Hargreaves Lansdown Share Discussion Threads

[hunter154] 15/12/2023 11:42

Iomax, I thought it was a good outcome but the market just yawned.
This was a big overhang.
The shorts are still at 6%; was around 3% in October. Hopefully they unwind pre xmas.

[lomax99] 15/12/2023 10:05

The W fund scheme of arrangement was voted through.

[eigthwonder] 14/12/2023 13:45

HL are still in the foothills with regard to advisors IMO. But I like the execution side, which is where AJ Bell lag badly IMO. Swings and roundabouts.

[ochs] 14/12/2023 12:14

Yes @wynterwilde it sounds like an awful experience and exasperated by the long delays in sending you the correct forms. Not good enough for the premium service fees they charge.

[wynterwilde] 14/12/2023 11:47

Ochs

The platform itself is fine, but they are very poor at customer service.

In May they sent me the wrong forms to fill in for a UFPLS from my SIPP, then lost the correct forms.

This time when I applied for a UFPLS they omitted to send me the form and only after 15 days following acknowledgement of my application did they think to mention it!

Now I discover I've been locked out of my account............

[ochs] 14/12/2023 11:35

@eigthwonder, HL SIPP offers a very good Income Drawdown service if you want to carry on managing the investments yourself without an advisor. You'd get 25% tax free cash and then manage the rest as you do now. HL also offer an Annuity service which is non-advisory. If you want advice, HL have their own inhouse advisors - best option is give HL a call and chat through your options.

[miti 1000] 14/12/2023 06:46

tim3,

FWIW, I agree with you the ridiculous time out issue on HL. The problem is if you open an active savings account with them, the platform automatically stops you every 15 minutes without recourse to extending it. Pathetic .

[eigthwonder] 13/12/2023 23:08

Over a long period HL have proved very successful at accumulating assets from people contributing to SIPPs. I have got to the stage where I am actively thinking about when and how to access my SIPPs (I also have one at AJ Bell). Gleaning what I can from the internet it seems as though when it gets to the stage of crystalisation HL barely features as a recommended provider. A discussion with an adviser yielded the suggestion that I should put all my SIP money with AJ Bell if I want to tap into it.

[wynterwilde] 13/12/2023 15:25

What shocking customer service, no wonder the share price is where it is!

I applied for a UFPLS from my Sipp on 13th November and it took until the 21st to even acknowledge receiving it. Today I had a secure message asking for other forms to be filled in and posted back!

This is just sooo wrong.....with the old Post Office savings account we used to issue a 'Demand' when we wanted our cash, now it's as if we are applying for benefits!! We 'request' our own money back, and it's reluctantly handed over....or not.

[tim 3] 13/12/2023 10:40

Yes that profiles the typical STJ customer they don't look to closely at charges just at the income it provides.

Dad used them and I once asked their "partner" about the spread on one of their funds and he said I was the only customer who had ever asked him that question!

It reminds me of years ago when I worked in electrical sales and those buying on finance were only concerned about the monthly payment even though they were often paying double for the product!

Compared with STJ HL charges are tiny for most products as long as they are transparent which I think they are dont see what the issue is.

[eigthwonder] 13/12/2023 08:37

If you tend to invest in equities rather than funds, HL is good VFM in my view, and although I thought they were a bit slow to pass through improved interest rates in the first instance, things have improved. YF - money matters aren't rocket science to those where money matters (as a job/hobby rather than need). But I have a raft of friends and relatives who I would consider intelligent who quite simply don't know all the facets of the money game, or, as one of them with most of their money with STJ said "I know it isn't cheap (!) but it is providing me with enough to live on without me having to worry about it". It's wrong on many levels to you and me but it worked for him, a very successful electrical engineer who spends his time on the golf course. Horses for courses.

[ochs] 13/12/2023 07:40

Agree @yf23_1, it would be sad if investment platforms went the way of the gas/electric market - having a price cap eventually got to the stage where there was no point switching as they were all charging the same.

[eigthwonder] 12/12/2023 22:35

don't be fixated on HL trading charges - not only are they relatively minor part of total consideration for many trades but can be outweighed by improvements in the price vs the screen bid/offer: in my experience the HL price is better than the AJ Bell price for many trades. YMMV

[bend1pa] 12/12/2023 22:02

"Indeed, £11-95 has been out of line for a while now (ii already down to £3-99)"
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£11.95 is nothing compared to what you used to get charged. I remember 20 years back, when £20 was the minimum commission charged by stockbrokers on deal. So I paid £20 per trade up to £1600 in value. Furthermore I remember paying 1.25% on a trade worth £5000. That's £62.50, which I thought then was cheap. Most other brokers were charging 1.5% upwards at the time on similar size trades.

AJ Bell only charge £1.25 per trade regardless of size. You might think brilliant, BUT they also charge you 0.25% pa on the value of your portfolio. So if you invest £100,000 with them, that's £250 pa. To be frank I may as well stick with my £11.95 commission broker who charge me nothing in fees for shares held with them. Of course, if you're an active investor or trader, and only hold a small portfolio with them at any time, then it pays to use these low commission brokers. But if you have a large portfolio and trade once a month, there's probably little if any advantage to use such brokers.

[tim 3] 12/12/2023 21:40

Thanks so much tried that and it came up not applicable for your account or something like that.It's a small inconvenience though.BTW I also use Interactive investor and HL is way ahead of their platform imo .

[ochs] 12/12/2023 21:26

@Tim 3 there is an option to amend the auto log out time from 15 mins up to a max of an hour. When you first log in select "Account Settings" then "Passwords and timeout preference" - there's an option to tweak it on the right.

[gemlotte55] 12/12/2023 19:55

Tim 3
Agree with what you say regarding Gilts.
Also interest rate on cash account pretty good for instant access, no fees on cash held.
The only thing i would criticise HK on is high platform fee which isn't competitive if you hold more than 200k in a sipp

[tim 3] 12/12/2023 19:18

Must say as someone new to the platform am really impressed.I have the fund and share account which allows you to buy guilts online which a lot don't and it works really well and also active savings which is so quick and easy to get the best rate although I accept you can get slightly better going direct it's such a ball ache applying every time.The app is slick and easy to navigate.Only dislike is on the pc you are logged out really quickly and have to go through 2 factor log in every time.

[eigthwonder] 12/12/2023 18:36

because fx transfers are the preserve of the rich(er). they really should be after the practice of "helpful" currency conversions on credit cards used overseas. I don't think it is for anyone on a financial sector forum to criticise those who don't/can't understand financial matters. After all, I bet you trust a man (or woman) with grease on their hands to look after your car. And I bet they talk about the idiots who don't understand the basics of a how it works.....

[yf23_1] 12/12/2023 18:24

Hasn't the FCA got anything better to do than chaperone financial numptiies for the nanny state. Its the same with insurance renewals, if you can't be bothered to shop around you should expect to lose out.
While they're at it, why don't they check out how much the bank's made on f/x transfers for the last 50 years.

[cwa1] 12/12/2023 17:09

Is it cynical of to me ask why from next April and not, urmmm, now?

[cc2014] 12/12/2023 15:44

HL are going to have to respond to the price per trade.

[mrmark01] 12/12/2023 14:20

Well done AJ Bell - getting with the times £5 per trade from next April. Who pays £11.95 per trade in this day and age for goodness sake. Sort it out HL.