IFA Pension Fund set up charges

[Fred Bloggs]

Given that Alliance Trust already offer ISAs and SIPPs with no commision, why do you think this change will put HL out of business, and even if it does, why would you care?

HL already charges 0.5% (capped at £235 I think) to people who choose investments that don't pay commission, presumably the change means that everyone will now fall into that category, and I guess their business would be sustainable on that basis. There might still be a massive income cut to their income, but they would still be charging more than Alliance Trust, who charge £75 plus VAT.

I'm with Sippdeal, who charge nothing, but I don't use commission-paying funds, so it's possible I'm getting a free ride at the expense of the customers who do earn them trail commission. I wouldn't be surprised if they introduce a small charge when they lose their commission earnings, but if it they charged more than any of the competition I'd be off.

Hmmm, I will have to watch this carefully. I invest in unit trusts via HL. I can't imagine HL will let this threaten their business, but none the less, I will move my SIPP/ISA's elsewhere if required.

[GreenerGrass]

Or have a look at http://www.iii.co.uk/. My Sipp is with Sippdeal, my ISAs with H-L but I'm switching out of H-L into iii as it's a lot better deal on management and dealing charges. The Sipp looks good also.

Be warned iii is crap compared to H-L. They never send you anything at all, not even once a year. In fact I am thinking about moving my ISAs from iii to H-L unless they get their act together soon.
I sometimes think H-L send you too much stuff in the post, but it's the opposite with iii.

[Fred Bloggs]

HL do send too much stuff. We have 4x persons accounts in our house so we get 4x everything which is a bind, but generally, HL's customer service is excellent.