Carnival shares

[dougo in oz]

Hmmm ... so maybe I'm better off going to ANZ or St George where others have gone ...

 

Thanks

 

Cheers

Heather

[The_Big_M]

Yeah, personally I'm not a fan of such fees. I guess it's probably because they are paying the custodian to keep them, the cost of which would normally come out of trade fees. If you don't trade it costs them money with no revenue to cover it. But with fees like that I just try to find some way around them.

[LouLou28]

We have set up our Westpac account this week and are just waiting for formal paperwork to arrive in the mail. I'll let you know what we find out when we read all the PDS info.

[dougo in oz]

Yeah, personally I'm not a fan of such fees. I guess it's probably because they are paying the custodian to keep them, the cost of which would normally come out of trade fees. If you don't trade it costs them money with no revenue to cover it. But with fees like that I just try to find some way around them.

 

I know the fees are a pain ... but if the shares are held in our name it should be fine ... I'll ring Westpac today to clarify ... I did speak to someone the other day and told her what I wanted and she said she had heard of people wanting to buy Carnival shares for the purposes of the benefits on board. So it's not a "foreign" thing for Westpac employees in that particular area to know about this ... it's just a matter of whether this is the correct way to hold shares to get to the end result, OBC

 

Cheers

Heather

[dougo in oz]

We have set up our Westpac account this week and are just waiting for formal paperwork to arrive in the mail. I'll let you know what we find out when we read all the PDS info.

 

Hi Linda

 

I think I posted our papers last Thursday ?? I did get an email confirming that I had filled out the application on line, but as I mentioned to The Big M above, I'll contact Westpac today and see if I can get some more info about how the shares are held

 

Cheers

Heather

[dougo in oz]

I note they say "Your international securities will be held in the custody of an International Custodian" I believe that just means custody as it says, rather than stating ownership, but it might be best to call them to check.

 

You need a brokerage statement with your personal details, showing your holding.

 

BTW, I note they also charge US63.50 for year if you purchase the shares then don't do any more trading. Might be something to keep in mind, or be aware of anyway.

 

I just rang Westpac and the woman I spoke to says that our personal details and our shares held will be shown on any document we get from the Custodian.

 

And as you noted, charges are payable if there is no trading each year ...

 

Cheers

Heather

[dougo in oz]

Yeah, personally I'm not a fan of such fees. I guess it's probably because they are paying the custodian to keep them, the cost of which would normally come out of trade fees. If you don't trade it costs them money with no revenue to cover it. But with fees like that I just try to find some way around them.

 

I decided to switch to E-Trade through ANZ. Trying to get info about fees / custodial relationships and what that meant in terms of on going fees and more importantly if the shares would be in our names rather than the US Custodian ... well let's just say it was like pulling teeth.

 

At 3.20 today I walked into our local ANZ, the woman rang up e-trading and clarified the type of ANZ account etc, created an account for us and then proceeded to complete our on-line application with e-trade ... she printed everything out, double checked it all, gave us copies and put certified copies of IDs etc with the signed applications and put it in an ANZ envelope for us ... so now we sit and wait for the account to be created.

 

Am I correct in assuming that I contact E-trade once I am ready to buy (and with $$ in the account) and then that's it ?

 

Thanks for your help

cheers

Heather

[Pushka]

Once your etrade share account has been created, you then need to apply for access to the International market platform unless your visit did both at once?

[The_Big_M]

 

Am I correct in assuming that I contact E-trade once I am ready to buy (and with $$ in the account) and then that's it ?

 

1. Account set-up including international access

2. Deposit sufficient funds in the account

3. Execute trade!

 

Once you've purchased your shares it's then just a matter of sending the statement to the relevant cruise line after you have a booking.

[Pushka]

I had to do this in two stages.

[dougo in oz]

Once your etrade share account has been created, you then need to apply for access to the International market platform unless your visit did both at once?

 

I really don't know, the lady at the bank did it all on line !! As far as I know, when applying through E-Trade they set up an E Trade ANZ Cash Investment Account .

[dougo in oz]

1. Account set-up including international access

2. Deposit sufficient funds in the account

3. Execute trade!

 

Once you've purchased your shares it's then just a matter of sending the statement to the relevant cruise line after you have a booking.

 

I'll certainly be looking forward to getting all this sorted ... thanks so much for your advice - I feel more comfortable changing over to E-trade than with the other.

[dougo in oz]

I had to do this in two stages.

 

I'll let you know how I go. Our next cruise is 3 months away so I have some time on my side at this stage.

 

Thanks again for your advice

[LouLou28]

I just got off the phone with ANZ global trading desk who confirmed that shares bought through them are held in a custodian relationship as well (with Citibank). I know some of you have dealt through ANZ .. What were you given to prove ownership?

[dougo in oz]

Once your etrade share account has been created, you then need to apply for access to the International market platform unless your visit did both at once?

 

I rang E-Trade today to give them my TFN as I forgot to take it with me to the bank ... never thought I would be filling out the forms there and then.

 

Anyway a nice young man who is happy to help me spend the kid's inheritance told me that he has answered quite a few calls about buying Carnival shares and was aware of what that entailed.

 

He suggested I download the forms for Global Shares Service Activation, complete / sign it and send it in to them and they'll marry up the paperwork with our existing application and photo IDs and it should just be a matter of a couple of days then Bob's your uncle !

