Charles Schwab

Terrible service

We went in to see a financial adviser in their Century City branch, sat down with Maria Rojas for about an hour and bared our financial souls. She said she'd work up a plan and get back to us. After a few months I respectfully inquired and she said she had been very busy and to give her more time. I'm still waiting some 2 year later:)) What a "professional" eh? Can you imagine stiffing someone like that....just NEVER get back to them?! WOW

I always laugh when I see the Charles Schwab commericals and "Chuck" is getting all chocked up about he demands accountability and integrity, because I complained several times to various people in the organization and they just passed me around until I eventually gave up and went away.

Trust Score

1.8

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Good personalized funds

I love their mutual funds.

Trust Score

1.6

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Great Broker / Research Tools are Fantastic / Nice Platform

First I want to clarify that Stock Trade Fees are $8.95 Flat.

Self Clearing so executions are extremely fast.

You can trade sub-penny stocks but I don't recommend if you like to short penny stocks.

You cannot beat the research tools available from Schwab. They provide lots of 3rd party analysis as well as their own and don't charge you to use advanced tools.

The trading platform is great and they constantly update it (always getting better)

I have had an account w/ Schwab for about 7 years now when I rolled over a previous employer 401K (which was painless) The customer service rep even insisted staying on the phone w/ me while I filled out the forms in case I had any questions. 20 min later I was up and running and the IRA was active. I have never had any account issues & customer support is awesome and always available 24/7.

Not the greatest value on the fee side, but for everything you get with your account it isn't that bad. If you actively trade they will work with you on fees and add-ons like Level 2 etc...

I do wish that Level 2 was included like TD Ameritrade/Think or Swim. (which I have an account with them as well) but if you actively trade 30+ trades per quarter they will drop the price.

Getting money in and out of my accounts w/ Schwab is easy peasy with the Complete Checking / Brokerage accounts. Can transfer directly from my local bank and withdraw at any ATM.. Their mobile app is good. Works great but lacking in some trading features that I would prefer to see but overall works fine.

They have been working to integrate OptionsXpress into their current platform, but as of now you must setup a separate account.. Cannot comment much on this as I use a discount broker for options at the moment. If schwab integrates and lowers their commissions for Options trades I would switch in a heartbeat.

Trust Score

1.0

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Great broker

My favorite broker. Scottrade used to be my favorite but after recently changing my strategy to trading more penny stocks, I would have to say that Schwab beats Scottrade in that catagory as there were various pennystocks which Scottrade restricted me from buying while Schwab didnt. Withdrawals are also easier on Schwab. The only negative thing I have to say is that they are more expensive than Scottrade but hey nothing is perfect. Definitely a 5 in my book.

Trust Score

2.6

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Good Execution, lots of research tools, & trade platforms

Really like Street Smart Edge, it works for me.

Trust Score

1.0

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Trades too slow

I left them because trades are either too slow or they wont allow trades on certain penny stocks. Hey, its my money if I want to sink it in a sub penny then let me right. Customer service is good but just not enough tools like PRO and trades cost too much.

Trust Score

3.2

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

The Best Service

Schwab has the best brokerage service toward their clients in the industry. The only reason I don't give them 5-stars is because of their pricing. However, you get what you pay for. There is no way they could offer rock bottom pricing and still give the excellent service they do.

Trust Score

1.0

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Great customer service, great resources, mediocre software

I love having Schwab as a backup brokerage for my serious trading accounts. Not only is Schwab customer service exceptional but Schwab brokerages are also fully featured checking accounts. I can snap a picture of a check with my iPhone app and be trading that money right away until I want to use the convenient credit/debt card to spend it (or their transfer services to send it to a dedicated broker).

Any time I've had an issue, I've been able to resolve it very very quickly the first time either in the live-chat-support or with a quick call. *Don't hesitate to call for any request. They have always been enthusiastic about helping and making any exceptions they can for me. When I started trading options years ago with $5k and virtually no income, they made an exception to their qualifications after a discussion with me about my knowledge level and strategy.*

The java-based trading software is probably a decent platform for low volume swing trading and straightforward strategies, the web based platform is useless for active traders, but the free research and resources Schwab offers are excellent. If you want to use Schwab as your primary broker and be an active trader, you should look into getting eSignal to chart and then enter trades on the iPad Schwab app (my typical strategy when I want to trade that account).

Commissions are high-average, but the convenience of integrated banking with all of the auto transfer and bill pay features in a bank that isn't as arrogant as the larger ones (such as BofA) makes this my choice to supplement my Interactive Brokers/eSignal trading.

Trust Score

7.5

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

Trustworthy

Definitely a trustworthy service!

Trust Score

1.0

User’s Review Ratings

Overall

good ol' chuck

chuck may not have the fanciest servers and features but the system is rock solid. transaction fees are high. prop brokers offer no ticket charges for options.

Trust Score

2.7

User’s Review Ratings

Overall