Transferring to Hargreaves Lansdown, experiences sought.

eskbanker

Yes, I appreciate that the thread maybe hasn't gone in the direction you wanted and can see that there's little value in continuing the above dialogue, but just one other point - if you're asking for experiences of ISA transfer timescales, it'll usually be helpful to identify both parties concerned, as by definition the process isn't exclusively within the control of the receiving provider, which is potentially why HL will be cautious when setting expectations.  Some ISA transfers are carried out electronically, whereas others will rely on paper, and this inevitably impacts on timescales....

masonic

savit4l8er said:

I intend to move my S&S ISA. A cash ISA is relatively easy to manage, the money will just stay there in what I believed was easy swap and change option as required. Should have been reasonable easy I thought. 

I don't believe you were being argumentative and understand your points but in trying to help the other responder, it's taken my question right off track. Anyway, I've been studying this for few days, it's reached the final day to decide and I just thought I'd check experiences on here.  I expect they will be limited if any in relation to my question and it's probably pushing me towards opening an account elsewhere,  So if nothing else, it might help someone else. 🙂

Weekends here are generally quieter, so there is less chance of getting a response from a small cohort of the forum that are not obsessed with chasing the best rates (and hence not willing to be tied to a specific platform).

It may be worth noting that The Investing and Saving Alliance track cash ISA transfer performance, with a target set of transfers within 7 working days. The industry manage about a 90% success rate in meeting that. In the vast majority of cases, whatever the transfer time, interest is paid up to the date of the transfer by the sending provider, and from the next day by the receiving provider, so there is no void period. Whereas I believe there can be a void time with aggregators like HL, due to the middleman. But I cannot comment from experience.

Another option you may wish to consider, as the money is already in a S&S ISA, is a money market fund. If you were to hold on a platform where there is no custody fee, this would be quite competitive and would avoid the need to move between products as you'd effectively be tracking just above or below base rate depending on the fund chosen.

jaybeetoo

I transferred my S&S ISA from ii to HL.  I got cashback for doing it.  It only took a couple of weeks but my investments were all investment trusts so no problems with HL accepting them.

I haven’t transferred a cash ISA to HL but I opened one with them.  I was not impressed.  Their cash ISA system appears to be a bodge of their S&S ISA.  The messages I got from HL were mostly irrelevant for a cash ISA.  They really need to rewrite the system specifically for cash ISAs and properly train their staff who only seem to be used to the S&S ISA.  I ended up transferring my cash ISA away from HL.  HL were unable to provide me with a final statement showing how much interest I’d earned.  Unbelievable.  I was shocked at how poor HL were.

Ch1ll1Phlakes

savit4l8er said:

@Ch1ll1Phlakes

Re your possible transfer, if I do it I'll update the thread for you. I expect it's going to be on the portal all in and hope for the best because I really prefer no more conversations 🧱.  I'll am looking to move my S&S ISA away once this is done if that helps in any way. One reason is the charges for dealing are punitive and there is really no need for it these days when some do for free albeit a more simple service.  In my experience over many years, if you can manage without contact and are OK with their fees and format it's manageable but as soon as something a little different is needed like SAYE transfer in or transfer out it can be a problem, I had to get proof they had made a mistake from my bank after denied messing my allowance up, they blamed the bank. 

Appreciate it. I only invest using regular direct debit so the HL S&S ISA works for me.

 eskbanker said:

The requirement is indeed 15 working days for cash to cash, but other ISA transfers should complete within 30 calendar days, not 30 working days:

Corrected, think I was putting two pieces of different info together in my head, thanks for pointing that out.

savit4l8er said:

The part I would like any experiences of is the transfer time itself. They quote on the call up to six weeks ( I appreciate that is well beyond the 15 working day guide for cash ISA's ) so they are giving themselves plenty of time to account for delays by the other party! 😂

Hope you get more opinions/experiences of the process but as mentioned the forum is generally quieter on a Saturday.

savit4l8er

@masonic

Really appreciate your input and I think you are correct re the middleman part. I think the money first goes into the holding Barclays account then into the selected provider but I clearly have not had any experience of it. 

And yes, a money market fund would  suit and does in one of my ISA's, no monthly fee for it. Even in HL, it would be possible with an ETF such as CSH2 and if you hold the correct investments, fees are capped at £45 but £11.95 to buy in is a bit steep even if it's there a while. It's those fees that make things more expensive for ISA if you switch stocks a bit but not enough to get the lower cost. 

Very helpful reply anyway 🙂

@jaybeetoo

You're really just confirming what I think, and maybe your experience is enough to support my decision not to proceed just now, I've set other transfers up and can put this maturity almost to rest for the time being until I fully decide. 

Thank you to all for your input. 

ChequeBookGerry

I am in the process of transferring a pension to them.  I have just started the process so no idea about the timescale, however, I will say that their telephone customer service is exceptional.  In the three calls I've had with them (2 on this and once before) the people answering the calls were extremely knowledgeable and delat with me very well.  I contrast that with Scottish Widows who, today, were utterly useless - both people I spoke to were clearly blagging it. So, HL are slightly more expensive, but I'm happy to pay that for premium service.