# BMO InvestorLine, AccountLink, and EFT



## sdust (Jan 3, 2010)

Hello,

I was hoping to get some info from BMO InvestorLine clients that I cannot find online and could not understand from a brief conversation with a BMO consultant.

First I'm trying to determine whether there is a way to EFT (Electronic funds transfer) money to and from a BMO InvestorLine cash account to another Canadian banking institution. Is this possible? (Similar to what Scotia iTrade is marketing as Easy Transfer)

It appears to me that I'm forced to open a bank account with BMO by way of the AccountLink service if I open a BMO InvestorLine account. Is that true? I don't really want to have a BMO bank account but it appears there is no choice. I assume cash is held in the InvestorLine cash account and one chooses when to move money into the AccountLink account. Is that correct? or does cash automatically get parked into the AccountLink account? 

It appears that the option to get money out is to put money in your AccountLink account and then _Interac Email Money Transfer_ to yourself to put in another account at another banking institution.

I had basically decided I would open an InvestorLine account but I don't need a bank account with BMO and it seems a little excessive if I have to move cash into AccountLink account and then email it to myself (which may incur a charge depending on the institution it goes to). I'd rather just have a broker that I can EFT money back and forth with to a Canadian banking institution of my choosing.

Thanks for any insights into the workings of BMO InvestorLine and if my concerns are unjust.

Cheers
Sdust


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

not trying to pry here, but am curious. If you're not a bmo bank customer, why would you want to open a bmo investorline account. Unless, of course, you were attracted by the freebies in the ads.

i do believe that funds into & out of an investorline account must migrate through the bank account link. As i recall investorline restricts a client to 2 free WDs per month. Unlimited deposits, of course, which can be managed from a bank account at another institution by adding your bmo investorline account link number (the bank account number) to your e-bill payment list at another canadian chartered bank.

i don't know any way to direct e-WDs to another institution. There could be a charge as you suggest. What would be wrong with simply walking a cheque over to the receiving other bank & dropping this through the slot or handing to the teller.

all in all, if the proposed online account is going to be your principal investment or trading account, i would ever-so-gently suggest that you not establish this @ bmo investorline. It's not just the e-withdrawals that are going to disappoint.

or go there to get the freebies if you must, but know that you will have to commit your funds to investorline for a minimum of 6 months before you can transfer to a better online dealer. Either way, wishing you success in 2010.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

BMO Investorline has obviously peed in your cornflakes Humble Pie. Well said so smooth.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

why such constriction of the kidneys so early in the new year madame. This leads to premature renal failure.

did you know that traditional Chinese medicine relates water to the spinal cord, which includes the brain. This must be why brilliant intellects such as your own - as you like to boast - unfortunately descend to such repulsive contemplations.


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## Dana (Nov 17, 2009)

I am a bmoinvestorline client. If you have a cash/margin account, there is already a bank account number affiliated with your brokerage account. I have access to my margin account via a BMO bank card. I can debit/credit via the ABM network, or, I guess I could wire the funds electronically using the account number provided. I also have cheques for my margin account, so I could set it up for automatic debit/credit, I suppose...though I never have.


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## sdust (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks for your reply and no worries about prying. I was not attracted by the freebies in the ads. I was simply trying to select a discount broker to use after using a full service broker for years. Using info from these forums, the Canadian Capitalist blog, G & M rankings over the past few years, Surviscor, etc. I had basically thought I would use BMO InvestorLine. My one issue was the transferring of cash in and out from the brokerage account to a separate bank account. It does not look like an easy thing with InvestorLine.

Essentially I had created a list of things I would like to have from a discount broker and they include the ability to:
-easily EFT money in/out to a separate Canadian banking institution
-go totally paperless (e-statements and tax forms)
-transfer in-kind all investments in various types of accounts (ie. not have to cash anything out in the transfer process. I assume that is possible with all of them. What I don't want to find is the receiving institution cannot hold some type of investment so it is automatically cashed out.)
-keep my account open and allow trades (at the very least _sells_) should I become a non-resident
-allow trades from any country because I travel for work even though I'm a resident of Canada (ie. want to confirm there is no geo blocking for trading when I'm away)
-reimburse transfer out fees (I think most do this so it is a non issue)
-support the use of Quicken
-calculate the cost basis of ETFs (I don't think anyone does this and I don't see why some of the ETF companies made this confusing for a basic investor IMHO)

The costs of the various discount brokers seem relatively the same so it is more if they could provide some of the services I mentioned above. Sounds like BMO is a no go for not being able to EFT money in and out of the account using online banking. TDW probably deals with most of my wants and Qtrade misses the mark with residency changes, paperless, and doesn't support Quicken but sounds like it excels in its service.

Cheers



humble_pie said:


> not trying to pry here, but am curious. If you're not a bmo bank customer, why would you want to open a bmo investorline account. Unless, of course, you were attracted by the freebies in the ads.
> 
> i do believe that funds into & out of an investorline account must migrate through the bank account link. As i recall investorline restricts a client to 2 free WDs per month. Unlimited deposits, of course, which can be managed from a bank account at another institution by adding your bmo investorline account link number (the bank account number) to your e-bill payment list at another canadian chartered bank.
> 
> ...


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

hello dusty,

in another thread in this forum i've dumped heartily on the globe n mail ranking of discounts, so won't repeat here except to say i find globe's high ranking of bmo investorline to be unjustified, bizarre, even outrageous. What i look for in a website are effective, workmanlike tools to assist trading. The bmo website doesn't have enough of these, so although it's my backup account, it has been dwindling for more than a year as i move funds elsewhere, and often i reflect on whether it's worth maintaining at all.

i'd put tdw on my short list if i were searching now. Has numerous excellent working tools for investors. New markets & research website is huge, awesome, probably the best of any canadian online (save & except for our leslie here.) TDW can send $$$ electronically to other banks. And tdw calculates cost bases of ETFs.

if you have a large account, inquire about the tdw PA service. One or more of the PA reps with globe-trotting clients can probably offer useful advice & tips for your circumstances. Best of luck in 2010.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Also, according to Hank Cunningham's survey, TDW has the best bond inventory among all online discount brokerages and is actually quite a bit ahead than its competitors like RBC, Scotia and BMO.
BMO incidentally scores rather low on the scale of fixed income securities, with CIBC being the bottom of the pile.


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## InvestorandTrader (May 26, 2010)

*Investorline Technical problems*

I have been using BMO Investorline for a few years. One thing that people should realize is that Investrline does not have very good performance when a lot of investor want to get on at the same time. 

Several times in the past and all yesterday and again today, I have been unable to enter transactions into the system to make buys or sells. The site is simply not acccessible or I receive error messages about internal server errors. 

If any one is considereing investorline and you plan on trading using the account, I would advise them to find a different brokerage service. Investorline is horrible response time when many investor get on at the same time. 

Bottomline, these problems are causing me to lose money because I am unable to use the system to put through transactions.


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