[Pushka]

I rang E-Trade today to give them my TFN as I forgot to take it with me to the bank ... never thought I would be filling out the forms there and then.

 

Anyway a nice young man who is happy to help me spend the kid's inheritance told me that he has answered quite a few calls about buying Carnival shares and was aware of what that entailed.

 

He suggested I download the forms for Global Shares Service Activation, complete / sign it and send it in to them and they'll marry up the paperwork with our existing application and photo IDs and it should just be a matter of a couple of days then Bob's your uncle !

 

Yes. That was the form I was thinking of.

[The_Big_M]

Anyway a nice young man who is happy to help me spend the kid's inheritance told me that he has answered quite a few calls about buying Carnival shares and was aware of what that entailed.

 

Wow, either must be only a few people working there, or many people calling up about it.

[dougo in oz]

Wow, either must be only a few people working there, or many people calling up about it.

 

I have no idea but it wouldn't surprise me if there are a lot of people calling up ... I just had a quick look and there are nearly 8,500 hits on this thread ... so who knows?

[Pushka]

The price is around $36usd at the moment I think. On cunards site there is quite a bit of promotion about the Shateholder deal and an email address to send it to.

[stass1]

I'm interested as well, but it's a lot of money for me to get up for shares...struggling 25 year old here lol

[LouLou28]

Have spoken to Westpac Global desk again. We can apparently have the shares transferred from custodian relationship to our own names for a once off fee $90. Which we will probably do and the won't have the recurring annual fee as we have nothing held in custody ... Hopefully anyway!!

[Mr Princess]

The only catch with RCCL share OBC's is that any other OBC that you may be entitled to from RCCL may be negated by applying this shareholder option. :mad:

So it's best to check what other RCCL OBC's you are entitled to (such as future cruise OBC) before you submit for your shareholder one, as your future cruise one may be worth more!

With Princess shareholder benefit, at least they allow all your other OBC's as well! :D

 

MP

[dougo in oz]

Have spoken to Westpac Global desk again. We can apparently have the shares transferred from custodian relationship to our own names for a once off fee $90. Which we will probably do and the won't have the recurring annual fee as we have nothing held in custody ... Hopefully anyway!!

 

 

It would be helpful to me if they had provided all this information that you've noted when I contacted them about custodial relationships etc. I lost confidence in them when I rang for about the third or fourth time - just about every response was "I don't know" - I didn't think they were hard questions particularly as the person mentioned to me that she had heard of people buying Carnival shares for the reasons I mentioned.:cool:

 

Loulou have you read the two global markets guides associated with Westpac and the custodial arrangements ? It was full of fees which I had no idea about and if they would pertain to us or not. It was at that stage I decided to pull the pin and go with ANZ. They may well have the same custodial arrangements as ANZ but at least ANZ / E-Trade responded quickly to my questions and as yet have not used "I don't know" as their stock standard answer.

 

I hope everything goes well for you with Westpac and you up and trading soon.

 

Cheers

Heather

[LouLou28]

It would be helpful to me if they had provided all this information that you've noted when I contacted them about custodial relationships etc. I lost confidence in them when I rang for about the third or fourth time - just about every response was "I don't know" - I didn't think they were hard questions particularly as the person mentioned to me that she had heard of people buying Carnival shares for the reasons I mentioned.:cool:

 

Loulou have you read the two global markets guides associated with Westpac and the custodial arrangements ? It was full of fees which I had no idea about and if they would pertain to us or not. It was at that stage I decided to pull the pin and go with ANZ. They may well have the same custodial arrangements as ANZ but at least ANZ / E-Trade responded quickly to my questions and as yet have not used "I don't know" as their stock standard answer.

 

I hope everything goes well for you with Westpac and you up and trading soon.

 

Cheers

Heather

 

I hear you Heather! I think we persisted with Westpac mainly because I work for them :eek: (in a completely different part of the Bank). I've learned that you need to make sure you are talking with someone on the Global desk (even when you ring the Global Trading number, you don't always get the Global 'experts'). We've had two lovely ladies that have helped us ... although I can honestly say nothing was quick! (I can also add that I never let on that I was staff when I called either - so haven't received any special service!).

 

When I spoke with ANZ and found out it was a custodial holding as well - I just thought I would stick with Westpac given we had already opened the account.

 

We still haven't finalised the deal yet - the benefit with ANZ also seems to be that you can hold funds in the AUD account - we have to get $$ transferred to USD to make the trade (although they've been very helpful in getting this done). We're hoping that the certification we get is enough for us to access the OBC benefits ... and/or the transfer to personal ownership works as they've said it will.

 

I've also emailed Carnival directly asking them if/how they deal with Custodial holdings such as this ... will certainly post once I get that response too!

 

I think I had better book a few more cruises so I know I'm getting my monies worth!

[The_Big_M]

I We still haven't finalised the deal yet - the benefit with ANZ also seems to be that you can hold funds in the AUD account - we have to get $$ transferred to USD to make the trade (although they've been very helpful in getting this done).

 

That is a pain, as it also means you lose out on the foreign exchange conversion. Plus presumably you'll have to transfer more than the amount to cater for whatever the market price is on the day you transact in case it's gone up. And then you'll have another account to maintain?