Author Topic: canadian brokerage recommendations? Just got hammered by an account fee....  (Read 2901 times)

strider3700

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I was just taking a quick look at my accounts and noticed that scotia iTrade just hammered me with a $100 admin fee + $5 in tax on my RRSP because I have less then $25,000 in the account.  I'm willing to bet that means my wife also got hit.  So fuck them.    Who is everyone else using and how are the fees?   My investing is all about commission free ETF's and that's it.




Ottawa

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I was just taking a quick look at my accounts and noticed that scotia iTrade just hammered me with a $100 admin fee + $5 in tax on my RRSP because I have less then $25,000 in the account.  I'm willing to bet that means my wife also got hit.  So fuck them.    Who is everyone else using and how are the fees?   My investing is all about commission free ETF's and that's it.

I had the same thing happen to me with TD Waterhouse.  I called them and let them know that this wouldn't be good for me keeping business with them.  They reversed the fee.  First, see if you can do this. 

But, I wasn't content with that.  Their willingness to charge me pissed me off.  So, I started looking at discount brokerages.  My criteria were fairly simple.  I wanted a US dollar account, free ETF purchases (since I contributed every 2 weeks) and respectable customer service (which I haven't really used...except to pull Norbert's Gambit to concert CAD - USD cheaply). 

At the time I read this: http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/review-canadian-discount-brokerages.htm
Then proceeded to look at individual reviews. 
I ended up with Questrade: http://canadianprofiteer.com/questrade-review/

I'm not saying it is the best online brokerage...but at the time it was great for me.  I have had no issues with it at all....and ETF purchases are free. 

daverobev

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I went with Questrade too. There is a fee if you hold less than $5k and don't make a trade in a quarter - which is fairly reasonable, I think. Plus you can hold US$ (not sure about Scotia, but I know certain systems don't allow that).

No problems here. I think they are better than they used to be.

Tawcan

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My wife and I use Questrade as well. I think all the major banks charge admin free for self directed RRSP accounts. The idea of $100 admin fee for a "self" directed RRSP account doesn't make any sense to me at all.