Debit balance in registered accounts

Understand what happens to a negative balance in registered accounts and how to pay for it.

According to government regulations, Canadians are not allowed to carry negative cash balances in their registered account. For that reason, we regularly monitor our customers’ accounts to comply with those regulations.

If you have a debit balance in their account, you will receive an email from us requesting that you cover the amount within a certain time frame on a best-efforts basis. In some cases, we may be required to sell positions from your account before the due date without letting you know in advance.

Typically, debit balances occur as a result of inactivity fees, currency conversion spreads, data fees, or due to mandatory payments made from your registered account to you. For more information:

1. Log in (opens in a new tab) to Questrade

2. Go to your Summary page, and click on All accounts.

Paying off a debit balance

To cover your balance, do one of the following:

1. Deposit the amount due into your account

   • You can make an instant deposit to your Questrade account using your Visa and Interac debit cards. Log in to your Questrade account to check if your bank offers this service.

   • Alternatively, you can make an online bill payment from your bank payable to Questrade. The funds will typically appear in the account within 1–3 business days.

   • Transfer funds from a different Questrade account into the one with the debit balance

2. Close enough positions to cover the debit balance

   1. To make sure you’ve closed enough positions, check your combined cash balance that appears in the trading platform—it must show a positive number

Important to know

• You cannot make deposits to the following type of accounts: RIF, PRIF, RLIF, LIF, LIRA, or LRSP

• When making a deposit to a Questrade trading account, your bank account (where the money is coming from) and the Questrade account (where the money is going to) must have identical names. For example, if your name at the bank is “James Smith”, your Questrade trading account must be identical to that for us to accept the deposit

• Payments made to registered count as contributions