Investing

Cheapest way to "cash out" stock certificates?

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Deal Addict
Nov 12, 2008
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Cheapest way to "cash out" stock certificates?

I have 3 stock certificates with a total current value of about $2k. I want to cash out.

What is the cheapest and easiest way? I don't hold any other stocks (outside of RRSPs).
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Deal Guru
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Nov 18, 2005
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Gweedz wrote: I have 3 stock certificates with a total current value of about $2k. I want to cash out.

What is the cheapest and easiest way? I don't hold any other stocks (outside of RRSPs).
If you actually have paper certificates you need to register them with a broker, then you can sell the shares. Some details from the OSC here: http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/19859.htm

What are the companies?
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May 11, 2014
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See if your company stock certificates have a direct stock purchase plan or dividend reinvestment plan with their transfer agents. If so, they usually have a way to mail your certificates to these transfer agents and allow you to sell the stock in these plans. I used to participate in Bank of America stock purchase plan. It issued certificates for free and allowed me to deposit them as well. I was planning to hold them as a keep sake, but realized opening an account with Virtual Brokers was a cheaper than even the direct stock purchase plan.
https://www-us.computershare.com/Conten ... &theme=cpu . I deposited my Bank of America shares with the plan and then sold the stock. This was fairly cheap as depositing the shares was free and the sales was the normal stock purchase plan fees which were a few pennies a share in my case. Keep in mind, selling your stock with the stock purchase plan is time consuming, and not as transparent as you won't know the sale price right away in most cases.

To see your company has a plan in place, look at their Investor relations page, and look up their transfer agent. Most common ones in Canada and the US are Canada Stock Transfer, Computershare, Wells Fargo Shareholder Services, Mellon, Canadian Western etc. Alternatively, type your company name and transfer agent in google.

Depending on the stock brokers, some brokers allow for free share depositing, although a large number of them charge a fee. I know when I was with Credential Direct, they allowed me to deposit my stock for free (this was years ago though). I known Virtual Brokers and Questrade charge quite a bit. I would ask your broker.
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Thanks for the advice!

I have 3 paper certificates, each for MNTX

These are not for my company (my company is private so no help from them).

I do not have a broker... any recommendations? Chances are I will open the account, sell the shares, and close the account, but there is the possibility I will keep the account open to make some trades for fun.
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Gweedz wrote:
These are not for my company (my company is private so no help from them).
this has nothing to do with your employer. By company, I mean the company of the stock.
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http://www.manitexinternational.com/faq.aspx

Looking on their website, they do not have a stock purchase or DRIP. Their transfer agent also does not process purchases and sales. your only option is to deposit with a broker.
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xgbsSS wrote:
Gweedz wrote:
These are not for my company (my company is private so no help from them).
this has nothing to do with your employer. By company, I mean the company of the stock.
I got confused by your choice of the word "your" too. Probably "the company" is more clear instead of "your company" :)

OP, re-read his post with "your company" as "the company" and follow his advice.
Or open an account at a broker.
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xgbsSS wrote: this has nothing to do with your employer. By company, I mean the company of the stock.
Gotcha! Thanks. Now your post makes more sense :)
Their transfer agent is Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc.

I'll see what they say, however your first post seems to indicate that going through a broker would be easier.

Do any places exist where I can walk in, hand them the certificates, and walk out with cash?
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Gweedz wrote:
xgbsSS wrote: this has nothing to do with your employer. By company, I mean the company of the stock.
Gotcha! Thanks. Now your post makes more sense :)
Their transfer agent is Broadridge Corporate Issuer Solutions, Inc.

I'll see what they say, however your first post seems to indicate that going through a broker would be easier.

Do any places exist where I can walk in, hand them the certificates, and walk out with cash?
I don't think so, but if you open a brokerage account with a bank that has branches, you may be able to deliver the stock in person to be deposited to your account (they would internally courier it I would imagine).

Once it is reflected in your brokerage account you have to execute a sell order at a limit price you choose or at the current market price in order to convert it into 'cash'.
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Used to do this at TD. It's a paperwork intense process that no-one at the branch really enjoys doing (very complicated and often no possibility of sales revenue).

