Asking a deposit broker to ask a FI for a special rate | GIC discussions | Discussion forum

I’ll give you an actual situation but I DON’T recommend the FI.

My adviser often gave me Coast Capital GICs. They were always a higher rate than what I could get from Coast Capital if I walked into the branch, and yes had accounts with them.

So my adviser was also getting approx. .25% from Coast Capital and I too received a rate higher than what Coast Capital would give me. Sounds good.

I often let my advisor know that there were better rates out there and I would give him lists. So what he started to do was, he gave me a higher percentage while he took less of his .25% commission. My advisor retired and now had a new, younger, advisor and while I showed I could get better rates.....he was not interested. As a matter of fact I found him so unprepared for our first meeting.....little did he know it was our last one!

From this site a learned a lot and over the next years I made more money, no commissions, and no self directed fees!!

So bottom line, it is possible to get better rates from an advisor. I doubt if any advisor has the clout to get a higher wholesale rate from an FI.

Second bottom line, if Coast Capital has gimmicky “no haggle” rates why do they screw their in branch customers while Oaken gives their online customers a higher rate than an advisor?

So your RBC PDF list shows Peoples 5 year at 2.55%
And People’s online for 5 year is 3.1%
The difference for dealing direct is plus .55%
So how would you gain?
What rate plus commission did RBC get from PT.....3.1 or >= 3.26

Bottom line, best rates are NOT through an advisor, RBC, or iTrade etc. As in this case it looks like the broker, if it was an RBC broker or, took .25% of the .55% difference and RBC took at least .30%. If a third party is between you and the FI then you are lining someone else’s pocket truly at your expense.

You are better off to be your own advisor, for rates, but you need to know your obstacles like insurance, probate or POA issues.

PS. what is a ds stockbroker

Pps. Vancity 5 year is 2.1% at the branch and on your RBC PDF it is 2.2% so I would assume they do same as Coast Capital.....screw their customers at branch level.

Tried to upload RBC and Itrade rates in jpeg but won't upload. Are there restriction to size, format or do I have to change something in my profile? Error 110.

hotmony said
I believe the same rate list is available thru rbc direct
http://www.rbcds.com/gic-rates.html click latest gic rates pdf in the link. I am saying once in a while not so often the rates are competitive off the big bank brokerage third party gic lists each one has a few names the other doesnt but rbc seems to have the best overall variety i havent looked at the others too closely  

Nice that RBC DC posts their GIC rates on their public website. Wish all discount brokerages did that. I have access to Virtual Brokers and Scotia iTRADE, so can check those, but Questrade does not.

I previously shared the Scotia iTRADE GIC rates in another thread, but can't find it.

Nevertheless, here are the rates:

- Annual, 1-5 year: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MUgnAfYVGNzg8FOzK2ljcxDM--TJ7E0P
- Cashable, 6 month: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iWJqeGmZrH1WDC7uMmx0kHEW99KPv6Kk
- Cashable, 30-90 days: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UeAZzZnvPT_JsjHcWUYcXpu7duKNdMEM

Note: these rates were as at 11 March 2019, but generally they are comparable to/the same as other "Big 5 Bank"-owned discount brokerages. The difference, usually, is in the number and type of issuers that each makes available.

Cheers,
Doug

hotmony said
Doug do u happen to have a link to virtual brokers gic names

Be nice if guys can keep an eye on the various brokerage gic offerings and notify us to any good deals  

I can try and compile a spreadsheet, but they have a lot of issuers and term possibilities and only list about 5-8 GIC issuers per page. No export to CSV or XLS format, either. So would have to do multiple screenshots. Will see what I can come up with.

Rarely, if ever, will they beat direct-to-consumer rates, but the advantage is you can potentially have virtually unlimited deposit insurance in a single non-registered or registered brokerage account.

Cheers,
Doug

hotmony said
Spoke to trading desk at virtual didnt sound like they offer much more than 15 names. Qtrade not so much different apparently. Here's a link to Questrade offering click bond bulletin

https://www.questrade.com/bonds  

Thanks, hotmony. I'd found a GIC PDF document from Questrade, but couldn't find an updated one so interesting they've included it with their bonds list (which makes sense).

I've shared the VB GIC rates as at today's date (see: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/forum/general-financial-discussion/brokerage-gic-rates-virtual-brokers-scotia-itrade/). They actually have quite a few, probably more than Questrade, which is a bit surprising. They tend to have more credit union central/wholesale credit union and mid-size and smaller banks. None of the "Big 5" or HSBC Bank Canada are included, but they have the likes of Concentra, which it looks like Questrade doesn't have, Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, and each of Manulife Bank and Manulife Trust. No FirstOntario Credit Union that Questrade has, but overall, a good list. Generally, highest 5-year GIC rate looks to be about 2.75-2.80.

That being said, I was surprised Coast is offering 2.4% on a 1-year GIC rate versus 1.7% for a comparable direct-to-consumer customer! Another reason for me to switch from them next year and then potentially give them GIC business, if their rates are good, through the SD DB channel. 😉

Cheers,
Doug