Had enough of interactive investor... Recommend another broker?

MoneyChanger

Hi All

Ive been with interactive investor for 6 years now, was with TDWaterhouse prior but unfortunately ii bought them out.

Since this takeover, the ii service has massively declined, they have messed around with their pricing and increased it atleast 3 times if not more.

The website upgrade(more like a downgrade) they done towards end of 2017 was also a complete shambles.

Anyway, sorry for digressing, I wondered if anybody can recommend or post their experience with the following three brokers.

Iweb-sharedealing By Halifax - £5 fixed trade, no additional costs.
X-O By Jarvis - £5.95 fixed trade, unlimited accounts, no additional costs.
SVSXO By Svs - £7.95 per trade, no additional costs.


They all seem to offer just what I need - no periodic or inactivity charges, no admin charges, and cheaper overall trading(ii charge £8 per trade).

I will make my choice based on the response received from you guys recommendations.

Luckily to my suprise, it is free to exit/transfer from ii.

masonic

You are lucky you waited, II only dropped its exit fees recently.

I've used iWeb and am fairly happy with the service. They don't have quite as large a selection of funds as others, but they have everything I need.

You might also want to consider Halifax Sharedealing, which has a £12.50 per year platform fee, but gives you the benefit of regular investment at £2.

talexuser

No problems with iWeb as an infrequent trader (vast majority are dividend reinvestment), saved an absolute bomb every year compared with the % based platforms. Won't be as good for small holdings at £5 a pop. XO is good but limited by no funds but fine for shares.

DrSyn

Have you checked they deal in the investments that you are interested in?

xylophone

I moved from II to iweb and as an infrequent trader with "common or garden" funds and a couple of REITS, am quite happy with the service.

I wouldn't recommend a transfer in specie which is how I did it - too much opportunity for delay and error.

For the sake of balance though, I should say that a relative kept part of his portfolio with II and also ran one for the donor of a PoA and found the service at II improved after the post TD chaos settled down.

jsinc

Use iWEB for S&S ISA. It's ideal for annual transfers-in and hold.
Not fancy but I don't need fancy. Haven't used ii or the others to compare.

capital0ne

X-O By Jarvis - £5.95 fixed trade, unlimited accounts, no additional costs.

They don't offer dividend re-investment - you need to do it yourself.

cloud_dog

I'm waiting to see who II may pick off next; see if I need to run away again.

My last transfer away from old TD Direct / II went relatively smoothly because I instigated it within a very short period of time after TD Direct / II announced the take over. Will in all likely hood do the same if it occurs again.

EDIT: Meant to say, we have accounts with X-O and iWeb, both basic but functional. I would probably steer towards iWeb.

bowlhead99

X-o does not offer access to overseas stock exchanges, only Crest, and does not have open ended investment funds. IWeb offers funds but not as many as ii, nor does it offer as many foreign markets as ii (only US and a few EU ones), or any foreign currency cash accounts, or extended settlement on share purchases etc.

If your needs are simple you can move to one of the bargain basement brokerages and save on your pricing.

Personally I moved my (ex TDW) trading account and ISA to AJ Bell as they had been fine to deal with for about five years of having a SIPP with them. It's more convenient than using X-O or IWeb because they allow me to invest in most of the things I might reasonably want to buy, and I can access my accounts (including my pension and the accounts of family members who have given a permission form to view or deal) from one login.

The dealing fees at a tenner a time are higher than X-o and IWeb although you can buy mainstream UK shares and ITs / ETFs on their regular investment feature at £1.50 a time if you are willing to put a purchase request through ahead of their one monthly designated regular dealing day instead of booking it yourself there and then - which is not something x-o or IWeb offer.

One thing that TDW supported which AJ Bell do not is pass-through of shareholder perks. For that reason x-o did have its attractions as I was able to use its clunky website to buy a share and turn it into a paper certificate for a small fee without needing to maintain an ongoing relationship with them; I may do other trading with them from time to time I suppose. They have improved their website in recent weeks, though as it is new there are some broken links at the moment which doesn't give the impression of them being a slick and reliable provider; but most reviews are absolutely fine.

Thrugelmir

x-o is the consumer arm of Jarvis Investment Management Ltd a fully fledged stock broker. JIM offer the full range of services albeit at a higher cost. What you are prepared to pay determines what you'll receive.

MoneyChanger

Many thanks for the replies guys.:beer:


Hearing only good things about both iweb and x-o...


I can confirm I only need to trade LSE/AIM, so both seem good enough.


Also I am fine with basic and simple, I actually do not like ii's flashy site with all the bells and pie charts etc... its nothing but an annoyance and compliates things.


I hope ii do not buy out x-o or iweb, that will be another disaster, it seems everybody runs away from ii and they try to claw everybody back...:T

bowlhead99 wrote: »

For that reason x-o did have its attractions as I was able to use its clunky website to buy a share and turn it into a paper certificate for a small fee without needing to maintain an ongoing relationship with them; I may do other trading with them from time to time I suppose.

Re not needing to maintain an on-going relationship - Because they do not charge inactivity fees couldnt you have left your account open but unused? Curious, what did you want the paper cert for, does it have other uses?