Barclays were I believe the first High Street Bank to roll out a broking service that was open to everyone. I joined in late 1998 just when they were rolling out their Internet dealing service and so have little experience of dealing over the phone. Over teh last 3 years the prices haven’t ... Read review
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A review by Briz_Hatchings on Barclays Stockbrokers October 12th, 2001
Author's product rating:
Competitiveness of charges
Good
Coverage of national/international markets
Very Poor
Online - Content/organization of site
Excellent
Online - Reliability/speed of site
Good
Online - Ease of applying for products
Average
Online - Investment tracking
Good
Advantages:
Efficient dealing service, well designed website, top notch security
Disadvantages:
Some website compatability problems
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Barclays were I believe the first High Street Bank to roll out a broking service that was open to everyone. I joined in late 1998 just when they were rolling out their Internet dealing service and so have little experience of dealing over the phone. Over teh last 3 years the prices haven’t changed at all. As far a straightforward dealing goes its £19.99 or 2% per deal (whichever is the greater) over the phone and 11.99 or 1% over the Internet. Don’t forget to add stamp duty in there too. There’s also a maximum commission of £39.99 should you be anyone lucky enough to be able to wax that amount of money.
The Internet dealing take a while to set up. Along with filling in all the standard forms you will have to install a digital certificate. Exactly what this is I don’t know but you can’t use your account without it. I like to think of it as a key that is on a disc. Bear in mind that you will only be able to trade on computers on which the digital certificate is installed. So, if you want to trade from other computers apart from your one at home, you will have to install it on them and then maybe uninstall it for piece of mind. Certificates are valid for 2 years at which point you are instructed to download a new one so make sure you keep your email address up to date with them.
Despite being more troublesome than a simple username and password system Barclays seem to think this is the most secure way to run a trading account. I’d agree with them too as I could have a far go at hacking someone’s password but wouldn’t have a clue where to start with a digital certificate.
As a Mac user I found the actual website only works in Netscape 4.08. Although some of the terms used may be unfamiliar to those new to stocks certain functions such as the ability of being able to enter a cash or number of shares amount as to how much you want to trade is welcomed. You are also given the option to include or add on commission to this amount. From then you are given a price and given 15 seconds to accept it. Trade done. I found most of the time it worked. On about three occasions (when switching, see below) nothing happened but this was very quickly sorted out with a call to customer services.
Along with that the site offers you fundamental information on UK listed shares Barclays offer two types of accounts a plain sharedeal account where you are sent the certificates to keep yourself and a sharedeal plus where your shares are held online in a nominee account. For the former you pay nothing apart from dealing fees and stamp duty but can only sell your shares once you have received the certificate and that can be anything between three days and three weeks to arrive. You will personally receive correspondence, invitations to AGMs and annual reports from the company you have invested in. Finally, as you hold the certificate, you are free to sell the shares with any broker not just Barclays. Funds are credited/debited from a nominated bank account and dividends are dealt with by the company itself, normally they send you a cheque.
The nominee account means that you can sell the shares immediately after you bought them as they are held online. It also calculates your portfolio value for you but you do pay a quarterly free of £25 if you do not trade. One neat thing is the switching function where you immediately buy new shares with the proceeds from sold ones. The sale is commission free provided you re-invest 75% of the total proceeds from it. Again all the different options of how much you want to re-invest and whether you want commission included are available online.
In both cases you are sent paper contract notes for your and the taxman’s reference.
Essentially sharedeal is for those who want to buy shares for the longer term whereas sharedeal plus is more suited for those who like to trade on a day to day basis. Whilst I enjoyed the switching function I didn’t find myself trading often enough and so closed my account and opened one with selftrade (who don’t charge the quarterly fee) transferring all my current stocks over. Right at the last minute when it was too late to make amends Barclays decided to charge me 37.50 for transferring the three stocks I held. It is unfortunately part of their terms and conditions but the fact remains that I was not warned of this charge until I had to pay it.
Apart from that Barclays aren’t aching to charge you for errors you make. I’ve missed direct debt payments and they’ve simply collected the week after (the bank did charge me though). I’ve also traded without a certificate. As I had bought the shares through them I simply sent the contract note to them with a note saying that they were expecting my certificate.
Price improver is a service offered that I myself am rather sceptical about. Barclays claim to be able to occasionally offer better prices than the London Stock Exchange so when you deal you will sometimes get a message saying. "The stock was dealt at x pence below the price quoted on the London Stock Exchange, Barclays price improver saved/gained you £x.xxp on this deal. The amount that it claims to have saved you can vary widely, on deals of around £1200 I have saved anything between 30p and £5.
I’m not going to say anything about dealing strategies as the philosophy on them changes all the time (most probably because there is no strategy that is clearly better). A simple point to make though is that brokers want you to deal as that is how they make their money. This is why Barclays now have a club which sends you details of what stocks they think you should buy along with a newsletter that gives details of ‘attractive’ stocks. When you think about it paying a broker to execute a trade is much like paying a shop keeper for telling you the price of something and then running it though the till. Anything above £2 I reckon is an absolute rip off which is why I will give all brokers a poor value for money rating!
Advantages: Pauline and her Barclayettes! Disadvantages: Dividends can't buy me love!
...investors in those days was Barclays Stockbrokers.
