Am I too cautious with my choice of broker?

demontfort

I've been actively investing in shares since 2009, I've always used HSBC or Lloyds as my broker. HSBC charge £10.50 per trade dropping to £8 for frequent trades and £42 per year account fees, Lloyds fees are very similar, the prices haven't really change much over the years. I've totted up the numbers today and have spent about £40k over the years on trading fees alone. It's never bothered me as the execution timing and pricing is pretty good, the platforms are reliable, my money is safe and the fees have been a fraction of my profits. However after 13 years of doing this, I was wondering if I should branch out and try one of the newer brokers.

Could anyone recommend any cheaper platforms which are just as reliable and as safe?

Also what factors do you consider when choosing a broker?

wmb194

At the very least you should look at iWeb. The same as Lloyds, it's another trading name of Halifax Stockbrokers and after a £100 account opening charge it's £5 per trade and has no annual account fees.

GeoffTF

Trade less?

[Deleted User]

I use iweb for my buy-and-hold passive GBP denominated investments. For this they're ideal as it's super cheap but it's definitely not a site suitable for frequent traders, their website is constantly crashing for one thing, and it's painful to use, for another. And also they charge a WHOPPING 1.5% on foreign currency investments.

tebbins

Just to provide a different review, I've been using iWeb since 2019. At first getting the account setup and being able to log in consistently was a real issue but they sorted it in a single call. Since then I don't remember a time it's crashed apart from planned maintenance and once you know how to use it it "just works". I find the no frills layout much easier, like how some barebones systems from the 90s I used to use at work did unlike the new shiny modern-looking ones. I can't say the same about HL.
This is just my personal experience and opinion.

Rollinghome

Deleted_User said:

I use iweb for my buy-and-hold passive GBP denominated investments. For this they're ideal as it's super cheap but it's definitely not a site suitable for frequent traders, their website is constantly crashing for one thing, and it's painful to use, for another. And also they charge a WHOPPING 1.5% on foreign currency investments.

That's interesting.  I've used Iweb for 10 years and can't recall it ever crashing.  Though they do close the site for maintenance on Saturday mornings more often than I'd like.

Nor do I find it painful to use. The website is ultra simple and responsive, without the mouseovers, ads, and labyrinthine navigation systems of HL for example.  The main negative I find, is the more limited number of investments available - which is why I have additional accounts.

london21

I use Hargreaves Lansdown, might not be the cheapest but feel my money is safe there.

How often do you trade?

wmb194

My experience is the same as [Deleted User]. iWeb's site frequently throws up errors when trying to obtain quotes, quite often error codes that an end user probably isn't meant to see. IIRC the most recent time was one day last week just after the open. Usually it's fixed fairly quickly, though, so there will be the random element of when you happen to try to do something.

i'm finding Freetrade is far more reliable but it doesn't have the same range of shares as iWeb.

GeoffTF

I have been using iWeb for many years an have not had any serious problems with the online system. It does not value my index linked gilts correctly, and I sometimes get "service unavailable" when I try to credit or withdraw cash, but that is about it. The OP is already using the Lloyds/Halifax/iWeb system, anyway.

If the OP just wants to trade UK stock, HSBC and iWeb will be the cheapest brokers that are owned by a big bank.

tebbins

I think with index-linked gilts it's more to do with their limited liquidity than anything else.

GeoffTF

tebbins said:

I think with index-linked gilts it's more to do with their limited liquidity than anything else.

New style linkers are traded using the clean price and settled using the dirty price. iWeb gives an incorrect valuation based on the clean price. AJ Bell did the same, but fixed the problem when I complained. iWeb refused to do so. I can get the dirty price from a third party site (or work it out from the clean price and the RPI index), but that is besides the point. They once valued all gilts at 100 times the correct price, but they fixed that.

Linkers do have good liquidity. The spreads quoted by the DMO are narrow. Retail investors have trouble getting a good deal though. New style linkers have to be traded over the telephone. iWeb does it for £5. The market makers do not want to be bothered with small trades, so they quote rubbish prices, but it is possible to get reasonably good prices for £50K+ trades.