Scotia iTrade (was: Etrade)

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worthy
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Scotia iTrade (was: Etrade)

Post by worthy »

Since E*Trade made over its site in the last month or so I have been unable to trade on-line. When I got around to calling them (and had 15 minutes to spend on hold), two reps confirmed that they knew the access problem for Macintosh users, but since E*Trade had just done a big makeover, the company wasn't about to spend more money to fix it.

Fine by me! I have a TDWH account and they're happy to accept my money.
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Post by Brix »

worthy wrote:two reps confirmed that they knew the access problem for Macintosh users, but since E*Trade had just done a big makeover, the company wasn't about to spend more money to fix it.
If this is really the case, they might consider spending the pittance needed to delete the assurances about Macintosh systems on this help page at their site. :) It's hard to believe that anyone serious would any longer hobble their web site to any single computing platform, but it still occasionally happens.
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Post by richb »

Try using a different web browser. IE still comes with a mac (although it is very old) and Firefox works also. I have the same problem accessing TD Easyweb with Safari so be careful about the talk about switching to TD.
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Post by Bylo Selhi »

richb wrote:I have the same problem accessing TD Easyweb with Safari so be careful about the talk about switching to TD.
I can't recall any problems with EasyWeb but WebBroken definitely has problems with Firefox. Nothing critical, but sometimes my session prematurely "times out" and I have to relogin. I haven't experienced this in a while.

What really cheezed me off though, was when I reported this to the WebBroken technical support people they told me to use IE because that's all they support. They had no answer when I asked how someone on Linux was supposed to use WebBroken.

(I also couldn't sign on to WebBroken Select (a repacked GlobeInvestor Gold) with Firefox for a long time but (a) I think that was a GlobeInvestor problem and (b) it now seems to work with the more recent versions of Firefox.)
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Re: E Trade: Bye, Bye to mac users.

Post by Bylo Selhi »

worthy wrote:Since E*Trade made over its site in the last month or so I have been unable to trade on-line.
And it seems Mac users aren't the only ones who are having problems. E*Trade suffers Web woes for part of trading day
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Post by gyrfalcon »

FWIW, I've never had a problem with (Mac) Firefox on either EasyWeb or TDWebBroker. Also, (Mac) Firefox works better than Safari did, altho Safari also worked on both, when I quit using Safari due to general instability.

BTW, TDW always said I didn't have cookies enabled in Safari, when in fact I did & could always just click thru the warning. Annoying tho. gyr.
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Post by worthy »

I noticed the E*Trade foulups yesterday too. ( I keep going back there because my various portfolios are stored on line there.)

WebBroker though is working fine.

Thanks for the tip on trying another browser.
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Post by worthy »

Thanks again.

Just tried Netscape 6.1 and it works! Maybe someone should tell the pointy heads at E*Trade. (Better yet, give them a sharpener.)
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Post by richb »

Firefox usually works across platforms. That is the advantage of a cross-platform browser. The more Firefox becomes popular the more websites will be designed for it. Firefox/Safari/Opera are standards compliant and are able to use CSS and other newer features. It is Internet Explorer that is broken (deliberatly) so some web sites designed specifically for IE won't work well or at all on other browsers. So if you aren't using Firefox or something else yet, do the Internet a favour and stop using IE.
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Post by worthy »

Tried to sell on E*Trade today. First time on, message said I had made "multiple attempted orders". To" avoid extended position, try again in 5 minutes." Meanwhile, I could put in a "buy" on the same security. Message didn't come on when attempting orders on other securities. I'm now on hold for 15 minutes waiting for "the next available representative." I guess it is time for a switch.
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Post by worthy »

Now, I can't even get E*Trade site to work consistently with Windows XP and Firefox! (Son's away, so Dad can play on his computer.) I "must be doing something wrong" is E*Trade's response. (Meanwhile TDWH works fine even with Mac and the accursed Explorer 5.1.)
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Post by AltaRed »

Spouse and I will be opening US$ accounts at a Canadian discount broker upon return to Canada this Spring. I have read the Discount Broker Commission thread following
http://financialwebring.org/forum/viewt ... e&start=60
for insight into discount brokers and found good assessments of commissions -- but little on other product offerings for US$ accounts. We are leaning to ETrade Canada because: 1) they have competitive rates, 2) they score reasonably high in the G&M(?) annual surveys on discount brokers, and 3) we have been with ETrade in the past.

