from the SIPP, as I have seen differing reports on here about how they take the charge.  I was migrated in from Alliance Trust where my charge was already taken from the SIPP.

Scrudgy

I am just in the process of moving my ISA from ii and moving it to Trading 212 as a cash ISA (no fees and 4.9% interest currently) so that I can reduce the monthly fee and also have it taken from the SIPP itself. I will go into drawdown in April with the SIPP.

Triumph13

Thanks both.  Looks like it will be worth doing then.  Crazy pricing / billing model that incentivises me to take my ISA elsewhere!

Lowtrawler

Triumph13 said:

Thanks both.  Looks like it will be worth doing then.  Crazy pricing / billing model that incentivises me to take my ISA elsewhere!

Most stocks and shares ISA's will charge either a platform fee or a percentage of the amount invested. The £10 monthly charge from ii is competitive to other major platforms. You are moving to Trading 212 which has a very competitive pricing model. Apparently, T212 are aiming to offer a fee free SIPP in the near future.

While I am happy to hold accounts with T212 up to the £85k FSCS protection limit, I'm not sure I would be comfortable above that level.

jim8888

I was paying £21.99, but Interactive Investor wrote and informed me that, given my activity on the accounts (SIPP, ISA and trading), they were moving me to a different plan that cost £13 a month. I'd have been none the wiser, so I was pleased they were proactive about this, and I think it's pretty good customer service. 

Storcko14

Just as a footnote to this and in case anyone's not aware, ii charge £40 to trade anything with a consideration above £100k.  That's 10 times their usual £3.99 trading fee on my plan.  I found out the hard way when taking some profit on a large fund holding as part of my de-cumulation prep.  Had I known I'd have split the trade and saved £32.  This condition is not at all clear in their charges literature - you really have to delve to find it.

Mr_Benn

jim8888 said:

I was paying £21.99, but Interactive Investor wrote and informed me that, given my activity on the accounts (SIPP, ISA and trading), they were moving me to a different plan that cost £13 a month. I'd have been none the wiser, so I was pleased they were proactive about this, and I think it's pretty good customer service. 

Hi Jim.  Was it reduced because of your lack of activity, or lots of trades ?

Ive only just moved my Pensions etc to ii , and it seemed a big leap upto £21.99.

Having said that its half what I was paying at Hargreaves Lansdowne.

jim8888

Mr_Benn said:

jim8888 said:

I was paying £21.99, but Interactive Investor wrote and informed me that, given my activity on the accounts (SIPP, ISA and trading), they were moving me to a different plan that cost £13 a month. I'd have been none the wiser, so I was pleased they were proactive about this, and I think it's pretty good customer service. 

Hi Jim.  Was it reduced because of your lack of activity, or lots of trades ?

Ive only just moved my Pensions etc to ii , and it seemed a big leap upto £21.99.

Having said that its half what I was paying at Hargreaves Lansdowne.

Hi Mr Benn, I think it was a lack of trading activity (i.e. hadn't bought or sold anything in over a year or two). My SIPP is a regular monthly payment that I set up about 18 months ago. That's why I was pleasantly surprised, as I assumed a "good customer" would be one who did a lot of trading and incurred a lot of fees.

Scrudgy

coyrls said:

I am in drawdown on the II Pension Builder plan and pay £12.99 a month.  My ISA is elsewhere.  The £12.99 is taken from my SIPP.  You should check with II that if you cancel your direct debit that the charges will be taken from the SIPP, as I have seen differing reports on here about how they take the charge.  I was migrated in from Alliance Trust where my charge was already taken from the SIPP.

On the point of where the fees are taking from, I found this in the FAQ on the ii website.

How are SIPP charges paid?

We collect your monthly subscription via Direct Debit. If you have a stand alone SIPP and have no Direct Debit set up, we will try to collect fees from the cash you hold in your SIPP. If you have a Trading Account alongside your SIPP, we will try to collect fees from cash you hold in your Trading Account. If there is no cash in your Trading Account, and you also have an ISA account, we will attempt to collect fees from your ISA. We may regularly sweep across your accounts, if cash becomes available to settle part or all of a fee debt.

If these methods aren't successful and we have your Debit Card details, we will attempt to charge that card the outstanding amount.  If there is no other means of payment, we reserve the right to sell your holdings to cover any outstanding fees.