Timesofmoney.com and other mutual fund brokers for US NRIs

desihometown · Post by **desihometown** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:06 am

I currently invest through timesofmoney.com

Problem is they dont allow SIP. If I can enroll through SIP, there wont be
any entry load everytime I buy the shares of a mutual fund.

If not, if I have to pay the 2.5% or so entry load everytime I buy any mutual fund. That sucks. SIP would be really good. That way, every month I can set it up for sumatic investment for X amount of money without paying entry load of 2.5%

Do any of you know of other brokers who allows SIP for US NRIs.

Thanks

desi78 · Post by **desi78** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:14 am

Hi,
You can invest using SIP through number of websites like
nriinvestindia.com, personalfn.com, equitymaster.com..
But i hope you are aware that NRI's investing in India have to pay high taxes to IRS, which most of them are not aware of.
One way can be to invest in your parents/brothers name via icicidirect.com. that way you can also manage the SIP online since icicidirect.com provides excellent SIP features.....

Hope this helps

desi78

yugpurush · Post by **yugpurush** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:50 pm

Just because you live in US does not make you pay taxes to IRS. If you are US citizen and investing in Funds, you have to pay PFIC. If you invest directly in stocks PFIC doesn't apply but as a US based NRI you are not allowed to invest in Indian stocks.

Investing thru parent/siblings account has its own pros and cons.

desi78;27108Hi,
You can invest using SIP through number of websites like
nriinvestindia.com, personalfn.com, equitymaster.com..
But i hope you are aware that NRI's investing in India have to pay high taxes to IRS, which most of them are not aware of.
One way can be to invest in your parents/brothers name via icicidirect.com. that way you can also manage the SIP online since icicidirect.com provides excellent SIP features.....

Hope this helps

desi78[/quote]

desihometown · Post by **desihometown** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:16 pm

Timesofmoney sucks.

I sold my Mutual fund in India and these dudes are asking for screen shots of
my NRE account in order to transfer my money back to my NRE account.

What sucks is they electronically deducted money from ICICI NRE account
when I purchased the funds. They also have a copy of my ICICI bank account description which clearly shows its a NRE account.

Now I have to send a copy of bank statement clearly showing money dedcuted for sourcing the fund every time I make a transaction.

Major pain in the ass. I have decided to invest from in US based India funds like Mathews or Eaton Vance.

On top of it, their customer service is ridiculous. Everytime I mail, a new
person responds. The next guy does not know what the previous guy
told me.

They also dont update my buy/sell order for more than 3 weeks. Its
just plain ridiculous.

Total breakdown of customer service.

DHT.

rajakabaja · Post by **rajakabaja** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:42 am

Desihometown,
same happene with me. ToM guys needed screenshot. Even I sent them MF account page clearly indicating NRE acct number. Still they willnot credit money back to my acct. Had to fight lot even with fundhouse.
it is irony, that all banking softwares is Made in India. but when it comes to any website/customer service it sucks for own indian citizens.
I have yet to find online broker who allows to place GTC(good till cancellation )order online. All have GTD-good till day orders. So you have to change it EVERYDAY. Meaningless feature.

drgas · Post by **drgas** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:56 am

I was trying to log on to timesofmoney.com and I at the sign up screen when I selected US, there was a popup that said that I could not invest or by and sell mututal funds online.

How are you guys doing it ?

Did you guys give your indian address?

Am I missing something.

Please let me know if there is an easy way to invest online in mututal funds.

Thank you

DrGas

VRG · Post by **VRG** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:06 am

desihometown;19738I currently invest through timesofmoney.com

Problem is they dont allow SIP. If I can enroll through SIP, there wont be
any entry load everytime I buy the shares of a mutual fund.

If not, if I have to pay the 2.5% or so entry load everytime I buy any mutual fund. That sucks. SIP would be really good. That way, every month I can set it up for sumatic investment for X amount of money without paying entry load of 2.5%

Do any of you know of other brokers who allows SIP for US NRIs.

Thanks

I thought one has to pay front load regardless one does SIP or pays 100%upfront.

desihometown · Post by **desihometown** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:41 am

My understanding was if u do SIP, you dont have to pay entry load.

VRG · Post by **VRG** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:23 am

desihometown;65965My understanding was if u do SIP, you dont have to pay entry load.

No bro, this is not the case. Browse through some Fund house websites (HDFC, Sundaram etc..) and see Fund terms/conditions.

this might change in future though..don't know when!!

r2i2009 · Post by **r2i2009** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:19 am

I too am on the same boat. Their web site says US NRI's cannot invest in MF's in India but their lousy customer service says we can. These people are not trained at all looks like..maybe it is done by some call centre folks..anyways I am trying to use Rajesh Dhruva's service to invest in MF's but it is not online . If anyone knows of an Online MF based service for NRI's in US that would be cool.