... Finally I came across Hoodless Brennan, who offer an execution only service at only £7 per trade with the first months dealing free of any transaction charges.
COMPANY DETAILS
Now before signing up I thought it prudent to do a bit of research on the company as I had never heard of them ... Read review
...charge. Finally I came across Hoodless Brennan, who offer an execution only service at only £7 per trade with the first months dealing free of any transaction charges.
COMPANY DETAILS
Now before signing up I thought it prudent to do a bit of research on the company as I had never heard of them before. Unfortunately, there was precious little to discover and in the end I decided to take the plunge anyway and begin with ... .../>
The Hoodless Brennan website does provide this information:
"Hoodless Brennan and Partners was established in January 1993, and is based in Docklands, London. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, and are members of the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Europe.
Over the last few years Hoodless Brennan has grown significantly. The company has expanded five fold in terms of ... more
BACKGROUND
After investing for sometime in numerous managed funds and with a small amount of spare cash I decided to dip into the world of share trading. My initial requirement was to find a broker that could provide me with a cheap service on an execution only basis as I would be dealing in relatively small amounts for my own pleasure rather than in the expectation of making vast sums of money.
I spent some time trawling the internet for online brokers, as I find it much simpler to review market prices online and immediately place an order whilst online rather than having to arrange a trade by phone. I was somewhat surprised to see just how much some brokers were charging for execution only services, prices were as much as £15 a trade or more. Now as I was only going to be dealing in amounts of £300-500 per trade, this was a significant charge. Finally I came across Hoodless Brennan, who offer an execution only service at only £7 per trade with the first months dealing free of any transaction charges.
COMPANY DETAILS
Now before signing up I thought it prudent to do a bit of research on the company as I had never heard of them before. Unfortunately, there was precious little to discover and in the end I decided to take the plunge anyway and begin with a relatively small amount of money to limit my risk.
The Hoodless Brennan website does provide this information:
"Hoodless Brennan and Partners was established in January 1993, and is based in Docklands, London. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, and are members of the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Europe.
Over the last few years Hoodless Brennan has grown significantly. The company has expanded five fold in terms of employees, and is therefore providing a more comprehensive service to its clients."
APPLICATION
There site provides an online application form followed up by a money laundering form which is sent by post. My application was completed reasonably quickly and my account was setup within a week. Money can then be deposited or withdrawn from you broker account via the website or by telephone.
USING THE SITE
The site requires a username, password and account number to access the secure site and you are automatically logged off after a period of inactivity. The only problems I've had with the site are that occassionally it can be frustrating slow to use and can hang. Logging off and returning are often sufficient to resolve the problem.
The site stores a history of the transactions you have made so you can easily check exactly how much you paid for those Marconi shares 5 years ago! It also provides a up-to-date valuation of your portfolio and you can order statements covering the last 1, 3 or 6 months.
Trading can be on any share in the main London market, AIM and certain foreign securities. All of which can be dealt online or via a telephone dealing service. The site allows the setting of stop losses and limits for dealing, which can be put in place for upto 2 weeks.
EXTRA BENEFITS
Account holders have access to Hoodless Brennans market comment, reviewed each day, and to research they have done on particular companies (frequently the lesser known companies). This can occassionally reveal a hidden gem that you hadn't noticed during your own research.
Hoodless Brennan also offer an advisory telephone broker service which can be applied for through the website and an ISA dealing account for which the fees are slightly different.
CONCLUSION
All in all I would rate Hoodless Brennan as an excellent online execution only broker, at a bargain price. For those requiring full access to international markets then you may need to look elsewhere, but for those concerntrating on the UK I would recommend this broker.
mattjg01 10.03.2005
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Quick review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
just over a month ago i tried to apply for an online dealing acccount from hoodless brennan. i was expecting a smooth ride for the application procedure which should take no more than one week. However, what i discovered is the exteremely slow email response as well as a series of handling mistakes. When i sent in emails explaining the situation (which was what was suggested to me when i first called them) i got no reply for 10 days before i decided to call them again. they finally said they will sort the things out. i hope this promise will not vaporise again as previously. overal the application process is disappointing when comparing to other experiences of applying an online dealing account. ...
hecyy 25.09.2007
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
Quick review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
I have used their Online execution only account for two years, only because they have offered the cheapest commision.
But the service is poor. Last couple of months alone, their website was down once, limit orders didn't work on several occasions. Real time order didn't execute once.
Even though I sent complaint and/or enquiries, they are VERY slow to respond. They have become much worse recetnly.
I am always on the lookout for ,more reliable broker that offers a competetive commission. But they are prohibitively expensive for my small fund. As soon as I have large enough fund to justify higher commission, I will be out of Hoodless Brennan.
It is so stressful not be abel to buy/sell when you want to. Investment can be stressful without them anyway! If you are not desperate for the cheapest commissions, you should look for more reliable broker. ...
GreenTopaz 01.11.2007
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Quick review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
From finding the Hoodless Breenan site to making my first deal took less than 30 minutes. I emailed them to ask about the cost of selling all my shares in one stock if they were purchased through multiple transactions and received a positive reply within hours. Their site is out of action today but, that apart, my experience has been very positive. ...
Rookiedealer 13.11.2008
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Quick review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
a very basic and error prone platform. this is just for amateurs looking to save a few quid per trade. Ive had multiple trade execution fails (about 15%25 failure rate) where the trade does not execute (missed 500 quid gain on the trade). if you just need the occasional, simple trade (no short selling, margin or anything else), it may be ok, but frankly the platform is not convincing. i'll be switching to someone like ETrade who are investing in their platform. ...
jameswinter 06.05.2008
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Quick review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
HOODLESS BRENNAN DON'T TOUCH THEM.
Less than accurate description of their products. They offer fast share dealing - not in my case. Shady to deal with, and an aggressive sales technique. Fined recently £90,000 by FSA for sales technique. A bad experience watch yourself. Would not recommend them to anyone. In it for themselves and them alone.
James ...
hoov 09.12.2008
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Hoodless Brennan and Partners plc.
