Incoherent responses from Hargreaves lansdown re monthly investing

Mistermeaner

as a family of 6 we have a number of accounts with HL

me a Lisa

My partner a Lisa and sipp

My 19 yr old son a Lisa a sipp a s&s isa and a cash isa

17 yr old , 8 year old and 7 year old each have sipps

we were using hl for all this as they were one of the few to offer S&S Lisa’s at the time and we bundled the kids and other stuff in there for ease of access (single app via linked accounts) and supposedly good customer service as a ‘premium’ provider

anyhoo - given their recent charging changes and specifically the intention to start charging for fund trades I messaged them today to make a number of amendments …. In broad terms we make monthly contributions to all these accounts which are automatically invested in our funds of choice but the various ‘bonuses’ (tax relief in the sipps , government bonus in the Lisa’s) are not - that was no issue historically as once a quarter or so I’d logon and manually invest it all at no charge.

With their soon changed to charging structure this would be chargeable in the future so used their secure messaging to send separate instructions via each separate account to adjust the monthly automatic investment so that it includes or otherwise totals the amount being paid in including the bonuses (ie if we pay £50, there’s a £12.50 bonus from the government so we want to purchase £62.50 of funds each month)

the range of responses from hl was bizarre

for the 17 year old they just said yes no problem done (that was easy)

No reply for my partner yet

the 19 year old they sent a reply saying I’ll have to do it manually each month (which clearly makes no sense). They also sent a stock email regards setting up a direct debit.

for the younger 2 kids they sent a reply saying they can’t accept an instruction from me it has to be the account holder that contacts them (despite them being ok with me doing it for the 17 year old), I replied reminding them the account holders are 7 and 8!

overall not impressed with the responses… I’m busy and don’t have time for this sort of faff, particularly given they’ve prompted this by proposing to charge for manual trades

anyway in part because of this but also to lower fees I’ve initiated a transfer of my partners sipp to II

venting aside I’d be interested in any recommendations for LISA providers that will accept transfers in as I’d like to move these

Also can anyone recommend providers for junior sipps? When we first set these up we struggled to find folk to accept under 18s

nb before folk mention junior isas - we have these for the older kids I don’t think they’re a particularly useful product as they offer no bonuses so you may as well keep the money in your name and just gift it later when they need it. At least with the junior sipps they’re getting tax relief

thanks

masonic

HL don't separate regular funding from regular investment, so you can only set up a plan for new contributions.

For the LISAs, you could consider AJ Bell, who allow you to set up regular investment of any cash on your account and you can vary it as needed.

DRS1

If you are going to ii have you looked at the new charges and the price plans which include free family accounts? I have no idea what a free family account would be (SIPP JISA LISA or what) but it may be worth investigating.

Mistermeaner

thanks Masonic , aj bell came up on google so I’ll give them a go

could you please explain “hl don’t separate regular funding from regular investment …”

I just want to alter the amount that is automatically invested each month so that it includes the contribution + bonus if that makes sense

at the moment it is eg

50 paid in by us

12.50 added (tax relief / government bonus)

= total 62.50 going in

each month £50 is used to buy funds, leaving £12.50 as residual uninvested cash

I just want them to change it to £62.50 of funds purchased each month ….. surely that can’t be hard ???!

nb all accounts have ample cash balances to cover charges

thanks

masonic

could you please explain “hl don’t separate regular funding from regular investment …”

I just want to alter the amount that is automatically invested each month so that it includes the contribution + bonus if that makes sense

What I mean by "HL don't separate regular funding from regular investment" is that you cannot do what you suggest at HL. The total amount you select for investment each month will be collected by direct debit, so you cannot use regular investment to reduce your cash balance. It is an annoying feature they share with Fidelity, whereas AJ Bell, ii, and SWSD all separate the account funding part and the investment buying part, which can be for different amounts (the account funding part can even be zero if you wish).

Mistermeaner

thanks

that’s a pain as hl new charging structure would force me to incur fees to invest residual cash balances

this has resulted in me initiating transfer of over 300k of investments away from hl today to other providers

I suspect others will do the same when they realise implications of charging for manual trades and hl system limitations

vm2pensioner

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860880#Comment_81860880

Tax relief is claimed by the pension provider after the contribution has been made and is received from HMRC a few weeks later. So although your £50 is eligible for the £12.50 relief, this is not immediately available to invest. HL apply the relief upon receipt to add to the fund(s) you have specified for monthly investment.

Mistermeaner

Understood but having the payment in place for years for income pattern is consistent and predictable it should be absolutely possible to implement a regular investment at any value.

This lack of functionality is poor IMO they need sort this out

vm2pensioner

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862703#Comment_81862703

They cannot invest the money until they receive it! If you have specified a fund or funds for your monthly contribution, you won't have 'residual cash balance' for that monthly payment as the tax relief will be automatically invested.

Mistermeaner

should be invested I agree but that is not what is happening

the tax relief is building up as uninvested cash

periodically I go in and invest it manually - currently for free - but in future this will be charged. I have contacted them to try and make this automatic as part of regular monthly investing and so far had incoherent responses hence this thread

vm2pensioner

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862849#Comment_81862849

That's really odd. The tax relief on my monthly subscriptions was always automatically invested into my nominated funds once received from HMRC. I never had to do this manually. This is explained in section D4 of HL's conditions: 'If you gave an instruction to invest your contribution into Funds during the transaction, the associated tax relief will be invested into the same Funds unless you notify us that you would prefer them to be held as cash.'