RBC Direct Investing (formerly Action Direct) experience

[Shakespeare]

I got a call from RBC last night. My $4.00 senior's rebate, which covers my $4.00 chequing account, will still apply but I will only get 10 free debits instead of 15. She offered the following hint: when paying bills online, use the "pay multiple bills" feature to get counted for only one debit instead of individual debits. Since I usually pay bills about every two weeks, this will save me some debit counts, and keep my banking free.

[zinfit]

RBC used to post a conviction buy list[FEW and FOCUS] every so often. Since they reorganized their research I don't seem to be able to find this information. Can anyone help me out?

[zinfit]

I emailed my concern to RBC Action Direct. Their prompt response was that these reports were no longer available to the discount brokerage wing. My reply was simple" I am very surprised that such reports are not available to Royal Circle members. In view of this development I will have to consider other providers"

[AltaRed]

RBC Direct Investing will not care. They are rated near the top for discount brokers and have no incentive to do more at this time.

[zinfit]

Your probably right Altared. Its to bad what the term" meeting and exceeding customer expectations" has come to in 2012. This term has fallen at the same pace as the Japanese economy.

[zinfit]

They emailed back and told me my concerns were being forwarded to the research department .

[lystgl]

Quite frankly, I don't know how they do it. Back in 2006, (or thereabouts) they paid me a great deal of money to switch. I am an retired, "buy and hold" investor, mainly prefs and bonds (debentures). I don't want to talk about trusts,thank you. There is no way they've recouped what they paid me to switch. They will never recoup what they paid me to switch. I transfer monies (when and as earned) out numerous times during the year. All are transferred at no charge.
The only time I buy anything is when something else has matured or I am forced when a debenture is called etc. They charge me a whopping $9.95 if it's not on an IPO and free.
Extremely satisfied with RBCDI.
PS. When I left Scotia Direct in 2006, they made a (what they would term) "valiant" attempt at getting my business back. Offered me some free magazine subscriptions! I was simply underwhelmed having been a Scotiabank customer since 1970!
These guys are OK. They, like every broker out there, could be a little more flexible on bonds and a little more aggressive on securing bonds for their clients (eg. buying from another brokerage is their desk doesn't have it) but, all in all, pretty damned good.

[AltaRed]

I think most of the top 5 do a pretty good job overall considering the margins they are likely playing with. While the treads here suggest some people are having problems from time to time with every discount broker, It is a world away from the hosing we all used to get with full service sales folk.

[parvus]

Perhaps because facilitating a trade is not the equivalent of financial advice, do you think?

[AltaRed]

Perhaps because facilitating a trade is not the equivalent of financial advice, do you think?

Certainly, the discount firms are lean on staff, but do you really think one got financial advice from a full service broker? I can't say that I got much from about half dozen of them... until I got smart and left.

[parvus]

Exactly my point.

[AltaRed]

RBC Direct Investing has just introduced a Community tab. Essentially a discussion forum for RBC DI clients. Until one gets an activation code, there is no way to see what it will all do, or what RBC thinks they will get out of it..... more clients?

[adrian2]

RBC Direct Investing has just introduced a Community tab. Essentially a discussion forum for RBC DI clients. Until one gets an activation code, there is no way to see what it will all do, or what RBC thinks they will get out of it..... more clients?

A "brilliant" marketing idea rubber-stamped by committees. Social media is critical for our brand, why don't we host it under our own control?

[AltaRed]

Social media is critical for our brand, why don't we host it under our own control?

Not sure what you are getting at. The RBC offering appears to be accessed only within their secure website, although that does not make a lot of sense. Will have to wait for the activation code to see what this is all about.

[adrian2]

Social media is critical for our brand, why don't we host it under our own control?

Not sure what you are getting at. The RBC offering appears to be accessed only within their secure website, although that does not make a lot of sense. Will have to wait for the activation code to see what this is all about.

Just making fun of corporate people hearing buzz words and trying to show their superiors how good they are at box ticking for their annual performance review.

[AltaRed]

So here is the information needed for RBC DI clients to become part of the Community (Discussion Forum). Note the underlined portion (my underline):

In response to your request, we are pleased to invite you to join the exclusive group of pioneer members who are participating in the Beta release of the RBC Direct Investing Community.

