Tag Archives: T2033

How Long Will It Take To Transfer My RRSP or TFSA? Are There Rules?

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I was reading through some posts on the Canadian Money Forum one of which was about how to transfer a RRSP, in cash, from one financial institution to another. One of the replies said that financial institutions can work very slowly and may even phone you to try to talk you out of the move. That got me thinking about all of the RRSP and TFSA transfers I’ve done in the past 2 years and how long they took–and whether there are any rules banks have to follow.

What Is the Process for Transferring a RRSP or TFSA to Another Bank, Brokerage or Institution?

The actual process is very similar no matter which two financial institutions you are talking about. In almost all cases, you open the account that will receive the money or assets, then you fill in a T2033 form provided by that receiving institution which either they or you mail to the bank, brokerage, credit union, or other institution that currently has your holdings.

The T2033 is pretty straightforward. On it you list

  • the name and address of the place that will be receiving your assets
  • the name and address of the place that will be sending your assets
  • the account numbers, client numbers, transit numbers or other identifying numbers for the RRSP or TFSA at both institutions
  • your name, address, phone, and sometimes SIN
  • how to move non-cash assets.
    For example:
    transfer stocks and mutual funds as is, or sell them and then move the cash;
    convert any cashable GICs to cash and then move the funds, or move them as GICs, or move them as they mature to cash

There’s nothing very complex about a T2033 although some brokerages seem to make them look pretty ugly.

Are There Any Rules for Transferring Assets from one RRSP or TFSA to Another?

The disgruntled comment on the forum made me wonder if there were any actual rules about how quickly financial institutions have to handle these routine transfers.

Reading a line in In Your Best Interest piqued more of my interest. It said “The former firm must reply [to the requested transfer] within 2 days and deliver all the securities and cash, within ten days.”

So I went out and looked for more information.

While I couldn’t find the exact document I was looking for on the IIROC website, I did find another document on the Government of Canada Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website.

It answers the specific question of how long can an institution take to complete a RRSP transfer request.

It says:
The length of time depends in part on what is held in the RRSP. It could hold cash, stocks, mutual funds, etc. Each of these may require different handling times. So the longest time allowed is the time required to handle the most complicated asset in the request.

For “deposit-type” products, the target time is that within 7-12 business days after receiving a properly completed request , the chartered bank will send the cheque to the receiving institution.

If the “deposit” has to mature first, that extends the time permitted.

Note that the time is for chartered banks. It doesn’t say how long for other institutions.

For “mutual fund-type” products, it says to check Guideline 81-102 of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

For” securities-type” products, which presumably includes ETFs and stocks, it says Transfers by chartered banks of registered plans containing securities will be processed according to Regulation 2300 of the Investment Dealers Association.

Clear as mud, right?

I tried to go to the next level and look up Guideline 81-102 but it’s slow going so far. So in the meantime, here are some personal experiences for what they’re worth.

Time for Cash to Move from one RRSP or TFSA to Another at a Different Financial Institution

We had assets scattered all over the place from disorganized contributions made during the early years. Gradually we’ve been rounding them up and corralling them in a few brokerage accounts. It’s led to many transfers and I’ve timed a lot of them. Here are some examples.

These moves all happened in 2012-early 2014. As described in another article, the TFSA transfers from ING Direct to BMO InvestorLine this year show the randomness of some of these events. Both transfers were initiated at the same time in the same way, but there is a 7 business day difference between the results!

Each of these transfers was of cash only. Each was initiated by mailing the T2033 from a public mail box, so some of the required time includes the time for Canada Post to pick up and deliver the T2033 to the first financial institution.

And just in case you’re interested, no one has ever contacted us to try to talk us out of transferring our funds. (I suspect they’re glad to see me go!)

Where the Money Started Where the Money Stopped How Many Business Days It Took
The Canada RSP ING Direct 15
CIBC BMO InvestorLine 16
CIBC CIBC Investor’s Edge 3
ING Direct BMO InvestorLine 18
ING Direct BMO InvestorLine 11
ING Direct CIBC Investor’s Edge 12
ING Direct RBC Direct Investing 14 to leave ING
7 to then reach RBC DI!

