EasyEquities fees shot up?

[ilovetaterzzz]

Is it just me or did EasyEquities bump their brokerage fees massively this month?
I run TFSA for my kids and deposit 250/month into each of their accounts. Usually it costs like R4-5 to invest that.

This month it’s about R20?

EDIT - Thanks all for the input. As described below it seems to be an error on their side.

 

[gavri]

@ilovetaterzzz Its a fault on their end, they are correcting it.

Good morning EasyVSTR

I trust you are doing well.

We are aware of the settlement and administration costs being excessively high. This is a back-end issue we have now resolved.

We have updated these fees in line with the STRATE increase as well as the JSE investor protection levy (IPL).

We concluded the update this morning, however, the values in the system were incorrectly captured resulting in the Strate Fee being incorrect.

If you have made a transaction that was executed at the incorrect rate, this will be refunded to you during the next few days.

We apologise for this unfortunate inconvenience.

Regards,
TeamEasy

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

So have got the breakdown.
R240 of ETF bought.
Settlement and admin fees R19,80
IPL and other costs about R1.50.

On my wife’s TFSA which is fully funded ie exempt from thrive fees—-
R1170 of etf bought.
Settlement and admin fee R104.
That’s a big percentage.

Last month the settlement and broker fee was R8.50 on a R1750 etf purchase

 

[ethan46]

@ilovetaterzzz That doesn't sound right at all! That's a ridiculous %. Is it perhaps a mistake on their part?

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

@ethan46 Apparently it is. Have had feedback that it’s an error and they’re correcting it

 

[noeljack]

@ilovetaterzzz What was the description for that fee?

But to answer your question, if you listen to the results presentations and comments from the CEO of Purple group, they are looking at how to make EE profitable. It costs them money to run the platform and their profitability per account isn’t high enough to pay for the platform. Hence the introduction of the Thrive fee, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they find other ways to make the platform more profitable.

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

@noeljack Sure. I get that. I’ll check the description once the transaction is actioned on market open.

If it’s going to cost 10% of the investment in fees every month that’s not sustainable as an option for a kids investment.

 

[noeljack]

@ilovetaterzzz If you’re depositing funds in their accounts there shouldn’t be a thrive fee. So yes, if those are transaction fees for buying investments that’s too much. It might make sense to rather put the money in each month and then invest it at the end of the year.

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

@noeljack I’m going to ask them because on the statement it explains the settlement and admin fee as being a flat rate of 0.075% of the value traded.
It’s almost like there has been a decimal point error.

It’s the only explanation for a logarithmic increase in fee from one month to the next

 

[sheppardfollower]

@ilovetaterzzz Broker commission is .25%

Commission and Settlement is .075%

if it is that you paid 19R on 240R investment, definitely a decimal point error on their end.https://resources.easyequities.co.za/EasyEquities\_EasyAdvisorCostProfile.pdf

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

@sheppardfollower They’ve just reverted back to me to admit that there was an error and they’ll be refunding the j the next few days…..

 

[sheppardfollower]

@ilovetaterzzz Shocking that there was an error like that. You would think that there was a better process to make sure it’s difficult for this error to happen

 

[ilovetaterzzz]

@sheppardfollower Yep. Like a decimal point two places to the left!!

 

[ethan46]

@ilovetaterzzz At around 10% they are going to lose most, if not all, of their customers. What I hope they don't do, is say it was a mistake but not pay back those who don't complain.

 

[saidagha]

@noeljack This makes me hesitant to invest with them. Like how much of my money will they need?

 

[valerie2017]

@ilovetaterzzz On the 28th of March I invested R3000 in my TFSA. Bought an ETF and got a discount of R4.50 due to my thrive level (I think I'm on level 6 or 7).

My transaction fee for that purchase went from the usual R10 - R11 for a R3000 transaction, to R6.05 for the R3000 transaction.

 

[dougloose]

@ilovetaterzzz Same here, must be some kind of error on their side

 

[tiras84]

@ilovetaterzzz Can confirm. When I went to deposit R1000 this morning it was about R86.47 worth of fees. 8.65% just for the deposit seems exorbitant.

 

[redeemed2007]

@tiras84 That's disgusting, you're getting ripped off. Check out government retail bonds. Guaranteed (conservative) return and ZERO cost.

 

[didactics]

@ilovetaterzzz That might be the thrive fee they added? Have you got a statement break down.