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S&S ISA Transfer Complications

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iambic
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S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#420431

Postby iambic » June 18th, 2021, 11:29 am

Apologies for the lengthy post & this is more to have a bit of rant than anything, but if anyone has any advice or has dealt with a similar situation, I'd be happy to hear!

I applied at the start of this year to have my S&S ISA transferred from Fidelity to iWeb. I only had 2 funds in Fidelity: Fundsmith & an iShares Pacific ex-Japan fund. iWeb don't have the iShares fund available, so I requested the Fundsmith money be transferred in-specie & the iShares fund to be sold & transferred as cash.

The first time I attempted this transaction was last year & it dragged on for such a long time with nothing happening & neither side taking any responsibility for the delay that the whole thing ended up being cancelled by iWeb, so this is my second attempt.

Having heard nothing from either side for at least 3 months, suddenly I noticed the other day (8 June) that my money had all disappeared out of Fidelity.

Fantastic.

Apart from...the money hasn't yet arrived at iWeb & they have no knowledge of the transfer having happened. It's painful dealing with iWeb via their chat interface (I know this is probably a small price to pay to use a no-fee platform, but it's frustrating).

Having spent yet another hour on chat to iWeb, they told me their last communication to Fidelity was on 25 May & they haven't heard anything since. They asked me to find out from Fidelity exactly where they transferred the Fundsmith money to & the cheque with the cash from the iShares fund. I've asked Fidelity & they tell me they'll find out for me.

It's now been 10 days since Fidelity sold the funds - does anyone know how this will work when the money eventually (hopefully...) reaches iWeb? I thought the idea behind in-specie transfers was that you didn't lose out by being out of the market?

This seems way more complicated than it should be - I switched my bank account in about 3 days flat complete with multiple direct debits, standing orders etc. & it was seamless so I naively assumed this would be the same...

XFool
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Re: S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#420479

Postby XFool » June 18th, 2021, 1:39 pm

...Have you seen this (rather long) thread? viewtopic.php?f=26&t=28169

I know you are transferring to iWeb, which is not directly the subject of the above thread, however, iWeb is actually run by and uses the same system as Lloyds Bank/HSDL.

Since the pandemic and remote working many people have tales of difficulties with delayed dividends, poor service and difficulties with ISA transfers.

doug2500
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Re: S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#420763

Postby doug2500 » June 19th, 2021, 4:17 pm

Sadly transfers, especially of funds, were crap even before covid. It's a disgrace how poor it is, and how you're stuck between two parties who both claim no responsibility for it.

I've done 4 or 5 and bar one were all awful. I resorted to the ombudsman for one and got some compensation, although I'd have preferred the lack of grief.

iambic
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Re: S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#421412

Postby iambic » June 22nd, 2021, 3:19 pm

XFool wrote:...Have you seen this (rather long) thread? viewtopic.php?f=26&t=28169

I know you are transferring to iWeb, which is not directly the subject of the above thread, however, iWeb is actually run by and uses the same system as Lloyds Bank/HSDL.

Since the pandemic and remote working many people have tales of difficulties with delayed dividends, poor service and difficulties with ISA transfers.

Thanks XFool, I hadn't come across that thread before, but it echoes my experience. Why iWeb don't have a secure message facility is beyond me - having a chat window randomly popup occasionally when you're browsing the site is a very odd customer service model.

doug2500 wrote:Sadly transfers, especially of funds, were crap even before covid. It's a disgrace how poor it is, and how you're stuck between two parties who both claim no responsibility for it.

I've done 4 or 5 and bar one were all awful. I resorted to the ombudsman for one and got some compensation, although I'd have preferred the lack of grief.

It's beyond a joke! Fidelity have sent me the details of exactly where they sent the money 2 weeks ago, but when I tried to chat to an agent in iWeb they said for all transfer queries you have to call the dedicated transfers team. They've given me a phone number but given that it took over an hour last time I chatted to someone there, I'm not holding my breath that a phone call will be any more useful...

I'll bear complaining to the ombudsman in mind if I can't get any joy from iWeb soon. It makes me want to transfer my money away from iWeb altogether but the thought of the hassle that would entail puts me off completely :lol:

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Re: S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#421462

Postby mc2fool » June 22nd, 2021, 9:11 pm

iambic wrote:I'll bear complaining to the ombudsman in mind if I can't get any joy from iWeb soon.

The Financial Ombudsman Service won't consider taking up your complaint until and unless you have made a formal complaint to IWeb and they have given you their full and final response which you are unhappy with, or eight weeks have passed without you receiving a full and final response from them.

See how to do it here: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=28452&p=395927#p395927

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Re: S&S ISA Transfer Complications

#421951

Postby iambic » June 24th, 2021, 3:16 pm

mc2fool wrote:The Financial Ombudsman Service won't consider taking up your complaint until and unless you have made a formal complaint to IWeb and they have given you their full and final response which you are unhappy with, or eight weeks have passed without you receiving a full and final response from them.


Thanks mc2fool, that's useful to know although hopefully it won't come to that this time after all. The cash part of the transfer has finally hit my iWeb account & after being fobbed off by yet another employee via chat, I called them. I spent 20 minutes on hold & finally managed to speak to someone about it.

After giving him the reference number of the transaction from Fidelity, it took him about 15 minutes to locate the funds but he assured me it would be in my account by the end of today.

I asked if this was a normal delay & at first he said it wasn't, then changed his mind & said it can take 2 weeks from when the money is first transferred to reach them. 2 weeks for a digital transfer is quite mind boggling seeing as the physical cheque that was sent for the rest of the money made it there quicker than that. :roll:

There I was thinking consolidating my accounts would make life simpler :lol:


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