# Do I need a RBC chequing account to open an account with RBC DI?



## hilroy (Dec 18, 2014)

If I want to add new funds into accounts held by RBC DI, could I transfer them from my current bank (Scotia), or do I need a chequing account with RBC to fund RBC DI accounts?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

hilroy said:


> If I want to add new funds into accounts held by RBC DI, could I transfer them from my current bank (Scotia), or do I need a chequing account with RBC to fund RBC DI accounts?


You do not need an RBC chequing account. You set up a Bill Pay in Scotia with your RBC DI account as the payee. Getting money out of RBC DI is a different matter. RBC DI does not have an EFT mechanism to move money out to other institutions (other than RBC itself).


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

^+1

They charge to send a cheque to your home or business. Or you can get it from a branch for free, but what a pain! I wonder if the other discount brokerages are like that.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Bill payments are a great way to send money to different brokerage accounts.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Guban said:


> ^+1
> 
> They charge to send a cheque to your home or business. Or you can get it from a branch for free, but what a pain! I wonder if the other discount brokerages are like that.


Scotia iTrade allows one to set up EFTs to external institutions so that solves the issue there. 

BMO IL is even more novel. You can set up a MYLink chequing account that does nothing more than hold the spare cash in the BMO IL, and from the MyLink chequing, one can set up Bill Pays like any other chequing account. That is brilliant.


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## hilroy (Dec 18, 2014)

AltaRed said:


> You do not need an RBC chequing account. You set up a Bill Pay in Scotia with your RBC DI account as the payee. Getting money out of RBC DI is a different matter. RBC DI does not have an EFT mechanism to move money out to other institutions (other than RBC itself).


This has me wondering... does any brokerage of the main banks have an ETF mechanism to move money into different institutions (other than themselves)?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Yes as I said in my post just before yours.


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## hilroy (Dec 18, 2014)

And for completeness, I just did a quick look up of other brokerage EFT policies:

BMO Investorline - see above

TD Direct Investing - You can set up an EFT between TD DI and your other banking/financial institution, but once set up you can't actually do a money transfer from the web interface. You have to call TD DI to then initiate a transfer from your TD DI account (has to be a non-reg. account) to your financial institution. More info here: http://www.td.com/to-our-customers/tdhelps/#psce|cid=871|lid=1|tid=001|vid=c08259e4a

Scotia iTrade - you can set up an EFT between Scotia iTrade and your other banking/financial institution by filling out an EFT form and mailing it in

CIBC Investors Edge - you can set up an EFT between CIBC Investors Edge and your other banking/financial institution by filling out an EFT form and mailing it in

RBC DI - The ability to transfer from your RBC DI account to another financial institution does not exist.


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks for the leg work, hilroy!

Wonder if RBC DI realizes that they are the only one that lacks the ability to get the $ out conveniently?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Guban said:


> Wonder if RBC DI realizes that they are the only one that lacks the ability to get the $ out conveniently?


I do not think they care. After all, they are biggest and best, right?


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

Biggest, perhaps. Best, obviously not in all ways.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Guban said:


> Biggest, perhaps. Best, *obviously not in all ways*.


 ... +1 ... not even in this "small" or insignificant way? But I still wonder about the real reason behind the "inconvenience" of moving your $ out of your DI account? Is it due to outdated IT infrastructure or ?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Guban said:


> Biggest, perhaps. Best, obviously not in all ways.


You did realize my comment was sarcasm, right?


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

what we hear is that RBC discount brokerage might be the biggest in terms of dollars under management, but it's by no means the biggest in terms of trade volume, which is what really matters for a broker.

RBC dominion securities is said to be canada's biggest underwriter of fixed income issues. Ranked both by number of issues & number of dollars. It's active in the US as well as canada.

roybank's discount clients would be mostly from RBC bank. The discounter is said to offer a good range of FI products, which mean relativelyi low turnover & low trade volume. Evidently a large number of RBC discount clients go for the FI. Hence this discount broker can claim to be biggest, based only on AUM.

a plus: roybank is one of only 2 discount brokers whose online platform supports instant, efficient currency gambit trading (the other is BMO.)

a minus: roybank has no options expertise whatsoever & they say specifically that this is not business they're seeking. BMO is somewhat the same. Are both these brokers hoping to thrive on an aging, conservative, retired clientele? this might be a somewhat dated approach to strategic planning ...


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> ... a minus: roybank has no options expertise whatsoever...


Last I checked with a co-worker - another minus for me is that the tax documents are not available online. I've become accustomed to the convenience compared to waiting by the mailbox.


Cheers


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

Maybe this is a dumb question, but: if you bank with ScotiaBank, and not RBC, why would you open an RBC DI account instead of a Scotia iTrade account?


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

^^^^

... because one is comfortable aggregating across multiple accounts using a computer so that the instant, online gambit ability becomes a deciding factor?

... one likes the RBCDI brokerage but was pissed off at the bank and moved to Scotia?

... RBCDI offered more free trades when the account was setup?

... ex-spouse opened it?


There are a lot of possibilities where only the OP knows.


Keep in mind that the wording of post #1 implies that the brokerage and bank accounts are already open.



Cheers


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

AltaRed said:


> You did realize my comment was sarcasm, right?


Yes.


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## Guban (Jul 5, 2011)

OhGreatGuru said:


> Maybe this is a dumb question, but: if you bank with ScotiaBank, and not RBC, why would you open an RBC DI account instead of a Scotia iTrade account?


Can't speak for anyone else, but I was bribed to move! 1% was too good a deal to pass up. Can't find the RBC DI details, but it was 1% per account type to a maximum of $10,000 (non-taxable) per person. That's potentially lot's of money that could come into a family.

Just waiting for another one to come up. I may not be cheap, but can be bought.

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/switching-to-rbc-direct-discount-brokerage/
http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/rbc-direct-investings-bonus-offer/


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## hilroy (Dec 18, 2014)

OhGreatGuru said:


> Maybe this is a dumb question, but: if you bank with ScotiaBank, and not RBC, why would you open an RBC DI account instead of a Scotia iTrade account?


For me personally, the answer is provided by Eclectic12:



Eclectic12 said:


> because one is comfortable aggregating across multiple accounts using a computer so that the instant, online gambit ability becomes a deciding factor?


I will also add that Scotia iTrade does not allow you to hold USD in registered accounts (where-as RBC DI does)


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

I went with the 1% bribe to RBC DI as well some years back, but only for my RRSP. I also moved $500k to BMO IL a few years ago for a $1500 bribe as well. I understand BMO IL has a new bribe out and need to take a look at that. Maybe it is time move my RRSP from RBC DI to BMO IL.


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