Joining the Community is easy. Once you are signed into the RBC Direct Investing online investing site:
o Click on the Community tab
o Click on I have an invite code
o Enter ****** into the Invite Code field
o Follow the steps to complete your registration and begin connecting with other investors.

By joining now, you will not need to complete the registration process again when the Beta period has ended.

Membership in the RBC Direct Investing Community is free of charge. Note that all members will be required to agree to the RBC Direct Investing Community Terms of Service, the Legal Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy in order to enrol. RBC Direct Investing will never disclose your real identity to other members of the Community.

Please note that certain information such as your enrolled portfolio holdings will not be visible in the Community until you have been registered in the Community for at least one full business day. Also, your returns, risk adjusted return and standard deviation will be calculated after the relevant goals have been enrolled for at least two consecutive business days.

We thank you for choosing to join. We look forward to receiving your feedback through the Forum section to help us improve the Community experience during the Beta period.

I wonder how many clients will really sign up. I can see potential value in it particularly around risk adjusted returns (however they do that). At the same time, I wonder if this may become a beauty contest... seeing who can have the best returns.

[Shakespeare]

At this point, I'm not interested in signing up.

[deaddog]

Their phone system has been down for at least an hour;

Alos RBC VISA is unavailable.

[AltaRed]

Revised: The headlines say that RBC and TD Visa is down, perhaps others. Customers get a 'decline' message. I had a 'decline' (CIBC Visa) about 4 hours ago at a store, but then it worked on second try.

[westinvest]

I got nailed with two expensive lessons last week, mostly my own fault, that I thought I should share in the hope it helps someone else avoid the same mistakes.

The first was in my RBCDI RRSP account - I had a GIC mature, and I also had some funds I had collected over the year in a RBC Investment Savings Fund that I wanted to add to the new GIC. The day the old GIC matured I bought the new GIC for the combined amount and put in my sell order for the Investment Savings funds.

When I received my statement I had been dinged for interest charges on the amount due from the funds, because the settlement time involved 5 calendar days (weekend included) and RBCDI charges interest at 21%(!) on non-margin negative balances based on a calculation of the average negative balance for the month. I did check BMOIL for comparison and they use the same rate, so be very careful to avoid negative balances in your RRSP / non-margined accounts!

The second incident is not RBCDI related but I'll stick it here because it was twice stung in a week. I received a small inheritance from a distant relative in Europe, and the funds were moved to my BMO bank account by wire transfer in Euros. BMO was happy to convert them to Canadian dollars for me. I subsequently checked the exchange transaction, and found that the buy / sell spread on Euro to CAD on a wire transfer is about 10 cents on a base of 1.35 CAD / per EURO, so the vig on the conversion worked out to about 3.7%! Of course, this rate is not published anywhere except by asking your branch. I did eventually get this reduced by having an earnest conversation with my bank manager about where I should take my banking business in the future, but buyer beware!

[Shakespeare]

When I received my statement I had been dinged for interest charges on the amount due from the funds, because the settlement time involved 5 calendar days (weekend included)

I ran into that last year (and reported it here somewhere). They removed the interest charges when I enquired.

In consequence, I added a warning to the finiki entry. Guaranteed Investment Certificate - finiki, the Canadian financial Wiki

GICs are purchased for same-day settlement. Investors who sell stocks or bonds with "T+3" settlement should generally wait until the funds are in their account before purchasing GICs.

[gsp_]

Westinvest, shouldn't your ISA settle in T+1?

[Pickles]

In consequence, I added a warning to the finiki entry. Guaranteed Investment Certificate - finiki, the Canadian financial Wiki

GICs are purchased for same-day settlement. Investors who sell stocks or bonds with "T+3" settlement should generally wait until the funds are in their account before purchasing GICs.

At BMOIL, GIC purchases settle on the next day as do sales of cashable GICs. The twist with selling off the cashables is that they must be entered by 11 AM for next day redemption -- worth knowing if you are seeking to consolidate several lower paying cashables into another GIC.

[Shakespeare]

finiki sections reworded.

[westinvest]

The point I wanted to make in my post was not so much that there is a difference in settlement times, I knew that, but I'm so used to trading in my non-registered accounts where a few days of margin interest is no big deal that it was a shock to see a 21% interest rate on the negative balance in the RRSP.

...and, as Shakes noted above, I did ask RBCDI to reverse the charge as goodwill, and they did.