what can't I buy with iweb

shaw85

Hi. I have been looking at different investment platforms.
After some research I thought iweb looked good
I am struggling to find out what type of funds I can't buy on iweb.
Can you buy stocks from outside the UK and us?

Also can you buy ETFs on there?

Thanks

Shaw

kidmugsy

"what can't I buy with iWeb": messrs Lennon and McCartney were of the opinion that the answer was "love".

bigsy

shaw85 wrote: »

I am struggling to find out what type of funds I can't buy on iweb.
Can you buy stocks from outside the UK and us?

Also can you buy ETFs on there?

- their Funds Centre at http://halifaxiweb.digitallook.com/funds should tell you the funds you CAN buy

- "As well as the London Stock Exchange you can trade shares on 6 other international markets." http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/Trading-Services/Financial-Markets.asp

- yes, you can buy ETFs http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/trading-services/investment-coverage.asp

I've always found their help fairly responsive if you have a specific query.

grey_gym_sock

the funds centre doesn't show everything you can buy. e.g. it still doesn't show any of vanguard's irish-domiciled funds, though you can now buy some (perhaps all) of them.

HappyBirthday

Please take great care with iWeb. You have to pay "old-fashioned" entry charges of up to 5% on purchasing funds. This is not the case with other discount brokers. Please watch out with them. I know. I am their customer. Pm me for further info.

bob792

HappyBirthday wrote: »

Please take great care with iWeb. You have to pay "old-fashioned" entry charges of up to 5% on purchasing funds. This is not the case with other discount brokers. Please watch out with them. I know. I am their customer. Pm me for further info.

Why don't you share what you know for the benefit of all of us?

What you say flatly contradicts what IWeb advertise as their current charges:

http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/Fund-Changes/fund-changes.asp

uknick

HappyBirthday wrote: »

Please take great care with iWeb. You have to pay "old-fashioned" entry charges of up to 5% on purchasing funds. This is not the case with other discount brokers. Please watch out with them. I know. I am their customer. Pm me for further info.

News to me. I paid £25 to open a S&S ISA and then £5 per trade. What did I miss HappyBirthday?

PenguinJim

HappyBirthday wrote: »

Please take great care with iWeb. You have to pay "old-fashioned" entry charges of up to 5% on purchasing funds. This is not the case with other discount brokers. Please watch out with them. I know. I am their customer. Pm me for further info.

5%?

...do you mean £5?

soulsaver

They have some confusing literature & some confused customer service staff.
On Friday, I placed a BUY order for a fund I understood was zero initial charge, then noticed it said 'upto 5.25%' in the key docs. Zero initial on IWebs summary, then zero discount where I'd normally expect to see 5.25 in light of the key docs implied charge.

I queried the position with their CS who said it would be the key documents charge - they couldn't clarify what 'upto' meant, she said hold on while she checked and came back with 5.25%. I insisted she immediately cancel the trade.
They said they'd call back & confirm whether it was possible to cancel.
In the mean time I checked with another platform where I have an account, Charles Stanley, which is clear on their platform that the initial charge in the generic doc is discounted to zero.

I went back to someone more senior at iweb who admitted that
A) The info on the site on this fund is confusing.
b) That at least two of CS people had given me incorrect information (and whoever the one had supposedly referred to).
c) The 'buy' was cancelled and I'd now missed the trade until after the bank holiday.
d) Did I wish to formalise a complaint.

It's actually a longer story & even more damning than my summary.
The first CS people I spoke to were ill informed, sounded uncertain, lacked confidence and poorly trained IMO. So I can see how HappyBirthday got to where s/he is.

Unimpressed.

kidmugsy

If you want good service pay up for Hargreaves Lansdown. I've been tempted by iWeb but now soulsaver has got me hesitating.

PenguinJim

soulsaver wrote: »

They have some confusing literature & some confused customer service staff.
On Friday, I placed a BUY order for a fund I understood was zero initial charge, then noticed it said 'upto 5.25%' in the key docs. Zero initial on IWebs summary, then zero discount where I'd normally expect to see 5.25 in light of the key docs implied charge.

I queried the position with their CS who said it would be the key documents charge - they couldn't clarify what 'upto' meant, she said hold on while she checked and came back with 5.25%. I insisted she immediately cancel the trade.
They said they'd call back & confirm whether it was possible to cancel.
In the mean time I checked with another platform where I have an account, Charles Stanley which is clear on their platform that the initial charge in the generic doc is discounted to zero.

I went back to someone more senior at iweb who admitted that
A) The info on the site on this fund is confusing.
b) That at least two of CS people had given me incorrect information (and whoever the one had supposedly referred to).
c) The 'buy' was cancelled and I'd now missed the trade until after the bank holiday.
d) Did I wish to formalise a complaint.

It's actually a longer story & even more damning than my summary.
The first CS people I spoke to were ill informed, sounded uncertain, lacked confidence and poorly trained IMO. So I can see how HappyBirthday got to where s/he is.

Unimpressed.

So there wasn't a 5.25% charge? Or there was?

When you go to place a fund trade, it summarises the initial charges right there on the screen. If it was telling you 0%, and a £0 initial charge, but in reality you were about to be charged 5.25%, then that is awful and I'll be looking at moving my account.

If the website was telling you 0% / £0 initial charge and then it would have been a 0% / £0 initial charge, then I think I'm missing what the problem is.

IWEB is bare-bones, and they basically warn you when you sign up and every time you log in: "we're not gonna help you, if you need help go elsewhere" (paraphrasing, obviously!). As long as their website is accurate, then that's fine for people who know where they want to put their money and don't need assistance.