Scotia iTRADE Reviews 45

Worst trading platform and customer service. Been an existing accountholder for over 10 years. Tried opening a new joint account to add my spouse to the account. Also, was told had to mail in the new account form! In 2026?! Surprised they didn't ask for a fax.... Mailed in forms, two months in, still no account open. Multiple phone calls to customer services, each with 30-45 minute waits but no success. Given up and closing all my Scotia accounts and moving to Interactive Brokers.

Have been trying to get an ITIn. The letter they supply is not being accepted. Working with an agent they ask for different wording which I Trade refuses to supply

Scotia iTRADE has been one of the most frustrating financial institutions I’ve ever dealt with.

Hold times routinely exceed 60 minutes, even during regular business hours. When you finally reach someone, you are often transferred multiple times, forced to repeat your story, or given incorrect information — sometimes with serious financial consequences.

In my case, I was provided wrong instructions for a registered account transaction. As a result of Scotia iTRADE’s error, funds were returned to the government incorrectly, creating unnecessary stress, delays, and administrative cleanup that should never have happened. Fixing their mistake has required repeated calls, escalation to management, and written complaints — with little urgency shown on their end.

Escalation is essentially meaningless. Speaking to a manager resulted in no resolution, no ownership, and no clear follow-up. The burden is entirely placed on the client to chase answers, correct errors, and absorb the anxiety caused by their mishandling.

For a major Canadian bank, this level of service is unacceptable. iTRADE appears understaffed, poorly trained, and disconnected internally. Registered accounts, trusts, and beneficiary-related matters require precision and accountability — both of which are glaringly absent here.

If you value your time, accuracy, or peace of mind, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere.

I have been trying to speak with someone for three days, the wait time is always greater that 90 minutes. Who has 90 minutes to wait around?

Customer service wait imes. The recording 2 weeks ago "your call is important to us...the current wait times are greater than 60 minutes (sometimes 90 minutes). Called Jan 16....they no longer have a wait time....your simply placed in the queue for ever....After 70 minutes I just hung up....I didn't think that the Customer Service could get any worse...but it has. I was Director of Customer Service for a telecom company 20 years ago....so yes I am in a good position to criticize

Multiple examples of lost paperwork, minimal follow up or none, limited competence in both English skills and financial knowledge, over two hours waiting on hold is the current norm, no bricks and mortar office and seemingly no accountability. If I could move my accounts to another brokerage I would, but I cannot trust iTrade to complete the transfers without screwing that up too.

Aside from it being abysmally slow, you need to click 3 times as often to access a certain bit of information but the worst thing is they are not sending my stock alerts to the email address in my profile. I can't access any December statements for my registerd accounts and secure emails get no response. I don't think I'll stick around for the fixes.

Migration to INVERSOLARA is a must. I can't continue dealing with a company who doesn't know what they are doing. I can't keep wasting my money and time. Lost so much here.

Professional and timely responses from service counter. I have dealt with them for over 30 years and I have absolutely no complaints but I have a whole bunch of compliments. Well done, Scotia iTrade.

It would be -1 if I could. I don't know how they can improve as Scotiabank itrade may be beyond repair and in need of government intervention when it comes to dealing with fraud or scammers stealing from customer's brokerage accounts. Last Friday, I decided to check my brokerage account. The verification code was supposed to be sent as a text to my account. It didn't come. Last week, I had also received a text on my phone from Scotiabank to sign in because of abnormal log in behaviour telling me that the account would be frozen in 24 hours if I did not press on the link. I blocked it immediately. After my second try to receive a verification code on Friday which did not go to my phone, I panicked. That was just the beginning of the nightmare. There is no number for Itrade Fraud other than the number for debit and credit cards!!!! You have to go through the Itrade customer service number. I tried to call a bank branch and every time they tried to switch me over to a priority line, the line went dead. I tried 10 timss!!!! After 50 minutes of holding, I got a customer service rep who was totally unprepared and I kept on asking to escalate to her manager. After another hour of her going off line with tech support, she told me that it was her first day and there was no manager to assist!!!! By this time, I was seriously worried. Luckily, I had a second cellphone number. I was able to delete the original one. Got into my account and changed everything and it does work now. I have a case# and found that going through the services email in the brokerage account got me connected fairly soon to complain and then it was escalated. Please know that the customer service at scotiabank email and initial contacts above have absolutely no power and will offer very little.They are young and frontline so yelling at them will not do much so be calm.
At the end, when you get a chance to have a questionnaire from the senior executive --use it to show your displeasure. Had trouble getting my brokerage account transferred over and only had it because it was a grandfathered account from another company. This is seriously harmful to the public.
Now in April of 2026, though itrade does not have a dedicated fraud number, they have put in a second line of defense by asking you before the sell or buy takes place to do another cell or email validation so that makes two verifications rather than just one before you trade. An improvement but security is still concerning to me.

Over 2 hours on hold to speak to an agent about matters that cannot be done online.

Check out Reddit and Google about this. This has been going on for over 5 years.

