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Just spent a good while on phone to find out charge for switching to another nominee account as I don't like the "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude of Equiniti - keep all or sell all, £50 for the privilege of a crap service! Form E will be posted to me & cost £15 to switch to JIM nominee account where I get flexibility and low charges & even told what I need to do to make the switch!! I guess the plummeting SP is people deciding abrdn & Equiniti are a nightmare & selling up in despair. I want to hold in the hope that abrdn get their corporate act together ...
E-lse - Yes, I was confused by the lack of a sell button but if you click on buy it will give you the option to buy or sell. There is then a time consuming form filling for which you can get a price for selling shares including fees. This is how I did a "dummy" sell which gave me the lower fee. (I'm assuming this is the real fee and there is no hidden catch!). I didn't find it user friendly and couldn't find out how to place a future price sell order. I'm unimpressed with the new arrangements and am currently monitoring prices with a similar view to yourself. I wasn't keen on Link but this is worse!
Rolio - thanks for that response - I seem to be missing something ! I have logged in to the abrdn site using the old login details which were accepted until I input my new reference number. I get the abrdn website - not the Equiniti one, but there is no button to sell shares anywhere. There is a buy button - but no sell. I wonder if you can point me to it ?
I called the help-line which turned out to be Equiniti. What a disaster. An extremely long-winded and for the most part irrelevant blurb, at the end of which there was no answer. The promised feedback opportunity 'after the call has ended' never happened. Just as well, as I was in expletive mode by that time.
It seems clear to me that abrdn has no idea how to handle a public interface, and I have lost confidence in their management. If they run the company with the same level of incompetence, then it is not a good investment. So, for what it is worth, my little contribution to their corporate funding will be withdrawn as soon as I figure out how to do it at a reasonable price.
E-lse, you're presumably referring to the paperwork you received from abrdn and specifically the EQ Share Dealing Form. The rates on that form bear no relationship to those you'll obtain if you do it on line through the share portal. Personally, I can see no reason why anyone would use the form provided when it appears to be a lot cheaper on line.
As a non-expert, so this is not authoritative, I believe that if you hold abrdn shares through their corporate sponsored nominee facility, now administered by Equiniti, then you are supposed to have received a letter from Equiniti setting up a new share account, and with that letter comes a form allowing you to buy, through Equinity, more shares at a flat fee of £50, or to sell shares at a fee of 25p per share with a cap of £50.
If your shares are not part of the abrdn sponsored corporate share scheme, then none of the above applies.
E-lse, where did you get dealing charges of 25p per share from? I did a "dummy" sale on Monday for, I think, 1100 shares and the dealing charge was nothing like that - it was something in the order of £17. However, I am also considering moving my shares to HL so would be interested to hear how you get on but please don't compare with 25p per share.
If your shareholding is with arndb or whatever directly as nominees, then you have to deal through rip-off Equiniti at 25p per share. If you bought and hold your shares shares through a reputable broker - LSE might be such a one, then you pay sensible broker fees, like about £10 a go.
As I mentioned before, the letter that came with the recent package - the letter headed 'Your new Share Account' states in the second sentence of paragraph two that "If you wish to transfer out of the abrdn Share Account you can do so free of charges if EFSL (that's Equinity) receives your request within 90 days of the shares being received by EFSL - by 5pm on Monday 24 October 2021." I believe that this applies to the nominee shareholdings administered by Equiniti only, not to those held directly through a broker. I called my broker today (HL as it happens) who answered the phone within 5 seconds, and said they would see what they could do to get the shares transferred to them as a regular shareholding. I'll report back when I get an answer. But technically, the reply will only apply to me, so you others who feel annoyed, as a matter of principle, get in touch with your brokers and see what their advice is. It may well require a direct approach from you in the first instance, but it cannot do any harm to let your broker know that you prefer to deal with them rather than Equinty.
After all that, Equinity, and adnmsxyz probably want you to dump your shares as little shareholders get in the way of the big money.
Don't normally check this site as I don't have a big holding here.....just to check on dividend declaration, etc.
