STAY AWAY from Questrade!!!!!!!!

[ibuddler]

STOP using Questrade!!! Be aware!!!!

Here's my story. I bought some stocks in TSX. But their stupid system just changed them to the pink sheets. (Those stocks are MOL, NTA and MGA).

I requested them to help me change them back. I wrote several emails and everytime the "machine" relied me "We are sorry. This is due to our recent system upgrade and I have submitted a request to have your position updated."

I sent emails twice a week and everytime just received the same **** and it's been a month.

Tried to call their CR and the online CR, waited for more than 2 hours and still no one helped me.

I told them I want to switch to other brokers but they told me I will be charged $125 to switch...

So my idea, if you don't mind your positions to be changed by their stupid system, go ahead.

To those who are interested in Questrade's $5 trade, you'll find out how this $5 will cause you a lot of problems on the other hand.

I guess today lots of brokers charge $6 or $9 rate if you trade 30+. If you trade less active, you shouldn't care a lot about the commisions. If you trade a lot, so why don't you choose these $6/$9 flat to get a better service? Remember Questrade charges $5 only if you buy less than 500 shares per trade.

[xlfe]

what the heck is a pink sheet?

[ibuddler]

what the heck is a pink sheet?

I tried to find out too. maybe it's OTCBB?

[tennis_ballz]

I have bad experience with Questrade too.

Tried to sell some stocks today and it keeps saying "rejected by broker"... then later the day it automatically says "rejected due to request more than share in the current position".

This is absolutely BS I am sure nothing is wrong. The sell order just wouldnt go thru and this makes me miss a lot of great selling opportunities.

FXXX Questrade, stay away from it.

[eiad77]

Pink sheets. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Sheets)

[swknight]

'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. So much problems after the 'upgrade' -_-. I am holding off making an account with them till all these bugs die down.

[Spiderpal93]

OP, you sure that your stock/stocks weren't delisted from the TSX?

[eiad77]

I am usually someone who goes for the cheapest alternative but those comments make me glad that I am with BMO Investorline. I guess the extra $5/trade is worth the peace of mind (as well as the convenience since I also bank with BMO).

[ibuddler]

OP, you sure that your stock/stocks weren't delisted from the TSX?

yes.

MOL and NTA listed on both tse and opc

[xlfe]

yea ok questrade screwed up.
what's this $100 fine about?

[T3NSION]

They changed one of my stocks to the pink slips too; pain in the ***** . I call and they say they fixed it, but they've done nothing.

[chinamansteve]

Here's an example of my bad experience that I had with Questrade, and I STILL have not gotten a follow up from them.

I posted this in the Questrade thread, but thought I'll post it here as well to spread awareness.



I want to add my experience with Questrade. Lucky for me, my main broker is IB, but I have my TFSA with Questrade. This is what happened.

I recently transferred my TFSA and a part of my non-registered account to Questrade in January of this year. I rarely log into my TFSA since I only buy a couple times a year with it. I logged in on Friday hoping to make a purchase, and realized that my account showed a balance of $0, and no holdings. I called Questrade and waited for the online chat for over 30 minutes before someone on online chat got to me. I asked the agent what was going on, how come my holdings are gone. The agent looked into it and told me I withdrew everything from my account and referred me to some site called https://online.penson.com and told me I can check there. I told the agent I can guarantee that I did no withdraw anything from my account. After a few moments, the agent came back and said my account was transferred to RBC. I was baffled by it and told the agent to use some common sense as I JUST transferred the account to them last month from RBC. He then told me he will get a supervisor to look into the matter and contact me as soon as it is resolved, with timing uncertain. The agent also comes back to tell me that it appears my account was linked to two separate email accounts, and gave me some email address. I told him I have absolutely no idea where he got the other email from as it was some random email that I've never used. Again, he said he will get his supervisor to look into it and get back to me. I am extremely disappointed with Questrade at the moment, and I told the agent that they really need to do something about their system as I have close to 30k worth of assets with them (reason why I was freaked when I saw a balance of $0). Lucky for me, IB is my main broker, and at this rate, if nothing is being done, I think I will move my TFSA else where and transfer the non-registered holdings to IB.

[dealzuser]

I am usually someone who goes for the cheapest alternative but those comments make me glad that I am with BMO Investorline. I guess the extra $5/trade is worth the peace of mind (as well as the convenience since I also bank with BMO).

+100000. Those who do not heed the amount of horror stories about this brokerage on tons of forums and blogs only have themselves to blame. I'll pay the extra $5 at TDW for always available online system, and good customer service.

[eiad77]

what's this $100 fine about?

I think he is referring to the transfer fee. If you transfer your holdings to another brokerage you will be charged a fee.

[tyler.mcg]

I will re-think opening up an account at Qtrade. Thanks.

[dealzuser]

I will re-think opening up an account at Qtrade. Thanks.

