Scottrade

High customer satisfaction
Low $7 transaction fee
About 300 branch offices
$500 minimum opening balance

Not much research help
Online tools fairly basic
Relatively narrow range of investment products

Our Analysis

February 2009. Scottrade offers online investing, plus more than 300 branch offices where you can seek personal help. The minimum opening balance is just $500, and market orders are only $7. This online broker consistently receives high ratings from its customers. If you want more online research and trading tools and a broader range of investment products, reviewers say that Charles Schwab may be a better choice, although its costs are higher.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance and Barron's annually rank online brokers, and they have the best reviews of Scottrade. J.D. Power and Associates conducts an annual customer satisfaction survey of online brokers. The June 2007 Consumer Reports review of 19 brokers includes Scottrade.

Our Sources

1. Barron's

In this annual survey, editors report on their results of testing 23 online brokers for customer service, quality of research tools, fees and more. Scottrade ranks 17th overall, but is named among the top five for buy-and-hold investors. Editors praise Scottrade's easy-to-use website and customer education efforts, but find this broker's trading technology and range of offerings lacking.

Review: Making It Click: Annual Ranking of the Best Online Brokers, Theresa W. Carey, March 17, 2008

2. Kiplinger Personal Finance Details/Subscribe

Kiplinger's Personal Finance evaluates a dozen brokerages; staffers open accounts and evaluate each broker for ease of use, clarity of fees, research tools and more. This year's review makes little mention of Scottrade, except to say that Kiplinger's staff found its customer service representatives uninformed and unresponsive when they called to ask for advice.

Review: Best of the Online Brokers, Thomas M. Anderson, Nov. 2008

3. J.D. Power & Associates

J.D. Power polls almost 6,000 investors about customer satisfaction with their online broker; Scottrade is ranked first for the eighth time in nine years. The survey polls "self-directed" investors who do not consult an advisor.

Review: 2008 Self-Directed Investor Survey, Editors of J.D. Power and Associates, Oct. 28, 2008

4. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe

Nineteen online brokers, including Scottrade, are rated in this article. Editors evaluate brokers by trying out each site's features, evaluating ease of use and calling customer service. The full ratings chart is available only to subscribers.

Review: Online Brokers: Better Prices, More Services, Editors of Consumer Reports