# TD Waterhouse - Payment of Distributions (BIP.UN)



## fersure (Apr 19, 2009)

Hi all,
Is anyone else experiencing significant (2+ week) delays in recieving the June 28, 2013 distribution from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP.UN)?
I've written customer service twice this week, and have not recieved a response to either query. I know that TD Waterhouse is known for its significant delays in paying out distributions, but this is just silly. 

I have a feeling that something nefarious is going on and TDW is taking advantage of the significant increase in the $C vs $US. (BIP.UN distributions are in $US and converted back to $C plus a significant fee). Had TD paid out the distribution on June 28, I would have recieved significantly more than I will now recieved. (On June 28 $US1=$C1.0512. Today $US1=$C1.0392) Agrregated over all TD BIP.UN unit holders, and that is a nice chunk of change!


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

fersure i have no experience with the brookfield partnership & am just posting ottomh, so please take my words with a large grain of salt, if indeed you bother to read them at all.

- i doubt there is anythig nefarious going on. There would not be large numbers of bip.un shareholders at tddi, ie not a large enough crowd to single out for special treatment.

- it's likely that the delay is caused by brookfield itself or by the system used to transmit the distribution. I believe i've heard that some of the US-pay canadian trust units actually deliver their distributions by old-fashioned printed cheque, although there are very few of these. These USD payors are all brookfield subsidiaries, i believe.

you can see how, in a brokerage that tries to be as automated as possible, it would be normal that non-standard practices would take longer to process.

- my tentative belief is that if the distribution has to be converted into CAD, the exchange date that would be used would be the payable date. For bip.un, this was june 28 & you have already mentioned that the exchange rate was higher on that date. It does seem that so far, so good.


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## warp (Sep 4, 2010)

I got my BIP.UN payment right on june 28/13/. I deal with BMO.

There is no logical reason why TD wouldnt have paid you then as well, and having you wait 2 weeks may mean there is a problem with your account. The fact that they havent responded to your inquiry is also funny. The service at BMO has always been top notch with me. I would call TD and do some serious asking about all this.

Maybe you should talk with your feet, by moving your account. I could give you the name of a very competent guy at BMO if you are interested, to make this easy for you. 

Ps....I gain nothing from this.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

fersure, you weren't too clear in the op. Have you contacted TDW and they do not have the distribution in your account, or can you not view it online yet? Two very different things imo.


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## fersure (Apr 19, 2009)

I have sent two e-mails to TDW customer service regarding this issue and have not received a response on why the distribution isn't in my acount (missing or just not being able to see it.)

I have owned BIP.UN for a year and half - TDDI usually deposts the BIP.UN distribution into my account 3-5 working days after the distribution date (Jun 28). Given the Canadian/US holidays in the first week of July, I thought it was reasonable to wait until July 9. It's now more than two weeks of delay. 

As warp appears to indicate, this is a TDDI-specific problem.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Check account activity (the Activity tab) under different sub accounts in case it went to a different account within your profile.

Have you been phoning them? They are usually very prompt on the phones. Call during main business hours, if the agent can't answer your question then ask to speak to a supervisor (you've already emailed) -- this is important, timely delivery of dividends.


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## fersure (Apr 19, 2009)

Here's the response: very close to humble_pie's information.

_...While TD Direct Investing aims to process and post all dividends and other distributions to client accounts in a timely manner, delays are possible for several reasons.
For example, transfer agents responsible for paying out the dividends often *have different payout schedules for different institutions.* Also important is the method of payment.* Some transfer agents use a manual instead of an electronic process*. Moreover, payouts can be delayed at the point of transfer.

When the dividends are ultimately received, the *credits must be processed and registered by our back office*. Accounts cannot be temporarily credited with dividends because it *would create an imbalance with our clearing corporation.*_ Please note that dividends, when ultimately credited, are back dated to avoid any loss of *interest*. (I am more worried about the currency fluctuation than interest...but whatever).


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

they are plenty late, though.

i still think div should be converted as of the payable date, which you mentioned is more favourable to yourself. Please keep after this. Quite often, as others have said, phoning a licensed rep is more effective than writing to their customer service group.

if it would cheer you up, i once had a string of cheques payable to myself that were mailed at irregular intervals by Price Waterhouse the accounting firm to the big green at their principal cashier's address, which as best i can recall is 77 bloor west.

the big green was notorious for mislaying these cheques. A few disappeared for as long as 3 months. If i had not asked for each & every single cheque - for the 3-month disappeared jobs i had to ask about 5 times - i truly don't believe that tdw would have ever given me a single penny.

these are the challenges that make investing so fun each:


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Weird ... I've noticed my dividends or cash distributions don't always line with the reported dates but I don't recall any that were more than one week different.

