Hi everyone,
Thanks for raising this very important point.
We’re currently midway through a refresh of our procedures around this very process so are still fleshing out some of the finer details at this time. We’ve also changed where the ownership of this process sits within the business to ensure that we’re offering a more customer centric approach during a difficult period for those contacting us. We’re approaching this with three core considerations:
- Better trained support and more resources available to the family/next of kin throughout the account winding-up process.
- More guides and information: A collection of new FAQs is currently being created to set out expectations for this scenario and give an indication of documentation required for those reporting the passing of a customer.
- Faster resolutions. Whilst there are a number of requirements that need to be satisfied before a customer’s account can be wound up due to their passing, we’re committed to making these steps as clear and stress-free as possible for those handling the estate.
We can support in-specie asset transfers out but this is subject to the same limitation as normal transfers out, where we can only facilitate them for UK securities. Non-UK securities would need to be sold down and transferred as cash.
The caveat to all of this is that we can only assist if we’re aware of a customer’s passing in the first place. This is very much down to family/next of kin/executors notifying us so that we can advise on next steps. As Freetrade customers, it’s crucial that you inform these people of the existence of your account in order to do so.
Thanks for your patience whilst we improve the clarity around this process. We’re aiming to have new content on this topic in our FAQs as early as next week. If you need anything more specific in the meantime, please reach out to our Customer Services team who’ll be happy to help. Either with in-app chat if you’re a Plus member, or by email: hello@freetrade.io.