They clearly just do not care.

They really don't deserve no star rating at all. Wish I could give them zero.

It wasn't the best experience for an investor.

I understand the migration over to #APEX# #POINT# #LLC# now. I recommend.

Always a 10 to 40 minute wait. Most agents don't appear to have english as their first language and are very had to understand. Most time they can't resolve issues and put clients on hold while they do research. Scotia I trade is the worst brokerage firm to deal with.

My recent experiences dealing with customer service was average, depending on time of day wait between 10 minutes and 40 minutes. However, this review speaks to the new website/platform. I am on Chrome, so don't know if my issues are only with this Chrome laptop.
The classic view served me best. Easy to navigate and better set up in all respects. Now with the new platform, Scotia Dally Edge research pages do not open - instead wants to save as a file. Argh, not helpful!! In classic view watchlists, when you hover over a symbol, the chart comes up - really helpful for determining further research. This is not available in the 'new improved' site lol. I have submitted daily feedback in the hopes they will keep the Classic view. I really dislike saving a research page to my computer, it should open as before. At any rate I only keep Scotia due to its great research pages, and will likely transfer out to IBKR soon if this keeps up.

I am in my 50s, and never have I experienced an organization as poorly led and managed as this. If you ever need to do something as simple as update your address to reflect accurate tax residency information it is a month's long process fraught by miscommunications and unbelievably poor follow-up and basic customer service. It is an extremely inefficient and poorly run organization. I ran into multiple issues and believe their issues are so deep they are systemic and engrained in their business culture. Dealing with management is even worse than their front line staff. Honestly do not go near this place.

*Zero Stars* I have been trying to transfer an RESP to another bank for over 5 months now for my daughter. I have called several times to try to expedite the transfer. Every time I have to wait at least 45 minutes just to get through to speak to someone. Just now it rang after 50 minutes, no one picked up and I was placed back in the bottom of the queue. Most of the time the agent I speak to will tell me what I want to hear to get me off the line. In the background I don't believe anything is being done. Supposedly, there was an issue with the gender of my child according to the government as told by a Scotia Itrade agent. Now I was never informed of that, although they said they would correct it and initiate the transfer. Well, the other bank is still waiting for another month now. Scotiabank, in general, is the worst bank in Canada and I've had accounts with all 5 top banks. Every single time I want to close an account with Scotia it's such a hassle. I am in the process of closing all my remaining accounts with this bank and anyone reading this should do the same. Scotiabank you shouldn't exist anymore.

Scotia itrade
It was a nightmare to deal with Service Scotia Itrade.
Since I opened the account 5 weeks ago, after sending my driving license as requested, they told me my name is not correct… because in my driver license, Quebec government add on top of my name, my maiden name that I never used since I got married in 1976 and used my husband name. My legal name on every government paper like Passport, Revenu Quebec, Canada social security number, all kind of insurance , banking etc…So: why do they don’t understand that? It is so so clear! How could they not understand that!
Really a nightmare with service itrade, they even don’t know that in Quebec they put maiden name on top of my name just for information only
After more than a month of waiting, Scotia Itrade agreed to accept my legal name without a maiden name, but the Itrade account still isn't there, neither in the Itrade app nor in my online accounts. What a hassle!
Enough is enough, the only solution is to permanently close the account, even though I've never seen it since.

Service Scotia Itrade is terribly slow and the paperwork is very heavy
I would like to link my Canadian and Us account from my other banks to Itrade but it is a nightmare.
With Tangerine is easy, why it does not work with Scotia Itrade?
To link an outside account , Tangerine just need to fill online: the branch , bank code and account number and they will transfer two very small amount (ex: $ 0.05 and $0.09 )
When I received the 2 amounts in my account , I just confirm the 2 amounts on my link account online and it’s done, very simple and fast. Why not with Scotia Itrade?, I have to download a form , fill all the information and send to Servive Itrade by mail with a Void cheque. For a Canadian account it’s simple but with a US account, I don’t have a blank check, so Itrade don’t accept.
With Tangerine my US account was linked easily a longtime ago without void check
Why is it so so complicated ?

Scotia Itrade is the worst broker in North America.
1st. Waiting times for customer service is 45 minutes+++
2nd. If you get disconnected they will not phone you back even when they promise too.
3. Regarding, LIRA, LIF, RRSP account transfers, no one knows how their internal processes, so no answers to basic questions. Customer service reps are off shore, so they speak with strong accent making it very difficult to have the most basic conversation.
4. It took 4 months and 20 phones calls to get the most basic transfers done. Do not use this company, total garbage. High turnover, poorly trained, no knowledge, should be shut down by canadian regulators

Worst experience in 40 years of trading. Scotia iTrade wins the gold medal in corporate greed, extremely poor communication, and corporate bureaucracy designed to unjustly enrich itself. A few multi-billion dollar class action lawsuits might do well to remedy Scotia iTrade... but don't hold your breath for any reform. Very sorry that I didn't move my money and stocks a long time ago.