Why does Fidelity offer this consolidation service?

By consolidating your existing investments with us, we hope you'll want to make new investments through FundsNetwork in the future. We also believe this will help maintain our position as one of the UK's leading fund supermarkets.

I want to consolidate my investment with you, but I also want to change the fund. However, the system will only let me re-register. How do I change my fund?

By default, we'll always look to re-register an investment that can be re-registered to avoid you being out of the market. You can re-register and then switch funds afterwards. It typically costs 0.25% to switch into another fund (Please note if you switch into a unit trust this may have a bid-offer spread). For example, if your ISA was worth £5000, it would typically cost £12.50 to switch it into a different fund. If, however, you'd prefer to transfer your ISA, enter the name of your investment company under the 'Other' section on the first page of the consolidation tool. This will make the tool automatically offer to transfer this investment.

What is re-registration?

A simple way of consolidating all your investments in one place. Your money stays in the same funds, but FundsNetwork takes over their administration.  This is a free service and we'll even pay any exit fees you may incur.  You are never out of the market, and it does not impact the ISA status of your investment.

What funds can I re-register?

You can find the current list of funds available for re-registration here.

Please note that sometimes not all the funds in a company's range can be re-registered. Most of these exceptions are tracker funds, cash funds, windfall shares and investment trusts. They can be transferred if these are inside an ISA.

If you want to consolidate all your investments on FundsNetwork it may be best to re-register all the funds you can first.  Then if you find that anything has not been moved across, transfer the rest. For current-year ISAs only, we will not be able to complete your re-registration unless all of your funds can be re-registered. For all previous ISA (or PEP) years, we will re-register all of the funds that are available.

Note that from 6 April 2008, any Personal Equity Plans (PEP) you hold will automatically become stocks and shares ISA.

How much will re-registering my funds cost me?

Nothing. Neither Fidelity nor the fund companies involved charge you anything for this service. In the unlikely event that a charge is levied by a third party for re-registration, Fidelity will meet the cost.

What is an ISA transfer?

If your investment company doesn't support re-registration, we can contact the company and request that they transfer your ISA (PEP) to us. To do this they will sell your existing investment and send us the proceeds to reinvest in funds of your choice. You can choose from any of the ISA-qualifying funds on FundsNetwork, often at no charge.  

The Consolidation tool will tell you which ISAs have to be transferred. Select the "Choose funds" link at the bottom left of that page to see all the funds that you can transfer into. Please note this "Choose funds" link only appears when you are logged in.

What’s an ISA-eligible fund?

An ISA-eligible fund is one that can be owned within an ISA wrapper. The vast majority of funds on FundsNetwork qualify. The Consolidation tool will automatically exclude any funds you add to your favourite funds that are not ISA-qualifying.

What funds can I transfer into free-of-charge?

The Consolidation tool will tell you which ISAs (PEPs) have to be transferred. To find funds that you can transfer into free-of-charge click on the 'choose funds' link at the bottom left of this page. Please note this "Choose funds" link only appears when you are logged in.

What is meant by being out-of-the market?

This is the time between the moment when your old provider acts upon your instruction, to when we reinvest your investment. We reinvest your funds as quickly as possible.

While your investment is out of the market, it won't be impacted by any falls in the market. However, if the market goes up you will miss out on that investment growth. You could also miss out on any income payments during this time.

What if I get charged an exit fee by my old provider?

If your old provider charges you an exit fee, you can claim it back from us. Just give us a call and will help you sort it out.

How do I know if a fund makes a charge for a transfer?

Our Fund Finder tool and the fact sheets for each fund will show you whether there is a charge to transfer a fund, and if so, what it is. Also, the transfer charge for each fund is clearly printed on the transfer forms you’ll need to sign at the end of the process.

How long will it take to consolidate?

It varies between one and eight weeks depending on the investment company. We contact them on your behalf within one or two days. We will then chase them on your behalf if we don’t hear anything back as quickly as we should. Once we’ve been able to consolidate your investment, we will send you a letter confirming that it's all complete.

Current year ISA?

If you have contributed to an ISA during this tax year (either in cash or invested in stocks and shares) then you will have a current year ISA. This has to be kept separate from any other ISAs you have because we need to know how much of your ISA allowance is left.

Previous year ISA?