While I know they handle all the traded equities on US exchanges and ETF's like iShares and SPDRs, it is not clear what other US$ based products they offer. Examples: US$ denominated bonds, US$ denomicated MM funds from perhaps PH&N or similar, US$ index funds, etc. We have substantial US$ cash available and want to apply it directly to US$ products and avoid forex commission losses.

Would appreciate a poster with a current ETrade account advising me what ETrade offers in this regard and whether they accept cheques drawn on US banks (the latter question I can ask them myself - but doubt they would respond to a query on the former)
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E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by slipstream »

Hi all-
I am a Canadian citizen, have a CIBC account, and file a full tax return in Canada. I am currently living and working in Japan. I have been here 3 years. I will probably go Non-Resident status next year. I am trying to open an E-Trade account in Canada now, but its proving to be a protracted, irritating process. There has been delay after delay while they waffle over whether to allow me to open an account because I am living in Japan.
In short, what exactly is the criteria or expats to open and maintain an account?
The recent e-mails I have gotten are asking me if I am a Permanent Resident of Japan, and how long I will be staying in Japan. I'm not sure how long I will be here, but I do plan on staying for the foreseeable future.
Advice?
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by Jensend »

slipstream wrote:Hi all-
I am a Canadian citizen, have a CIBC account, and file a full tax return in Canada. I am currently living and working in Japan. I have been here 3 years. I will probably go Non-Resident status next year. I am trying to open an E-Trade account in Canada now, but its proving to be a protracted, irritating process. There has been delay after delay while they waffle over whether to allow me to open an account because I am living in Japan.
In short, what exactly is the criteria or expats to open and maintain an account?
The recent e-mails I have gotten are asking me if I am a Permanent Resident of Japan, and how long I will be staying in Japan. I'm not sure how long I will be here, but I do plan on staying for the foreseeable future.
Advice?
Hmmmm....I'm in a similar situation, only living in France and have declared myself a non-resident in Canada. Nevertheless, I'm still hoping to be able to open either an e-trade account or shareowner given that I still have a permanent address in Canada.

Can I ask if there is a specific reason why you selected e-trade? Is it the least cost option / best reputation at the moment? I'm just starting my research now and would value any insight into the selection of self-trading companies.
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Post by 2 yen »

Hi...I'm also in Japan. I use Waterhouse as they were the only Canadian
online broker that would let me have an account from overseas. You pay a bit more with them than E Trade, but, essentially, they've been great. I set up the account in Canada. I used to have all my holdings at the Royal, but because they wouldn't let me have an online trading account, I've moved to Waterhouse. I am very pleased with Webroker as it is linked to my regular TD account as well. So if I send funds from Japan to that account through the Lloyds remittance service (i.e. my local ATM) I can then with a click send those funds to a trading account. Something to think about. Good luck. Feel free to fire off any other questions you have.
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Post by slipstream »

Jensend- I am also new here, so there are better people to ask for advice.
I chose E-trade because they appear to fall into the lowest fee category, along with a few other brokers (about $20 a trade). My bank, CIBC, charges about $25 a trade, I believe. The other online trading option is Interactive Brokers. The give basically free trades (1 or $2),t charge a $140 a year flat rate.
Hmmm, I'll check if CIBC allows overseas trading accounts.
I still want to know what magic formula is used to refuse people accounts. Since I have no actual address in Canada, does that technically make my bank account and Visa card void as well?
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by izzy »

