Charles Stanley Direct

francohoops

Thinking of taking advantage of the Charles Stanley Direct Cashback offer and transferring my SIPP from Interactive investor across to them. SIPP is c100k. 

Has anyone used them and are they safe and an ok provider to use? Fees are higher that II but the cashback offsets that for 12 months, even allowing for the transfer fees if I switch again. Which give them a 16/25 rating which isn’t amazing 

Thoughts appreciated. Thanks 

ColdIron

CSD are fine, I used them until 2018 when they increased their charges to 0.35% and I couldn't resist IWeb. I always found them very professional and reliable and was mildly sorry to leave them, only mildly mind you

masonic

It's a trading name of a fairly large and well established asset management firm, so no need to be concerned about safety. I don't see them as a very viable cashback option personally because of the charging model. I could make a profit over the minimum holding period, but I've always found better options to prioritise. Otherwise I'd probably have done likewise.

granta

I transferred some of my ISAs to them last year as part of the cashback promotion and have found customer service to be good and the transfers all completed smoothly.
The online portal is ok but I don't use it much as I am only maintaining the transferred funds rather than adding to them. I discovered too late that they don't offer dividend reinvestment but it's not a big deal for a year and they do offer £50 trading credits per half year which I use for re-balancing.

As has already been mentioned, the charging model vs cashback benefits is not the best out there but I have managed to make it work for me over a 18 month period whilst I reap the cashback and then transfer out. I think there might be some additional costs for SIPPs so best to check these as I recall I chose to transfer ISAs only for a reason.

mr_accountant

Im with them they are fine, website is for pc's so a difficult to navigate on a phone but doable, their cashback is generous for large portfolios and they have changed their fees either 0.30% or £50 a month max, well it is for isa's but sipp may be different

artyboy

I'm leaving them as they sneakily hiked their fee caps, so definitely not a good long term prospect. If you're just intending to rinse them
for the cashback then go for it, but be aware that they don't use Origo for transfers, so you could be waiting a while to get your money in and then back out again...