The registration process was quite simple. The application form required basic details such as name, address, bank account details, password etc. The form is returned and a credit check is made on you. If all is well you are given a credit dealing limit, share deal account number and an introduction pack. A direct debit is also set up between your bank and Barclays Stockbrokers.
For 3 years I had ... ...bimonthly newsletter is sent to Barclays Stockbrokers customers. It usually says that the average deal is about £2500. My average deal costs about £120 including commission. I prefer to buy several shares in small amounts rather than gamble a big lump sum on one share.
Most of the time the dealers and customer service staff are courteous and efficient. But one or two can be condescending. On one occasion I requested to buy some Bentalls shares and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Internet trading Disadvantages: Access can be slow
Barclays Stockbrokers
Barclays Stockbrokers offer an execution only telephone and Internet share dealing service.
In June last year I switched from Natwest stockbrokers to Barclays telephone dealing and to the Internet Service when it was introduced.
The first deal with Barclays, a buy, was paid by by cheque T + ten days. Subsequent deals require a Direct Debit set up which has worked OK. Trading on this Internet Site requires a digital certificate ... ...certificate must be delivered to Barclays within the 10-day settlement period. One of my certificates was delayed in the post causing a hold up in settlement. I now use Royal Mail recorded delivery by which the date and time of a certificate arriving can be verified. The Royal Mail Internet site can be used to check on delivery. The telephone help line is slow to access be prepared at times for a long wait! E-mails are ignored on occasion but answered ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Competitiveness of char...
Coverage of national/in...
Online - Content/organi...
Online - Reliability/sp...
Online - Ease of applyi...
Online - Investment tra...
very helpful
21.09.2000
not bad but Review ofBarclays Stockbrokersby
elrathia
Advantages: quick easy to use Disadvantages: poor support
I was using barclays and to start with it was not a bad service at all it was reasonabley easy to use and worked quickly when you decided to trade so you knew immeadiately what was going on.
Then after a system crash the problems started I was having trouble with my secret id confirmation so i wrote to the help page and afyter 3 days they sent back an answer to a different question it seemed and terminated my certificates. This meant that i had ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good price Disadvantages: some times gets busy
Barclays stockbrokers is one of the best brokers I have used for buying and selling shares. It's simple to use and registeration only takes a short while, you don't even need to be a Barclays customer to apply. You can buy shares by setting up a direct debit so that each deal comes straight out of your bank account no hassle sending cheques. When you come to buy or sell shares you type in the company that you are intrested in and it brings the share ... ...same goes for selling them. Barclays bank is a big name and this is the best on-line broker I ever come accross, I will continue to use Barclays for all my future deals. The web site address is www.barclaysstockbrokers.co.uk It's time to take advantage of the recent fall in share prices. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: household name - well branded - well priced Disadvantages: household name with a stigma in some areas of late.
Barclays offer a good service whether using their phone dealing service or their on-line service at www.barcalys-stockbrokers.co.uk
Their charges are reasonable (£11.99 per deal on-line) and contrary to warnings I have heard on various bulletin boards, I have never experienced problems buying or more critacally selling.
Barclays also operate a feature which they call price improver, this means that although you get a on-line price either over the ... ...You will also find that Barclays will trade virtually any listed share, foreign, AIM, residual etc. This is a large advantage to the small speculative investor who believes they have just found a good deal.
The web-site is easy to use giving you about 15 seconds to execute your deal, once your price is displayed. Again a good feature is that you can select a number of shares to buy, or an amount of money to spend (including or excluding commission). ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Ease to Use , Cheap , Cash timing advantage Disadvantages: Potential security issue , Only 3 trades in 5 Minutes
...I deal with the Share certificates with Barclays and they offer an exceptionally easy service and you do not have to pay any money out for at least two weeks.The problem I have come across is if you buy a new PC , you actually need to take a copy of your digital certificate which Barclays use to verify you are who you say you are.If you have not like I did you need to re-register and they cancel your old account.Obviously if you sold your PC and did action an Online trade , then someone could fraudently trade as you.You must remove your certifcate from your old PC....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
...In reply to diver233 of 25-08-00 re. BarclaysStockbrokers.
If you buy shares on the stock market and do so with the intention of receiving a certificate for the purchase then you should be aware that it not produced by the stockbroker who is in the same position as the purchaser - awaiting delivery from the registrar after the transfer relating to the purchase has been registered.
If the purchase relates to a company registered in Ireland it is possible that the issue of the certificate would take even longer and no matter how many times the broker approaches the registrar, it will not speed up the process.
The transfer goes through many stages before a certificate is produced and although as a shareholder you have the right to expect quick delivery, it is not always possible....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Well known name Disadvantages: Very, very expensive
...Barclaysstockbrokers administer the Marconi (formerly GEC) PEP.
The 2003 admin charges have increased 50% (after previous increases) and additionally there are charges for closure @ £25 and Crest charges of £15 plus pro-rata admin fees, all plus VAT.
In my case the closure fees amount to more than the value of the stock!
I tried to obtain details of my portfolio on line but my registration was repeatedly rejected and then I was told I was not relavent!
Compared with Natwest Stockbokers and Selftrade, with whom I also have accounts, Barclays comes at the bottom of the list.
One further irritation, the only telephone number available is an 0845 number. This actually costs me more as I am a fixed monthly tarrif with my phone company - other than premium numbers which are charged extra. Not customer friendly....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
02.10.2000
04.04.2003
