Transferring your SIPP

17th Dec '20 by one_eyed_jack

59 comments 1434 reads

Hi,

I'm starting to looking into moving my SIPP from Hargreaves Lansdown and I wondered if anyone has any advice on where to, or any complication they experienced (fees, delays, general headaches, etc).

Reasons for considering the move are:

1) Customer Service - they are difficult to reach by phone or secure email. Always talking a few days turnaround by their secure message platform. Currently been waiting a week on a query.

2) Market access:

2.1) I have found they are slow to list new companies which have IPO'ed. Months not days.

2.2) I've had trouble in the past accessing dual listings where I have been unable to access a company via the primary or secondary listing due to their underlying platform (never really got an explanation I could understand, but could access both markets themselves)

2.3) Crypto access - they recently took the decision to stop the purchase of the XBT Tracker bitcoin fund. You can still hold it, just not purchase it. I found it useful to dip in and out of the crypto market, and now can no longer do so out of my SIPP (not to everyone’s tastes I know).

3) Platform stability - during the hectic market we had back in November I was effectively locked out and could barely trade. I noticed others reported problems via the SCVR forum, so was not alone. That cost me a fair chunk in delayed trade, with two good multi-baggers reduced to low double digit growth as I watch the prices collapse over hours not minutes.

4) Fees. I don't trade that frequently (once or twice a week on average) but would like to minimise these and also exchange rates as I have some fairly lumpy (for me anyway) US holdings.

I've been with them since I started my SIPP in 2007, so they are all I have experienced, and it is quite a big decision to make the jump elsewhere. Does anyone have good and bad experiences, or perhaps made the move elsewhere and found that the grass wasn't any greener? (for the record I only trade via my SIPP).

Appreciate any views/guidance on this.

Cheers,

Jonny

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Rusty2

18th Dec '20

I have never phoned HL so I don’t know how long it takes. 10 minutes does not sound too bad considering I had to ring Barclays and it took 70 minutes before I spoke to anyone and then the next time, as they did not fix it, it was about 50 minutes.

I had a look at Trading212 a while ago, I thought there were prices but I found the platform very strange. HL is very easy.

It would only be for an ISA, so £20k max, I may just do one trade and see how it goes, it will be for foreign shares, probably US ones, the spreads should be tight on those and no forex fees. I can compare live prices on HL.

I did read that some trades took a long time to complete, such as 4 hours. At least with HL you know it has gone through or not straight away, usually. I’ve had a few auto bids that did not complete, even though the price was triggered, there does seem to be some delay there.

I may try IG again, I have shares in them so I should use them really.

Timoteo

19th Dec '20

Oh dear ! Maybe they’re all as bad as one another. I do get the sense that regulation has reduced service levels in that they set the bar very low and companies then work to that, rather than competing to be the best.

I should have been clearer the Barclays call was not to the stockbroking platform but regarding credit cards but it just illustrates how long it can take now to contact banks etc. previously it would only be around 5-10 minutes. Many seem to be working from home with little contact with other parts of the company. So security verification took a long time. So what would have been a 10 minute call last year took around 90 minutes this year and still they did not fix the problem.

My point is the service should improve next year when things return to more normal.

I did try Trading212 again last year night, there are no bid/sell prices, but you can limit your bid price.
I still find it a weird platform to use and on an ipad, it was not easy. Why are all the prices converted into Euros? I tried to buy some AAPL and PLTR but nothing seemed to go through.

doug2500

I don't think it'll be regulation that's reduced service, more likely low cost competition I would have thought.

The number of us prepared to pay higher costs for better service is pretty limited I would think from what I read. I include myself in that to a point. I don't consider any of the charges I pay to be high but wouldn't jump to a broker whose charges are double for better service.

Mat Hardwicke

I was sat at my desktop on 'vaccine day' & was attempting to trade from 1pm to close & it was horrendous. The platform kept falling over, unable to log in, on the occasions i did manage to logon trades just hung so you didn't know if they'd executed etc. in the end i had duplicate trades & attempts to buy odx & nvcyt executed for significantly more than the price i placed my buy order. HL response to my complaints was 'sorry but our T&C's allow us to do whatever we want'.

To exacerbate my frustration they then were not answering phonecalls due to high demand.

This company are supposed to be best in class.

It’s odd because I was trading at the same time without any problems. Maybe it’s a location issue? Maybe also the shares you were trading, I was not trading those 2, I imagine there would be problems. I can’t remember which shares I traded off hand, I will have to check

Jamboreebop

21st Dec '20

Following on from my earlier question and search for an additional broker I'm looking at X-O . https://x-o.co.uk/

Charges seem low - I note that you can't buy shares on non-UK markets but other than that it looks pretty good.

Has anyone out there used X-O? Any thoughts, good or bad?

(p.s. sorry to hijack your thread one_eyed_jack but this seems like a good place to ask general broker questions.)

stehuk

My sipp is with X-0. I haven't had any problems with them.

Spl183

22nd Dec '20

Must say that I find buying / selling shares via Trading212 very very easy on the phone. To extent its a bit like playing a video game !! Clearly going down the Robinhood route making aesthetically pleasing user-friendly, hooking new customers with free trading. How they make their money is via the horrendous spreads on the CFD side of the app. When you compare some buy/sell quotes to live IG.com Spreadbets you will be gobsmacked. And unfortunately that can lead to I suspect unsophisticated folks making risky bets and loosing a lot of hard-earned dosh rather quickly. They do have a wide-ranging choice of stocks, espesh US stocks. Lots of fb groups with guys ploughing into penny stocks/ SPAC's, etc.

