Selftrade charges

[emmabeth]

My wife and I both have accounts with Selftrade, we have income portfolios providing for our retirement. We do not trade very frequently.
Under Selftrades new pricing structure, we will each pay £70 per year if we do not make any trades.
I am considering moving our portfolios to a zero charging broker, however as we have about 25 trusts between us this in itself would be costly.
Any advice would be most welcome

[PeterGray]

If your holdings are in trusts you need to look closely before moving. A lot of brokers charge "platform" charges for funds which could quickly come to a lot more than what Selftrade are asking.

[mc2fool]

My wife and I both have accounts with Selftrade, we have income portfolios providing for our retirement. We do not trade very frequently.
Under Selftrades new pricing structure, we will each pay £70 per year if we do not make any trades.
I am considering moving our portfolios to a zero charging broker, however as we have about 25 trusts between us this in itself would be costly.
Any advice would be most welcome

There aren't many zero charging brokers around nowadays, IWeb & X-O plus Halifax and a couple of others if you're talking about a normal dealing a/c (not an ISA). Here's a good source: https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

And we'll see how long those continue to be free of admin fees as the trend has definitely been away from that, and it has to be said that, while you can get better deals, £70 per year isn't that bad nowadays. The kicker for you is the £15 per item to transfer out of Selftrade, as with 25 ITs it's going to take several years to get the payback of moving to a cheaper broker.

However, there is some good news on the horizon, which is that the FCA is planning to ban or limit exit fees, so it may be worth just waiting. If you google "fca to ban broker exit fees" you'll find lots of reports, here's just one: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/14/fca-plans-clampdown-on-investment-platform-exit-fees

[mc2fool]

If your holdings are in trusts you need to look closely before moving. A lot of brokers charge "platform" charges for funds which could quickly come to a lot more than what Selftrade are asking.

I believe by "trusts" the OP means ITs and not OEICs/UTs ("funds"), as Selftrade itself has a platform fee for the latter and the £70pa the OP is referring to is consistent with Selftrade's annual "custody fee" for one account without any OEICs/UTs being in it. https://selftrade.co.uk/informational/investing-with-us/our-fees

[emmabeth]

Yes Investment trusts

[StOmer]

£70 per year seems reasonable at the moment. I would probably stay with your current provider if happy with their service. I am with Hargreaves Lansdown who are considered expensive although for IT's I pay just £45 per year for the ISA and £0 for the Fund & Share a/c. The dealing charge is £11.95 per trade if infrequent. You could possibly get a payment from HL which may cover the transfer costs from your broker.

If HL is not offering a free transfer in, then move a little and wait for their next mailshot which most likely will be an offer to earn cash for additional transfers Perhaps worth giving them a ring first? https://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/vantage-service/transferring-your-existing-investments

[Alaric]

£70 per year seems reasonable at the moment. I would probably stay with your current provider if happy with their service. ]

If no trading is intended and the ITs are outside of ISAs, the poster could go back to paper. There's no annual cost, but likely to be a one off cost to get the share certificates. Registrars will send dividends directly to a bank. But even if currently outside ISAs it would probably be worthwhile to transfer £ 20,000 a year per person into ISAs, which is going to involve trading or using the Broker's Bed & ISA service.

[PinkDalek]

£70 per year seems reasonable at the moment. I would probably stay with your current provider if happy with their service. ]

If no trading is intended and the ITs are outside of ISAs, the poster could go back to paper. There's no annual cost, but likely to be a one off cost to get the share certificates. ...

https://selftrade.co.uk/informational/i ... s/our-fees

Issuing a paper share certificate £20.00 per line of stock

25 holdings X £20 = £500. So over 7 years pay back, plus the hassle of recording up to 100 dividends per annum (assuming the OP/spouse are subject to income Tax, which is likely given the number of holdings and in view of viewtopic.php?p=160874#p160874).

[emmabeth]

Our portfolios are in ISAs, I am considering transferring to IWEB but the transfer charge from Selftrade is off-putting. The fact that transfer charges are currently being looked at is interesting and I think wee will stay where we are pending the outcome.
Thanks for all the help