RESP This Round Finally Ends ?

As part of my RESP stories, this one is more of a rant. It was the first time I tried to make an RESP withdrawal of funds. At the time of writing this (2009), the rules were more straightforward. Now you must also have proof of enrollment to get at the funds. I was unaware of the RESP withdrawal rules at the time, thus my frustrations.

I have been trying to make an RESP withdrawal from a TD Mutual Funds RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan). See the previous links at the bottom of this post for more information. I can report that, yes, I have finally completed an RESP withdrawal from the TD Mutual Funds system.

Prologue

I plead guilty that I procrastinated a little because of most of my daughters’ tuition costs. It was sitting on my PC Financial Mastercard (which got me a lot of PC Points!). Still, about two weeks before my bill was due. I decided to act finally and set up an appointment to get at my TD Mutual Funds RESPs (Family) for my daughters.

First, I called the front desk of the branch I usually deal with, no answer, so I decided to call back. When I called back, still no response, and again the third time I called, so I finally left a message (when in Rome, I suppose, although if I had talked to the person who answered the phone, I could have made my appointment then, I decided to leave a message that I wanted to make an appointment with the person I usually deal with at the branch). All that could be done was wait for the callback.

I got a callback to my office, but I wasn’t there (two days after I left the message). Once I called back and left a message directly with the person who called, with the note NOT to call me after a specific time at work, to instead call me at home, to set up an appointment (you can see where this is going, can’t you?). This phone tag game continued, with messages being left at my work after hours until I finally gave up and went directly to the branch (this is eight days into the 14 days allotted before I had to pay my bill).  Wasn’t this in a Seinfeld episode?

Appointment?

Once I finally met the receptionist, she told me that the person I wanted to deal with was very busy. I should have called to make an appointment.

Dear reader, I kept my cool (very hard to believe, I know) and did not respond. I was then told that the representative was too busy tonite and that since she was going on vacation, I would have to deal with someone else if I wanted it done in the next few days. When I was finally given an appointment with a gentleman the night before my Mastercard bill was due. I must be fair and say I did drop by on a Thursday night but was given an appointment the following Tuesday (admittedly due to the Thanksgiving weekend).

All of this is because there is no online capability to cash in my daughters’ RESPs with TD Mutual Fund RESPs.

Tomorrow, we get to the actual cashing in of the RESPs.

Please read my article on RESP withdrawal redux, where I talk about the RESP withdrawal rules. I do not mention the Letter of Enrollment, and that is key to the RESP Withdrawal.

Other RESP Related Stories

The other posts about this particular attempt at extricating money include:

• What are the RESPs and Rules
• More information with RESP Withdrawals Redux, where I got more clarification, but not all.
• RESP The Old Switcheroo
• RESP Money to Get Money
• Those RESP Wrinkles