Tag Archives: RBCDI

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.

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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.

How Do I Start Getting $9.95 Trades at RBC Direct Investing Now I Have $50 000?

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

While on the phone asking where my money is, since it left ING Direct on November 7 and it still isn’t in my RBC DI account on November 14, I asked a more important question: “How do I start getting the $9.95 trading commission fee given that I will have $50,000 in my account.”

I remember several years ago when we set up accounts at BMO InvestorLine that we had to wait till month-end after reaching the minimum qualifying balance to get the reduced trading fee. (I suspect you can now phone them and ask to get the fee applied immediately once you qualify, but I’m not sure.) I wasn’t sure if we would have to wait with RBC DI as well or not.

When Will You Usually Get the Reduced Trading Commission Fee Rate at RBC Direct Investing?

The support person told me that generally the computer system will spot new qualifiers. The check is made once a month on the 22 nd day. It checks what the lowest balance was during the previous month. [Which is not what the website says. The website says it will check the asset balance on the last day of the previous month.] If the lowest balance was $50,000 then the account will be upgraded to $9.95 trade status.

Can You Get the $9.95 Rate Immediately at RBC Direct Investing?

Yes. Once you have the $50,000 minimum in your account you can phone RBC Direct Investing support and request a change. They should be able to update your account quickly. (They didn’t tell me *how* quickly, but the implication was it would happen overnight.)

I guess if my money ever arrives in my account I can test this!
UPDATE: It did; I can; and I did. The update was made over night. So the day after I phoned in, when I placed a test trade, the trading commission correctly reported as $9.95.

What Happens If the Market Value of my Portfolio Drops Below $50,000?

While I’m sure your stocks, ETFs and Mutual Funds will always go up in value, mine don’t. In fact, I tend to buy things right before they plummet in value.

So I sent a Secure Message to RBC DI to ask whether the $50,000 qualification applies to the Book Value (when I bought my stocks) or the Market Value (what they’re worth today). I waited with bated breath for their reply.

To my surprise and dismay, they replied “In order to qualify for preferred pricing of $9.95 you must hold $50,000 in market value on the last day of every month.”

That’s right: the *Market* Value of the account must be $50,000 or higher on the last day of every month to qualify for the $9.95 trading fee! So if your stocks take even a temporary dip on the last day of the month you will be back to $28.95 trading fees. It appears that changes in the fees, up or down, occur on the 22 nd of the month after the month-end balance went below or above $50,000.

Frankly, I’m not impressed.

Can I Get the $50,000 Discount by Adding Up My Accounts with my Spouse’s?

Yes. You can ask RBC DI to add up the assets in various accounts held by members of the same household such as you and your spouse. You have to phone them to ask them to do this. It is not automatic.

Where Do I Get $50,000 to Qualify

Of course the hardest part is coming up with the $50,000 to invest in the first place. That’s a lot of packed lunches and skipped designer coffees. With time and patience, though, you may get there sooner than you think.

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Did you get caught paying an excessive brokerage fee because you thought you’d get the better rate immediately once you qualified? Please share your experiences with a comment.