If you have just finished my article on how to register a TD Ameritrade account, then you probably wonder how to fund your TD Ameritrade account.
For those who have a DBS or POSB Bank account, you can directly transfer your SGD money into your TDA account. But I bet most of us do not have one if not working in Singapore.
Hence I feel like I should write an article on how to fund your TD Ameritrade account.
Personally, I have tried to use CIMB Bank for fund transfer, but unfortunately, the transfers keep being rejected by TDA. Fortunately, Maybank works perfectly for me.
Hence this guide will be showing you how to use Maybank’s foreign telegraphic transfer (FTT) to fund your TDA account.
Things to Note Before Fund Transfer
- Please use a PC browser for this fund transfer as Maybank’s FTT is only available on the PC browser.
- You will need to pay an extra RM10 for Maybank’s FTT fee.
- TD Ameritrade side will charge around US$25 for the fund transfer.
Step-by-step Guide to Fund Your TDA Account
Visit Maybank2u.com and log in to your account. Then click on “Pay & Transfer” at the top, “Transfer” and choose “Overseas” in the “Transfer To” list.
Click on the New Transfer and choose “United States” and “California” for its state. Key in the amount of money you want to fund, select “USD” and click “Compare”
We will have two options to transfer our money: Foreign Telegraphic Transfer (FTT) and Western Union. We can check the exchange rate and total USD we will receive in our TDA account.
Personally, I will choose FTT for a lower fee and don’t mind waiting for 1 to 3 working days. We can also transfer up to RM49,999 with FTT.
Sender & Recipient Details
After you click “Transfer”, you will see the form as above. The sender’s details refer to your details, so just complete it with your nationality and address.
Here comes the tricky part. I almost misunderstood the “Account Number” with my own TDA account number. It’s actually the bank account for TDA. The rest are the bank details like SWIFT code and address.
For your convenience, you can copy the information below:
- Recipient’s Bank: Wells Fargo Bank, NA
- SWIFT BIC Code: WFBIUS6SXXX
- FED WIRE: 121000248
- Account Number: 4123214561
- Branch Address: 420 Montgomery Street 94104
- City: San Francisco
For the recipient’s details (which is TDA), we just fill in the information provided on the TDA website accordingly.
For IC/Passport and Email, we will key in our TDA account number in these boxes. Since email allows alphabet input, we key in our full name under our TDA account as well.
Feel free to copy the information below:
- Name: TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.
- Recipient Address Line 1: 200 South 108th Ave.
- Recipient Address Line 2: Omaha, NE 68154-2631
- Country: United States
- Contact Number: 4025746051
For transfer details, I choose “Transfer”, “Private transfer – Other Capital Transfer” at Purpose and Sub Purpose. At the Additional Info, key in your full name and TDA account number. Remember to tick on the “I’ve read and understand…” and then click on transfer.
This will be the last page of the fund transfer. Make sure every piece of information is correctly reflected in the summary. Especially on IC/Passport Number, which is your TDA account number.
Do remember to save TD Ameritrade as your favorite recipient upon your transfer is successful. It will make your next transfer a lot easier.
Related Article:
- How to Withdraw Money from TD Ameritrade Singapore
- How to Register a TD Ameritrade Account in Malaysia
Verdict
It is normal to feel anxious about your first fund transfer. I was quite worried about my first transfer and only dared to transfer RM1,000. In the end, I only received around US$214 (With a USD rate of 4.17) in my account. The fee accounted for more than 10% of my total transfer, which is quite absurd.
Therefore, I would recommend only transfer a minimum of RM12,000 to reduce the fee to less than 1%.
In other words, TD Ameritrade might not be suitable for you if you have less than RM10,000 to invest.
If you are still looking for an alternative to invest in the US, you may consider investing with robo-advisors. They are more beginner-friendly and have a lower minimum (RM1 to RM100) to start.
You may check out my review on some of the robo-advisors here:
Hi Marcus,
Thank you so much for your helpful articles! I was wondering if you know about the recent tax regulation enforced on Jan 1, 2023 and about tax rates on ETFs. How are dividends/withdrawals for long-term ETFs taxed for international (non-US) residents? Is there a difference from the withholding tax that is mentioned?
Hi Amanda, I’m not aware of the tax regulation enforced, probably its on the US side.
