subject: Selftrade Stock Brokers: New Expensive Phone Dealing Charges [print this page] Selftrade Stock Brokers: New Expensive Phone Dealing Charges
Barclays stockbrokers have always charged more for telephone deals. I have managed pretty well by placing limit orders when quote and deal does not work, but Selftrade stock brokers make you send the order to a dealer which I have so far avoided. Barclays telephone rates are expensive compared to online (50 for deals worth 1501-2500 and 65 for deals 2501-20000.) If I ever need to phone I always say upfront that I cannot deal online, and have not been hit with a telephone deal rate yet!
So now the powers at Selftrade have decided all of a sudden to impose a 40 fee for trades conducted over the phone! I've just had a chat with Selftrade stockbrokers about their new arrangements and am narrating a trader's experience and their responses here in case of wider interest.
Regarding the 40 phone dealing charge:
Q: At present it can take several minutes listening to music on the phone whilst queuing for a dealer to become free. Will you be increasing the number of dealers or otherwise speeding this up for us paying 40 instead of 12.50?
A: No plans to do so.
Q: When market makers switch off on-line dealing leaving no option but to ring, will the 40 still be applied?
A: Yes.
Q: If in that circumstance I use the 'send to dealer' web service instead of phoning, will the wait before dealing still be something like the 20 to 30 minute wait that I've experienced at times?
A: Yes, that's typical.
Q: Although your new phone charges are broadly in line with other brokers like Td Waterhouse and Saga (Barclays), they don't additionally charge an annual fee. Will you continue to apply an annual account fee in addition to the new phone charges?
A: Yes, we haven't put our charges up for some years which is why we need to make these increases now.
So basically now if you need to speak to a dealer that will cost you 40.
When I see this, the more I convince myself that spread betting is the route to go; with spread betting there is no minimum trade size and no dealing fee for telephone trades. Just a pity that small caps and most AIM stocks are too small to deal via spreadbets!
