Do you need a UK Stock Broker?

As I live in the UK, I just had to write a page about UK stock brokers. If you are looking for a UK Stock Broker, I have put together a list of the brokers available to British traders.

Barclays Stockbrokers
Barclays Stockbrokers charge from £6.95 per trade for 25 trades or more in a calendar month, and £9.95 for between 15 and 24 trades; otherwise it's £12.95.

Interactive Investor (III)
III charge a straight £10 for real-time UK trades and £15 for US and European trades.

Etrade
This broker claims to use 18 different market makers to get the best price for you. Easy to fund an account with any UK debit card. 0-5 trades per month you'll be paying £11.50 per trade, 6-19 trades per month it reduces to £9 and over 20 trades per month it falls to £7. Etrade also offer spread betting, CFDs, forex trading, futures trading and ETFs.

Halifax Share Dealing
We are all familiar with the halifax bank, they offer share dealing as well. You'll be paying £11.95 if you trade online or £15 if you trade over the phone.

TD Waterhouse
This broker charges £9.95 for online trades. Offers access to what it claims is the "best investment news", charting and after hours trading. They also offer 20 days to settle payment.

Hargreaves Lansdown
It's quick and easy to setup an account with Hargreaves Lansdown. I have an account with this broker and I was purchasing stock about five minutes after opening the account. They also pay reasonable rates on cash balances. You can deal over the phone or online for £9.95 per trade. They also offer free research. This is one of the best UK stock brokers I have used.

A final note.. be skepical

Always be very skeptical when choosing a UK stock broker. It would be nice to beleive that your broker is on your side, but generally they just want to extract as much money from you as possible. Stock trading is difficult enough without having a greedy broker dipping into your account.

Some hidden fees can include:

Admin charges – some brokers have the arrogance to charge you just for having an account with them. These charges are often charged quarterly.

Transfer costs - Some brokers like to charge hefty fees when transferring shares to them. Watch out. If in doubt give them a call and ask.

Withdrawal Fees - There are brokers out there that try to charge you to withdraw funds from your account! Don't you think that is outrageous? I mean whose money is it after all!