But if the tax is based on ETFs capital gain, then it will not affect international residents in term of dividends or withdrawals.
Hi Marcus, how to withdraw our profit from TD acc?
Hi Sean,
Do you mean to withdraw money from TD Acc to your bank account?
You may read the article I have here: http://marcuskeong.com/td-ameritrade-withdrawal/
Hi Marcus, now TDameritrade requires $500 to get real time data, so what if I transfer $700, can I trade? Thank you.
Hi May,
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, you can.
In case you still cannot get real-time data, you have to chat with them via TD Ameritrade app in order to unlock the real-time data for your account.
Hi Marcus, good day to you. What if I have a MAYBANK SG acc? How do I fund it through that acc?
Hi Lyn.
You may explore its foreign transfer feature to transfer into TD Ameritrade.
Is MAYBANK SG has different interface with MY version?
Hi Marcus, thanks for sharing your tda experiences. Are you trading options by any chance? Any idea what the tax implications are for us Malaysians?
Hi Benj,
I have no experience in options trading.
For the tax, you won’t get tax from trading as a Malaysian citizen.
(Unless you do it on a frequent basis and it becomes one of your income sources, you need to declare the gains or else LHDN comes and knock your door)
Very helpful information.
I dont have Maybank.
Can this funding can be done by other bank like CIMB or Hong Leong Bank Malaysia?
Hi CK, it should be possible. Though I do not explore how to fund it from CIMB or Hong Leong though.
Thanks for the useful guide! Got to the last step “Please confirm the details”, but nothing happens when I click “Confirm”. Not sure what to do now :'(
Hmm did you check with the TDA customer support about this?
Or you can use another device or PC to try this again?
hi, i got the same problem here, have you resolved it?
I tested today using maybank on desktop pc but when choosing United States, no option appears to choose the state
I just checked again. The state will appear after you choose the United States.
But even if it doesn’t, can you proceed with the transfer?
Would it be cheaper (and at what rate) to wire transfer our fund from Singapore Bank (other than DBS/POSB – example CIMB SG)?
It depends on how the bank (like CIMB) charges you.
You can try using CIMB SG if you have an account.
Compare to Maybank, I don’t think many Malaysians have a CIMB SG account.
Just wondering is it possible to use transfer wise to transfer money into TDA?
Nope. 3rd party transfer is not allowed. Only wire transfer directly from your bank account is allowed.
Hi Marcus, thank you for the great post! By any chance, I wonder if you know whether they are still charging $25 for deposit via wire transfer? Because i checked their website, TDA only mention an outgoing wire transfer of $25 without making mention on incoming. Another thing is are you aware of their beneficiary policy? thanks
Hi Dallas, you’re welcome!
The last time I fund my account is June 2021.
I would say it is safe to assume that they still charge $25 for the deposit.
If they don’t, it’s a bonus for us. 😀
I am not aware of the beneficiary policy on TD Ameritrade SG, but I did find some info on the TD Ameritrade US.
Anyway, thanks for the question.
I guess I would find some time to dig into how to manage our beneficiary for this brokerage account.
According to TD Ameritrade, the 25USD is charged by the US “agent bank” of Maybank (or whichever bank that we use), and not by them or their Wells Fargo account. Seems like there’s nothing we can do to avoid this. No wonder people hate banks lol
Thanks for your help Hahau!
The more you dig into finance, the more you hate banks haha!
Thanks for the detailed sharing Marcus! Finally got my account ready, took me around two weeks, probably they are no longer that busy XD
Just want to check other than the RM10 Maybank fee, we would also be charged by the receiving bank as well? Means the final amount we see on Maybank2u will not be the final amount received?
Hi Hahau,
Yes, we will be charged by the bank of TD Ameritrade.
The charge will be around US$20 – US$25 if I’m not wrong.
Yup, you can say that the final amount may be deducted by the charge I mentioned above.
I have filled up most details in Aug 2020 except for the paperwork (e.g. IC, Bank statement and payslip). I carried on the application on 24 Sep 2021 by uploading the necessary paperwork and it was approved on the 27th. Now, i must say that’s really pretty fast. Maybe like what you said, they are no longer that busy.
Hi Marcus, Thank you for yours kind sharing.
