I like Vanguard’s ESG global and ESG corp bond (have them through Freetrade not pension). The issue with going direct to Vanguard though is that you’re limited to just their ETFs, and even though I like them and they perform well, I want other funds too.
Will at the Monzo community just brought my attention to Prosper though, which looks pretty good. Lets me at those vanguard ETFs with options for others (including actively managed ones). At the moment, it appears there’s no additional platform cost, and they’ll refund the vanguard fees (customer acquisition cost I suspect).
I wasn’t aware of Prosper until I saw Will’s post, either. Tempted by the Founder offer but I can’t see how an ISA or SIPP could be transferred in before the 31st July deadline now. To benefit from the 0% platform fees you have to have purchased the funds before the deadline, too.
OK, so I rang Prosper and was assured that if the transfer is initiated before the 31st July then the funds that the ISA or SIPP contains can then be used to purchase funds with 0% platform fees. If you then added more cash to your ISA/SIPP then that amount would attract the 0.25% platform fee.
I’m not entirely confident with that assurance but will give it a go (with a Cash ISA that I have) and see what happens.
I wasn’t too sure if the deadline included transfers, because it specifically mentions assets you buy during that period, and doesn’t mention transfers at all.
I’ve just read the Offer T&Cs and it says that provided you initiate the transfer and tell them which assets you want to buy with the proceeds before the deadline then it will qualify.
I’ve hit an issue, though. On the phone I was told you can transfer in a Cash ISA but in the app it only lists S&S ISA managers to choose from during the transfer flow. I’ve contacted them in-app to ask how you submit Cash ISA details. It seems odd that they would only transfer S&S ISAs, especially as they only support cash transfers and not in specie transfers.
Edit: They responded with a few minutes with a PDF ISA transfer form to complete and submit back to them in the app
The T&Cs state that both the transfer request AND the investment instructions must be received before the 31st July. I was told on the phone that it would be OK if I submitted the investment instructions when the ISA transfer finally completed but this is contrary to the T&Cs.
I asked in the app if they could confirm again that this is the case, but they replied saying that the investment instructions can only be submitted once the transfer has completed and the cash is in my account (which is not what I asked).
I’ve asked again to confirm that submitting the instructions once the ISA has transferred will still qualify me for the 0% platform fees and await their reply. If they can’t guarantee this then there’s really no point going ahead with the transfer because their standard fees or 0.25% and I can get better elsewhere.
Unfortunately you can’t see them until you’ve opened an account in the app. There’s a link in the Fees Schedule document that appears under Documents in your account. I’ll try and paste it here and see if it works:
Just to say that I’ve cancelled my ISA transfer and asked them to close my account. Something about it just doesn’t feel right and I’m uneasy with continuing with it.
