TD Canada Trust / TD Direct Investing RESP review

Supported grants and incentives

• The Toronto-Dominion Bank row on Canada.ca shows Basic CESG, Additional CESG, Canada Learning Bond (CLB), and B.C. Training and Education Savings Grant (BCTESG) as offered.
• TD Asset Management Inc. appears separately on Canada.ca and shows Basic CESG as offered, with Additional CESG, CLB, and BCTESG marked N/A.
• TD Securities Inc. appears separately on Canada.ca and shows Basic CESG and BCTESG as offered, with Additional CESG and CLB marked N/A.
• Revenu Québec's QESI provider list includes TD Bank Financial Group and The Toronto-Dominion Bank as RESP providers whose plans qualify for QESI, provided legal and administrative requirements are met.
• TD's public consumer RESP pages mention CESG, CLB, Quebec incentives, and BCTESG in general RESP education content, but the reviewed pages do not clearly map every TD-branded product path to a single legal promoter row.
• Families who need a specific grant should confirm the exact TD legal entity for the account they are opening, because the Canada.ca support matrix differs across TD promoter entries.

Account types

• TD's branch education pages discuss both Individual RESP and Family RESP structures.
• TD's main RESP overview markets three consumer paths: TD Mutual Funds RESP, TD Canada Trust RESP focused on GICs, and RESP at TD Direct Investing.
• TD Direct Investing says all of its RESP accounts are Family Plans only.
• TD Direct Investing says Family Plan beneficiaries must be children, stepchildren, or grandchildren who meet the plan's age and residency rules.
• The current TD Direct Investing RESP page identifies the self-directed plan as a TD Securities Inc. Self-Directed Education Savings Plan, which matters because Canada.ca lists TD Securities Inc. separately from The Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Fees

• TD Direct Investing charges $9.99 per online stock or ETF trade at the standard rate, or $7.00 with 150 or more trades per quarter; options trades add $1.25 per contract.
• The commission schedule lists $1.99 for trades of less than one share, which matters if using TD's partial-share feature inside a self-directed RESP.
• TD Direct Investing says select ETFs can be commission-free for digital trades, and mutual fund buys, sells, or switches have no commission.
• TD Direct Investing charges a $25 quarterly maintenance fee for households that do not meet the waiver criteria and have less than $15,000 in assets.
• TD Direct Investing says a minimum $100 monthly deposit can waive quarterly maintenance fees across householded accounts.
• TD Direct Investing's commission schedule lists a $150 transfer fee for direct trading and registered accounts.
• TD Direct Investing's short-term redemption policy says mutual funds held for less than 30 days can face a fee of 1% of redemption value or $45, whichever is greater, in addition to any fund-company fees.
• The TD Direct Investing commission schedule says RESP and RDSP accounts are established in Canadian dollars only, so currency conversion and U.S.-security cash handling should be checked before trading U.S.-listed investments.
• The reviewed TD Canada Trust branch RESP overview pages did not publish a simple RESP-specific annual account fee table for the bank or GIC path, so product-level costs should be confirmed before opening.

Transfer process

• TD Direct Investing says incoming transfers can be set up in cash, in kind, or as a mix of both after opening the account.
• TD Direct Investing says it can reimburse up to $150 in transfer fees charged by another brokerage.
• TD Direct Investing tells clients to make a separate cash deposit if they want to start trading before a transfer completes.
• TD Mutual Funds uses a transfer authorization form that directs completed forms to Mutual Fund Operations in Toronto and allows all-cash or mixed cash and in-kind instructions.
• Because TD has multiple promoter entities on Canada.ca, the exact transfer paperwork depends on whether the RESP is being opened through the branch, mutual fund, or self-directed path.
• Families transferring an RESP should ask TD which grants and provincial incentives will transfer, which legal promoter will receive the plan, and whether any unsupported benefit must be repaid or handled before transfer.

Withdrawal process

• TD Canada Trust says the subscriber must request the withdrawal and provide proof of enrolment for the beneficiary.
• TD Canada Trust describes two education withdrawal types: Post-Secondary Education (PSE) withdrawals of contributions and Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) made up of grants, bonds, and investment earnings.
• TD Canada Trust says EAP withdrawals are limited to $8,000 for a full-time student or $4,000 for a part-time student during the first 13 weeks of study.
• TD's branch guidance says families should start early and book an appointment with a TD advisor or personal banker to begin the withdrawal process.
• TD Direct Investing says withdrawals can be requested online through WebBroker, by phone, or by submitting the RESP Withdrawal Request form with proof of school enrolment at a TD Canada Trust branch.
• TD Direct Investing's withdrawal form requires a separate form for each beneficiary and asks for educational institution documentation for EAP and PSE withdrawals.
• TD Direct Investing's withdrawal form asks the subscriber to choose whether the withdrawal is an EAP, PSE contribution withdrawal, or a mix of both, so families should decide which bucket they are using before submitting the request.
• TD Direct Investing's withdrawal form says a void cheque is required when an EFT is sent to a third-party institution.
• TD's current public branch page uses the updated $8,000 full-time and $4,000 part-time first-13-week EAP limits; the TD Direct Investing withdrawal form still references an older indexed receipt threshold, so subscribers should confirm the current receipt threshold before requesting a large annual EAP.

Neutral comparison notes

• This page covers several TD-branded RESP paths, but Canada.ca treats TD as multiple promoters with different grant-support rows.
• TD Direct Investing publishes the clearest public fee schedule among the reviewed TD RESP materials; the branch RESP pages are easier to understand at a high level but less specific on account-level fees.
• TD Direct Investing is more investment-flexible and explicitly self-directed, while the TD Canada Trust branch path leans toward appointment-based support and GIC or mutual-fund choices.
• Families comparing TD options should note that TD Direct Investing is family-plan only, while TD's branch education content discusses both individual and family RESP structures.
• Compared with some other self-directed brokerage profiles, TD Direct Investing is more explicit about partial shares and U.S.-market access, but the Canadian-dollar-only RESP setup may still matter for U.S.-listed securities.
• QESI support should be confirmed by exact TD account path. Revenu Québec lists TD-related providers, but Canada.ca's federal promoter table does not answer QESI questions.

Investment options noted on official pages

• TD Canada Trust markets GIC-based RESP savings through the branch path.
• TD Mutual Funds RESP gives access to certain mutual funds offered through TD Investment Services Inc.
• TD Direct Investing lists stocks, mutual funds, fixed income, ETFs, and GICs as available investment choices in its self-directed RESP.
• TD Direct Investing says a self-directed RESP can access Canadian and U.S. markets, but the commission schedule says RESP and RDSP accounts are established in Canadian dollars only.
• TD Direct Investing also markets partial-share investing as a way to start smaller, but the commission schedule lists a separate $1.99 charge for trades of less than one share.

Sources to use

Compare next

Provider pages are education notes, not endorsements. Compare at least one more profile before deciding.

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• Open the full RESP provider directory

Decide next

• How to choose an RESP provider
• How to transfer an RESP between providers
• How RESP withdrawals work

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