Qtrade != Quest Trade. :) Qtrade is actually the highest rated discount brokerage in Canada according to Globe and Mail..
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/2010-online-broker-rankings/the-12th-annual-online-broker-rankings/article1790577/

If you call their number, you always get a live person. I would switch to them if TD / TDW were not my primary financial institution already. (Rather, I would use IB if their interface was simpler. I just know I'll screw up a trade and lose more than any commission I save...)

[bugged]

:!: I think they are experiencing a complete and utter operational meltdown at the moment. I pray that my trades go through. :confused:

[Newt]

I'm also having issues with my balance not displaying properly, and they are not responding to email or phone. I'm at a point where I am quite unhappy with the service but willing to give them more time to get their sh** together since its such a hassle to switch brokers.

[tyler.mcg]

Qtrade != Quest Trade. :) Qtrade is actually the highest rated discount brokerage in Canada according to Globe and Mail..
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/2010-online-broker-rankings/the-12th-annual-online-broker-rankings/article1790577/

If you call their number, you always get a live person. I would switch to them if TD / TDW were not my primary financial institution already. (Rather, I would use IB if their interface was simpler. I just know I'll screw up a trade and lose more than any commission I save...)

I had no idea. Thank you.

How many other people thought qtrade was questrade? Sheeeeeesh

[kai]

Yes I have bad experiences with them recently with withdrawing funds from my account after the upgrade. Waiting hours on the phone and not getting anyone to answer probably due to too many frustrated customers. Will not give up. Where did my money go? If I were to choose again, I wouldn't want to save a few bucks to get more headaches. Not for me.

[punisher101]

I'm having my doubts about Questrade because of the recent chatter on RFD and other places. Questrade's customer service has always been bad - very long wait times (>45min), inept support. But it's something tolerated because the trading fees are so low. I'm just starting off to invest so I need to keep my trading costs low.

However, If money is being held up, trades are being arbitrarily canceled and you can't time the market. That's a whole another issue.

Are things a bad as all the posts I've read or are these isolated incidents?

[513263337]

I'm having my doubts about Questrade because of the recent chatter on RFD and other places. Questrade's customer service has always been bad - very long wait times (>45min), inept support. But it's something tolerated because the trading fees are so low. I'm just starting off to invest so I need to keep my trading costs low.

However, If money is being held up, trades are being arbitrarily canceled and you can't time the market. That's a whole another issue.

Are things a bad as all the posts I've read or are these isolated incidents?

It is. They are having technical issues with their system and they just can't handle it. I've never seen ANYONE who doesn't have a problem with their system since the "upgrade". Go figure yourself.

[tennis_ballz]

Qtrade sounds kinda sketchy... sounds like a copycat to Questrade?

How many ppl actually use qtrade ? how is it compared to questrade?

I would really consider switching out of questrade...as they constantly reject my sell order so stupid.




Qtrade != Quest Trade. :) Qtrade is actually the highest rated discount brokerage in Canada according to Globe and Mail..
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/2010-online-broker-rankings/the-12th-annual-online-broker-rankings/article1790577/

If you call their number, you always get a live person. I would switch to them if TD / TDW were not my primary financial institution already. (Rather, I would use IB if their interface was simpler. I just know I'll screw up a trade and lose more than any commission I save...)

[hmm]

I've traded with Interactive Brokers, RBC, TD, etc.. I've had issues with IB, and RBC on several different occasions. When I had to call customer service I was on the line for 25 minutes and spoke to someone with broken English.

On top of the problems I've had with those brokers, trades cost me about 3-5 times more than what I am now paying with Questrade.

I've been using Questrade for about half a year and personally never had any issues with them.. Maybe I got lucky, I'm not sure. I think you guys are making them seem worse than they are, and I can tell you the grass is not greener on the other side.

[chris233]

Qtrade sounds kinda sketchy... sounds like a copycat to Questrade?

How many ppl actually use qtrade ? how is it compared to questrade?

I would really consider switching out of questrade...as they constantly reject my sell order so stupid.

Oh this hurts me to read. Why don't you do some Googling to find this information on your own?

Qtrade is by no means "sketchy". You call, they pick up. Someone says they'll call you back, they call you back. Send in an email in the morning, you get a reply in the afternoon.

I moved to Qtrade because of iTrade's own upgrade fiasco (which, I must say, isn't looking that serious compared to this Questrade one). Qtrade costs a bit more, but at no point have I ever worried about who is looking after my money. When I consider how much of my net-worth I'm keeping with a single company, I decided saving a little bit on fees wasn't worth it.

I have to say, I'm glad I missed this Questrade trainwreck. Calling anyone "sketchy" compared to Questrade is a great insult.

[world25]

I will never open an account with Questrade!

Thanks for the info.

[Asoul]

Qtrade sounds kinda sketchy... sounds like a copycat to Questrade?