I'll have to check my records ... :chuncky:



Cheers


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## fersure (Apr 19, 2009)

So I finally received my distribution from BIP.UN in my TDW in my account today. As expected, TDW appears to have used the exchange rate on the distribution based on August 19, rather than the settlement date of June 28. I say "appears" because it is impossible to tell from transaction details what exchange rate was used.

I phoned TDW twice to check on the status near the end of July. As humble noted, TDW blamed the delay on the transfer of funds from Brookfield Infrastructure.
In summary - 50 days from the distribution date to the money appearing in my account.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

50 days is far too long. I mentioned upthread how slow the big green is with physical cheques. I think perhaps they stick em in a drawer full of bent-out-of-shape paper clips, driedup felt markers & memos about the defunct coffee machine? they only clean out this drawer a few times a year?

i certainly believe you should receive the exchange rate on the payment date. Here's what you might do, if you felt inclined: figure out the difference between what you would have received as of the june 28 rate & what you did actually receive as of 19 august. The amount will likely be a few dollars.

then contact a team manager. Explain you have always been the very best client investor you can possibly be, but you are feeling grievously injured by this story. Ask the team manager to credit you with the dollar difference. Ask him, also, to send a message to the back office requesting them to speed up incoming cash payments by cheque so these will reflect in accounts on a timely basis.

if you wanted to be super-efficient in a teutonic kind of way, you could check with Brookfield about when they send out the distribution cheques. Ask at the office of the VP for finance, something like that. I suspect they'll say that they mail the cheques, regularly, sans faute, several days before the payable dates.


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

I bought Brookfield Infrastructure (TSX:BIP.UN) earlier this year as a long term hold. When I got my first distribution, I noticed that they paid everything out in cash even though I had asked TD Waterhouse to set up my account in such a way that all securities that I purchase would automatically have synthetic DRIP activated (as long as I have enough shares or units). When I called TDW the first time, they responded by saying something to the extent that I purchased it right before the ex-dividend date. It was too late to activate it. They assured me that it would DRIP when the next distribution comes around. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. At the end of September, I received my second round of distributions. Again, TDW paid everything out in cash. I called again, and the TDW rep said that there are some securities or units that cannot synthetically DRIP, and BIP.UN is one of them. TDW rep said this is coming from Brookfield and that TDW cannot control this. 

I was always under the impression that synthetic DRIP was brokerage driven. Also, does anyone who hold Brookfield Infrastructure have any difficulties DRIP-ping? Or is it just me?


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Some of my dividend/distribution payments take over 3 weeks to show up online w TDW.

Also, in the past if I have ever had an error in the dripped shares or anything, TDW will normally purchase the shares I should have received for me at market price with no commision (of course).


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

My understanding is BIP.UN has a DRIP, but no SPP, so you should be getting your dividends reinvested.

You can always confirm. 

My experience is, even if some companies offer a DRIP (synthetic DRIP), not all brokerages honour it.

Take BMO for an example. I don't think you can DRIP U.S. stocks with them if the U.S. stock is listed on the U.S. market (e.g., MCD, JNJ), even though clearly other online brokerages honour the synthetic DRIPs from those companies.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

TD's policy on payment of DRIP dividends differs somewhat from some other brokers. Nearly always the big green will pay such dividends a few days late.

i'm intervening on behalf of the broker on this issue! the reality is that the DRIPs do take a few days to process & credit. TD sticks to the letter of the regulations, pays when the new DRIP fragments actually do arrive, says it doesn't want to get into forward debt relationships to the CDS network.

other brokers are pre-paying DRIPs on the dividend payable date even though they don't actually have the money in the house yet. They are pre-paying because that's what their clients keep yammering for.

actually i prefer the TD approach, i like brokers that keep their back office operations as clean as possible.


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

Getting the distribution late is not an issue to me because I know I'll eventually get it. I'm just not understanding why TD Waterhouse cannot synthetically drip BIP.UN. Is it because it's a limited partnership? Are any of you holders of Brookfield Infrastructure? Do you have any issues reinvesting the dividend?


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

humble_pie said:


> TD....says it doesn't want to get into forward debt relationships to the CDS network.
> 
> other brokers are pre-paying DRIPs on the dividend payable date even though they don't actually have the money in the house yet. They are pre-paying because that's what their clients keep yammering for.
> 
> actually i prefer the TD approach, i like brokers that keep their back office operations as clean as possible.


110% agree HP!

@Leeder, have you asked to speak to a Manager there, at TD? re: synthetic DRIP?

I recall BIP.UN pays their dividends in USD $$. That could be the issue since not all USD $$ - dividend paying stocks are honoured by the online brokerages. It could because, in this case, it's a LP but I'm not sure myself.


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