Much easier to trade though than AJB, plus free too. Will be transferring my ISA to them at the next financial year from AJB. Also they are due to open a 'cheap' SIPP product in Q1 2021. Will keep an eye out for it and let you know the terms/ fees, etc.

Also, as an FYI Freetrade recently launched a SIPP product that is cheap. £10 monthly fee but unlimited trades. See link below too same. Looked at it but will wait for T212 offering first.

https://freetrade.io/sipp

PLS1nve5t

23rd Dec '20

Not sure about T212 they were mentioned back here in November, where Alex said you trigger a trade and it could be delayed for 24 hours and it could not be cancelled !!

https://www.stockopedia.com/co...

I looked at trustpilot at the time and there were many negative stories, complaining of many different problems (80%'ish bad).

But now what a turnaround they now seem to be 80%'ish positive !!

T212 seem to have 10 pages of +ve's for the last 5 days, while Hargreaves only has 1 page of reviews for the same time period, hmmm T212 are failing the sniff test to me.

@PLS1inve5t

Thanks for your reply. I have been using it for approx 3 months. Yes, admittedly there is an occasional delay, but relative to amount of trades I am doing at the mo it is not material and I can get filled mostly when needed. I am also happy with their US share coverage, again, most of the names I search (mostly small caps these days) come up and able to trade. If you are actively trading it is very simple to do so, as well as being free.

It seems to have captivated a lot of millennials to trade stocks which I think personally is a positive thing, albeit more should be done to restrict CFD trading. It is evident most do not appreciate/ understand extent of leverage. Nor tax implications for those few who actually achieve gains , versus spreadbetting.

T212 has received good reviews from likes of The Times. Voted best in the "High Frequency Trading" category ...

Thanks, spl183

There does not seem much point of no fees, if the spreads are wider. I have also read that the US markets are not well covered.

I have also read about shares trade delays and really strange prices. I don't like the fact it does not show the buying price

I'm not sure if it's worth me risking one years ISA allowance to try it.

One review on Trustpilot says most of the recent 4/5 star reviews are invited ones. Quite a few bad reviews in the last few days.

I did have to phone HL yesterday because my landline was down, so had to change the phone number, was answered within 1 minute and phone number changed and all sorted within 3 minutes.

Not saying I'm a huge fan of HL but I have had different experience than some others.

@herbie47

That's a fair enough viewpoint. At the mo, I only have a trade account set up. Perhaps my optimism is 'biased' by the overall green position I find myself in ! I have not really looked closely at the spreads on stock buys but suspect there will be some fat included ...

What I would say is that it seems in the category of 'high frequency trading' phone apps, the main options in UK are T2121 or Freetrade. T212 seems to get better reviews than Freetrade online. I think that ease of trading on your phone is part of the digital revolution (eg akin to 'Robinhood' effect in US), and that I believe the more traditional platforms, even DIY ones like AJB, has to evolve its interface to attract more customers. To extent that ease of use comparison is more even, and allowing folks to be more 'choicy'/ price sensitive on the fee vs spread rates. Some comparison sites already do this, and from what I have read T121 seems to do okay.

Thanks
Spl183

This from a recent review "Beware that this is not a real stockbroker. As soon as you start to make money, they suddently block you from making any transactions. I can no longer buy most common stocks like Tesla or Amazon. They falsely claim this is due to a regulator, but I can find no relevent regulation. They are simply trying to protect their own profits."

Sounds like they are not buying/selling the actual shares and relying on most traders losing money.

I have gone off the idea of using them, seems to be too many issues.

I may try IG Group (LON:IGG) again, I only used them for spread betting before.

I don't use a phone for trading so maybe it's not the best platform for me.

24th Dec '20

Hi Herbie, I was not plugging HL specifically, it was just more of a comment that T212 seemed to have 10 times the number of of reviews than HL for the same time period. I found that very suspect, especially as T212 turned from 80% negative to 80% positive in a month or so.

If they are "invited reviews" then is there a kick back ? why don't trustpilot block them ? hmmm skepticism rules :-)

Glad your happy SPL, I look forward to your trustpilot review, please let us know if there is a kickback :-) - no - really I am open to persuasion, they look as if they have potential, its just I'm not convinced they are professional outfit at the moment - If I want a trade I want it now, and at a price I can see, If I want to withdraw cash I want it tomorrow, not too much to ask I hope, but then again I'm not a millennial with many decades ahead of us :-)

Please keep us updated on your experiences with T212 it could tip the balance...... I think I'd trust people on here more than elsewhere.......

Yes I understand your comment. I agree the reviews of Trading212 are suspicious. Not sure if they get any kickback, but it seems that the ones that give good feedback on Trading212 site, are then invited to do a review on Trustpilot, it is true that most of the recent good reviews are invited and lots of 1 time reviewers.

I had a look at Trustpilot rules and it says invited reviews should be a cross section not just good ones, so it appears to break the rules.

There are several reports, of funds going missing, which is quite off putting. Seem to be too many issues for me to invest with them.

27th Dec '20

Been looking at SIPP charges some more and found this comparison: https://moneytothemasses.com/saving-for-your-future/pensions/the-best-cheapest-sipps-low-cost-diy-pensions#title-anchor-19

ii is looking quite attractive.

Transferring your SIPP

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One_eyed_jack

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