Easy Equities good or bad?

[Solitude]

At this point in time it's very difficult to recommend EasyEquities. On the 14th I tried to sell my Lonmin shares but wasn't able to due to an error that I was getting. Support was never able to tell me why I got the error. They took so long to reply that the shares started dropping so I thought I would hold on. Which was a mistake on my side.

Then the consolidation happens and EasyEquities were completely unprepared for that. According to their system I've made a profit of 6036.36% which is of course not the case. And now it's not possible to trade Lonmin on their system.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Agreed, I would not recommend them at this point in time either.

This being unable to sell shares when YOU want to is a big bloody problem.

 

[Neo_X]

Agreed, I would not recommend them at this point in time either.

This being unable to sell shares when YOU want to is a big bloody problem.

have to agree. but yes - it is a relatively new platform, and they do give free phone trades should the online platform not work.


most of the bugs discovered in the past year they resolved quite quickly. guess quite a few platforms is not quite built for a share consolidation.

 

[ToxicBunny]

have to agree. but yes - it is a relatively new platform, and they do give free phone trades should the online platform not work.


most of the bugs discovered in the past year they resolved quite quickly. guess quite a few platforms is not quite built for a share consolidation.

Thing is, on this Share consolidation front, it was not sprung on them unannounced... they had MORE than enough time to dev and test the platform to see that it could handle this, and they failed...

But other times when the price was swinging wildly and they just suspended trade was a big big problem.... and i don't see that being an issue with the platform and more an issue with them as a company.

 

[Papsak]

From my absa account.

Due to the consolidation of Lonmin Plc ("Lonmin") you will not be able to view your existing holdings nor be able to sell your shares ONLINE.
In order to trade your existing shares please contact us on 0860 05 04 03 to place a sell order.

For further information on the consolidation please refer to the SENS announcement.

So not just EE

 

[Deleted member 83147]

EE down for anyone else?

Can't log in, keep getting errors.

 

[Neo_X]

EE down for anyone else?

Can't log in, keep getting errors.

getting the same here.

they sometimes do platform updates at around midnight. Here is to hoping that they could give out notifications...

 

[Noseworthy]

Are they planning an app soon? The mobi site sucks

 

[Toothless]

getting the same here.

they sometimes do platform updates at around midnight. Here is to hoping that they could give out notifications...

Have not logged in last night, but it was working this morning. Deposited money and purchased shares without any issues.

 

[Swa]

This is ridiculous. Deposited R2.5k yesterday afternoon. According to bank notification should have been in before today yet nothing. Sent them an email but still nothing whether they even received it or not. Luckily stock hasn't risen yet.

 

[Deleted member 83147]

This is ridiculous. Deposited R2.5k yesterday afternoon. According to bank notification should have been in before today yet nothing. Sent them an email but still nothing whether they even received it or not. Luckily stock hasn't risen yet.

Phone them. I did that the other week when my deposit took a bit longer than it should.

 

[Toothless]

And on that note, what EXACTLY would happen should they go bankrupt?

If EE goes bankrupt you will be okay.

However, if GT247 goes bankrupt or something happens here, this is where a world of pain will start for anyone who purchased shares through EE.

All shares are registered in the company name. They do have a register noting the name of the 'owner' who purchased the share. But, in any legal application, such as bankruptcy, etc., the law sees the shares as the property of the company and not yours as the investor.

An executor appointed will probably have all shares sold off. You as investor will need to file a claim to recoup your money. All shares sold will be distributed amongst investors and debtors. Debtors will naturally get preference. So, what is left will be distributed.

You will not get all your money back. Probably only a small portion.

I wish they would change this as I am using them for very short term and small investments. I will never invest large sums of money, as I am not the owner of the shares and see their operation as a 'scheme'. All schemes eventually collapses, with consequences.

Edit: Your money in the nominee account will be okay from creditors, but it is not safe from fraud. The shares are the property of the company and they can move or sell your shares legally. So, if your shares were raided by some owners who disappears with investors money then you will lose your investment.

 

[Deleted member 83147]

@ The EE Rep Guy

Can we please get more info about how our shares are protected. I'm talking specifically about the Whole Shares, I understand the FSR's are a different story.

How are we protected as shareholders if something happens to EE/GT247/Purple Group?

I have a few grand in EE at the moment and am planning on using EE to invest (long term) due to the fact that the platform has no monthly fee nor minimum brokerage. My average monthly investment will be around R5k in about 20 different individual shares. So the only platform that makes financial sense is EE.

However if I do not feel my investment is safe then I would have no choice but to suck it up and pay FNB their fees for Share Investor. This would change my entire approach though, and I'll probably only be able to buy shares in 1 company a month.

Please provide more info ASAP, I do understand it's the holiday period, but this is our money.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

@ The EE Rep Guy

Can we please get more info about how our shares are protected. I'm talking specifically about the Whole Shares, I understand the FSR's are a different story.

How are we protected as shareholders if something happens to EE/GT247/Purple Group?

I have a few grand in EE at the moment and am planning on using EE to invest (long term) due to the fact that the platform has no monthly fee nor minimum brokerage. My average monthly investment will be around R5k in about 20 different individual shares. So the only platform that makes financial sense is EE.