Jensend wrote:
slipstream wrote:Hi all-
I am a Canadian citizen, have a CIBC account, and file a full tax return in Canada. I am currently living and working in Japan. I have been here 3 years. I will probably go Non-Resident status next year. I am trying to open an E-Trade account in Canada now, but its proving to be a protracted, irritating process. There has been delay after delay while they waffle over whether to allow me to open an account because I am living in Japan.
In short, what exactly is the criteria or expats to open and maintain an account?
The recent e-mails I have gotten are asking me if I am a Permanent Resident of Japan, and how long I will be staying in Japan. I'm not sure how long I will be here, but I do plan on staying for the foreseeable future.
Advice?
Hmmmm....I'm in a similar situation, only living in France and have declared myself a non-resident in Canada. Nevertheless, I'm still hoping to be able to open either an e-trade account or shareowner given that I still have a permanent address in Canada.

Can I ask if there is a specific reason why you selected e-trade? Is it the least cost option / best reputation at the moment? I'm just starting my research now and would value any insight into the selection of self-trading companies.
Be careful! If you have a "permanent address in Canada " you may find that you will only be considered non-resident if that address is NOT available for use on short notice.,unless of courseyou are considered a resident of France and subject to their taxes under a tax treaty.I'm no expert but I would strongly suggest you obtain the relevant form(NR73) on the CRA website if I were you before setting up further secondary ties to Canada,or of course you could always consult a tax lawyer.Check the past issues on the Canadians Resident Abroad web site for a simplified explanation. www.canadiansresidentabroad.com
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Post by AltaRed »

When I took an assignment to USA some years ago and went to non-resident status in Canada, I had to close my E*Trade Canada account because they would not deal with a non-resident Canadian that became a resident of USA and because they could not guarantee that I would not trade directly on US exchanges.

Unless a brokerage has specific brokers on staff with a specific US license to deal with this situation, the SEC can revoke their ability to trade on US exchanges. In SEC's eyes, SEC is the only organization that can protect American residents because SEC deems all other foreign systems and regulations are deemed to be inadequate. I have a good friend at a full service Canadian brokerage that has to take exams, file affadavits, etc regularly with SEC to retain his US trading ability. SEC is very difficult to deal with.

The situation here is a bit different because you are in Japan and therefore not a resident of USA. SEC thus should not care whether you are a resident of Canada, Japan or any other country. On that basis, online brokers should not be concerned....provided they can satisfy themselves you are a Resident of some country (other than USA) for tax withholding purposes. However, it appears that E*Trade remains uncomfortable.

TD Waterhouse may be more comfortable with crossborder issues given their US operations and may have more internal checks and balances in place to monitor trading accounts.

A question for 2yen: Assuming you are a resident of Japan (non-resident of Canada), does TD Waterhouse permit you to buy and sell US securities while you are a non-resident? I would think that would be a tricky situation because of tax withholding requirements e.g. Canada/US tax treaty? or US-Japan tax treaty?
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by AltaRed »

izzy wrote:
Hmmmm....I'm in a similar situation, only living in France and have declared myself a non-resident in Canada. Nevertheless, I'm still hoping to be able to open either an e-trade account or shareowner given that I still have a permanent address in Canada.
Can I ask if there is a specific reason why you selected e-trade? Is it the least cost option / best reputation at the moment? I'm just starting my research now and would value any insight into the selection of self-trading companies.

Be careful! If you have a "permanent address in Canada " you may find that you will only be considered non-resident if that address is NOT available for use on short notice.,unless of courseyou are considered a resident of France and subject to their taxes under a tax treaty.I'm no expert but I would strongly suggest you obtain the relevant form(NR73) on the CRA website if I were you before setting up further secondary ties to Canada,or of course you could always consult a tax lawyer.Check the past issues on the Canadians Resident Abroad web site for a simplified explanation. www.canadiansresidentabroad.com
The key factor is what are the specific rules in the Canada-France tax treaty... including tie-breakers, etc. Need to access that to see what is the descending order of priorities What I can say from lots of dialogue with PWC on the US-Canada tax treaty is that it is okay to keep a permanent residence in Canada (as a non-resident) if:

