Firstrade, Etrade, Schwab or Scottrade?

[AllGold]

I need to buy some stock.

Those four are the ones that appeal to me based on Consumer Reports ratings. Which do you prefer?

BTW, according to CR, Etrade and Schwab have the best banking management and research/education. Firstrade and Scottrade have the lowest fees and Firstrade and Schwab have the most mutual fund and NTF (no transaction fee) fund access.

The overall rating is in the order from the subject line.

[Chupa Chupa]

I was with Schwab for about ten years but their customer service really fell off around 2000-2001 so I switched to Fidelity. Lot's of good stuff there plus one of the brokerages that has a direct connect d/l service for the Mac version of Quicken.

[NewtonMP2100]

what are you looking to do?

if just trades. . .I like Scottrade (they have brick & mortar locations). . .if you need more than that, might consider one of the others. . .

[Jem]

I haven't gotten in to a lot of the bells and whistles, so I've been quite happy with Scottrade for 5 years now. $7 market or limit trades. I have both a regular and an IRA trading account.

I like being able to call my local office if I have a question or want to drop off a check to deposit in my acccount.

[$tevie]

I'm very happy with Scottrade. But I'm not a heavy user.

[geon]

Hmmm..never heard of firstrade. I've used etrade and ameritrade for at least 10 years. I trade most on ameritrade. I've always thought about opening a scottrade account.

[SteveO]

Scottrade for about 3 years and no problems.