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How Fast Can I Sell my BMO InvestorLine AAT770 HISA to Generate Cash to Re-invest?

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I recently bought some of the BMO AAT770 CAD High Interest Savings Account fund within my BMO InvestorLine RRSP. I wanted to test how to make the purchase, and to double check for any quirks or fees (although there shouldn’t be any.) Next, I want to test how quickly the cash comes back into my account if I sell my AAT770 so I can re-invest the money in a stock, ETF, mutual fund or GIC. I’ll give you the good news first, then provide the step-by-step instructions for making the sale.

How Long Did It Take for the Cash to Appear in my BMO InvestorLine RRSP Account After I Sold the HISA Fund Units?

Well so far I don’t know! I’m watching my transaction history to find out. Ok, I’m back. Here’s what happened:

  • On April 11, I bought $5000 worth of AAT770.
  • On April 12, the sale settled.
  • On April 16, I placed an order to sell all $5000 worth of AAT770.
  • On April 17, in the Trading tab, Order Status selection, the order to sell is reported as Filled and sold, but in the My Holdings tab, the cash balance has not increased and the holding of 5000 units of AAT770 is still listed.
  • Now, on April 18, at 8 a.m. all $5000 is back in the cash account in my RRSP. In the My Holdings tab, the cash balance has increased by $5000.87 and the listing for AAT770 has disappeared.
  • The deposit of the $5000 investment was back-dated to April 16. You can see the date they claim it was deposited in the Transaction History, but it is back dated.
  • The deposit of the interest of 0.87 was back-dated to April 17. Again you can see this in the My Holdings tab, under Transaction History.

As I said, the money was actually in the account ready to spend on the morning of April 18. So it took the day I placed the trade plus two days for the cash to appear in my account. It appears, though, that the trade settled in the trade day plus one day. So in theory, you could place an order to buy a GIC or mutual fund one day after the day you placed an order to sell your HISA and it would be fine. Given that stocks take even longer to reach the settlement date, you should be able to place an order to purchase a stock on the same day that you issue the order to sell your HISA. I’m a bit leery of all the warnings InvestorLine placed around a possible delay in settling the sale of the HISA fund. I would probably wait for the cash to appear before purchasing anything, just in case. NOTE: all of the days were business days when InvestorLine was up and open for trades. I’m sure it would have been slower if there was a weekend in the middle.

Did I Read / Write that Correctly? InvestorLine Paid Interest on a 7-Day HISA Deposit?!

Yes, much to my pleasant surprise, I actually received $0.87 interest for the time my $5000 was deposited in the AAT770 HISA fund. I did not expect this, as the terms state that interest is calculated daily and paid monthly and it was not month end. Good on InvestorLine and BMO!

How to Sell Units of AAT770 in a BMO InvestorLine Account

  1. First sign in to BMO Investorline.
  2. From the drop-down list, select the account which is holding your AAT770 units. For example, I selected my RRSP account.
  3. Under the My Portfolio tab, review your holdings of the HISA fund.

If you are ready to sell

  1. Click on the AAT770 symbol.
  2. Or from the Trading menu select Mutual Funds.
  3. Either way opens the Mutual Fund Order Entry screen. Remember the cutoff time for selling a mutual fund today is 2 p.m. ET. If you enter the order after that time, it will take another entire business day to be executed. I’m choosing to place my sell order at 10:20 A.M. ET.
  4. From the Action drop-down list select Sell.
  5. In the Fund Symbol field, type AAT770 if you are selling units of the Canadian dollar high interest savings account.
  6. Click on the Recent Closing Price button to
    • Confirm you entered the symbol for the units you want to sell
    • Confirm it still says No Load
  7. In the Amount field, select either All or type in the amount of dollars or units you want to redeem. If applicable, select Dollars or Units from the drop-down list. I selected All. (Well, actually I first tested it by trying to sell $1000 worth, to see if it would let me go below the $5000 minimum holding. The program responded: “Your order was not processed. The following problem is associated with your order: Warning: This transaction will reduce your fund holdings below the required minimum amount. Please adjust or Sell/Switch all.” Rats!)
    UPDATE: As of 2017 10 03 you can hold a minimum balance of $1 000.
  8. In the Contact Phone # field, type your telephone number.
  9. Click on the Review Order button.

Very interesting! I have not actually entered my trading password yet, so the message is not completely accurate. The program responded:

Your order was not processed. The following problem is associated with your order: You may continue with your order or may choose to change/cancel the order. Warning: This order requires manual processing and may be delayed.

