Hello All,

I've just arrived in Canada on a BUNAC visa. I've got my Social Insurance number. I now need to get a bank account, which is proving to be more of a headache than I thought. I've just opened a Desjardins account but it seems to behave differently to how I was expecting.

What banks are the best for temporary residents which provide you with a VISA card and can preferably sign up online?

Thanks!

Axai

hi you should try td canada they were easy to open up with i opened mine as a vistor only need my passport that was it

RBC are also good and fairly easy to set-up with......

You'll find it difficult to get a credit card though...

I should clarify that. You'll find it hard to get anything but a secure credit card, i.e. you pay them $500 and they give you a credit card with a $500 limit.

I got around this by asking American Express, who I was a customer in the UK with to let me have a Canadian Amex based on my good standing in the UK. It worked out fine with no hassles and once I established a credit history using my Amex I was issued visa credit cards without any problems....

Ive got credit cards and 3 canadian bank accounts RBC scotia bank and HSBC canada
all as a visitor with no job no PR etc
but im an old dodder so that might be why

huge luck shop around and convince them you wont pinch their money and you should be ok

Myself and my partner are both here on twps, he was cracking up reading all the conflicting information about bank accounts online so I put the foot down and we went into see the banks and found the process to be alot simpler than what they tell you online. We first opened a simple day to day bank account with President's Choice which is free, it's basically online banking and you get a bank card. The only downside about the account is when you deposit money, because we were new to Canada with no Canadian credit history we had to wait 10 days or something to be able to use to money.

My partner opened an account with Bank of Montreal a few days later, it's got a small monthly fee but he has found it to be very good. They gave him a card and aload of cheque books and there's no hold when you deposit money.

But yeah just go in and see them and they will sort you with something, the good thing too with President's Choice was we were able to open an account with a temporary address which was our hotel then when we moved me just logged in online and changed it.

American express denied us here in Canada but think the person we spoke to didn't have a clue but not bothered too much as we got a HSBC account and credit cards with no problems due to account in the UK

I had a great experience with the Royal Bank. My vote is for RBC!

My husband landed as PR yesterday opened a select account with TD (we had a savings account that we opened on holiday a couple of years ago), was issued with some cheques, debit card and credit card will arrive next week - no problems at all - all yesterday afternoon!

Michelle

I agree, my vote goes to TD, will open a TD account as well as my accommodation in downtown montreal is like 5 mins walk from the there- I have spent alot of time online looking for all the options and I must say it gives you a headache with all the alien terminology and practice they have. Td will allow me to open my account without the SIN card (it is optional) which takes a couples of weeks to arrive.

You cannot open a bank account online, they need to see your ID to confirm who you are. Holding of funds until cleared is normal.

You can also do your Presidents Choice banking at some of the big stores such as Zehrs, Loblaws and Sobeys I'm assuming you will have some of these stores where you are) as they all belong to the PC group....some of them have instore branches.

Desjardins would behave differently than expected. It's run along different lines than the more famous banks. It's more like the Co-op Bank.

As an integrated financial institution, I believe that it is bigger than the others. I think, also, that it is the largest private sector employer in Canada, although I'm not sure.

One of our bank accounts is with Desjardins, as is our visa card account. We've never had the slightest problem.

RBC are considered to have the best customer service. They will open you account with your passport and give you a debit card there and then.

For a credit card, they will ask you to give them matching funds. We put ours into a two year bond. But that was what worked best for us.