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How Long Does It Take to Transfer a TFSA from ING Direct to BMO InvestorLine?

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This is a tale of two TFSAs. Actually, it’s a tale of four Tax Free Savings Accounts. The first two TFSAs were at ING Direct. (Now called Tangerine.) ING Direct Tangerine offered 2.5% interest for a few months for savings of up to $5500 per account (one account per client) provided the savings were transferred automatically into the client’s TFSA on January 1. My husband and I took advantage of that offer. Then, on January 2, we sent in the forms to transfer our TFSAs from Tangerine to our BMO InvestorLine accounts—but how long would it take?

UPDATE: Please be aware that as of January 2015, Tangerine has started charging a fee if you transfer your RRSP or TFSA from Tangerine to another bank, credit union, brokerage or financial institution.

Given that change, I would no longer recommend the Kick Start program unless you plan to keep your TFSA money at Tangerine for the long term.

How Did We Apply to Transfer Our TFSA Funds?

It’s important to transfer TFSA funds. If you actually withdraw the funds from a TFSA account, you have to wait till January 1 of the next year before you are allowed to deposit them again in the same TFSA or in a different TFSA at another financial institution. You can transfer TFSA funds at any time with no tax penalty.

Be careful to check whether there is a fee charged by the bank etc though before starting a transfer. ING Direct Tangerine does not charge transfer fees. (At least not as of when this was written in January 2014. Always check.) UPDATE: As of January 2015 Tangerine plans to start charging a fee to transfer TFSA funds to another financial institution.

To request the transfer of our TFSA funds to BMO InvestorLine, we signed into our InvestorLine accounts and filled out a T2033 each. The form is available under the Account Services tab, then the Forms link, then the Transfers tab, then the Transfer forms: Personal Accounts link.

You can read some more about this in How to Transfer Assets to a BMO InvestorLine Account from Another Bank Using a T2033 Form.

After we completed the forms, printed and signed them, we mailed them to BMO InvestorLine.

How Long Did It Take for My TFSA to Transfer from Tangerine to BMO InvestorLine?

I mailed our requests to transfer our funds in a bright red street mail box on January 2. I have no idea whether it got picked up that day or the next.

On Tuesday, January 14, my money was still in my TFSA at Tangerine.ca.
On Wednesday, January 15 it was gone!

First thing in the morning on January 17, my TFSA funds appeared in my cash balance in my BMO InvestorLine TFSA.

So it took 15 days for my funds to transfer, or 11 business days. That includes the “Canada Post” factor of getting my request delivered to InvestorLine.

How Long Did It Take for My Husband’s TFSA to Transfer from ING Direct (Tangerine) to BMO InvestorLine?

We don’t know yet.

That’s right. It’s now January 22 and his funds have not yet left Tangerine. They are sitting in a cash TFSA account which is fortunately earning 2.5% while he waits.

UPDATE: Thursday, January 23: My husband’s TFSA has now left Tangerine. It has not yet arrived in his BMO InvestorLine account as of the morning of Monday, January 27.

Ah! As of the morning of Tuesday, January 28, his cash is in his InvestorLine account.

So in his case it took 26 days, or 18 business days including the Canada Post time, to transfer.

As I said earlier, don’t expect these things to happen quickly!

The Moral of the TFSA Transfer Story?

There’s no simple answer for how quickly your TFSA transfer will take place. There’s not even any simple way to check on the status of the transfer. We’ll wait another few weeks before calling InvestorLine to see if they have received the transfer request. Phoning now, during RRSP season, is not worth my time. (We didn’t need to phone.)

If you’re hoping to have cash in a specific account to catch a short term opportunity, beware. It takes time to move things from bank to bank. Plan ahead.

UPDATE: Please be aware that as of January 2015, Tangerine has started charging a fee if you transfer your RRSP or TFSA from Tangerine to another bank, credit union, brokerage or financial institution.

Given that change, I would no longer recommend the Kick Start program unless you plan to keep your TFSA money at Tangerine for the long term.

Related Reading

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Have you transferred TFSA funds between institutions? How long did it take? Please share your valuable experiences with a comment.

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