BMOIL: 2 year = 5.08% (Fairstone Bank) | Page 2 | GIC discussions | Discussion forum

It seems I have made some progress with getting a linked external account to my BMOIL AccountLink account. The progress did not come from the BMO side but from persistence from Hubert and information provided by Norman1 re the missing digit in the Transit No.

I called BMOIL customer support but did not get any assistance to resolve the situation. The CSR said it didn't make any difference about the shorter or longer Transit Number - they both will work. That seems strange to me. I did learn that I had a US$ account which I was unaware of. I decided to visit a local BMO branch to see if I could get some information there. I presented my BMOIL card to the teller to see if it was recognized in their system. It was not. After some discussion, the teller sought help from a Nesbitt Burns advisor who was on site. We discussed my situation at length. He advised he was doing a lot of GICs for his 'book' on behalf of clients. The teller provided me with a different phone number for Investorline assistance. No resolution from the bank visit but I called the number provided. The agent made it clear to me I could not link external FIs to the account but they would sell me a book of 150 cheques to transfer money out and that bill-payer is used to transfer money in. I sought to have an AccountLink card sent to me and I am awaiting the arrival of that card. I did not order the cheques.

I next went on line with Hubert and attempted to set up a link to my IL account using the full transit number. After several days, the link was still listed as pending. I called Hubert and the CSR undertook to re-create the link and advised me to wait a few days to see what happens. Today I see on my IL account a Nov 16 transfer of a few cents from Hubert. The amount has been added to the acount balance so the link must be established.

There is a strange notation in the 'Activity Description' column - "Not Service Chargeable" which I don't know what it means but the link seems to be established. The next test will be for me to transfer a sizable amount for investment purposes. Not ready for that yet but will keep you advised.

One thing the original call to BMOIL revealed was that in the top left corner of the original Investorline page there is a link to 'BMO One View'. He indicated that any bank accounts associated to my Investorline account would be listed there under the BANKS heading. My account lists nothing there. Would be interested to know if that heading is populated by others with Investorline accounts.

Sorry to drag this conversation on but I do appreciate the information received here. It has provided me with the incentive to resolve this matter and it looks like it is working. Thanks again.

I don't know if you mis-typed or not but my transit number is 36762. I also have no idea whether you can push-pull with USD accounts or not. You may have to ask.

AltaRed said
BMOIL may automatically provide AccountLink chequing account with new account applications in recent years, but when I opened a BMO IL account over 10 years ago, I actually had to tick a box on the application form requesting it. Later on, I had to phone in to request it for a USD chequing account.

Regardless, it is an easy phone call to BMO IL to get it if one does not already have it.  

And there's no minimum balance requirement? Is it a chequing account dominciled to a BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. branch transit, essentially, which gives you a chequing account via your brokerage account?

I should look into that potentially...

Cheers,
Doug

Norman1 said
I think an AccountLink BMO chequing account was always included with the non-registered BMO InvestorLine accounts.

That tick box was likely to indicate that one didn't have a BMO bank card or BMO MasterCard. In such cases, an AccountLink bank card was issued and the chequing account was attached to it.

Otherwise, one would provide the number of the existing BMO card. The AccountLink BMO chequing account would then be added to that card.  

Come to think of it, you are likely right. I now have vague recollections of that.

Tommy T. Another Chrystal ball gazer. Part of my ladder my friend. Enough said

Norman1 said

The first microdeposits to my AccountLink account worked. I didn't have to try a second time.

I would try pushing a higher amount, like $100, from Hubert to the AccountLink chequing account to confirm the link.

There have been reports when the account number is off, the microdeposit direct deposits work but the larger direct deposits are bounced. I think those reports were from people trying to create a link to an HSBC savings account using an account number that turned out to have extra digits.

I suspect banks may be willing to take on the potential liability of crediting the wrong person's account for a $0.40 direct deposit. But, not for a $40,000 direct deposit.  

Noman1, I read your post (quoted above) yesterday and decided to take your advice to initiate a transfer of my own to see where things stand.

I logged into my Hubert account and arranged a $100 transfer to my AccountLink account at IL. That was done on Nov. 23 and this morning, Nov. 24, that money has shown up at IL - dated Nov. 23.

