There has been a lot of coverage in the weekend press
and on the BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme about Selftrade's
intrusive questionnaire sent to clients. Any clues or views?

Received mine this morning, and think the questions very over the top. Are other brokers doing anything similar?

I closed my account long time ago with this lousy broker

Just seen this. Incredible!

Selftrade Questionnaire

Oh dear, well I only have a few £K with SelfTrade so fingers crossed I won't get a letter. I do also however have my sons trust fund with them... Maybe now would be a good time to change broker.

I'm angry about this, you HAVE to answer the questions or lose control of your money. Once I've done it, as minimally as poss, I shall be changing broker

Have a look at YouInvest ( A.J. Bell, previously Sippdeal) and BestInvest.
They both pay up to £500 to cover transfer fees you may incur.

Or Hargreaves Lansdown upto £1000.

Thanks for your help, appreciated

Further comment:

Here

"Selftrade wishes to announce that, following a strategic review, we have entered into exclusive discussions with the aim of transferring our customers and the Selftrade brand to Equiniti. This process is expected to conclude in Q4 2014, subject to regulatory approval.
We reviewed several offers from interested parties, having uppermost in our mind the need to closely match Selftrades values, customer pricing and service proposition and allow for a seamless transition. We already work closely with Equiniti in a number of areas, including their ongoing provision of custody services to Selftrade and are confident this will be achieved.
We are committed to making any transition as smooth as possible and, in the meantime, it is business as usual with no impact on how you access or use our services."

It gives everyone wishing to leave plenty of
time to leave, Why wait until Q4 to do so!

I think Equiniti charges are the same as Selftrade's. I do occasionally use them for a friend's account. I imagine that it is going to be a bit complicated to migrate the accounts over to Equiniti and will require a fair amount of regulatory paperwork.
Shares Mag use to occasionally run a comparison table of 'Execution only' dealers. I wonder if they still do?

Here is a comparison table :- Compare Execution Only Share Dealing

On edit - I see SAGA are in there!

Which is strange that Equiniti/ShareView isn't on the list.
Equiniti
"Buy and sell shares for just £12.50 with our standard Investment Account dealing

Perfect for anyone trading more regularly, the investment account allows you to trade shares without certificates for a flat fee of just £12.50 per trade. You can also invest in bonds, trusts and gilts."

In answer to Midknight's post above, I see all providers are charging for 'Transfers Out'. So moving your stock to another provider before the Equiniti move would incur a fee per holding (£25 per stock holding in the case of TD & A J Bell.)

Harry - I'm not trying to blow their trumpet, but HL are offering :-

Up to £1,000 cash back as a thank you when you transfer ISAs, funds, shares or pensions to Vantage by 8 May

Albeit a bit tight now!

Not very keen on this bit skinny:
"There is an annual charge to hold funds in Vantage. It is tiered within bands: 0.45% per annum on the first £250,000 of funds".

I try to go with providers which just charge a flat fee per trade. That way there are no surprises at the end of the year!

Harry, as I said - I'm not blowing their trumpet - just offering alternatives.

Btw - they do charge a flat rate fee per share trade?

Yes, £11.95 per trade but cheaper if you are a frequent trader.

Deals previous month Dealing charge
0 - 9 deals £11.95
10 - 19 deals £8.95
20 or more deals £5.95

There maybe cheaper around, but I've used them for 30 years and obviously they are now a FTSE100 company - so hopefully not transient!