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How to Buy Units in a High Interest Savings Account Fund at RBC Direct Investing

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UPDATE: This article is historical, from 2013. I no longer invest with RBC Direct Investing.

As I mentioned, if your minimum balance drops below $50,000 in market value at RBC Direct Investing, you will no longer qualify for $9.95 trades. That’s making me nervous about investing all of my money into an ETF or stocks quickly. While I’m dithering, I decided to park some of the money in a high interest savings account fund within my RBC Direct Investing RSP account.

For those who are investing in a non-registered discount brokerage account, please remember that transferring money out of a *registered* account at a brokerage to a higher-paying HISA at another financial institution is very cumbersome. It involves using a T2033 form and can often take 6-8 weeks to get the money moved in one direction. Buying units in a HISA fund is the only practical solution to this problem for registered accounts such as TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs, LIRAs, RESPs, RDSPs, etc.

What HISAs Can I Buy Within my RBC Direct Investing RSP?

According to information on the Canadian Capitalist website, the three Canadian dollar HISA funds available through RBC Direct Investing online are: RBF 2010, 2020 and 2030. They appear to offer the same terms.

It appears that you cannot buy units in high interest savings account funds offered by other financial institutions. A kind reader pointed out to me, though, that by speaking on the phone with BMO InvestorLine he was able to get access to other HISA funds there, as he had already bought the maximum CDIC-insured amount of AAT770, $100,000. It’s possible a similar reason might allow a customer to purchase other HISA funds by phone from RBC Direct Investing. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough funds in this RRSP to try to test this.

Buying Units of RBF2010 from RBC Direct Investing

  1. Sign in to your RBC Direct Investing account.
  2. Click on the Trade tab.
  3. From the horizontal list, click on the Mutual Funds link.
  4. On the Mutual Fund Order Entry Step 1 of 3 screen
    1. From the Account #: drop-down list, select the account within which you wish to purchase the HISA units.
      Check the Available Funds: number is what you expected.
    2. From the Action: drop-down list, select: Buy
    3. Beside the Amount: field click to select the radio button beside either
      • Dollars including Commission; or
      • Units

      Then
      in the Amount: field, type the number of dollars or units you wish to buy.

    4. In the Symbol: field, type: RBF2010
    5. Click on the Show Quote button.
      Check the details of the quote. Today for RBC Investment Savings Account Series A it says the NAVPS/Yield is 10.0000, the Currency is CAD, the Inv. Min. Initial is 500.00 and the RSP Min. Initial is 500.00.
      When I clicked on the RBF2010 link in the detailed quote, it opened a screen of information about the product. It states the fund is a No Load fund. It says to go to http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/isa/index.html to see the current rate.
      I did, and as of today in December 2013, the rate is set at 1.25% for the CAD funds.
      UPDATE: On March 18, 2017 RBF2010 is paying 0.75%.
      It also states that “Liquidity since your money is accessible when you want with no locked–in periods or maturity dates.”
      It all looks good, so I returned to the order entry screen.
    6. In the Contact Phone: field, type your phone number.
    7. Click on the Continue button.
  5. The Confirm Transaction – Step 2 of 3 screen opens.
    Review the details. Note it says subsequent investments can be $25 or higher. This is much, much better than InvestorLine.
    If you like what you read, click on the Confirm button.
  6. The Transaction Complete – Step 3 of 3 screen opens.
    Copy the Order ID number into a document and save it for future reference.
  7. I then clicked on the Order Status link from the horizontal list of links under the Trade tab. The order is properly recorded there.
  8. Under the My Portfolios tab, when I check the Available Funds, the amount I just spent has not been subtracted from my Available Funds. I will have to be cautious and not spend the same amount twice!

What Did I Learn From Purchasing Units in a HISA at RBC Direct Investing?

  • I found it very odd that I was not asked to enter my trading password to make this purchase.
  • I was not asked if I wanted the interest payments deposited in my HISA or paid back into my trading account cash balance. (InvestorLine asks this.)
  • I was pleasantly surprised to find that the minimum investment is $500 and the minimum additional contribution is $25. At InvestorLine and Investor’s Edge, the minimum investment is much higher.

Related Reading

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Do you park your surplus cash in a HISA in your online discount brokerage account? Does the phrase “high interest” make you laugh scornfully? Please share your views with a comment.

Using the Message Centre Secure Email Function to Contact RBC Direct Investing in Writing

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UPDATE: This article is historical, from 2013. I no longer invest with RBC Direct Investing.

I’ve used a variety of online discount brokerages and I’ve found that even though they all seem to offer the same products and allow you to do the same things there are small differences. So before I try certain investments for the first time, I like to clarify the details with the brokerage. I prefer to do that in writing. Then I can review exactly what they said and not just assume I heard something they never actually stated. RBC Direct Investing allows me to contact their support team using a secure email system; I can send them a message from within my RBCDI account and they reply within that system.

Do Other Online Discount Brokerages Offer a Secure Email System?

BMO InvestorLine offers a similar secure email system called MyLink.

CIBC does not offer a secure email system. You can write to them with general questions at their listed email address but they will not answer questions that they feel require more security. Instead you’ll wait for their email reply which will just tell you to phone them!

How to Use the Message Centre to Send a Secure Email to the RBC Direct Investing Support Team

  1. Sign in to your RBC Direct Investing account.
  2. Click on the My Home tab.
  3. Under the Your Communications bar, click on the appropriate phrase.
    For example, I click on: You have messages
  4. Under the Bar called RBC Direct Investing – Need Help?
    Click on the middle link: Send Secure Email
    OR
    Click on the Customer Support link in the top right side of the screen.
    Scroll down to the Send us a secure e-mail heading and click on the link to the Secure Message Centre.
  5. From the drop-down To: list select
    RBC Direct Investing
    (or RBC Royal Bank; RBC Dominion Securities; RBC Wealth Management)
  6. When you select RBC Direct Investing you will get another set of choices.
    In the Subject: box, select the radio button beside one of the following:

    • Account Opening
    • Transfers
    • Trade Inquiries
    • Fees & Commissions
    • Account Maintenance
    • Other Inquiries
  7. In the Message: field, type your question. There is a limit of 3000 characters.
  8. The system will automatically add your name and the date before sending the message.
    (It was interesting to me that it does not add your account or client number. BMO InvestorLine’s SecureLink adds your account number.)
  9. Click on the Send link.
    Your message will be saved.

To See Your Sent Messages

  1. Click on the My Home tab.
  2. Click on the You have messages link.
  3. Your Sent Messages are listed in a table. You can sort them by date, subject, type and to (who you queried) by clicking on the appropriate arrowhead.
  4. If your query was important, you may wish to copy it into a document and save it for further reference. I am not sure how long messages are stored online in the RBC DI Message Centre.

I found it amusing that if I I’m in the Message Centre screen and I click on the link Learn More About the Message Centre, I get an error message instead of more information. (I was hoping to find out if messages are automatically deleted after a certain amount of time. At BMO InvestorLine messages are deleted after 90 days so you have to cut and paste them into a document and save it elsewhere if you need them longer than that.)

To Read Your Responses from RBC Direct Investing in the Message Centre

  1. Click on the My Home tab.
  2. Under the Your Communications bar, click on the link: You have new messages
  3. The Message Centre will open.
    It is Divided into sections including

    • New Messages
    • Viewed Messages
    • Sent Messages

    Click on the Subject line for the reply you wish to read.

  4. You can sort messages by date, subject, type and to (who you queried) by clicking on the appropriate arrowhead.

Related Reading

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Have you used the Message Centre? Did you find it did the trick quickly and easily? Please share your experiences with a comment.