Not sure what all the portal issues are. I am not pushing Hargreaves Lansdowne as a broker as they do cost a little more. However, I have experienced non of the reported issues you guys are reporting ...the change was done correctly and no issues to report....been with them for years...personally i like them and the ability to speak to someone when i want to, without having to wait for more than 60 seconds...just a thought.
As far as holding the abdn shares with equinity does anyone know if I can transfer them into my dealing account with fidelity or the like ? Tried to call them yesterday but ended up putting the phone down , very poor service and person I spoke to couldn’t answer my question ??
Just received my letter from EQ about the portal. The charges quoted in the letter are similar to those I have received in the past from registrars to small investors to buy or sell.
Thanks - just tried going via the BUY option and then selecting SELL. This does work and it does appear much cheaper to sell my allotment this way.
It would appear that to sell shares that you click on the link to Buy and that takes you through to a Buy/Sell option. I did a "dummy"sell in an attempt to clarify the dealing charges and they do not appear as high as the rates and charges quoted though cheaper elsewhere. I don't find the new share portal user friendly at all and can find no record of my SLA dividend history. Has anyone found this?
Re previous post, it occurs to me that simply registering on the new portal might be tacit acceptance of membership of their share account. But since they have failed to send me an activation code (its now 8th August), I could not complete the registration, so I have time to check this.
Equiniti is subject to a takeover bid from Siris Capital Group LLC Clearly, somebody else feels they could run the show better. Aberdeen Standard owns about 7% of Equiniti shares - is there a connection ?
It says in their letter 'If you wish to transfer out of the abrdn Share Accountyou can do so free of charge if EFSL receives your request within 90 days ......' Does anybody know how one might go about doing that.
I'm not impressed by the company in general, and their public face is now a joke. Silly name for a start. If you feel strongly about this, you can always vote against the reappointment of the Director in charge of marketing.
oh god yeah, i remember something about Equinity and getting something via post when i was shifting my santander shares, i'd forgotten about that, cant remember what it was now, might have been something to do with account registration even back then, i do remember laughing at the situation
I've just managed to register on the new portal. Can't see anywhere where you can sell them online though.
I'm tempted to sell the lot. I don't like the re-branding and I certainly don't like Equinity and their sky high charges.
Maybe the only way to sell at the moment is to send back the form they've sent with the registration letter?
I had to laugh, registered for the new, hi tech share portal with email address and mobile number and they still send the activation code by snail mail. Was the carrier pidgoen ill?
my original Santander Shares where held with Equinity, and apart from the script dividend buying scheme I was enrolled in, which was at the time pretty much fee free, or very very small, the only other time i used them was a Bed and ISA transaction to shift the entire holding into my stocks and shares ISA, I didn't think much of them then, and would avoid like the plague now.
I've held shares in what was Standard Life since 1987 and it has provided some good dividends that would pay for an annual holiday. It is very disappointing to have witnessed the mess made of that company, for whatever the reasons.
Now with another (stupid, unnecessary and expensive) name change under our belt I will wait too see if it proves to be of any value. I hope it does although my holding is now vastly reduced to the amount of shares that I received free with my endowment mortgage in 1987.
On the subject of Equinity: that was another groan as it is another 'nose in the trough' financial service, as commented below in this thread. (I hold a few BT shares with them.) No wonder abdn have bought shares in them.
Back scratches all round?
Agree 100%. Still no letter. This is ridiculous and apparently no easy way to make contact.
Disgusted at the change of name and all the associated cobblers so sold out this morning. Managed to do it via phone number obtained from the new website. Live price quoted. Ripped off £187 dealing charge on a £18k sale - don't know if I could have avoided that but glad to say good riddance anyway.
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Tried again today, no letter! Equinity phone number requests details you do not have, because you haven't had "the letter". Spent ages on hold listening to awful music and periodic less than helpful messages and got nowhere!
I remain to be convinced that Equiniti know what they are doing re ABDN share/holders.
Would be interested to know if any ABDN shareholder has received a letter from Equinitiy which enables them to trade (buy or sell) ABDN shares.
Would complain to ABRDN but web site seriously lacking in contact details!