How many ppl actually use qtrade ? how is it compared to questrade?

I would really consider switching out of questrade...as they constantly reject my sell order so stupid.

Qtrade has been ranked number 1 in the globe and mail for best online brokeage for how many years now? 6 or 7? I have only used Qtrade but I have been very happy with them for the last two years. I know they cost more, but I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for and I want to trust the place that is holding my money.

[cmackie]

I can't believe how many people are having problems! I can honestly say that I haven't been affected at all. We had three accounts already setup prior to this year and then setup a new RESP in mid-late January. The new account was good to go within a couple days and has had no problems since the upgrade either. I noticed the CESG was deposited recently as well.

I put in a withdrawal request for my margin account late on Thursday night and the money is sitting in my bank account today.

It sucks that everyone is having such bad luck so hopefully Questrade gets their act together and fast!

[dcyeung]

I'm not having any problems with questrade :|

[sslaw]

I think they've fixed the buying power glitch from a few weeks ago - it's displaying the correct amount for me.
But, they are still requesting that I get my ID notarized (attested) even though I have a TFSA with them.

Anyways, I'm still getting out.
Gonna wait till close to the end of the year and then close my TFSA.
Heading over to TDWH.

[chinamansteve]

I've traded with Interactive Brokers, RBC, TD, etc.. I've had issues with IB, and RBC on several different occasions. When I had to call customer service I was on the line for 25 minutes and spoke to someone with broken English.

On top of the problems I've had with those brokers, trades cost me about 3-5 times more than what I am now paying with Questrade.

I've been using Questrade for about half a year and personally never had any issues with them.. Maybe I got lucky, I'm not sure. I think you guys are making them seem worse than they are, and I can tell you the grass is not greener on the other side.

I've been with IB, TDWH, RBCDI, HSBC ID, and Questrade as well. IB is by far the best broker out of them all, IMO. Questrade has been giving me a huge headache, and I haven't been able to buy/sell via my account with them since this upgrade, as they f**ked my account up big time (read up thread for my problem). It's been over a week now and I have yet to receive a response from them to resolve the issue.

[CanRulez]

I've held off on opening up an account at Questrade myself given all the negative chatter I've been reading about...I did some research and have decided to open an account at CIBC Investor's Edge. They have good research and I also qualify for the $6.95 loyalty pricing for having over $100,000 in assets with them (mortgage counts :) )

Hopefully the service will be good and their systems will have 100% uptime....

I'll report back and let you know how it goes....


CanRulez

TD Waterhouse, Scotia iTrade account holder, testing CIBC Investor's Edge now :-)

[Buggy166]

questrade is fine for startups under 50k. once you're at and over 50k, it warrants the cost to move to something more high end with lots of customer support and services.

[dealzuser]

questrade is fine for startups under 50k. once you're at and over 50k, it warrants the cost to move to something more high end with lots of customer support and services.

You may not make it to $50k using this platform. :) (I'm just kidding. I have no first hand experience with QuestTrade.)

On that note, if you have household assets of $50k, I suggest TDW. (Household means all investment accounts between you and your spouse, including non-registered and RRSP and TFSA.) With that asset base, the trading fees drop to $9.99, and there is no self-directed fee. I think most married working folks should have $50k in household assets pretty easily. (Unless you over leveraged and just bought a house in GVR or GTA with 5/35. :) )

[max88]

I can logon with new username, but accounts with $0 balance are gone.




CIBC Investor's Edge. They have good research and I also qualify for the $6.95 loyalty pricing for having over $100,000 in assets with them (mortgage counts :) )
How does a mortgage count as assets? Say you have $60,000 worth of stock and a $50,000 mortgage, does CIBC count the two as $110,000 in assets?

[sslaw]

I just got TDWH.

It would appear TDWH charges a higher commision for bonds than Scotiaitrade (not a huge gap, but it's noticable even after adding Scotia's $20 min.)
Oh Scotiaitrade has more selection for bonds too - weird.

[SpillOnAisle9]

How does a mortgage count as assets? Say you have $60,000 worth of stock and a $50,000 mortgage, does CIBC count the two as $110,000 in assets?

Yup....it doesn't really make sense in terms of 'assets' to you...think of it more in terms of 'business' for the bank...so it counts for the
purposes of their 'loyalty program' (the $6.95 trades). It's a neat idea as now you might keep your mortgage with them in order to
keep the $6.95 trades. So they can screw you on one area while kissing you in the other ;)

[ACC-Major]

Careful about CIBC Investor's edge ehh, a lot of complaints about them too.
They were ranked lower than Questrade (pre-upgrade), but I am sure now surpasses Questrade after upgrade lol.
Anything surpasses Questrade now, if you ask me.

[Jor]

Prior to the "upgrade" I was very happy with questrade. Customer service was reasonably prompt, I could get through via online help within 5 minutes and emails were answered within 24 hours. Good enough for me.