1) There is evidence of a multi-year (or several annual) leases or title documents of your foreign residence to provide you were there
2) You have leased out your Canadian residence and have a lease to prove it..... or if you have other family staying in it, e.g. adult children, etc
3) Gave up your Canadian driver's license, have proper withholding tax deducted at source from your Canadian bank account (and/or file Part XIII Canadian non-resident tax returns)

Regarding Jensend's question on establishing a Canadian brokerage account, it is not the existence of a Canadian address which is important, it is where you are resident. Finessing a 'permanent' address in Canada is skating on very thin ice.
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by Jensend »

I think I'm skating on thin ice due to my overall ignorance in tax law etc.
Apologies - I'm not trying to screw the system ... but rather to avoid being screwed....I'm all for paying my fair share of tax and am simply trying to find a way to gain cheap access to the US securities market as I have USD to invest.

In my case -- I am a french resident with french property. Obviously, all of my family is back in Canada and I consider my Canadian family home to be my "Permanent" address -- in the emotional sense of the word. Clearly, revenue Canada would see things differently.

What is odd about this thread is the advice that I received from Fidelity/Vanguard on opening an accout in the US. They basically encouraged me to open one if I had a mailing address and a TIN. I assumed E-Trade in Canada was more or less the same whereby I have a SIN and a valid mailing address. Just to test the theory, I'm going to apply for a Canadian E-trade account to see what happens. I'll report back when I have something to tell.
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by Bylo Selhi »

Jensend wrote:What is odd about this thread is the advice that I received from Fidelity/Vanguard on opening an accout in the US. They basically encouraged me to open one if I had a mailing address and a TIN.
As I said before, you may run into problems when you actually apply for an account and they verify your address.

BTW, another thing that just occurred to me from the days when I had an account with Vanguard. In those pre-09Sep01 days it was possible, under specific circumstances, to open an account using a Canadian address even without a TIN. However, I also needed a US bank checking account in order to get money to them. Moreover, to access Vanguard's online site to view statements, make transactions, etc. required a US Social Security Number. A TIN was not enough (at least back then.) So the only way for me to do business with Vanguard was via snail mail. I could phone them for information but I couldn't make transactions. That's only a minor hassle when you make infrequent large sum purchases but it could be a real problem if you want to dollar cost average.
I assumed E-Trade in Canada was more or less the same whereby I have a SIN and a valid mailing address. Just to test the theory, I'm going to apply for a Canadian E-trade account to see what happens. I'll report back when I have something to tell.
Recognize that Vanguard (and Fido) have to operate by US SEC rules while E-Trade Canada (and TD Waterhouse, etc.) have to operate by Canadian security regulators' rules. In addition, the anti-moneylaundering rules in both countries have been tightened up, but not necessarily in the same ways.

Also recognize that you can be deemed a resident of Canada for tax purposes even though you're not physically a resident of Canada. It's possible that opening up an account in Canada using a Canadian address could inadvertently make you the former, or at least have CRA challenge your status.

In any case, please let us know how it goes, on both sides of the pond. I've always been intrigued why indexing hasn't caught on in Europe the way it has in North America. If UBS' fees are typical then I think I've got one important explanation :(
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Re: E-Trade hassles for expats... advice needed.

Post by AltaRed »

Jensend wrote:What is odd about this thread is the advice that I received from Fidelity/Vanguard on opening an accout in the US. They basically encouraged me to open one if I had a mailing address and a TIN. I assumed E-Trade in Canada was more or less the same whereby I have a SIN and a valid mailing address. Just to test the theory, I'm going to apply for a Canadian E-trade account to see what happens. I'll report back when I have something to tell.
What I don't know is the depth of conversation you had with Fidelity and Vanguard. If it was to their 'usual customer service reps', I would not trust that information. You would be surprised at how many Americans automatically assume it is a US citizen phoning in....as an Amerian ex-pat and/or don't understand the rules can be different for other nationalities.

