Investengine and Dividends

Pathfinder000

Is anyone else totally fed up with Investengine not paying Dividends on time, especially when they pay them on the day after the ex-div for the next month?

So I've complained several times and it just keeps happening. They fobbed me off with "JP Morgan controls when the dividends are paid and we don't receive them straight away", yet they partner with JP Morgan and the same ETF on T212 deposits the dividend on the day it should arrive. What is different between T212 and Investengine? Is it because T212 uses a major broker for the trades (IBKR) and IE doesn't? But for the last year I think it has missed the ex-div most months. They improved it for a little bit, but now it's back to them taking the pss once again.

dunstonh

Are you PF75?

What is different between T212 and Investengine?

Both of them use proprietary in-house trading platforms. I have no experience with either. But you're saying that T212 adds the dividend on the day it should arrive. That would suggest their banking system is real-time with their platform software. If so, that's pretty impressive and would be cutting edge.

The platform wouldn't just get the dividends individually. They would get one single payment. It would be an aggregated amount and paid into a nominee account. If the dividend isn't in sterling, it would require conversion (another hop). They would then need to split it, check the splits are correct and everything balances, then play it into the client account.

To get that to appear during working hours of the same day indicates a very efficient system. Many would not do it live or in real time but process it overnight (i.e. next day). And Investengine do state on their site that it's the working day after they receive it from the issuer.

Most platforms do not do them in real time and will process overnight.

I believe the ETF that you have an issue with is the JP Morgan Global Equity Premium Income UCITS ETF USD Distribution. Is that correct?

If so, it's likely that the conversion to GBP is a notable hop that is adding delay. That could be down to Investengine. It could be down to their bankers or who they use to do foreign currency conversions.

masonic

From what I remember, everything is slower at InvestEngine. ETF trades are aggregated and placed once a day. They have a big focus on minimising their running costs, so it is very much a no-frills service. I was considering moving my SIPP there for zero platform fee last year, but ended up making use of a cashback offer instead.

T212 is a direct market participant so you can get live quotes and place limit orders etc. I expect they are automating things like dividend distributions, although I've no experience of that having never held distributing classes there.

Altior

Yes that was also my experience with 212. I'm no longer with them, but at one point had 10+ ITs, and dividends typically landed on the payment date. I think this is exception rather than the norm. Certainly was not the case for me with legacy platforms such as HL.

I like IEs platform, personally. If you want a genuinely fee free platform then that inevitably comes with other sacrifices.

The bulk of my activity is now with Freetrade, in my SIPP they are the worst of all at releasing the tax recovered from HMRC to my SIPP.

The bigger picture is that as a user, I want these platforms to stay liquid, so I realise they need to get an edge somewhere. Whether that might be via uninvested funds, retaining capital to legal limits or something else.

With 212, I was very irked with how they executed my trades (poorly imop!). I made a thread about it. Freetrade has superior execution in my experience, so I switched to them.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6675855/investengine-and-dividends

It’s always been the way that some brokers are far quicker at crediting distributions than others.

These days many are very good and usually credit British and foreign dividends on the due date e.g., Trading212 (usually early afternoon), Freetrade (after the European close), CMC Invest* (before the European open) and IG Invest (during the day). My experience of etoro and xtb is very limited but for the few dividends I've received with those they were credited on the due date.

Then you get the likes of AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown which can be very slow and take days and days. I don't know whether it's improved - it couldn't be worse - but I used to get into tiring battles with Barclays Stockbrokers (now Barclays Direct Investing) chasing dividends which could be more than a month late.

If you can, I suggest you vote with your feet.

*So far has a 100% record on the due date. Perhaps it isn't as difficult as some brokers make out.

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065640#Comment_82065640

AJ Bell seems to credit Gilt distributions promptly now. I don't know how that compares to shares or OIECs though.

phlebas192

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065640#Comment_82065640

In my experience HL, AJ Bell & ii all credit dividends from ITs and individual shares on the payment date although they might not show up until the afternoon.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065657#Comment_82065657

For me it’s been very slow with corporate bond interest.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065742#Comment_82065742

HL’s been incredibly slow to credit corporate bond interest. In addition it has this annoying income and capital account nonsense where you need to transfer the distributions from one to the other to withdraw them. Abysmal.

phlebas192

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065777#Comment_82065777

Yeah, the income & capital accounts nonsense is annoying. But that's how I know HL get our dividends on time because I have to login to move them to the capital account so they can earn at least a little interest!

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82065839#Comment_82065839

This is how I know it doesn’t pay on time: I need to keep logging in. The other good thing about Freetrade, T212 and CMC is they’ll send you an alert and/or email to tell you when you’ve received a distribution.