Since the upgrade though they must be experiencing a total meltdown in customer service. Sounds like widespread issues as a result of the upgrade and they aren't resolving them fast enough. I have the same issue as the OP, a few of my TSXV stocks are listed as the pink sheet equivalents in my accounts and when I did actually get through to CS early on I was told that I'd have to call the trade desk to trade these positions.

I can be patient, but this has gone beyond ridiculous.

[Jor]

I had a withdraw request go through about two weeks ago no problem, which surprised me given the long list of issues. It took about 3 days to appear in my bank account. I wouldn't worry too much about your money not being safe.

[ibuddler]

OK. Now it's been another week since this post. I've sent 2 emails, made 2 calls. But still nothing changed (I expected that... ). I don't understand how it's gonna be difficult for them to fix it.

I'm gonna send an email to their CEO edward.kholodenko@questrade.com see if this works...

Now I really hate them esp as the market like this week and I couldn't trade my stocks...

[rageking]

I have bad experience with Questrade too.

Tried to sell some stocks today and it keeps saying "rejected by broker"... then later the day it automatically says "rejected due to request more than share in the current position".

This is absolutely BS I am sure nothing is wrong. The sell order just wouldnt go thru and this makes me miss a lot of great selling opportunities.

FXXX Questrade, stay away from it.

Check your open orders. You very very likely have duplicate orders. If you bothered to call to ask, they will check it for you and say the same thing.

[Jameschen6]

I had hesitated between Qtrade and TDWH. Qtrade has been on the top for many years in Globe and Mail. I have most of my banking and mortgage in TD. Finally I chose TDWH.

After open the account, I made many calls for the fund transfer, password, ... The electronic broker desk is easy to reach. If your call needs to be redirected to other desks, waiting is anticipated. Most time I was not so patient to hold long. Is it time depondent (different time during the day?). service is good except the waiting time some time. I am a tolerent person, I hope I will be ok from now.

The TD fee schedule seems complicated for me. My tradings will be funds and/or ETF exclusively. It is a RRSP account. I may contribute 4 times to a fund and then one lump sum to a ETF a year. What the fee will be aaplicabe to my case? Fund trade will be no charges.

[canuck1]

I've been with Qtrade (not questtrade) for few years.
Never had a technical issue. Website is easy to navitage. Plenty of research material (they partner with with morning-star) available.

[shane_k]

im glad i saw this, i almost opened an account with them TODAY thinking i could save a few bucks

[simpson]

I was having issue with Questrade since I switch to their new IQ platform. I have a TFSA and RRSP account with them and I am wondering if there is a good alternative then I will transfer my funds to them.

[louchuck]

I signed up with them and got some pretty poor service. In my case I signed up for a TFSA with a promo code for free trades, I completed all the paper work, my account was created, but then I didn't fund it it for over 6 months because I didn't end up having enough money. When I got my tax return back I finally did fund my account and made a few trades, I noticed they weren't free. I contact customer service and was told since I didn't fund my account within 6 months, as per the terms of the promo (which I don't remember seeing anywhere) I couldn't get the free trades. I told the rep that I understood that those were the terms but then I explained I could sign up today with another promo code and get $50 worth of free trades so why not just offer me that promo instead since I am a new client (just recently funded my account and made trades). Was told it was only for new clients.

Based on this, and the experiences of others, I assume that they spend pretty much all their customer service efforts on signing up new clients and getting client to fund their accounts. Once they have your money forget about getting any good service or help because you are basically trapped; they will charge you $125 to transfer out or you will need to spend $5/trade to sell all your positions, move your money back into your chequing or bank account and then go through the whole accounting opening process and purchasing (another $5/trade) process with a new broker. In my case since I don't have a lot of money to move around it really hurts my bottom line.

The point: Once your money is in their hands you are on your own which is pretty much what you should expect with the low trading fees.

[PhillipJFry]

I use Questrade. My trading is infrequent. 2 times a year.
Fortunately, I have not seen any problems.

[OptionsMike]

I requested a transfer of my funds over a month ago (yes I completed the necessary forms).
Questrade has delayed and delayed offering one excuse after another.
I've lost thousands of dollars while Questrade fumbles this request.
I've filed a complaint with the Alberta Securities Commission and now I've started a law suit.

I'm beginning to wonder if this company is liquid enough to re-pay my funds or to satisfy a judgment after I win in court!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pchi]

I personally haven't had much troubles with them. There was once a transfer that took longer than usual, but I got that straightened out by chatting with them online.

I'm transferring some RRSP funds from ING Direct to Questrade... it says two weeks for the transfer to take place. Still pending... Hopefully, all will be well in two weeks time which is April 30th.

[TickPasha]

I personally haven't had much troubles with them. There was once a transfer that took longer than usual, but I got that straightened out by chatting with them online.