However if I do not feel my investment is safe then I would have no choice but to suck it up and pay FNB their fees for Share Investor. This would change my entire approach though, and I'll probably only be able to buy shares in 1 company a month.

Please provide more info ASAP, I do understand it's the holiday period, but this is our money.

You don't need a rep to tell you that Toothless is talking out his arse...

 

[Toothless]

You don't need a rep to tell you that Toothless is talking out his arse...

Take a look at the bold part below. You are not the owner of the shares in legal terms.

How are my assets protected?
Modified on: Wed, 11 Nov, 2015 at 11:41 AM

EasyEquities has to comply with certain regulations regarding the requirement to have adequate net capital and asset protection.

GT247.com segregates your securities holdings and cash in your account, meaning it keeps your assets separate from the company's own assets.

In addition, EasyEquities will hold all client assets in First World Trader Nominees (Proprietary) Limited, which is a ring fenced, private, limited liability company with registration number 2013/091397/07, registered in accordance with the company laws of South Africa and approved as a nominee company to hold assets in its name on behalf of clients by the FSB.

When you purchase Whole Securities, you become the beneficial (true) owner of all those Whole Securities, which will be held by FWT Nominees on your behalf. FWT will ensure that you are reflected as the beneficial owner of your Whole Securities in our books of account.

 

[Deleted member 83147]

You don't need a rep to tell you that Toothless is talking out his arse...

Would still prefer to have my name on the share certificate though.

 

[Toothless]

@ The EE Rep Guy

Can we please get more info about how our shares are protected. I'm talking specifically about the Whole Shares, I understand the FSR's are a different story.

How are we protected as shareholders if something happens to EE/GT247/Purple Group?

I have a few grand in EE at the moment and am planning on using EE to invest (long term) due to the fact that the platform has no monthly fee nor minimum brokerage. My average monthly investment will be around R5k in about 20 different individual shares. So the only platform that makes financial sense is EE.

However if I do not feel my investment is safe then I would have no choice but to suck it up and pay FNB their fees for Share Investor. This would change my entire approach though, and I'll probably only be able to buy shares in 1 company a month.

Please provide more info ASAP, I do understand it's the holiday period, but this is our money.

If you are looking at investing 5k+ a month, your best bet would be to go with a bank or PSG. Yes, there is a monthly fee and yes, the charges are much higher. But, at least, share certificates are issued in YOUR name and you have the option on whether they keep it on your behalf or mail it to you. If PSG or any bank ends up in trouble, you are the legal owner of the shares and you can simply collect your share certificates. Not so if GT247 goes belly-up.

 

[Deleted member 83147]

If you are looking at investing 5k+ a month, your best bet would be to go with a bank or PSG. Yes, there is a monthly fee and yes, the charges are much higher. But, at least, share certificates are issued in YOUR name and you have the option on whether they keep it on your behalf or mail it to you. If PSG or any bank ends up in trouble, you are the legal owner of the shares and you can simply collect your share certificates. Not so if GT247 goes belly-up.

You have a link to PSG's online share trading? Something that will tell me their monthly account costs and minimum brokerage. I want to compare it to FNB Share Investor (which is the cheapest I can find at the moment).

I can't find it on their main website.

 

[Toothless]

Okay, here is a link to a clear article on broker nominee accounts:

https://the-international-investor.com/investment-faq/stock-broker-account-safety

Your money seems to be safe from creditors should the company go belly-up. But, your money/shares are not safe from:

Segregation is effectively an honour system, where the broker is expected to do the right thing and keep client and firm assets separate. In some cases, regulators and exchanges will be checking up on their holdings regularly, but obviously they can’t keep an eye on what’s in which account all the time.

So the system is open to fraud and abuse. If your stock broker decides to sell or move shares from nominee accounts, they will be able to do so.

And of course, fraud like this is most likely to happen when the firm is on the edge of collapse, needs cash or assets to meet its own liabilities and the temptation to ‘borrow’ client assets for a while to tide them over becomes too great – or simply when the management decides it’s time to loot client assets and retire somewhere with no extradition treaty.

So the point at which segregation is likely to offer no protection is just when you need it most.

It’s also worth being aware that even if there hasn’t been deliberate fraud, when a stock broker collapses its records often turn out to be shaky. So establishing which clients own what in the nominee account may take a lot of work and assets may sometimes turn out to have been misplaced in the turmoil.

So while the industry often presents segregation as the thing that guarantees the safety of your investments, it’s nothing of the kind. The safety it offers is limited and the system is close to being the absolute minimum that could be accepted, rather than added protection for investors.

In effect, you still stand the chance of losing everything if there is fraud committed. The risk still is too big for large amounts of money.

As the article pointed out, take a look what happened to clients of MF Global (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MF_Global).... Please don't tell me GT247 is free from this.

 

[Toothless]

You have a link to PSG's online share trading? Something that will tell me their monthly account costs and minimum brokerage. I want to compare it to FNB Share Investor (which is the cheapest I can find at the moment).

I can't find it on their main website.

https://www.psg.co.za/wealth/stockbroking/local-shares/how-to-invest#Direct-client-fees

For 5k+ a month this will be your best option. As, with EE, you do not really own the shares, even if kept 'safely' in a nominee account. The shares are still that of the company and legally they can move or sell your shares.

But, I still say EE is okay for smaller investments.