Recently I opened an account with eNorthern primarily for the purposes of ordering share certificates (registering the share in my name as opposed to the street name). What’s great about eNorthern is that they have the cheapest prices for share certification of any Canadian broker. It only costs $20.00 to order one. And no, there aren’t any extra fees for “registration” or sending it by registered mail, etc. You’ll pay $20, nothing more. This beats the $52.50 that it currently costs at TD Waterhouse and it beats the great discount (by comparison) of $40.00 that it costs at Canadian ShareOwner, too (read my post on ShareOwner here).

If you’re thinking of starting a DRIP, go with eNorthern for the cheap certificate rates.

It was very easy to enrol with eNorthern. You sign up online and then send in two photocopies of your ID (I think they ask for the front and back of your driver’s licence, plus a cheque for $1.00 - in order to verify your identity through your bank account. They deposit that $1.00 into your cash account, so it’s waiting there ready for you to spend it.).

It was even easier to order the certificate for the share I bought. You can order it online through one of the forms on their website.

But it takes a while for the certificate to make it over to the Transfer Agent (and then to you). This is the only downside that I’ve encountered with eNorthern so far. (They have excellent customer service - always a live person waiting to talk - and you get the sense they’re not too busy over there, either - they have the time to properly deal with your call.) In the past, I ordered certificates through TD Waterhouse. While these were hugely expensive, I got them quite quickly. They always tell you it could take 2-3 weeks to receive your certificate, but there were times when my certificates arrived but a week later.

With eNorthern, it’s been almost a month now and my Transfer Agent (Computershare) still does not have the certificate. This raises my next point. I’m not sure why the certificate has to go to Computershare at all. TD Waterhouse didn’t do that. TD Waterhouse, I think, printed them themselves (either that, or the info was electronically sent to Computershare, who printed them right away). But the guy I talked to at eNorthern said it would be a while because they needed to send it over to Computershare, then Computershare would have to send the certificate back to eNorthern, who would mail it to me. Can anyone explain the difference here?  Is this another case of “you get what you pay for?”

This pretty much sums up the experience I’ve had with eNorthern so far, but whatever else transpires I’ll be sure to update you. This alone isn’t enough to taint my opinion of them. I still recommend them as a broker. Regular commissions there are only $24 (compared to the $28-29 at all the other big banks).