A number of you have expressed frustration in not being able to transfer your RDSP from one financial institution to another. Part of that frustration has been that the messages have been conflicting – you should be able to transfer…you can’t transfer yet…you will be able to transfer soon…we don’t know when you will be able to transfer.
We have checked in with the federal government and financial institutions in an effort to find out what is going on, what the solutions are and how we can move this agenda forward.
First, we can report that all parties are aware of the problem and people’s frustrations.
As a lay person, I had a difficult time understanding what all the difficulty is about. But in speaking with people, I came to understand that it’s a bit more complicated. The crux of the matter is determining what information needs to be transferred along with the RDSP. Financial institutions need to maintain information to be able to calculate holdback amounts, taxes, payments permitted etc. Not only that, they all need to agree on what they will transfer and maintain so that when they receive a transferred RDSP, they have the appropriate information or if they are sending an RDSP, they will send the right information. All of this takes time.
While some of you will be frustrated waiting one day longer, it appears that we are still about three to six months from everything being worked out and transfers occurring in a pretty easy manner. That would be somewhere between January and March (and possibly before).
We have heard of people managing to get funds transferred – but it isn’t an easy process at the moment. If you absolutely can not wait, then we’d recommend that you take it up the line within the bank – some banks might be willing and able to make it work for you.