I'm transferring some RRSP funds from ING Direct to Questrade... it says two weeks for the transfer to take place. Still pending... Hopefully, all will be well in two weeks time which is April 30th.

good luck with the transfer, I requested a transfer of my TFSA from ING in early march, last week, my transfer on my questrade account got cancelled, questrade ask me to call ING to cancel the transfer because questrade didn't receive the money

ok, then
I call ING, they said they sent the draft on mid march, they'll investigate for me
today I call ING back, they said my money has already been cashed !!! nothing ING can do !!! I'll call questrade tomorrow try to find out where my money went, and I'll LEAVE this sh**ty broker,
I'll just need to sent all my TFSA cash in to my margin, then sent all my money from my margin to ING, no need to pay transfer fee

I should have STAY AWAY from questrade :facepalm:

[kamanda]

I usually don't post about companies but this was was such a bad experience I have to agree with the OP.

I was originally with Itrade but when they decided to merge with Scotia I started shopping around for another trading platform. I went through the initial processing of application with Questrade and did a test of transferring money in. All worked fine to that point and then I wanted to start trading - the screens are not easy to navigate and there are so many documents that they say are continuously outstanding. I then went to start an application with RBC direct investing - done within 48 hours and was able to trade right away. If you are just trading for a hobby then probably Questrade is OK but if this is more than $10K then better go somewhere bigger with more reliable customer service. Now I have the issue of trying to get my money back out of Questrade! You cannot close the account online - need to keep a minimum $250 balance. I will need to call customer service to close the account and they will send a cheque minus $10 service charge.

[red_skittles]

I usually don't post about companies but this was was such a bad experience I have to agree with the OP.

I was originally with Itrade but when they decided to merge with Scotia I started shopping around for another trading platform. I went through the initial processing of application with Questrade and did a test of transferring money in. All worked fine to that point and then I wanted to start trading - the screens are not easy to navigate and there are so many documents that they say are continuously outstanding. I then went to start an application with RBC direct investing - done within 48 hours and was able to trade right away. If you are just trading for a hobby then probably Questrade is OK but if this is more than $10K then better go somewhere bigger with more reliable customer service. Now I have the issue of trying to get my money back out of Questrade! You cannot close the account online - need to keep a minimum $250 balance. I will need to call customer service to close the account and they will send a cheque minus $10 service charge.

Login and under requests choose withdraw funds and you can EFT to your chequing account for free.

[kaymenji]

I signed up with them and got some pretty poor service. In my case I signed up for a TFSA with a promo code for free trades, I completed all the paper work, my account was created, but then I didn't fund it it for over 6 months because I didn't end up having enough money. When I got my tax return back I finally did fund my account and made a few trades, I noticed they weren't free. I contact customer service and was told since I didn't fund my account within 6 months, as per the terms of the promo (which I don't remember seeing anywhere) I couldn't get the free trades. I told the rep that I understood that those were the terms but then I explained I could sign up today with another promo code and get $50 worth of free trades so why not just offer me that promo instead since I am a new client (just recently funded my account and made trades). Was told it was only for new clients.

Based on this, and the experiences of others, I assume that they spend pretty much all their customer service efforts on signing up new clients and getting client to fund their accounts. Once they have your money forget about getting any good service or help because you are basically trapped; they will charge you $125 to transfer out or you will need to spend $5/trade to sell all your positions, move your money back into your chequing or bank account and then go through the whole accounting opening process and purchasing (another $5/trade) process with a new broker. In my case since I don't have a lot of money to move around it really hurts my bottom line.

The point: Once your money in their hands you are on your own which is pretty much what you should expect with the low trading fees.

I used my friend's refral like to open my new account, somehow for some unknown reason, the promotion code wasn't show up in my account(usually the promotion code should automatically populated in my account when I was opening my account. However I guess that system didn't work properly at that moment). And I didn't realize this until today I called them as I traded more than 10 times within a month. But I didn't receive any credit. They also told me since there is no promotion code,
I can't get the free trade. Also the representative sucks, he even told me that I have to manually key in promotion code in order to get the free trades. That is ridiculous, how can a person manually key in 15 digit long promotion code.

Today I tried my friend's referal link again to see how promotion code was generated. I saw that promotion code is a 15 digit long random number generated by the system. That means when I was opening my account, the system didn't perform well, it didn't generate the promotion code for me!!! I have sacrifice my free trade credit due to this stupid system error !!!

Today I contacted them, they refused to credit me back. I am trying to argue, but I don't expect too much with experience like you guys. I would close my account if they would not credit me back. I even would not transfer my accounts to other brokers as in that way they would get another $125 from other brokerage.

Stupid guys, $50 won't grow them business, on the contrary, they are losing customers!!!

Any idea, after I close my account with questrade, how to get my money out? are they charge me? Thanks!

