How can it cost £46 to sell a few Santander shares?

I have some Santander shares I gained years ago when it took over the demutualised Abbey National.

Every year the bank’s share management company, Equiniti, writes to me offering – among other things – to sell them.

For this, they want a £46 commission. This seems exorbitantly high, given that the shares are only worth about £450.

I now want to sell them – is there a cheaper option?
CP, Herts

Lots of people still have these shares and get these letters. I completely agree that a £46 charge sounds like too much for selling the 100 or so shares you must have. The charge would have been a 10% commission.

However, it turns out that that is the price for a written execution.

If you are prepared to sign up to the company’s online service – it takes a couple of days, as Equiniti has to send an authorisation code to your home – you can sell them for a more reasonable £20.

There are other slightly cheaper options but as a rare share trader, this will arguably be your easiest, and I would probably opt for that.

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