Ace604 has it right, just go into a branch, open up a non-registered brokerage account, have them ship down the certificates, sell it and cash out. You will probably incur some fees along the way but thats the fastest and easiest way. Plus you can just leave the account open if you decide you want to trade in the future.
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Oct 22, 2015
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I wonder how the bank would send the certificate to the brokerage? Would they give you a letter stating they have received it and if they lose it they are responsible?
It would be a headache it they lost the certificate. Who's fault would it be in that case.
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You don't need to visit a branch. You can mail them into the broker. Scotia Itrade has this service
http://www.scotiabank.com/itrade/en/0,,7504,00.html

It's just each brokerage has different fees for this. I am not sure of the fees currently because this fee isn't often easily listed.

http://www.credentialdirect.com/educati ... money.aspx

Credential still offers this too. They don't list a fee either. Best thing is to confirm with each brokerage before you open an account and proceed.

Going into the branch will may lead to more commissions.
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wra45mon wrote: I wonder how the bank would send the certificate to the brokerage? Would they give you a letter stating they have received it and if they lose it they are responsible?
It would be a headache it they lost the certificate. Who's fault would it be in that case.
xgbsSS wrote: You don't need to visit a branch. You can mail them into the broker. Scotia Itrade has this service
http://www.scotiabank.com/itrade/en/0,,7504,00.html

It's just each brokerage has different fees for this. I am not sure of the fees currently because this fee isn't often easily listed.

http://www.credentialdirect.com/educati ... money.aspx

Credential still offers this too. They don't list a fee either. Best thing is to confirm with each brokerage before you open an account and proceed.

Going into the branch will may lead to more commissions.
If you go into a TD branch for example, they would have their own internal courier to send it to TD Waterhouse or whatever they are called these days.

If you mail it yourself you want to insure it (can you do that for stock certificates?) and pay for express/registered etc.

IMO, you want to physically deliver it to an employee of the branch who signs for it and acknowledges all the pertinent info in person... then you have easier recourse in case of "lost" mail.

There will be no selling of the stock in the branch, so there is no extra commission. You are just making a deposit.
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I have TELUS shares that i have a certificate for. Compushare issued them. I made an account with compushare and all the info is online also. Can I sell the shares through compushare? If so, any idea how much they charge? thanks
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dealhawk1 wrote: I have TELUS shares that i have a certificate for. Compushare issued them. I made an account with compushare and all the info is online also. Can I sell the shares through compushare? If so, any idea how much they charge? thanks
Each plan even with different company shares in Computershare is going to be different as each individual company will determine how much of the transaction cost they will cover. Looking at Telus, the plan is $15 per sale plus 4 c per share. If you want to see yourself, go to the Computershare Investor Centre, click on company research, search Telus and click on their plan details.

The PDF for their plan also states this
https://www-us.computershare.com/Conten ... &theme=cpu

Purchases of shares with their stock purchase plan is fee free if you are interested!
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xgbsSS thanks for the response, you were very helpful. so even if i have the paper certificate, i dont have to mail it in because they have it on there system?
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dealhawk1 wrote: xgbsSS thanks for the response, you were very helpful. so even if i have the paper certificate, i dont have to mail it in because they have it on there system?
No, you still have to mail in the certificate to Computershare if you want to sell the shares in the certificate. The only thing that you can do without sending the certificate is to have your dividends reinvested with Computershare.
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Thank you very much! Do you think it would be cheaper to sell the shares via compushare or TD DI. I did the math for compushare and it comes out to $31, i know that TD DI charges $9.95 per trade. Do you know if there is a fee for processing the Shares Certificate with TD DI?
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Does anyone know if CST (another transfer agent in Canada) would sell shares for you?
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wra45mon wrote: Does anyone know if CST (another transfer agent in Canada) would sell shares for you?
ALL major transfer agents sell shares ONLY IF the company you are invested in participates in a direct stock purchase plan or dividend reinvestment plan that has a sales option. Not all companies elect to provide this service. Also, the price you pay will be different for each company and plan. Do not forget about this. you need to look at the specific company you have invested in's plan before you proceed otherwise you will be doing all this work for nothing. Look on the company's investor relations page or on the transfer agent's page and see if they participate in a purchase plan. If so, they usually have a way to sell the stock. Keep in mind the fees as each plan is different even within the same transfer agency (this is because some company's subsidize the cost for investors. This includes free purchases, discount on purchases, cheaper or free sales fees (usually uncommon) ).
Last edited by xgbsSS on Oct 6th, 2016 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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