Do you know the setting for TDA’s Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRIP) ? Thank you.
Hi Fah, I’m not really sure about the DRIP setting.
You may want to check out the official website of TD Ameritrade (via VPN)
Need contact service center by using TOS
Hi, can I know is Maybank able to online TT more than RM10,000.00. Thanks
Hi! Maybank’s Foreign TT allows us to transfer up to RM49,999.
Have had a successful FTT fund transfer via Maybank2u yesterday by following Marcus’s step by step guidance, thank you Marcus :).
To my surprise the fund transfer is effective in less than 24 hours instead of 3 days as I can now see the amount is already show-up in Thinkorswim.
Hey Leong,
I’m so glad that you had a good experience with it.
Yes, mine sometimes took less than 24 hours as well!
Hi Marcus,
How much does the FTT charges from Maybank?
I read from its website that have two charges.
1. RM10.00 Services fees &
2. G’OUR charges USD30.00
Which make up roughly RM136+/- (exchange rate 4.2)
Is this correct?
Hi LeeJY, yes the fee is roughly around RM120-RM140, depends on the US exchange rate.
I’m not sure if it is USD$30 or USD$25 though.
Hi, Marcus. Thank you for info.
I am new to TD Ameritrade Sg. Just got my TD account approval, and wish to fund it very soon.
May I know that when I registered TD account using my CIMB account number, if now funding via Maybank, what should I do?
Shall I contact TD Ameritrade Sg to amend my account number to Maybank?
Hi KC Wong,
You don’t have to contact them. You can use any bank to fund your TD Ameritrade, as long as the bank account has your name (includes joint account as well)
Thank you for the information, very helpful.
You’re welcome! Glad it helps you!
Hi. I am new to TD Ameritrade. I also encountered issue with accessing the official website, but managed to overcome it with VPN.
Would like to know, whether do you get real time live data after you funded your account? I haven’t funded my account yet. Any requirement? Thanks.
Hi Tan, good question.
We need to fund at least US$2,000 and above to get real-time live data.
In my case, I did a fund transfer of more than US$2,000 but they forgot to provide me.
I just ping them about it via the app and they fixed it for me immediately.
Thanks for the feedback. Anywhere mentioned that we need USD 2000? Because later on I found from the official website mentioned that the minimum requirement to get live real data is USD 500 only.
Hey Tan, sorry for the late reply.
I got my info from another website I have read, not from TD Ameritrade though.
Maybe they have just changed the minimum requirement. I think yours is the correct one haha!
Hi Marcus, how to withdraw from Ameritrade Sg to Malaysia bank account? Thank you
Hi, I haven’t tried it yet, but here’s what I found in TD Ameritrade SG’s FAQ.
“To request for a wire from your TD Ameritrade Singapore account, scroll to the top of the page and click on log in at the top right hand corner. From there click on Account Centre, then Withdrawal on the left hand panel and expand on Wire Transfers.”
Hi Marcus
I have read your 2 interesting articles on How to open TDA account and How to fund it.
I have 2 questions and appreciate if you could share your experience:-
1) I already have a paper trade account with TDA 5 years ago and almost forgotten about it until 2020 MCO lockdown where I was free to take a look at it again. My question is how to convert it or open a real account to trade?
2) Currently I have problem of accessing TDA website. My home or my area (KL) has no problem on internet, speed is good and I am using unifi. Any advice?
Thank you
Hi Yap.
1) You still need to register for a real trading account despite having a paper trade account.
2) I hear that some Malaysians are having trouble accessing TDA website. You may install the Free VPN chrome extension to access the website.
Hi Marcus, do you know if we could transfer the fund using Wise (formerly WiseTransfer) to fund TD Ameritrade account? Thanks
Hi Richard. Unfortunately, TD Ameritrade doesn’t allow 3rd party wire transfer now. So we need to transfer via our own bank account (joint account is allowed as well)
Hi Marcus, thank you for the post. I also had difficulties with finding my trading account with etoro using CIMB. (I know this is an TD Ameritrade post). Finally I managed to find it using my CIMB debit card. Maybe this could work for TD Ameritrade too?
Unfortunately, TD Ameritrade doesn’t accept any credit or debit cards.
When I was using eToro, I used BigPay to top up my eToro account back then, so I guess the CIMB debit card works as well.