Canadian Investing: TD's e-series or Questrade's Vanguard index funds

[IngaB]

Hello fellow Canadians,
I am thinking of opening up a TFSA with either TD Bank or Questrade. I am thinking of putting in $10K each year until I catch up on my contributions and then contribute $5,500 annually.

Both TD's e-series and Questrade's Vanguard funds have low fees but how easy is it to withdraw funds when one needs it?

Questrade has very mixed customer service reviews (e.g. one customer service rep would tell you one thing and when you call back and speak to another rep - they will tell you a different thing). Also some reviewers noted it can take months to withdraw funds. Is it true?

Same thing with TD bank e-series. Staff have no clue about them and cannot really answer questions about set up. Apparently e-series mutual funds need to be converted to something else by a customer before a withdrawal is possible? Can someone elaborate on this?

I am really interested in your experience with TD's e-series accounts and Questrade's accounts in terms of ease of withdrawal.
Thank you very much.

IngaB

[anisotropy]

Hi, I had TD e-series. Even though the fund fees (MER) were higher than standard vanguard funds, the "free" transactions more than made up for it, assuming your total amount is below 50K CAD, and that you spread out your $10k purchases over the year.

It takes a few days to get the cash when you sell the e-series funds (since they are mutual funds), so plan ahead if you need to withdraw or buy something else.

Regarding set-up: Years ago, I opened my TFSA, I bought e-series online via web-broker. Pretty straight forward.

I Don't have any exp with Q-trade. You prob knew this but vanguard funds are not unique to Q-trade, ie, you could buy them in your TD tfsa account also.

[TrMama]

Another option is to buy Vanguard funds using TD Webbroker. So far, I've only sold stock from our Webbroker account and it takes seconds for the transaction to complete. Otherwise, I've only bought Vanguard funds with TD. However, since they're treated as stock I imagine they're pretty quick to liquidate.

Note that I also have a TD savings account, so that further simplifies the process of selling investments to generate cash in hand. Since Questade is an online bank, you have to add in the step of transferring cash from them to another bank so you can actually spend the money. Transferring funds between institutions is usually what takes so long.

[Freedomin5]

My understanding is that ESeries is purchased via WebBroker, and is self-directed. The TD investment staff can help you set up Web Broker but part of the reason for the low ESeries fees is because it’s self-directed, DIY type investing. So you buy it yourself using the web platform. If you want someone to hold your hand and help you transfer and buy mutual funds, then you need to buy the higher MER products at TD such as Comfort Portfolio.

The whole WebBroker ESeries purchasing  process is quite simple, especially if you have bank accounts with TD. I know this from experience. Just log into TD’s online banking website, then transfer funds to your WebBroker account. Your WebBroker account should be linked to your TD Bank accounts so all your TD chequing/savings/mortgage/investing  accounts should show up on the Accounts page. The funds usually arrive in WebBroker account within 1-2 days. Then log into your WebBroker account and the funds should show as “Cash” in WebBroker. Then buy the eseries you want. I’ve never sold but I assume it would be similar. Sell. Wait for money to settle/show up as cash. Transfer out of WebBroker to your TD bank account.

And as someone else has already mentioned, you can buy Vanguard funds through TD WebBroker.

I don’t have experience with Questrade so can’t comment.

[Beard N Bones]

Hello fellow Canadians,
I am thinking of opening up a TFSA with either TD Bank or Questrade. I am thinking of putting in $10K each year until I catch up on my contributions and then contribute $5,500 annually.

Both TD's e-series and Questrade's Vanguard funds have low fees but how easy is it to withdraw funds when one needs it?

Questrade has very mixed customer service reviews (e.g. one customer service rep would tell you one thing and when you call back and speak to another rep - they will tell you a different thing). Also some reviewers noted it can take months to withdraw funds. Is it true?

I've dealt with Questrade for over 3 years now.  It's been a very good experience.  I've had no issues with their customer service at all.  I've referred my brother and my parents to Questrade (6+ accounts opened) and they've been very happy with the service Questrade has given.

Same thing with TD bank e-series. Staff have no clue about them and cannot really answer questions about set up. Apparently e-series mutual funds need to be converted to something else by a customer before a withdrawal is possible? Can someone elaborate on this?

I've got my RESPs set up with TD, using the e-series funds.  It was my experience that the staff that I dealt with had no clue about these funds.  It was a real pain in the @$$ to set up. Took forever.  Would never do it again.  I'm seriously considering moving those RESPs to Questrade - but I dread the thought of having to deal with TD again.  Deal with them now vs deal with them later... bleh.  No idea if the "funds need to be converted to something else before a withdrawal is possible." 

I am really interested in your experience with TD's e-series accounts and Questrade's accounts in terms of ease of withdrawal.

As you can see, my vote is for Questrade.  The customer service has been far better than TD's - both in setting up accounts, and in ongoing inquiries.  I find that the Questrade platform is also VERY user friendly.  My parents (in their 60th decade of life) have found navigating Questrade to be very easy - and yet they continue to have a hard time figuring out e-mail.  Withdrawing funds from Questrade is very easy.  I've never had to withdraw funds from the RESP accounts at TD... but I am dreading it.

[IngaB]

Anisotropy, TrMama, Freedomin5 and Beard N Bones:

This is very helpful. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your experiences :)
Have a lovely day.

IngaB

[RichMoose]

Another vote for Questrade here. I've also been with TD in the past (my first brokerage).

Questrade is easier to use, their customer service is good, and their cost is very low overall. For example, TD charges account fees for smaller $15k while Questrade waives fees after just $5k.

The issue with getting different answers to the same question from different reps is prevalent across pretty much every bank, utility, government agency, etc. That's what happens when you have a large organization with constant staff turnover and generally low expertise. It seems to be an unfortunately part of the world we live in.

I found withdrawal from both TD and Questrade have been relatively easy. With TD, I transferred my RRSP to Questrade without a hitch (took about a week to process). I closed my TD TFSA by doing an end of year rollover, also easy. I recently did an in-kind transfer from Questrade to Interactive Brokers for my non-registered account. Again, super easy and took a couple days.