# Buying GICs with TD Direct Investing



## latebuyer (Nov 15, 2015)

I understand with gics you have to phone in to buy at TD Direct Investing. Would you also have to phone in to give renewal instructions? Does the gic desk (not sure there is such a thing) have the same hours as the rest of td direct investing eg. open on weekends/evenings


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

latebuyer said:


> I understand with gics you have to phone in to buy at TD Direct Investing. Would you also have to phone in to give renewal instructions? Does the gic desk (not sure there is such a thing) have the same hours as the rest of td direct investing eg. open on weekends/evenings


I understand they have a Fixed Income desk, with the number being 1-888-983-BOND (2663), open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (ET), but I usually phone the regular number for my accounts trading desk. I don't know if it makes a difference. I am usually prepared by choosing the best rate online before I phone while remaining below the $100K limit.

They always ask if you want auto-rollover or not.

ltr


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Why TDW is so retarded  , In CIBC IE you can buy GIC online for ages, just last week both 2 y 1.97% monthly GIC in 2 clicks.


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## latebuyer (Nov 15, 2015)

Thanks

As long as I can order them evenings and weekends, I don't think it will take much effort.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I'm also disappointed with TD requiring phone calls for GIC purchases. It's a big reason I expanded my account at iTrade, which has a great GIC inventory that can be bought online.

I also had an experience where TD once purchased the wrong GIC for me. This soured me to 'buying over the phone'. It was during the financial crisis and I phoned and asked to buy a TD GIC from the TD issuer (main one), due to my CDIC needs. The CDIC limit concern was a huge concern at a time banks were failing left & right.

Instead, TD sold me a GIC from sub issuer Mortgage Corporation (TDMC). It did not ruin my CDIC limits, so I didn't bother challenging it, but they clearly did not follow my instruction. It also made me suspicious about why they sold that sub issuer to me; perhaps they were trying to finance a segment of the bank that was in trouble. I would have demanded a higher interest rate for the TDMC sub issuer, personally, so I felt a bit cheated.

As a result, I now buy my GICs at Scotia iTrade instead of TD.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

James, a little off-topic but your concern seems a little bit paranoid to me. Every one of the big banks have separate subsidiaries with their own CDIC limits. It is standard practice for them to be consistent with their GIC rates across corporate subsidiaries and it makes no sense to differentiate between them...other than to stay within CDIC coverage. The mortgage company is as sound as is the banking company as is the trust company, simply from a reputational perspective. It would be a day of the sun rising in the west for a big bank to let a subsidiary go into receivership.

That said, I agree it is archaic for a discount brokerage today not permitting online purchases of GICs (or any fixed income for that matter).


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

The GIC yields are usually the same across sub-issuers? I did not realize that.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

It's been my experience for some 20 years that rates have been identical across the various entities. Can't say that is the case 100% of the time though.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> That said, I agree it is archaic for a discount brokerage today not permitting online purchases of GICs (or any fixed income for that matter).


 To tell the truth, after I moved from TD to CIBC IE, I see that TDW is archaic in every respect comparing to CIBC , in both front-end and back-end


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## latebuyer (Nov 15, 2015)

I forgot you could only buy during trading hours and waited 90 minutes only to be told i couldn't buy them. She did say they have plans to introduce gic online ordering as a webbroker enhancement but didn't have an exact date. I hope it is soon because with long wait times i am tempted to switch brokerages to avoid it as i begin buying more gics.


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