Customers of Selftrade, the online stockbroker, have been hit with an annual management fee of £40. It is being introduced in July and customers are already venting their anger about the new charge in online chatrooms.
One Selftrade customer said: “I think they’ll lose a lot of customers because of this.” Another said: “I am not happy about this. I would urge people to close their Selftrade accounts rapidly to avoid being hit by the £40 fee, which starts on July 1.”
However it could prove expensive to transfer shares out of Selftrade and go elsewhere. A spokesman for Selftrade confirmed that it charges a transfer fee of £10 per line of stock, up to a maximum of £100. Customers argue that a fee of as much as £100 to switch stocks to another broker means that they are effectively locked in.
One customer has e-mailed Selftrade to say: “It seems grossly unfair suddenly to impose a management charge, especially as you have not given me reasonable notice. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) suggests that in cases like this you should offer customers the opportunity to close the account free of charge.
“I cannot see how you can justify a withdrawal fee when the withdrawal is only happening because you are making changes to the account and introducing a management fee. The Financial Services Authority recommends Treating Customers Fairly. In these circumstances this transfer fee is clearly unfair.”
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A Selftrade spokesman said today: “We have decided that, since the new terms apply from July 1, we will not be imposing a transfer charge on anyone who transfers out of their account with us before July 1.”
Paul Greetham, chief executive of Selftrade, said, in a message to customers : “I do hope you will feel the new system is more equitable for all users of our services and that the fee maintains our policy of setting a clear, transparent and competitive price for our services.”