Using this broker I cannot buy any shares in Experian (EXPN) online and find this utterly remarkable as Experian is a FTE100 company worth over 5 billion!!!
For this reason I nominate HoodlessBrennan as the worst stockbroker of 2007.


Anyone wishing to complain against Hoodless Brennan should contact the financial-ombudsman: here

just tried an EXPN 30000 dummy deal with Barclays and no problem.
Dump HoodlessBrennan, join Barclays

At what buy-sell prices are they???

5.25.50p
5.26.00p

My vote for worst stockbroker of 2007 is also hoodless brennan.
Reason? Because they deduct stamp duty for companies which are stamp duty exempt.
Unbelievable?   Not so. In fact hb do this with over 30 such companies of which the main ones are:

FTSE100     Experian (EXPN)

FTSE250     Petrofac (PFC)
                Catlin (CGL)
                Colt (COLT)
                Hiscox (HSX)
                Partygaming (PRTY)
                Randgold (RRS)



To illustrate, here's a hoodless brennan proposed buy trade from this morning:


PETROFAC USD0.025 PFC
Buy
Number of Shares              2,500
Firm Price                       473.00

Total                       11,825.00
Plus Commission                6.50
Stamp Duty                    59.13
Ptm Levy                         1.00
Other Charges                  0.00
Total Consideration    11,891.63



Try and get that 59.13 stamp duty back and they'll most likely tell you it was never deducted.
That's what earns them my vote for worst broker.

Sounds illegal to deduct stamp duty from exempt stocks.

Where do you get the information on which Company Shares are SD Exempt??

http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=11809#lastread

dai oldandrich has compiled this excellent thread SM. Flick back 3 or 4 pages on the board.

Thanks Stan, will have a look.

The stamp duty is no skin off their noses if they charge it or not, its not their money is it , its like VAT.

No, but it is most certainly important to someone who purchases shares which are stamp duty exempt!

If I buy 20,000 stamp duty exempt shares and get charged 100 stamp duty am I not entitled to make a complaint???

No, it isn't like VAT - it's more like theft.

If Hoodless Breenan are wrongfully deducting stamp duty then they are fully entitled to be classed 'Worst Broker of 2007' .

Can this broker get any worse ?????

Anyone wishing to complain against Hoodless Brennan should contact the financial-ombudsman: here

whats your beef onlinedealer ? give em a break - always 2 sides - challenge me please - you wil lose - remember its always easier to complain than praise

Thanks for giving me the opportunity of raising this matter again.
When a broker is deducting stamp duty for shares that are exempt from stamp duty they do not "deserve a break".
That's "my beef" and it will remain so until Hoodless Brennan correct what they are doing.
It's hard enough for traders to make a profit without wrongful deductions being made to transactions.

I bought a small amount of Experian shares through HB in May this year and wasn't charged any stamp duty so no issues with that.

queen1, yes it was possible to buy Experian upto about a month ago - then it just went off the radar. Can't buy Experian now from HB.

HB have a new site now. The old site didn't take stamp duty from the above listed stocks but the new site does. Shouldn't, but does.

i use HB and find their services more than adequate. they're cheap too. i have not tried to buy stamp-exempt shares so cannot pass comment on that side of things.
happy brokering
Alex