The S&S Transfer out costs are absurd

Freetrade Chat 🔥
1

Hi,

I have just attempted to transfer my S&S ISA off of Freetrade and was told I need to pay ÂŁ17 PER STOCK to transfer off.

This cost is absolutely absurd - even HL didn’t charge me to transfer my S&S ISA off - a company we often lambast for having horrific fees.

Freetrade users often own lots of shares in small amounts meaning if a a person owns 20 different stocks with a total amount invest of ÂŁ500, they will need to pay Freetrade ÂŁ340 (ÂŁ17 * 20) for the privilege of having their S&S ISA moved off of the Freetrade platform to another provider.

Why is this cost so absurdly high? Why does it exist at all? What is it that costs Freetrade ÂŁ17 per stock?

It literally just seems like barrier to stop people from moving off of Freetrade?

2

You can transfer for “free” by selling your stock and do a cash transfer. Just make sure that you won’t pay more on fx fees for that holding.
I am playing devil’s advocate here, but this is in their terms and conditions…

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3

This is a fee charged by the US central securities depository for facilitating transfer of stock in specie. Freetrade does not take anything from this fee, we just take it to cover the cost charged to us for facilitating the transfer.

Other brokers in the UK may not charge a similar fee because they offer overseas stocks through Crest (the UK depository) that does not charge this fee.

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4

HL don’t hold US shares, they hold CDIs from crest, this is what you buy from them.

If the cost is prohibitive and you have 20 small holdings as you suggest. Then you can always look at alternatives ways to work around this.

E.g you could sell them all, or you could buy them all on the new platform, and then sell so your not out of the market

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5

The fact that I can sell my shares to avoid this wasn’t the point, but fair enough if there is a third party charging this fee.