We are looking to open up a Canadian bank account, and wondered which bank any of you have found to be the best to bank with, in terms of getting a mortgage, cards etc. Are there any banks to avoid?

Thanks

[QUOTE=luvmykids]We are looking to open up a Canadian bank account, and wondered which bank any of you have found to be the best to bank with, in terms of getting a mortgage, cards etc. Are there any banks to avoid?

Thanks [/QUOTE

We have gone with RBC who have been excellent, including coming up with a mortgage offer at short notice when we were let down by Scotia Bank.

Deborah

I've had accounts with the TD forever. They're very expensive and rarely open so I'm gradually moving everything to PC Financial.

I have opened a personal account with pcfinancial aswell, but they are possibly not ideal to start with and for initial mortgage, since you need to have SIN etc.

Deborah

We started with Scotia because employer had an agreement with them so it was easy to set up an account whilst on temporary work visas.

We found them so irritating and slow and unhelpful though that we've since changed to TD. We have accounts, credit cards and mortgage with them and they are great! Quick helpful service both online and over the counter. And we got the mortgage with them whilst still on temp. visas.

TD has the longest banking hours of any of the big banks and is open late on Saturday. The PC Financial bank is really the CIBC and they don't have any branches, except for the flunky who works at the grocery store kiosk. You bank with PCF online and by phone. I am not saying they are bad though. They have very low fees and you can earn points for groceries using their mastercard. My wife has a no fee chequing account there which she likes. You can also make deposits and withdrawls from PCF machines on your CIBC accounts.

Oh, I meant to say I bank with TD too and pay less than $5 per month in fees. To avoid fees we use our credit card and make payments from the credit line and pay the credit line as a transfer from the chequing account. This way we avoid fees, earn ariline points and don't pay any interest.

Yes. I know. Still their hours are pathetic compared with the hours of the PC bank. Granted the staff of Loblaws don't know much about banking but, really, do you think the staff of the TD know a lot about banking ?

As you can see from the previous posts - all vary in input.

What is a definite though is -

If you are living in a small town - from a logistical point - use that local bank.
A definite in case you do work for any company or person who banks at that Bank (does not have to be that specific branch), if the case is that you get paid by cheque, one can cash it there then.

Unlike Banks in the UK, who make one wait while it clears into ones account.

Of course if you are in a big city, the logistics of driving to your branch, might not be an issue for you.

It was an issue for us, for one reason for coming to NB, was to live in a place that was scenic and could only be acquired in the UK for £5,000,000 plus.

Good post. Our company has relocated employees from other countries. I make a phone call to the bank and smooth the way and there are no problems. One of our people came from south amercia and had an amount of USD to deposit in cash. I had a friendly phone call from the bank who was somewhat interested in what they should do. I dealt with it for them and the money was excepted.

I bank with CIBC I think there awesome, there not open very late but who needs to go to the bank now with telephone and internet banking, I only go once a month for a money order. I pay $12 a month for an unlimited account.

I used to bank with TD but found them about as much help as t1ts on a bull. bad customer service, charges for everything and never wanted to help.

Going to CIBC was best move we ever made, even though i only go in once a month they always greet me by my name. very good customer service.

My freind is with PC Financial he says there great too.

I cannot speak highly enough of ING Direct. Great interest - 3% on a savings account and an excellent web site which is very customer friendly. You do still need an account at a major bank which is used to transfer money into and out of ING. I highly recommend them.

Ozinca

We bank with Community Savings - a credit union, always helpful and open when they need to be, no complaints and it's nice to talk to a person when you phone them and see the manager when you want to

CIBC - no charges on current account if balance maintained @>$1500.

I use a few different banks for diffferent purposes - I find some banks offer good services in x but not so good in y and visa-versa so I spread myself around: TD, BMO, Citizens and Citibank. Increases the junk mail though!