DIY Pensions for a Limited Company?

[Fred Bloggs]

Glad to hear it, though a single experience is obviously of limited value.

Take a look for yourself and note the attempted gaming of the review system by the recent reviewers with only one review and mentioning the customer service rep by name in every one.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.iii.co.uk

If you look back over the reviews from earlier this year it's clear there have been serious problems.

Indeed, there may or may not have been. Question is, has the company recovered from the issues and is now back to offering a seriously low price platform for medium to larger size portfolios. Compared to some of the competition II is almost laughably inexpensive in comparison.

[TraceRacing]

I'm a novice when it comes to investments and joined II but took the 30 day cooling off option and moved my SIPP to HL. To me II's service was poor, they took over a week to answer secure messages, my "Welcome" email came after almost 3 weeks and I found the interface to be difficult.

Happy with HL now and their "Wealth 150" funds are giving me good returns so far.

[Fred Bloggs]

I'm a novice when it comes to investments and joined II but took the 30 day cooling off option and moved my SIPP to HL. To me II's service was poor, they took over a week to answer secure messages, my "Welcome" email came after almost 3 weeks and I found the interface to be difficult.

Happy with HL now and their "Wealth 150" funds are giving me good returns so far.

Good to hear you are happy with you choice of platform. One thing I would suggest you to look at though, is that as your pot grows, take a good look at the Close Bros platform. They do not have the polish of the HL interface but they do everything really well and they charge about 50% of what HL charge you. I run three SIPPs there for my family and I have found them excellent. I would also point out to you that as a non-HL account holder, you can use everything on HL's website except for trading. So if you like their website but do not like their charges, you still get to use 99% of their website for free after closing down your HL account.

[Maslins]

Interested in the recent posts here (as a small biz owner with a SIPP, not as an accountant). I was with HL for a couple of years, no issue with the service, or complaints.

As my pot grew, I heeded the advice from here and a month or so ago, made the decision to move to II. I therefore have no experience of the "old" II. Does concern me the comment about the 1 week to reply to secure messages, HL was <24hrs.

However, as long as I can get the basics done, and get it into a cheapo tracker fund, I guess that's all I need. Plus, I imagine March/April will be busiest time of year for them, with people keen to set things up either just before end of or just after start of tax year.

[DallasDad]

@Maslins

You summed it up spot on
III is cheap as chips but perfectly ok for the basics which is all I need at this time.
The secure messaging is all a bit crude or rather it was prior to the site revamp, don't think I have used it since.
I transferred in three old DC schemes no real grief with doing any of them.
Cash transfer in are painless
I do find their IOS/Android Apps a bit flaky mine often bombs out on startup but always launches ok on 2nd attempt.

One thing I have no experience of yet is turning my pot into a pension or taking out 25% etc. which I will be doing in a couple of years time
Anyone doing that yet?

[Fred Bloggs]

F

Interested in the recent posts here (as a small biz owner with a SIPP, not as an accountant). I was with HL for a couple of years, no issue with the service, or complaints.

As my pot grew, I heeded the advice from here and a month or so ago, made the decision to move to II. I therefore have no experience of the "old" II. Does concern me the comment about the 1 week to reply to secure messages, HL was <24hrs.

However, as long as I can get the basics done, and get it into a cheapo tracker fund, I guess that's all I need. Plus, I imagine March/April will be busiest time of year for them, with people keen to set things up either just before end of or just after start of tax year.

The longest I have waited for a reply is two days from II. If you want a quicker response, pick up the phone. I have no complaints about them. They will be suffering growing pains, all businesses will when they grow as fast as II have been doing. I am sure you know as an accountant that the cost of the accounts at II is so low, they must have a very fine balancing act in matching low costs to satisfactory customer service. It is a tough one to get right.

Edited to add - Regarding transfer in from HL, I have transferred four accounts from HL. Keep an eye on them. They foot drag interminably to slow down the transfer process as much as they can go wring the very maximum they can from you in platform charges. They frequently request forms be filled in with data they already have etc... Very bad people, you will be well rid of them in my opinion.

[Fred Bloggs]

@Maslins

You summed it up spot on
III is cheap as chips but perfectly ok for the basics which is all I need at this time.
The secure messaging is all a bit crude or rather it was prior to the site revamp, don't think I have used it since.
I transferred in three old DC schemes no real grief with doing any of them.
Cash transfer in are painless
I do find their IOS/Android Apps a bit flaky mine often bombs out on startup but always launches ok on 2nd attempt.

One thing I have no experience of yet is turning my pot into a pension or taking out 25% etc. which I will be doing in a couple of years time
Anyone doing that yet?

Regarding your last question, I think you will find that a pretty seamless transaction.

[Maslins]

I am sure you know as an accountant that the cost of the accounts at II is so low, they must have a very fine balancing act in matching low costs to satisfactory customer service. It is a tough one to get right.

Yeah, a similar thought did cross my mind as I typed my last email. What I'm doing with my SIPP is perhaps akin to someone moving from a more expensive FreeAgent accountant where they get good service to a cheaper provider with a spreadsheet, where service may be limited. Can be a good move if the individual in question is competent and not very demanding, but certainly not for everyone.

General consensus on here seems to be setting up with HL to begin with (when pot is small, so % fees trivial). This perhaps also works well as the individual will get the slightly better HL support when they might need it to get started.

Fingers crossed HL won't be too irritating on the transfer out. I have no idea what timescales might be expected as reasonable for this kind of thing, but so far it certainly doesn't seem too bad in terms of correspondence from them around the closure (pot still sitting with HL at time of writing).

[Fred Bloggs]

Yeah, a similar thought did cross my mind as I typed my last email. What I'm doing with my SIPP is perhaps akin to someone moving from a more expensive FreeAgent accountant where they get good service to a cheaper provider with a spreadsheet, where service may be limited. Can be a good move if the individual in question is competent and not very demanding, but certainly not for everyone.

General consensus on here seems to be setting up with HL to begin with (when pot is small, so % fees trivial). This perhaps also works well as the individual will get the slightly better HL support when they might need it to get started.

Fingers crossed HL won't be too irritating on the transfer out. I have no idea what timescales might be expected as reasonable for this kind of thing, but so far it certainly doesn't seem too bad in terms of correspondence from them around the closure (pot still sitting with HL at time of writing).

Sorry, I disagree with your analogy. As a non account holder you have full access to the HL website, good as it is. The only thing a non account holder cannot do is trade. I also disagree about using HL for smaller pots. You can get excellent service on a decent platform from Close Bros for about half what HL charge. Other providers are available but I recommend from experience II and Close Bros.

For in specie transfers from HL expect it to take around four months from start to finish. Keep an eye on the foot dragging and if you haven't already, download the PDF version of your account overview showing investments, number of units etc... Because stuff can go "missing". And the day HL transfer your account, you have no visibility of what was there the day before. Be prepared, be warned. HTH.

[Maslins]

Sorry, I disagree with your analogy. As a non account holder you have full access to the HL website, good as it is. The only thing a non account holder cannot do is trade. I also disagree about using HL for smaller pots. You can get excellent service on a decent platform from Close Bros for about half what HL charge. Other providers are available but I recommend from experience II and Close Bros.

For in specie transfers from HL expect it to take around four months from start to finish. Keep an eye on the foot dragging and if you haven't already, download the PDF version of your account overview showing investments, number of units etc... Because stuff can go "missing". And the day HL transfer your account, you have no visibility of what was there the day before. Be prepared, be warned. HTH.

Fair enough

At the time of transfer all my HL SIPP was cash so hopefully will be a bit easier/quicker. Will note your comments though and keep an eye on it/them!