[HamsiBrain]

Agree, stay away from Questrade!
Just found out they charge interest on US stocks if you do not convert your existing Canadian dollar to US dollar before you buy a US stocks :( Although you have funds as $CAN, they consider buying a US stocks is like borrowing money from Questrade and they charge interest of 6% ( may be lower if you have certain amount of borrowing, e.g. over 100K or so).
They NEVER tell this MOMNEY STEALING business practice and they just say sorry , you should CALL THEM if you do not understand the contract or business practice. For other reasons I called them and it takes an average 30+ minutes or longer to hold of a CR. Email reply takes DAYS!
I think they advertise the commission fee but they make more money by this unfair business practice and EXPLOIT their clients especially the novice investors.
I think they do this intentionally and a friend of mine lost thousands dollars of interest without knowing he was paying interest to so called borrowed money that he did not borrow and while he have more funds in his account than US stocks he purchased. Even if you do not buy any stocks, options and do not use their so called borrowed money, they charge you interest since they started this borrowing process at the beginning.
This is to me simply exploiting your clients and really easy money. Hope OSC, consumer affairs or some legal or adminitradive body will take action agains them or any brokerage company that use this sneaky mal practice.

[cn_habs]

Agree, stay away from Questrade!
Just found out they charge interest on US stocks if you do not convert your existing Canadian dollar to US dollar before you buy a US stocks :( Although you have funds as $CAN, they consider buying a US stocks is like borrowing money from Questrade and they charge interest of 6% ( may be lower if you have certain amount of borrowing, e.g. over 100K or so).
They NEVER tell this MOMNEY STEALING business practice and they just say sorry , you should CALL THEM if you do not understand the contract or business practice. For other reasons I called them and it takes an average 30+ minutes or longer to hold of a CR. Email reply takes DAYS!
I think they advertise the commission fee but they make more money by this unfair business practice and EXPLOIT their clients especially the novice investors.
I think they do this intentionally and a friend of mine lost thousands dollars of interest without knowing he was paying interest to so called borrowed money that he did not borrow and while he have more funds in his account than US stocks he purchased. Even if you do not buy any stocks, options and do not use their so called borrowed money, they charge you interest since they started this borrowing process at the beginning.
This is to me simply exploiting your clients and really easy money. Hope OSC, consumer affairs or some legal or adminitradive body will take action agains them or any brokerage company that use this sneaky mal practice.

Don't other brokerage houses do this as well? How can you buy US listed stocks with Canadian dollars without going through the conversion?

[reddeerab]

I've opened an account with Questrade and I'm nervous as hell sending money to them. I called to ask some questions and their answering service told me to leave a message and they would call back the next day. I thought are you fricken kidding me?!! What if something serious was going on?

[Radudu]

I opened a TFSA account with them in January of this year and funded my account by doing an online transfer. It took about 3-5 days to show up in my account. Had no issues.

[Rhaegar]

After giving QT another chance the last few weeks, I got sick of their crappy platform and have closed my account. Lets just hope my fund withdrawal doesn't cause any problems...

[monomono]

Don't other brokerage houses do this as well? How can you buy US listed stocks with Canadian dollars without going through the conversion?

This got me worried so I checked my RBC Direct Investing account, and the answer for them is no, they don't. I just went ahead and bought US stocks with CDN funds, and they did the conversion automatically. I might have been charged a bad rate (didn't check) but I was never charged interest.

[nightwing12]

Agree, stay away from Questrade!
Just found out they charge interest on US stocks if you do not convert your existing Canadian dollar to US dollar before you buy a US stocks :( Although you have funds as $CAN, they consider buying a US stocks is like borrowing money from Questrade and they charge interest of 6% ( may be lower if you have certain amount of borrowing, e.g. over 100K or so).
They NEVER tell this MOMNEY STEALING business practice and they just say sorry , you should CALL THEM if you do not understand the contract or business practice. For other reasons I called them and it takes an average 30+ minutes or longer to hold of a CR. Email reply takes DAYS!
I think they advertise the commission fee but they make more money by this unfair business practice and EXPLOIT their clients especially the novice investors.
I think they do this intentionally and a friend of mine lost thousands dollars of interest without knowing he was paying interest to so called borrowed money that he did not borrow and while he have more funds in his account than US stocks he purchased. Even if you do not buy any stocks, options and do not use their so called borrowed money, they charge you interest since they started this borrowing process at the beginning.
This is to me simply exploiting your clients and really easy money. Hope OSC, consumer affairs or some legal or adminitradive body will take action agains them or any brokerage company that use this sneaky mal practice.

to be fair they absolutely do outline this practice in the documents you signed to open your account, perhaps you didn't read or comprehend them.

[warptweet]

I used Questrade from 2008-2010. Went back to school for my Masters and needed all the cash (luckily stocks had skyrocketed since I got in) - anyways I had a chunk of my investments in a Tax-Free Trading Account in Questrade. When I withdrew all the funds, Questrade didn't accurately report the withdrawal information with the CRA, so for two years, the CRA had the wrong TFSA contribution room calculation on my file, which obviously triggered issues with the CRA.