I decided to accept the warning and continue. I clicked on the Accept All Warnings button. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

The Mutual Fund Order Review screen opens. It repeats at the top of the screen:

If submitted, you are accepting the following warnings: Warning: This order requires manual processing and may be delayed. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

  1. Review the order details.
  2. If they are acceptable: Type your trading password in the “Please enter your password in order to submit your order” field.
  3. Click on the Submit Order button.
  4. Copy the Mutual Fund Order Confirmation into a document and save it for reference. The Order Reference number will be needed if you have to follow-up with InvestorLine. Again, it states that I have accepted the warning that the order requires manual processing and may be delayed. [UPDATE: In more recent sales of this fund I no longer receive this warning message.]

If desired, under the Trading tab, select Order Status. You should see the details of your sell request order for the HISA fund. The current status is Submitted. Related Reading

Join In Do you use a HISA fund to park your cash while waiting for another investment opportunity? Have you found any quirks? Please share your experiences with a comment.

How to Invest in the AAT770 High Daily Interest Savings Account Fund, HISA, at BMO InvestorLine

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Recently BMO InvestorLine updated its HISA offerings with a daily interest savings account fund of its own called AAT770. (It also offers AAT780 for US dollar transactions.) This is a no-load purchase. It’s also CDIC insured.As of October 3, 2017, it is paying 0.95% and the minimum holding of this investment is $1 000. As of February 20, 2014  April 12, 2013 it is paying 1.25%  1.27% per year.  UPDATE: On March 18, 2017 AAT770 is paying 0.75%. The minimum holding of this investment is $5000, considerably less than the minimum $25,000 holding for other HISAs. Of course, BMO could have just started paying interest on cash balances over $5000 as it used to do in the past and saved investors a hassle. Presumably they expect many investors to overlook this possibility and save themselves some money. Luckily, an observant investor noticed it and advised me which led to me writing the post Investing in the AAT770 Daily Interest Savings Account for InvestorLine RRSP and TFSA Accounts.

UPDATE: As of November 2013, AAT770 is only paying 1.25% per year. Grrrr.
UPDATE: As of January 2015, AAT770 is only paying 1.20% per year.
UPDATE: On March 18, 2017, AAT770 is paying 0.75%.
UPDATE: On October 3, 2017, AAT770 is paying 0.95% per year.
Here’s how to invest in AAT770:

Sign in to your BMO InvestorLine account.

  1. From the drop-down menu, select within which account you wish to purchase the high interest savings account fund.
    For example, I selected my LIRA.

How to Buy Units of AAT770 the BMO High Interest Savings Account Fund

  1. From the Trading tab, select Fixed Income.
    1. Under the Inventory Search section, click on the High Interest Savings link.
    2. Click on the BMO CAD High Interest Savings Account link.

    OR

    1. From the Inventory Search menu, select GICs.
    2. Click on the Search button.
    3. Click on the link: Looking for an alternative for the cash in your portfolio?
    4. Review the list (especially in case InvestorLine comes up with a better offer!).
    5. As of April 11, 2013, the best The only Canadian dollar choice is the AAT770 BMO CASD High Interest Savings Account, so click on that named link.

The Mutual Fund Order Entry screen opens.

  1. Check that the Action is Buy. If not, select it from the drop-down list.
  2. Confirm that the Fund Symbol is AAT770.
  3. If desired, click on the Recent Closing Price button.
    This should show a value of 1.00 and state that the fund is No Load.
  4. In the field Amount in Dollars, type in the amount you want to invest in Canadian dollars.
    For this test, I typed 5523.
    (I actually tested it first entering 550 as the Amount in Dollars.
    It came back with the error message:
    Your order was not processed. There is a problem with your order:
    Quantity entered does not meet minimum purchase levels.)
  5. Select where the interest should be paid: to
    • your cash account, or
    • reinvested in more units of the fund,

    by clicking on the radio button beside Cash or Reinvest.

  6. Type your telephone number in the Contact Phone # field.
  7. Click on the Review Order button.

The Mutual Fund Order Review screen opens.

  1. Read through the Mutual Fund Order Review screen to be sure you know what you are buying and the terms.
  2. If everything looks ok, type your password in the field labeled:
    Please enter your password in order to submit your order.
  3. Click on the Submit Order button.
  4. Highlight the information about your order on the Mutual Fund Order Confirmation and paste it into a document.
  5. Save it for reference until the order is successfully filled.

If you want, click on the Trading menu and select Order Status.
You should see a description of your recent transaction.

Be Aware It Will Take Time for the Transaction to be Reported Properly
Today, the first business day after I placed my order:

  • my cash balance is too high.
    It states I still have the cash that I spent yesterday buying the HISA fund.
    Be careful you don’t spend the same cash twice!
  • my Holdings does not include the HISA fund yet
  • if I check my Order Status, however, by clicking on the Trading tab and selecting Order Status, it shows my purchase order as Filled.

I expect to check tomorrow and find that both my Holdings and my Cash balance have been updated.

Related Reading

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Do you occasionally need to park cash in a HISA fund in your brokerage account? Has it ever caused an unexpected problem or delay? Please share your experiences with a comment.