Interesting to note that transfer is also 'Not Service Chargable'.

So the excellent service we have come to expect from Hubert continues to work well. And BMOIL has accepted the transfer despite the verbal advice I was given by their CSR. I am still patiently waiting for the requested AccountLink ATM/Debit card to arrive in the mail.

My next test in this saga is to see if I can link my EQBank $US account to my IL AccountLink $US account. That will be interesting. I should also now be able to change the 'bill payer' status at Achieva to a direct link but I will leave that alone for now.

Things are coming together quite nicely now. I would not have known how to do this without the information and advice I received from you and AltaRed which I really appreciate. Thanks for your patience to walk me through this.

Some time has passed since I posted in this thread but, to respect those who helped me move into the world of ISA investments, I would like to update my progress. In particular, Norman1 and AltaRed have guided me through the process. There have been successes and stresses. Here is the latest chapter:

Since I last posted here, I received my AccountLink card through the mail. I took that card and a $US 5-dollar bill to the local branch of BMO. I live in a small city and there is just the one BMO branch here. I was third in line with two tellers open and serving clients. After 20 minutes the same two clients were still being served. Another 5-minutes passed and the elderly lady to our right was finally finished her business and two-gentlemen at the front of the line went to that teller. The lady to our left was still being served. Another 20 minutes passed and the two guys at the teller had some issues that required the assistance of what I presume were ‘techies’. At the 45-minute mark, the manager came out of his office and opened a third teller window and the client in front of me went to that wicket. No change at the other stations – same clients. Another 10 minutes passed and it was my turn to deal with the manager. I advised I wanted to initialize my new AccountLink card and make a small $US deposit to verify the existence of my IL $US account. That went smoothly. At the one-hour mark, I was on my way out. The line had grown and was out the door. Same clients at the original tellers.

My next venture was to gather up all the $US we had at our residence and concluded we had $700 there that wasn’t doing anything and should be deposited. I took that money to the BMO branch. No lineup. I approached the teller and asked to have the $US700 deposited in my Investorline account. The teller busied herself behind her plastic shield with no communication to me. It seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to complete the deposit but eventually I was presented with a receipt. To my chagrin I saw that the money had been converted to $CDN and deposited to our $C account. I had not even considered that possibility when I presented the cash. Whatever happened to deposit slips anyway? I requested the transaction be corrected and the funds placed in our $US account. The teller busied herself but after some time she too had to call on the two ‘techies’ to make the correction. Now the clock was ticking and it was my turn to feel the scorn of the lineup of customers out the door. It took nearly an hour to make the adjustment. I learned I had been charged $7 for the error correction. I sheepishly hurried out of the bank.

I contacted IL and the CSR arranged to ‘correct’ the $7 charge. At the same time, I ordered an AccountLink card for my spouse who is a Joint holder of our funds there. The card was mailed and we received it a week or so later.

I was now prepared to populate these accounts but we were now in a new year. On Jan 4, I initiated a transfer from Hubert to the BMO IL account. The amount I chose exceeded Hubert’s daily limit so I broke that up into two separate deposits on different days. That went smoothly.

I contacted EQ Bank to enquire about linking my accounts to InvestorLine but the agent outright refused to do that. That was confusing to me since Norman1 has indicated he has that arrangement. I didn’t pursue it further but I decided I had enough of EQ Bank and transferred all of our funds from there. The $US were sent to our RBC $US account. Those transfers went smoothly and the funds were available overnight. On Jan 5, we visited RBC and obtained a draft for the bulk of the $US and walked the draft down to the BMO branch. My spouse accompanied me and we got the new AccountLink card activated and used it to deposit the $US – INTO THE $US ACCOUNT.

The next step was to log onto IL and initiate the purchase of a 1-year and 2-year GIC splitting the entire balance of the $US funds. For this we got a rate of 4.85% and 4.95% - a rate I never dreamed of getting.

And we now have an ISA earning 4.1%. Sweet.

The last of our ‘old’ GICs (1.6% ) will mature this month and much of that will go to this new ISA account until it is time to buy more GICs. We are 5 months into our ‘Horizontal Ladder’ project. Which is:

Buy equal value 1-year and 2-year GICs each month for 12 months.

I am a happy camper. And I have a new respect for the ease of online banking.