iaink

Good God! Youve stuck with the money grabing bastards for that long!

Madmac

I believe you've just described TD's next marketing slogan:

"TD Canada Trust - Money Grabbing Bastards and proud of it."

hot wasabi peas

Maybe it's just me... but how do they money grab?

I pay maybe $3 a month in banking fees and their web broker fees are about the cheapest brokerage fees going.

iaink

When I was a customer I had to keep $2000 balance (not earning interest) to get 20(?) "free" transactions (including all web based bill payments, interac withdrawals etc), and anything over that was a buck or two a pop. Didnt take much to be up over $10 a month, not counting lost interest on the $2000 min balance, especially as they wouldnt give me a Visa card to charge everything to and pay for one transaction a month to pay it off...despite me being with them with a regular relatively large biweekly pay check for at least 4 years.

Soon as you drop below the $2000 balance they hit you for $9 for account fees, kind of like an overdraft fee, only with money in your account, plus I had to pay for cheque books too. If thats not a money grab then I'm a monkeys relative of some kind.

Soon as I got the opportunity to dump them, I did. PC...no fees, no transaction limit, free cheques, just keep it in the black and its all good, thats without taking into account the hundreds of dollars of free groceries we accrue through using PC bank and Mastercard accounts.

I doubt TD are very different from the other regular banks fee wise, but there is a better way.

Calgal

When you have several accounts (including business) it's a huge hassle to move and build a new relationship with the new bank in order to get the same "privilege's" (?) and probably just more of the same. Better the devil you know, maybe?

I would have been long gone years ago - but as I'm "only" co-director, it isn't soley my decision - unfortunately.
:curse: :curse: :curse:

I have a personal account with PC, and I have to say I have found them fine so far - EVEN with problems, mistakes etc. That was what I was most concerned about with not having a branch as such. I have had a couple of hiccups/small problems (both my fault and theirs); and on both occasions they were handled very quickly, efficiently and with excellent courtesy - I was gobsmacked to be honest. Wonder if they will ever get into business accounts?!

PC financial Mastercard is another thing altogether, though...lol

hot wasabi peas

I hear what you're saying but I've never seen it as a problem keeping a couple grand in an account ... and for buying stock TD web broker is cheap. Speaking of which, buying some TD stock cured all my fretting about fees. Bring 'em on, I say!! (though I'd qualify that statement)

iaink

Business I can see would be a headache, but I found moving personal account stuff pretty easy...we didnt had many direct debits beyond various monthly insurance premiums though at the time, which were easy enough to change. For the money saved and (mainly)the satisfaction of telling TD where they could shove their monthly fees it was well worth it.

Ive had no problems with my PC mastercard...other than it getting worn out from overuse!

iaink

But you are Canadian after all, and Canadians dont seem to care or know any better for whatever reason. No one should be paying the banks fees so they can take our money, and make money for themselves by investing it while we arent using it. As you know, fees for current accounts are ancient history in the UK, and the UK banks seem to do allright despite that.

$2k in a measly 3.5% GIC is still $70 a year (or $5.80 a month.....hang on, thats a lot like their monthly fee), its not a lot, but its the principal If you had it in an decent mutual fund earning 10%, then its costing more than the fees are in lost interest!

hot wasabi peas

Oh please ... being Canadian, has nothing to do it. I've had a UK bank account for 6 years and have a UK mortgage and UK investments. I am fully aware of the differences between UK and Canadian banking. And I'm very aware of the flip side benefits of those differences.

Banking fees are a great money earner for a bank and since a mass of 36 million people (potentially and thereabouts) will, by being duped or by being forced, cough up the fees... why not cash-in on that?



Though I dislike and disagree with gouging the working poor, who says the banks should or shouldn't do anything? They are businesses, not non-profits.



I think the exact opposite. I noticed various banking charges being introduced in the UK over the last couple of years that I was there. I think Canadian banks are waaaay out in front in terms of screwing the masses to turn a profit.



You can't mix principles and banking in Canada, so why bother getting bothered by it? It's as fruitless as being bothered by paying taxes. I decided a long time ago not to let either bother me by thinking about them differently. And in terms of bank fees... I could see banks profitting so I bought stocks in banks.

GICs, in terms of return, are a poor investment... though I guess your 'measly' suggests that you know that!

MikeUK

*anker!

your choice B or W it really doesn't make a differance here

qjamesfloyd

A bit off topic, but do you have to have a Canadian bank account before you land in a joint name, my wife is Canadian, and has an RBC account, but it's only in her name, so, could we transfer our money we make on the sale of our house into her account, then open another account in a joint name when we land?

MCrocker

I opened a Canadian bank account with TD (!!) from the UK by email and phone - when we arrived I visited the branch and provided ID and we were off to go. Got 8 months free banking too.

I kept the sale proceeds of our house in an off shore account with LloydsTSB until we found a house here. I left some in the off shore account until exchange rates were better - makes it a bit more flexible although exchange transactions are always a gamble.

petesdragon

I e-mailed pc financial and they said that I have to be in canada to set up the account , so I was wondering if any one knew if I could use my sister in laws address in Canada to set up the account whilst still over here , cheers

PROLLINSON

Hi

Come to RBC and I will look after you!

Butch Cassidy

AFAIK you need a SIN (no not one of the seven deadly). BUT it only took us 15 minutes to open our accts and get cards when we arrived.