Charles Schwab & Co.

Approval Rate: 62%

62%Approval ratio

Reviews 14

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  • by

    nesher

    Wed May 06 2009

    Core Services and Fees Online Schwab One accounts are differentiated by two trading levels as well as varying pricing tiers, based on account balances:  Less than 30 trades per quarter or less than 120 trades per year and <$1 million account balances.  More than 30 trades per quarter or more than 120 trades per year or > $1 million account balances. Commissions: Market: $9.95-$12.95 Limit: $9.95-$12.95 Options: $9.95+ $0.75/contract Account minimums: $1,000 Margin Rates: BR - 0.5% to +2.0% Additional benefits: Commissions are significantly lower than trading via telephone (an extra $5) or live person (an extra $25). Strengths Investors can trade just about any investment they desire. Offers a much wider range of services than the basic- or deep-discount firms, including tremendous availability of mutual funds and research. Commissions are very competitive for investors. Weaknesses Supplementary fees can quickly add up, although they were recently reduced to be more competitive. Tr... Read more

  • by

    chalky

    Wed Oct 22 2008

    Show me the money, Chet?

  • by

    jimmyj

    Sat Dec 22 2007

    Best for nontraders.  I get trades done for $10, website is excellent.

  • by

    enkidu

    Mon Nov 19 2007

    Pretty good; no major complaints so far.  Trade execution is as near to instantaneous as I could desire, and the personal consultations don't cost anything.  Researching on their website is a mixed bag--some of the data you can pull there is better than anything I've found on the free internet, but I still go to Yahoo finance for a lot of companies (especially foreign) they don't cover. Beware of the hidden fees in Schwab mutual funds, which they try just a little too hard to sell to you.  You're usually better off in index funds anyway.

  • by

    aallison

    Tue Jan 23 2007

    Schwab's response to complaints about well-documented customer service issues experienced by multiple clients was to resign the ($4 million) account!

  • by

    cobra94563

    Tue Feb 14 2006

    Customer over 20 years. I use 2 other brokers. Not the best in terms of service, website, or research. But the service is better is recent years (at least someone calls and offers assistance) and consolidated account reporting is good, fees have come down. Who is hands down better,(now that Harris is with Etrade?) I moved an account to schwab because of the promotion for new accounts.

  • by

    harris911

    Wed Jul 13 2005

    I left Interactive Brokers to get the better per-share pricing at CyberTrader. The account approval/funding process took several days longer than they said it would. The software user interface made it impossible to see if my limit orders were still the best bid. Futures contracts cannot be held overnight making it hard to hedge positions. Then I discovered another limitation that made it impossible for me to trade my best strategy. Closing my accounts was very frustrating. It took several days and 20 phone calls. They committed two acts of incompetence, delayed every step, and ended up charging me TWICE the fees the website indicates!

  • by

    scarriff

    Fri Jul 02 2004

    Firm has slipped badly in recent years,they have re-organized about 50 times,moved people around for no apparent reason,and still have lousy salaries.Only the top dogs get paid well and Charles Schwab himself is not involved in the day to day business.Fees are way to high.Why are these people still in Business?

  • by

    skyhue

    Thu Apr 15 2004

    I've been with Schwab since 1995. They have done a decent enough job, but since I bought a house last summer and pulled my account below the trigger point, the fees are ruining my account. They are pulling $40 per Roth per year and charging $30 per quarter on my brokerage acct. It will cost me $95 per account to have my assets transferred to another broker.

  • by

    newsy97

    Wed Jul 02 2003

    there seems to be a aewer breed of represenatives taking hold at Schwab. Seems that many have just been brought in from local car dealers. So if you do not mind spending big bucks on your tranactions while being abused by their less than professional staff, this your place,

  • by

    gr8tango

    Tue Oct 08 2002

    Can you believe they charged me a $60 termination fee? The quarterly fees were enough to make me switch. After being hammered on my positions in Telecom and networking in solid companies that are still doing well, Schwab has the audacity to charge me for not trading and for closing my account. If not for their good customer service they would get a terrible.

  • by

    tdg11819om

    Sat Nov 27 1999

    brokers are courteous but not very knowledgable about options trading.

  • by

    cpoo883om

    Sat Nov 06 1999

    I use Charles Schwab and they are fantastic. Everything I need is on their web site.

  • by

    alan139om

    Tue Oct 26 1999

    Schwab has always had a name to trust will be there for the long run