New HL fee structure from 01/03/26

DRS1

mills112 said:

marlot said:

The email says I'll be £8 a month worse off (shares and ETFs in a general investment account).

My wife will be £18 a month worse off.

I guess it's time to start researching alternatives!

My email doesn't say if I will be worse off or not, just how much they estimate the monthly fee will be.

Maybe you're going to be better off but mine definitely says  "you’ll be paying roughly £11 more each month in account charges"

vacheron

Can't help thinking this reduction could do them more harm than good, because they've reminded tens of thousands of their potentially passive customers that their fees still exist in this era of free and low cost platforms.

Dropping £1,750pa. fees to £1,450pa doesn't seem like that much of a bargain when there are many companies who willl offer the same investments for free, and potentially give you a big chunk of cashback just for switching into the bargain.  

ConsideredResponse21

Section62 said:

I think for me the £1.95 per trade for funds will more than wipe out any benefit of the 0.1% reduction in annual fees.

I'm going to be considerably out of pocket by this change and suspect 80% of their clients are in the same boat.

I understand they need to remain viable and make a profit, especially after the new overseas investors saddled the firm with massive debt, but the way they've approached the new fee structure is unforgivable. They packaged it as a positive whilst selectively applying prominence to the small savings and burying the outrageous fee tripling in vague passing reference.

HL - SHAME ON YOU!!!

InvesterJones

DRS1 said:

GeoffTF said:

I have been offered free custody for "shares" in my Fund & Share Account for another year. As has already been observed, it is not clear whether "shares" includes gilts in this context (as it does elsewhere in the email). My HL Fund & Share account holds only gilts.

Currently, HL can trade index linked gilts only over the telephone, but index linked gilt trades are charged at the online rate. It is not clear whether this will still apply.

I will send HL a Secure Message asking for clarification. I have either got a good deal for another year, or I am being shown the door.

Do they say this is because you hold gilts (or bonds)?  If so perhaps shares is meant to cover bonds as well.  We could always wait until March to find out.

It was for gilts in my case, and not a huge holding.

MarkCarnage

I'm over £200 a year worse off across three accounts. I hold ITs,gilts and ETFs so previous cap of £45 on ISA and only paid dealing charges on F&S Account. As I only deal maybe 7-8 times a year the reduced fees don't offset this much.

I got the email about a year free in the F&S account as I hold a short dated gilt too, but as it matures end of this week that is pretty pointless!

II have just introduced a new charging structure WEF 1st Feb which looks pretty attractive to anyone with multiple accounts with a decent amount in them and no funds.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81855654#Comment_81855654

I suspect the new owners have analysed their customer base and product offering in some detail.

Probably they will have identified areas where they lose money on certain types of customer. Most likely the ones taking advantage of the caps on exchange traded investments, whilst still costing the same amount of time and admin., as people paying a lot more. So they have put these caps up, and if they lose some customers, then at least the remaining ones will be generating a bit more revenue.

For the same reasons, transfer cashback offers are now seemingly limited to only invited customers. If you are somebody who has transferred in before, pocketed the cash and transferred out again asap, you do not get an invite.

If I was HLs marketing manager, I would consider the raising of the cap for ISAs to £150, not as an 'outrageous tripling' but as dropping a unsustainably low level of cap.

phlebas192

I could stomach the increase in the cap, but not charging it separately for both ISA and F&S.

onomatopoeia99

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81854029#Comment_81854029

Whereas for me I'll save about £300/year on the percentage reduction and pay an extra £30-40 for the new dealing charges, so a net gain to me of around £260-270/year.

mills112

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81855449#Comment_81855449

yeah, i reread the email and it states that they estimate I will be paying £21pm more. I had read it that i would be paying £21pm.

is it correct that you can't claim these platform fees against your investment returns for tax purposes? it seems very unfair as you can claim the dealing charges, so you should be able to claim the holding charges.

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81856178#Comment_81856178

The dealing charges are incurred wholly and exclusively in relation to a specific transaction, whereas the platform fee is not.

If you were selling an antique that you held in storage for years, you would be unable to deduct the storage costs from the gain either. Likewise for gold coins stored in a bank safety deposit box.