For clarification, the CRA relies on the financial institutions for this information and any issues on file is YOUR responsibility to fix with the appropriate institution. After numerous phone calls and emails to Questrade, many of which I never received responses to, it was finally fixed in January 2013.

I'm ready to get back in it, and being ready for the Couch Potato method, I can say that Questrade's commission free ETF program has me extremely tempted - I just don't know if I want to deal with this company, especially as my portfolio grows. I may just bite the bullet and go with waterhouse for now...

[Uranium101]

Yeah, any improvements with this company?
That free ETF buying is so tempting.

[kekekekekorea]

Used questtrade for about 3 months with only one minor issue (I tried to convert CDN to USD, they put the conversion through twice, but reversed it when I called in). was pretty impressed compared to VB which is ****ing terrible.

However, over the past week I've had the platform constantly disconnect on me / not let me login during the first 2 hours of the day. Customer support just said "must be your internet", yet any other internet application has been working perfectly fine. Will be closing my account if I have one more day of this.

[cocotheparrot]

Yeah, any improvements with this company?
That free ETF buying is so tempting.

Yep, the free ETF buying is tempting. :)

[kilimats]

I canceled my qtrade account to move with questrade, their platform are SO MUCH BETTER than qtrade, i really love the phone app, qtrade only let you access the site in mobile layout which really sucks !

$5 commision for most for regular trades is 4 times cheaper than the ridiculous $19 qtrade was taking, so glad i moved and their chat support is phenomenal !

[ahhchoo]

to be fair they absolutely do outline this practice in the documents you signed to open your account, perhaps you didn't read or comprehend them.

Weird, just went to check my questrade because this was mentioned and I recently opened an account. I see "Buy US Dollars" under the request history but I didn't request the Buy, I just bought US securities.. Maybe they changed this?

[EmperorOfCanada]

Weird, just went to check my questrade because this was mentioned and I recently opened an account. I see "Buy US Dollars" under the request history but I didn't request the Buy, I just bought US securities.. Maybe they changed this?

Yeah, link to this? I bought some SIRI the other day and I had assumed it would just convert to US funds automatically. I dont know anything about them 'treating it as a loan and charging interest'. Can someone link some information on this?

[Uranium101]

Yeah, link to this? I bought some SIRI the other day and I had assumed it would just convert to US funds automatically. I dont know anything about them 'treating it as a loan and charging interest'. Can someone link some information on this?

Yeah, it is disclosed, no need to waste your time looking.
What you have to do is log into myQuestrade.com and request to have your currency converted to cover the margin.

This is actually a good practice of which TDW will never employ. TDW love forced conversion so they can automatically charge fees.

[cn_habs]

Yeah, it is disclosed, no need to waste your time looking.
What you have to do is log into myQuestrade.com and request to have your currency converted to cover the margin.

This is actually a good practice of which TDW will never employ. TDW love forced conversion so they can automatically charge fees.

I am kinda in the same boat so once I sell that US-listed stock how do I convert that US dollars I borrowed to my original Canadian dollars?

[elwebmaster]

I am kinda in the same boat so once I sell that US-listed stock how do I convert that US dollars I borrowed to my original Canadian dollars?

If you bought the US stock before converting your CAD to USD, then your USD account has negative balance. If you sell the US stock it will cover the negative balance. If your USD account does not have negative balance that means they converted your CAD to USD. I noticed they did this for me after having negative balance on the account for some time.
You can always convert between the two currencies from myQuestrade, it's very convenient.

[EmperorOfCanada]

Yeah, it is disclosed, no need to waste your time looking.
What you have to do is log into myQuestrade.com and request to have your currency converted to cover the margin.

This is actually a good practice of which TDW will never employ. TDW love forced conversion so they can automatically charge fees.

... It wasnt that I didnt believe it... but it is a Tax free savings account so I dont see how they could possibly be extending me margin on it. I had CAD, bout a US stock, had a lower CAD balance. Sold US stock, Had a USD balance after the sale, next time I logged in it was all in CAD again. it appeared to me that it was all just being converted for me, it didnt appear that I had any kinda negative balance in USD at any time..

[ahhchoo]

... It wasnt that I didnt believe it... but it is a Tax free savings account so I dont see how they could possibly be extending me margin on it. I had CAD, bout a US stock, had a lower CAD balance. Sold US stock, Had a USD balance after the sale, next time I logged in it was all in CAD again. it appeared to me that it was all just being converted for me, it didnt appear that I had any kinda negative balance in USD at any time..

You probably have the setting to settle the funds in CAD. You can settle in the currency of transaction in which it will settle in both USD and CAD.

