In this article:
Overview
You can transfer an existing RESP account into a managed or self-directed Wealthsimple RESP. This guide explains how to transfer your RESP.
- You can transfer any type of RESP into a managed RESP.
- You can only transfer a single or joint-owner family RESP to a self-directed RESP.
It generally takes 4–8 weeks to transfer an RESP account into Wealthsimple. The process is slightly longer for RESPs because we need to work with your current bank to understand the grants and contributions made to the account.
How to transfer an RESP to Wealthsimple
Step 1. Open an RESP
You must open an RESP at Wealthsimple before you can begin the account transfer.
If you have a co-owner, they must sign off on the request after it's submitted. They'll receive an email from our signing partner, Docusign, where they can sign off on the request.
Make sure to include all the same beneficiaries as the RESP at your current bank. Make sure that the owners of the account at Wealthsimple are identical to the owners at your other bank. If they aren't, the transfer will fail.
Step 2. Download an account statement
Download an account statement from the account you’re transferring to Wealthsimple. We’ll ask you to upload this when you set up a transfer request.
Check that your current information matches the details on your account statement. If your bank has information that's out of date, ask them to update it before requesting the transfer. If the information we have doesn’t match what your bank has, they may reject the transfer request.
Step 3. Choose how to transfer funds
You have two options for transferring funds to your Wealthsimple account:
- Entire account as is (Recommended): We move your holdings to us as they are today. Once your transfer is complete, we’ll sell all the transferred assets and reinvest them. However, if your transfer includes mutual funds that would result in fees upon sale, we’ll email you with further instructions before we sell the assets.
- Entire account as cash: Your bank will sell your holdings and move the funds to us. Keep in mind that your bank may charge trading fees to sell your investments.
Step 4. Request a transfer
Follow the steps below to request a transfer:
Limitations:
- You must contact our support team to transfer an individual RESP to Wealthsimple.
- We only support transfers for RESPs where the account owner is the primary caregiver and legal guardian of the beneficiary. We expect to support accounts that don’t meet this criteria soon.
- Log in to the Wealthsimple app
- From the Home tab, scroll down and tap Open or move account
- Select Transfer an account to Wealthsimple
- Tap Get started or select Start on a pending transfer
- Follow the prompts to initiate your account transfer
- Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
- Select Move from the top menu
- Select Move an account to Wealthsimple
- Open the Account type menu
- Under Savings, select RESP
- Select Next to continue
- Follow the prompts to initiate your account transfer
Check the status of your transfer
If you want to check on the status of your transfer, you can view and cancel your pending transfers.
Frequently asked questions
My spouse can't find the email to sign our RESP transfer. What should we do?
If they can't find the email, please ask them to check their spam or junk mail folders. If they still can't locate it, please contact our support team for assistance.
Our RESP transfer failed with the "reinitiate with joint subscriber" message. What does this mean?
This happens when there's a mismatch between the account types. You need to either open a joint RESP account at Wealthsimple or restart the transfer by selecting the joint subscriber option.
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