How to Fund Your TD Ameritrade Account in Malaysia

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

1. Please use a PC browser for this fund transfer as Maybank’s FTT is only available on the PC browser.
2. You will need to pay an extra RM10 for Maybank’s FTT fee.
3. 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:

My StashAway Review: A Robo-Advisor That Invest For You