Share dealing

nearlyretired2004

(also posted on the share dealing sticky thread but guessing the main forum wil get more views......)

I last dealt 5 or 6 years ago in shares of the company I was working for, using a low cost service organised by them.

Want to start dealing again but probably infrequently.

I'm looking at an account with x-o.co.uk but have also seen iii mentioned on here

Does anybody have any recommendations for the cheapest and easiest account to operate and/or any views on x-o.co.uk in particular?

Sorry if this is a boring post for all you regular investors but really would be grateful for any answers!

Ifts

Many on this board recommend x-o.co.uk for their cheap dealing charges.

I have not tried x-o.co.uk myself. I have used The Share Centre for several years now and can say its very good, especially the customer service (phones answered quickly and politely) you also get access to free advice.

snowgo

I have accounts with both x-o and iii. x-o cost £5.95 per deal, but I really don't like their interface. It is difficult to read as the figures from one column run into the next. Also the share prices can be wrong outside market hours. I'm not the only one who seems to have had this problem. So if I want to access my account in the evenings or weekends the share prices shown aren't always the closing prices - can be as much as 10% difference. I did email them at x-o about this, but took them 5 days to respond and the person who emailed me back said that the staff can't view the user interface so it is hard for them to investigate. They asked me to email them screen snips showing the problem, but to be honest after the time it took them to reply I wasn't confident they would sort it and I had other things to do with my time. Another dislike is that their password security doesn't seem to be as demanding as others. The long and the short is that, if I didn't have an x-o account, I wouldn't be opening one. Only reason I've not closed it is that they charge £50 for closing an isa account - a fee I hadn't picked up on when I opened the account.

I find iii a much better interface. You can copy the details of the shares you've bought into their portfolio interface, so it means you can see how your portfolio is doing without having to log into the even more secure dealing site. Also I like the iii portfolio builder service which allows you to buy shares for £1.50 a time. At that low a fee you have to accept you are not choosing when exactly you are dealing, but you can work out the dates that the trades will go through and set your account up for buying or selling on the prior day. It's a good way to buy if, for instance, you are wanting high yield shares that you intend to keep for some time to gain the benefit of the dividend income. In such case you may not be so concerned about any difference in share price that may arise from a day or so's delay. I think Halifax have a similar scheme.