ISAs from previous years are treated as a single holding. No more money can be invested in previous years’ ISAs, so they do not have to be differentiated by the years they were set up. Similarly, there is no indication required of whether you made your original investments through Maxi or Mini ISAs, or as PEPs (which are now automatically stocks and shares ISAs).

PEPs?

After April 2008, all Personal Equity Plans (PEP) will automatically become stocks and shares ISAs. Fund investments within PEPs are treated as a single holding. It is no longer possible to put money into PEPs, so there is no need for them to be linked to particular years.

Outside ISA?

These investments may either be just in your name or joint accounts. They are not held within an ISA wrapper. If the company does not support re-registration, you won’t be able to select this as part of the consolidation tool. Instead, contact the company directly and ask them to sell the investment and send you the proceeds.

Please note, it is possible to move investment trust shares held outside an ISA to our share dealing service via a stock transfer.

Will I have to move my money into Fidelity's funds when I consolidate?

No. There will be no change to investments you can re-register, your money stays in the same funds. Fidelity simply takes over the administration of your account.  For ISAs you transfer, you can choose from any fund on FundsNetwork, often at no charge.

What if I have investments with more than one company?

The more companies you have investments with the more you will notice the benefits of having everything in the same place after you’ve consolidated. But, of course it does mean the application process is a bit more complicated. Fidelity will try to help by sending you separate confirmations as soon as each re-registration or transfer is finalised.

Will I be able to make contributions to my ISA while it is being consolidated?

One-off contributions should be made either before you send in your form, or after your re-registration is completed.

Can I consolidate cash holdings?

Yes, you can transfer cash ISAs across to us. They will be invested in our MoneyBuilder Cash ISA that pays a consistent, competitive rate.

How will I know my funds have been consolidated?

We will send you a letter confirming that your units or shares have been re-registered or transferred for each company. This letter will show how many units or shares have been moved and your account number. If you are re-registering investments in and outside an ISA from the same company, you will receive a separate confirmation for each. Once a re-registration or transfer has taken place you can also check the details online in Account Management.

How will consolidated investments appear in Account Management?

Account Management shows each ISA as a separate account, and you have another account for investments that are not held within a tax wrapper. If you like, you can have additional accounts for your outside ISA investments and give each one its own name or "designation". This enables you to have a joint account, for example, or to have accounts for different purposes, such as school fees, mortgage repayment and retirement savings.

Can I carry over the designation on an account I consolidate?

Yes, you can for unit trusts and OEICs. There is a box on the re-registration application form where you can tell us what the account designation is. Designations can't be carried over for ISA accounts.

Will my funds stay in an ISA when I consolidate them?

Yes, but you will not be able to move funds into an ISA if they are not already held in a tax-wrapper.

Will re-registration make me liable for Capital Gains Tax?

No. Units and shares are not sold when you re-register them, so there are no capital gains for you to be taxed on.

Will there be any change to the income payments I receive from my funds?

For ISAs, you may find that your first few income payments are lower than you are used to, because Fidelity does not send out reclaimed tax until it has been received from the Inland Revenue. We also consolidate income from different funds into a single payment from all your ISAs. The payment date may also change.

What about my monthly savings plan? Do I need to stop the payments? And if so, how and when will they be started again?

Fidelity will tell your investment company to stop collecting the payments. You should also let your bank know about the change, to ensure you do not make payments to two different companies. Once you have received confirmation that your funds have been re-registered, you can set up a new monthly savings plan (MSP) with us - MSPs within an ISA or MSPs outside an ISA  When we receive the form we will write back to tell you when your payments will start again.

I have a small amount of cash in my account with the old investment company. What will happen to it?

Your old investment company will send the cash to us after your re-registration has been completed. We will invest the money in whichever fund is your largest re-registered holding at the time we receive your cash.

I notice that Account Management shows my units and shares to two decimal places. If I have fund holdings that are shown to more than two decimal places, will they be rounded down?

Yes. For example, if you re-register 123.4567 units in Fund A, Account Management will show that you have 123.45 units. The remaining 0.0067 of a unit will be placed in a separate account along with similar part-units from other investors. When the units in this file reach a practical level - say, ten - they will be sold for charity. 

Favourite Funds

To choose a fund to transfer into, just click on the shopping basket icon on Fund Finder or a MorningStar Fact Sheet -  This will carry your selection through to the consolidation tool. If you change your mind you can deselect the fund at a later stage.