What do people think of Interactive Investor (ii) platform

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82051845#Comment_82051845

HMRC do not get it wrong.

When you make a first UFPLS withdrawal, the provider of course has no tax code to work with. So they have to deal with the payment with an emergency tax code, which often results in an overpayment of tax.

The pension provider then informs HMRC about the payment, and a tax code is issued to the provider.

In general getting ad hoc payments of taxable income ( from any source) makes it very difficult for HMRC to tax you accurately as they have no idea ( not being psychic ), of what any future payments might be ( unlike if you have a regular salary) .

bjorn_toby_wilde

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053497#Comment_82053497

Good points. I appreciate I’m with a different provider but these were my learnings from UFPLS.

Sell enough funds so that you have the cash to cover your withdrawal. If my experience with AJ Bell is anything to go by, it takes a few days for the cash to reach your account, even if the transaction shows very quickly in the app. The contract note shows the date it will actually be available for withdrawal.

AJ Bell advised me not to submit the UFPLS request until 4:30 on the day the funds had cleared. I did that and had the cash in my account within 48 hours. Submit earlier and they reject the request and you have to start over.

I think the admin questions were pretty straightforward and took me 5-10 minutes. They’re also standard questions which any provider will have to ask you. If you’ve previously taken a lump sum from a DB pension as I had, then they’ll need to know what percentage of the lump sum allowance has been used. That was the only thing that took any time really as I had to dig it out of my files.

Mutton_Geoff

I've been with II for more than ten years, first accumulating now in drawdown the last three.

No problems at all though they do seem to shut down the whole platform (app and web) every other weekend for updates/maintenance.

They are quick to respond to messages and I don't find the UFPLS process too bad, takes me about 10 mins then about a week to get the money into my account (which comes from "Barnett Waddingham").

NormalNorman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058889#Comment_82058889

Workplace scheme is with Royal London. They must hold the worldwide record for your pension balance etc being unavailable.

TheComputerGuru

How easy is it to change the pathways of a SIPP once setup?

TheComputerGuru

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058889#Comment_82058889

Re: "No problems at all though they do seem to shut down the whole platform (app and web) every other weekend for updates/maintenance."

I have noticed that a lot in the time I have been with ii.
As a Software Developer I am pleased that they are keeping the platform up to date regularily.

Mental note to self "do as much as possible mid-week"…

TheComputerGuru

Just a quick note.

I signed up with ii a week ago and I am now transfering my existing pensions (which I have not yet taken anything out of) and spoke to a very helpful person called "ewan".

The initial call dropped out at what I thought was still part of the automated menu system so I rang their number again. However ewan was calling me back as well so I dropped my second outgoing call.

TheComputerGuru

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82053497#Comment_82053497

Hi Pat,

Is there an example of what to look for on the ii examples pages?

Pat38493

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82064587#Comment_82064587

I am not sure but basically if you click on your cash balance you can see if there is pending cash not yet settled. Also - on your trades there will be a settlement date - the funds will be pending until that date.

NormalNorman

I only jumped from HL to ii for the £200. Will probably jump again once the tie in is up as just not that fussed about them. The immediate change in the fee structure once I switched is annoying and not really any cheaper. Probably more expensive as they will do anything not to collect the fee from your sipp cash balance. The website and app takes some getting used to as not to my liking.