You need to be sure you speak to someone who knows what they are talking about and what your specific situation is...and that goes with E*TRade in Canada as well.

Some examples of US behaviour that makes my view of your Vanguard/Fidelity information suspect:

1) When I left the USA earlier this year for return to Canada, I had to provide written letters of address change to each institution and file a W8BEN with US institutions on non-residency.
2) One company, ING Direct, would not let me keep an account with them
3) Smith Barney (with whom my multi-national employer have their profit sharing and stock option plans) restricted my trading ability to sales only of existing company stock and/or exercise of stock options.
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Post by 2 yen »

Alta re: question on trading U.S. securities. Yes, I can. I filled out a form to avoid the full witholding taxes, just as most investors do and now have the correct amount of withholding taxes deducted according to the various tax treaties. For example, U.S. dividends are withheld at 15%. Same as Canada, by the way. Even after all these years, I still don't know why Waterhouse is able to offer its services to me, while Action Direct, for example, can not. Someone up thread mentioned Waterhouse's international experience and I think that may be a factor. They have (had) branches in Asia.

Re residency...the biggest issue for Revenue Canada is residency (not trying to be funny). You must be out of Canada. Second is property.
This means real estate, mainly. They are not so concerned about bank accounts as far as I can see. For credit cards, I have a CIBC Aerogold Visa with a Japanese address for it. My driver's license has expired and I have a Japanese one now. Similarly health care has long expired, but I have good Japanese health care now. I must by travel insurance when going back to Canada. I think for those wanting E-trade or the like, it may well be possible to get an account in Japan. I've never tried it and Japan is notoriously prickly regarding foreigners doing anything official, but Japanese people trade online everyday. Perhaps there is a language issue at play here as well. The sites may only be in Japanese.
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Post by AltaRed »

2 yen wrote:Even after all these years, I still don't know why Waterhouse is able to offer its services to me, while Action Direct, for example, can not.
Beats me too, but that is obviously a good thing for Canadians resident in other parts of the world (other than USA).
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Post by kenj »

slipstream,

I'm in the exact same situation as 2 yen. A Canadian citizen with residency in Japan and a brokerage account with TD Waterhouse. I had no problems opening the brokerage account from Japan years ago but I also have a TD bank account which helped the process. However, as long as you have a Canadian bank account with any of the big 5 banks which TD uses for identity verification purposes you'll probably be able to open an account with TD Waterhouse.

I'd suggest you try TD Waterhouse. As 2 Yen wrote above you'll have a better chance of opening an account with them, you'll be able to buy and sell stocks listed on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges and the appropriate withholding taxes for both Canada and the U.S. will be withheld at source for dividends and interest income.

I'd also suggest you use a Japanese address for your brokerage account if you want to be classified as Non-Resident status. The problem, however, is for the last 3 years you filed a full tax return in Canada and I wonder if that isn't causing some confusion for E-Trade about your residency situation.
slipstream wrote:and how long I will be staying in Japan.
I've had the question a few times before and I've always hated it because the true answer is, "I don't know!" I feel like asking them, "How long will you be staying in <insert name of city>?" No one can really know the answer but I always say, "indefinitely until I change my mind."

I don't know if opening an account with a Japanese on-line broker is really a good idea. I really don't know anything about E-Trade Japan except that it's all in Japanese so unless you can read Japanese very well you'll have serious problems.

In addition, I believe the best on-line broker in Japan for trading on U.S. exchanges is Rakuten. My wife has an account with them and again everything is in the Japanese language.

Rakuten is considered the best in Japan if you want access to the U.S. exchanges because they offer the largest number of U.S. stocks. Yet, you can't buy anything on the AMEX. No AMEX stocks at all. On top of that, there are over 6,000 listed stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ but even Rakuten, supposedly the best, offers approximately 600 stocks or so. That's it. It's very limited. You can see a list of which stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ are available to buy and sell through Rakuten here.
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