evestor concern?

Aylesbury_Duck · 3 August 2018 at 9:48AM

I've recently started saving into a S&S ISA on the evestor platform and have come across a few issues in the first two months that are slightly concerning. I've only paid in two months' instalments to date and whilst this is a long-term game for me, I've been exploring the functionality of the site as an account holder. Firstly, making a withdrawal is not possible from the site itself, you have to go through a convoluted email process. Not an immediate problem because I don't envisage making a withdrawal for years but it seems a bit amateur to have the option there but disabled. Secondly, I used to be able to vary the amount of my monthly payments and intended to occasionally increase them as various regular savers mature (whilst staying within the annual £20k ISA limit). That functionality has disappeared now. The only option is to cancel the DD entirely. The webchat is helpful and has explained that they are going through a change of service provider and until it's sorted out, those account functions are disabled but they are unable to even suggest when that might be.

It's not a great start to my experience with them and the loss of flexibility and the behind-the-scenes changes are a concern. I intended to put my full £20k allowance in before April having started in June but putting £1500-2500 each month into a platform that looks a bit wobbly at the moment seems risky. What do others think?

soulsaver · 3 August 2018 at 11:20AM

See here for more comments -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5842934&highlight=evestor

Aylesbury_Duck · 3 August 2018 at 11:35AM

Thanks. The withdrawal process is the least worrying part because it's a long way off and I was assured by them that I could withdraw to the same bank account my direct debits come from without the need for the lengthy list of ID you highlight in that post. It's more the stability/credibility of the whole set-up that I have a slight concern about. If they are having to restrict customer activity and flexibility because of problems behind the scenes that they are unable to put a timeline on, I'm not too confident about continuing to pump money in.

My wife is about to start up a S&S ISA and she won't be doing so with evestor now and will go with Vanguard instead. Once she's up and running with them, if their site and processes are better I will consider a transfer out of evestor into Vanguard myself.

lindabea · 3 August 2018 at 11:51AM

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

My wife is about to start up a S&S ISA and she won't be doing so with evestor now and will go with Vanguard instead. Once she's up and running with them, if their site and processes are better I will consider a transfer out of evestor into Vanguard myself.

I don't think either of you will be disappointed with that decision.

Aylesbury_Duck · 3 August 2018 at 12:31PM

Yet more fun and games. Just taking a look over Vanguard's site and funds and their page for transferring in an ISA from another provider. evestor aren't listed under the search facility and I can't complete the manual entry because evestor don't have a phone number which is a mandatory field...

I've cancelled my monthly payments into evestor. I'm not comfortable putting more in when their operations seem shaky. I'll do a transfer once I've decided on an alternative.

soulsaver · 3 August 2018 at 2:52PM

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

I was assured by them that I could withdraw to the same bank account my direct debits come from ....without the need for the lengthy list of ID you highlight in that post.

They didn't say that in their reply to my query and that clearly must be only if you pay in by DD, but that's not the only paying in option.

Aylesbury_Duck · 3 August 2018 at 3:29PM

Thanks soulsaver and lindabea.

I've had a few webchats with evestor today and I've lost confidence in them, particularly since they can't give a date by which full functionality will be in place. I've done some more research today and elected to transfer the modest sum I have with evestor into Vanguard and have set up monthly payments to them from now on. The charges are slightly lower and now that I've learned more about investing, the "do it with me" process with Vanguard isn't scary whereas I was attracted by evestor's "do it all for me" approach".

I've also started a transfer of a larger sum I've had with Fidelity for some years. I'm paying a 1.30% annual charge to them so Vanguard will be considerably cheaper.

tel_ · 3 August 2018 at 3:53PM

As a newbie to the S&S ISA market (after paying in to Cash ISA's for years), I was initially attracted to Vanguard after all their positivity given by MSE Forum investors, but then realised it wasn't for me, as their isn't a 'do-it-for-me' option. I was leaning towards Evestor as an option (cheapest & long term option which would suit me), but now reading these comments - I'm torn.

My head says Evestor - because I have no knowledge. But my heart says Vanguard - because of the high praise & low costs involved).

Aylesbury_Duck · 3 August 2018 at 4:37PM

Evestor is easy to use and very hands-off. Perhaps when they get their systems in order it'll be a better experience but at the moment it's just frustrating. It is very much a set-and-forget tool, although you can vary the amount paid in each month (once the site is running properly again).

If it's any help, I was the same as you, a novice. I've just spent an afternoon going through some advice and then playing with the Vanguard site and it's very simple. I've started off by splitting my monthly payments across the 40/60/80/100% equity funds in equal amounts because I can afford to take some risk with some of my money over a long period (10 years or so) but I may want to access some of it in say, five years, so want some to be in less aggressive funds. I can change the amount and the proportions each month if I want to.

tel_ · 3 August 2018 at 5:51PM

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

Evestor is easy to use and very hands-off. Perhaps when they get their systems in order it'll be a better experience but at the moment it's just frustrating. It is very much a set-and-forget tool, although you can vary the amount paid in each month (once the site is running properly again).

If it's any help, I was the same as you, a novice. I've just spent an afternoon going through some advice and then playing with the Vanguard site and it's very simple. I've started off by splitting my monthly payments across the 40/60/80/100% equity funds in equal amounts because I can afford to take some risk with some of my money over a long period (10 years or so) but I may want to access some of it in say, five years, so want some to be in less aggressive funds. I can change the amount and the proportions each month if I want to.

I was looking at the Vanguard site earlier myself. I started to jot-down some of the Lifestrategy funds I was interested in, but what about the others? UK Bonds & Gilts (Risk 4-5), US Bonds (3), Emerging market bonds (4).

If I had say £500 a month to invest, should I spread it between these as well, or just stick to the Lifestrategy funds?

All thoughts welcome!

masonic · 3 August 2018 at 6:21PM

tel_ wrote: »

I was looking at the Vanguard site earlier myself. I started to jot-down some of the Lifestrategy funds I was interested in, but what about the others? UK Bonds & Gilts (Risk 4-5), US Bonds (3), Emerging market bonds (4).

If I had say £500 a month to invest, should I spread it between these as well, or just stick to the Lifestrategy funds?

All thoughts welcome!

Lifestrategy is designed to be a single fund portfolio. It can work as a core where you put other, more esoteric investments around it, but there's no need to do so. Pick the one with an appropriate amount of bond exposure for your risk-tolerance and you shouldn't need to add more bond funds.

evestor concern?

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