TD Waterhouse increase their charges

poodles

From 1st November 2011 TD are going to charge you an extra 0.25% (an increase from 1.75% to 2%) on FX conversions for transactions between €1 - €24,999

I'm quite annoyed at this as I already thought their rate was excessive, however it's probably standard across a lot of brokers.
I will be looking for a new broker as of now.

They're making a mint of their Irish customers on this.
Most of their Irish customers will buy a lot of UK stocks mainly - so for example if you want to deposit €10,000 and buy a UK stock with it, you will get charged 2% on top of the base FX rate at the time of the purchase.

€10,000 = £8,719.85 (xe.com) - 2% = £8,545.15


TD also offer savings accounts in other currencies on their platform but the same 2% chargfe will apply.



:mad:

EdenCyrus

This is not good, i just opened an account with them.

Ill look else where now! I never got an email notification. Ill shall follow up on this.

:mad:

turbobaby

Use Transfermate to transfer Euros to TD Waterhouse's foreign currency accounts!

Far better rates.

My only issue was that the intermediary used by Transfermate did not include my reference number on the transfer to TD, meaning there was delays of a few days. All sorted with an email to TD and the money was credited end of day.

Smcgie

Bad move by TDW I shall too be looking for another provider. Their FX fees where already extortion.

It's a pity because I always bang on about them here on boards for their platform and reasonable dealing fees. I must have got 10+ people on here to join through word of mouth.

Not anymore I'm afraid.

neil.p.b

It's such a hassle transferring money in and out of your account in general. Don't accept visa credit cards and although they say they accept visa debits it never works. Have to wait days for bank transfer to go through. Be interested to hear where others are moving to.

whysomoody

Davy online have slightly higher charges for commission, but at least they dont charge for FX.

neil.p.b

whysomoody wrote: »

Davy online have slightly higher charges for commission, but at least they dont charge for FX.

Do you have an account with them? Any feedback?

poodles

whysomoody wrote: »

Davy online have slightly higher charges for commission, but at least they dont charge for FX.

...they will charge you something for an FX conversion - just depends on how much over the base FX rate at that moment in time.

I tried ringing them before asking what their charge was but the girl on the other side of the phone was clueless.

delux

...they will charge you something for an FX conversion - just depends on how much over the base FX rate at that moment in time.

Yes exactly, it's the same way An Post advertise no commission on currency exchange, but look at their sell rates on the website. These guys always make the most money on their bid/offer spreads. Don't anyone be fooled by clever marketing. I never used Davy but i'd be really surprised if they didnt take something on the bid/offer spread when doing the conversions or maybe not them personally but whoever they put the currency conversion through.

I use Interactive Brokers, ridiculously low commissions for everything including currencies.
As a side note, I notice on twitter recently Paul Sommerville hinted at himself setting up some kind of broker company in 2012 to compete against the Irish brokers.. could be interesting.

poodles

I've heard IB are very not easy to use.
Complicated platform?

delux

I've heard IB are very not easy to use.
Complicated platform?

Yes I would say that's fair to say.
You have to kind of dig out information to find how to use some features. Their main selling point is their low pricing so if you're a frequent trader then that's the biggest draw. It wouldnt be for someone who will buy some shares of XYZ and then hold them for a few years. For someone like that though commission or currency costs shouldnt matter, because what's an extra €20 matter in this case.

whysomoody

poodles wrote: »

...they will charge you something for an FX conversion - just depends on how much over the base FX rate at that moment in time.

I tried ringing them before asking what their charge was but the girl on the other side of the phone was clueless.

I had a bit more success, there is obviously no out-and-out charge as it the norm, but it seems that depending on the size of the trade it is about 30 bps over the midrate which is very competitive. Saves you a couple hundred euro on 10k v high street banks.

poodles

You're saying Davy's charge is 0.3% over the base rate?