My previous concern was how some suggested that questrade doesn't convert your existing CAD to USD when you purchase a USD security. I found the article on the questrade website as well stating that only RSP will be converted. But when I logged in to check, there was no negative USD balance and my funds has been automatically converted to USD which I have no idea how.

Seem to also happened to you, you bought USD security and ended up with a lower CAD balance.

[Uranium101]

For years I have been trying suggesting that there should be a feature on myquestrade.com to request transfer of positions from CAD side to the USD side and vise versa. However, this feature is possible, just that you have to call in to get it down. For say if I have 100 shares of RY.TO, I want it to be transferred to the USD side, I would get 100 shares of RY. I can then sell that RY to obtain some USD.
This is the sole reason why I switched to RBC Direct Investing. Oh, and that better customer service feature too. I believe Questrade is now up and standing on their 2 feet. As a result, the response time for our inquiries have improved. When I sent them (Questrade) an email inquiry, they get back to me within 2 business days. With RBC DI, I get it back on the same day or the next day. As for calling in, it was almost instant with RBC DI, but with Questrade, 15-30 minutes.

[elwebmaster]

For years I have been trying suggesting that there should be a feature on myquestrade.com to request transfer of positions from CAD side to the USD side and vise versa. However, this feature is possible, just that you have to call in to get it down. For say if I have 100 shares of RY.TO, I want it to be transferred to the USD side, I would get 100 shares of RY. I can then sell that RY to obtain some USD.
This is the sole reason why I switched to RBC Direct Investing. Oh, and that better customer service feature too. I believe Questrade is now up and standing on their 2 feet. As a result, the response time for our inquiries have improved. When I sent them (Questrade) an email inquiry, they get back to me within 2 business days. With RBC DI, I get it back on the same day or the next day. As for calling in, it was almost instant with RBC DI, but with Questrade, 15-30 minutes.

How much does RBC take in commissions? I wouldn't give them business due to what they did with the temporary foreign workers, but even if it wasn't for that I am sure they are not competitive. What you are asking of Questrade is to make it easy for you to avoid paying their currency exchange spread. It would be nice, but I don't know how sustainable it would be if everybody did this. Questrade's system is kind of messed up but tolerable for me so far. I think it is a good choice for an investor just starting up.

[EmperorOfCanada]

Cant log in this morning. Thanks questrade.

[kilimats]

Cant log in this morning. Thanks questrade.

I can, check your PC

[EmperorOfCanada]

I can, check your PC

Not much I can do before I leave for work. IQ edge wouldnt connect at all (gave error) IQ web is loading, but after about 5 minutes is at 30% loaded. Speedtest ran fine. Not sure what else to do. Have to leave for work soon anyways so.. guess I missed market open.

[kilimats]

Not much I can do before I leave for work. IQ edge wouldnt connect at all (gave error) IQ web is loading, but after about 5 minutes is at 30% loaded. Speedtest ran fine. Not sure what else to do. Have to leave for work soon anyways so.. guess I missed market open.

try a diff browser and update your silverlight plug in, IQ WEB loads super fast for me here

[Jungle]

Questrade emails have been answered one day lately. Also live chat wait has improved a lot too. It appears they've improved customer service. However, anything can change. Experience is subjective too.

[kilimats]

Questrade emails have been answered one day lately. Also live chat wait has improved a lot too. It appears they've improved customer service. However, anything can change. Experience is subjective too.

ive been a customer of questrade for 3 weeks, chatted probably a total of 20 diff times, always answered within 1 min and professional :)

[samsonmq]

"Stay away from Questrade"
Totally agree.
I opened my account in January and I will be closing it soon.

The only advantage with Questrade is you could save a little bit of money if you are buying less than 1,000 shares with your own cash, not on margin.

If you are on margin or short margin, STAY AWAY from it.
They charge 1.75% more than Scotiaitrade on margin interest rate.

I have been shorting stocks with Etrade, Scotiaitrade, TD Waterhouse and I was requested (forced) to cover my short positions three times in the last 13 years. It has already happened once in a couple of months with Questrade with a few short stocks.

And today I received an email, it says
"Please be advised that the following security (my short position) has become a premium item and your immediate attention is required.

It is possible for Questrade to borrow the stock, however there will be a fee associated with holding this short position. The fee will be based on a yearly rate of 4.00% and the total value of you short position in HSH which will be marked to market on a daily basis."

Why Questrade is never the choice if you want to short stocks?
First, it is very difficult to short the stocks you request.
Second, they could force you to buy it back with a short notice often.
And finally, they could say that they want a fee for the short stocks you are holding.

What is PREMIUM ITEM? For my 13 years with all my online brokers, I have never seen anything like this. Are they desperate for cash so they try to find a new way to rob you? It is the last straw for me.

I have U.S. money but I still cannot find a cheap and fast way to deposit it into my Questrade account. Now it seems that it is an advantage for me. I only need to withdraw my Canadian money through online banking and I will close my account soon.