I commented last month on an article in Investors Chronicle by Mary McDougall on the subject of platform transfers, and how they are inordinately slow. Despite past efforts by the FCA, the situation does not seem to be getting any better. My latest transfer, which was commenced on the 12th of January, is still not complete. The shareholdings have recently been transferred to the selected new platform but not the substantial cash holding in the portfolio.
But according to the latest article (see link below) by Mary, other investors have even worse experiences. Six months is how long it took in two examples reported to her. Hargreaves Lansdown, who otherwise have a good reputation for service, seem to be no better in doing transfers than other brokers although none seem to be exactly fast. Of course it requires both sending and receiving brokers to act quickly to expedite a transfer so they tend to pass the buck if you complain. See her full article on the link below.
Mary would like folks to send her examples of their own experiences with broker/platform transfers so she can take up this problem with the regulators. Please send her an email to mary.mcdougall@ft.com . Please help her so we can get this problem fixed.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
Latest Investors Chronicle Article: https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2021/04/12/time-for-the-fca-to-crack-down-on-platform-transfers/
My Previous Article: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/brokers/platform-transfers-progress-has-been-pitiful/
I’ve carried out three transfers from Hargreaves Lansdown to Vanguard and on each occasion it only took approx 6 weeks to complete. I had 30 days to cancel the transfer and therefore without that 30 day holding period, I guess the transfer would have only taken two weeks.
Transfers … OMG if you had the latest experience that I have had it would put you off doing any transfer again … ever !
I was, for my sins, a client of SVS and when they went under was transferred to ITI. I immediately requested a transfer to another platform which took 9 months and only completed due to the help from Sharesoc. ITI must be the worst platform anywhere as apart from taking so long they NEVER replied to any contact I made with them. They should be shut down by the regulator and if you need them to make a transfer, good luck, because you will need it.
Apart from ITI other transfers I have made have been carried out very quickly.
Had the same, awful, experience except the transfer time was a bit less. It was extremely worrying being confrinted by a complete absence of communication from ITI, but very good to know that ShareSoc was onto the case. Agree entirely with your comments, Barry, about shutting ITI down – it’s an incompetent organisation!
Apart from the incompetence of brokers and their reluctance to put in the necessary resources, part of the problem is the use of nominee accounts instead of a simple “name on register” system for all shareholdings. The other problem is the holdings in open-ended funds where there is no central register and hence transfers are not straightforward.
I had exactly the same experience as Barry with ITI although my transfer did not take QUITE as long as his. On the other side of the coin, I recently did a transfer from Fidelity to Interactive Investor and it took 2 weeks, so it goes to show it can be done!
I initiated a transfer from Hargreaves Lansdown to ii in late Feb 2021. It did take a month plus and was helped by the fact I had no fund holdings. However it took quite a lot of effort to track down a dividend missing for about 5 weeks. Below is the ridiculously bland reply I received from HL. The dividend was due to be paid on approx 8 April 2021, and my transfer was going through around that time in various stages. However my point is why does HL not automatically sweep my dividend across as soon as they receive it, as they know the account has been transferred and closed. How many clients do not check if a dividend is missing, as I received a lump sum cash transfer initially which contained 3 or 4 unspecified dividends, but it took some digging to work out which one was missing. HL only initiated the payment after I sent them a strong message. I feel that platform providers seem to slow everything down to be as awkward as possible to leaving customers.
“Dear Mr Osicki
Thank you for your message.
I can confirm that your recent GlaxoSmithKline plc dividend was paid into your HL Stocks & Shares ISA.
Dividends will always be paid where the shares were held on the ex-dividend (ex-div) date. As we held the shares on the ex-dividend date, the dividend was paid to us.
I’ll request that my colleagues in our Transfers team forward this onto your new provider and a closing statement is also sent to you as per your request.
If you have any other questions, please get back to me.
Kind regards
Hargreaves Lansdown”