Double Identity - online financial supermarkets - Statistical Data Included

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine,  June, 2000  by Manuel Schiffres

Tags: American Express Co., asset, ATM, bank, Bank of America Corp.

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Four brokers answered yes to all three questions: DLJdirect, Merrill Lynch Direct, TD Waterhouse and WingspanBank.com. Four firms--Bank of America, NetBank, Quick & Reilly and USABancShares.com--provide none of the data we asked about and receive one star apiece. Bank One gets an extra star because the statements it sends by mail contain the information. --Reporter: COURTNEY MCGRATH

Best and Worst of the Online Financial Supermarkets

We rated firms that offer brokerage and banking services

Each firm was given one to five stars in a dozen categories, plus an overall ranking based on weightings that varied for some categories.

SYNERGY. How integrated are the brokerage and banking functions? How easy is it to access both functions from a single Web site?

COMMISSIONS. We priced a trade of 1,000 or fewer shares and a 2,000-share trade. We also averaged charges for typical and big-ticket investors (but did not account for frequent-trader discounts).

MUTUAL FUNDS. HOW many funds and fund families are in no-transaction-fee programs; what are the fees and policies for short-term redemptions; and what does it cost to invest $10,000 in a non-NTF, no-load fund?

RESEARCH. What can you get from each broker that isn't available free elsewhere on the Web, and how much do you have to pay for it?

BROKER FEES, Included are annual account fees, postage charges assessed for each transaction, costs for back statements, and charges for issuing stock certificates or wiring money out of your account. We also priced inactivity fees, charges for transferring your account to another brokerage, and charges for regular IRAs.

MARGIN RATES. We asked for each firm's margin rates for loans of $10,000 and $50,000 and averaged them.

ATMs, The ranking is based on the number of ATMs each firm has; what fees were assessed when ATM access was not free; and whether the company granted rebates for charges imposed by owners of foreign ATMs.

BILL-PAYING, Is online bill-paying available, and if so, how much does it cost?

INTEREST-BEARING PRODUCTS. We compared yields for six-month, one-year and five year CDs, money-market mutual funds and bank checking accounts.

BANKING FEES. These include monthly fees, per-check fees, charges for obtaining canceled checks or copies, costs for checks and charges for stopping payments and for bouncing a check.

PHONE RESPONSE TIME. HOW long did it take to reach a broker (for trades) and a customer-service representative (for other questions)?

STATEMENTS. Do statements show the overall change in account value from an earlier period and the cost basis for stocks and funds?