The Share Centre 1% charge - alternatives?

now3d

Hi

Saw the Share dealing article suggests Share Centre, but they charge 1% commission. So 5k of Tesco shares would cost me £50 buy. Likewise, if I sold when it was worth 6k, that would be £60 in fees!

Other firms, like Barclays are 14.95 flat price.

What firms do people use for online share dealing?

talexuser

for selling X-O... £5.95 flat rate per trade.

Glen_Clark

Stocktrade via Skipton Building Society 0.75% for certificated trades. I know thats more per deal than CREST accounts but you only pay it once and remain completely free to shop around for the best deal when you come to sell them.
I also keep my money in Sntander earning 3.1% until the last minute, when I transfer it to my Santander current account and pay by debit card. So I think the higher transaction charge makes up for not having to leave money with the broker at a bum rate, and not being forced to pay ever increasing annual charges for the broker to hold my shares, and transaction charges to get my own shares out of the broker's account.
Service has been good so far. My only gripe is there is no maximum commission for larger trades.
If anyone knows of a better deal for certificated trades I would like to hear of it.

Glen_Clark

talexuser wrote: »

for selling X-O... £5.95 flat rate per trade.

Just had a look and it looks cheap at the moment, although free to put your shares in it costs £15 to get them out
Plus I have seen many brokers over the years start up with loss leading rates like this, then introduce ever increasing quarterly charges, and charges to get your shares out, once they have got you hooked.

(It may be, of course, that they hook you in with loss leading rates so they can spam you with offers that make them more money. I experienced this with Hargreaves Landsdown who offered me a great rate on a stocks and shares PEP, then spammed me with their 'exclusive offers' to buy shares they had been paid to underwrite and were trying to offload )

Plus, how happy are you with their terms and conditions like this one;

QUOTE: we shall not be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from the loss or destruction of certificates in respect of securities within the account which are held by us howsoever occurring.

My fears may well be unjustified, nevertheless, since the Madoff ponzi scam I have felt safer keeping my share certificates myself.

Special_Saver2

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Stocktrade via Skipton Building Society 0.75% for certificated trades. I know thats more per deal than CREST accounts but you only pay it once and remain completely free to shop around for the best deal when you come to sell them.
I also keep my money in Sntander earning 3.1% until the last minute, when I transfer it to my Santander current account and pay by debit card. So I think the higher transaction charge makes up for not having to leave money with the broker at a bum rate, and not being forced to pay ever increasing annual charges for the broker to hold my shares, and transaction charges to get my own shares out of the broker's account.
Service has been good so far. My only gripe is there is no maximum commission for larger trades.
If anyone knows of a better deal for certificated trades I would like to hear of it.

Thanks, that is an interesting option that I had not seen before. Here is a direct link for the Telephone Certificated Dealing Account for anybody who is interested. The minimum charge is £20. It allows dealing in gilts (as well as shares and corporate bonds, which you could purchase more cheaply elsewhere in a nominee account).

If the original poster is happy to hold the shares in a nominee account then I would suggest having a look at posts 3 and 4 in my low cost S&S ISAs thread.

SS2

now3d

Thanks for all the replies.

I've been looking at Hargreaves Landsdown Vantage, looks quite good: 11.95 per trade. No 1% charge like Share Centre!

http://www.hl.co.uk/shares/share-dealing/dealing-charges

My other concern was how easy it is to get cash, in and out of the account. I know the trader may make this tricky. I may wish to take money out to purchase a buy2let etc in the next year or so.

Anyone using them?

now3d

Anyone have an opinion on which trading website also has the best "dashboard"?

.. which displays fund/share info, in graph form etc. day/week/month/year/decade info on historical prices etc.

bigfreddiel

td waterhouse now called TD Direct Investing

How much does the TD Direct Investing Trading ISA cost?

• No initial set-up fee
• £0 yearly account administration fee for account valuations of £5,100 or more (terms apply†)
• The yearly account administration fee for account valuations of £5,099.99 or less is £30 plus VAT (terms apply†).
• Trading commissions from £8.95 online
• Trading ISA Rates and Charges - full details

Special_Saver2

now3d wrote: »

I may wish to take money out to purchase a buy2let etc in the next year or so.

If you may need your money back in a year or so then stock market investing is probably not the right thing to do. Conventional wisdom is that you should not want your money back for at least 5 years if you are going to invest it in the stock market.

You should really be looking for a good savings account.

Martin's Savings Page lists some good savings accounts paying up to 3.13% and if you have £50,000 or more then there is the new Birmingham Midshires account paying 3.2%.

If you are willing to put in a bit more effort then you could get higher interest rates by putting your money into a regular savings account but make sure you pick one that allows a penalty-free withdrawal if you think you might need the money back.

To answer your first question, I have not used Hargreaves Lansdown but their Vantage platform and customer service seem to get good comments from people on this forum. They are quite expensive compared to the other execution-only brokers available, especially if you want to put your shares in an ISA. At the moment, they have a share dealing for £1 per transaction promotion for new customers so it will not be as expensive as usual during the introductory period.

SS2

psychic_teabag

I think HL charge 0.5% annual fee for holding shares in an ISA (capped at £45). They're generally considered good for actively managed funds, less good for shares and things.