Yorkiechef

I took some good advice from this site and opened a HSBC premier account before coming here, about a week before....
When I arrived I visited the local branch, the bank opened a premier account here, credit card, free banking, instant transfer of any amount of money via global banking, free bank drafts that were required for the car purchase and first months rent, these were also done free of charge. I also got a debit card immediately, where I was marched to the cash point and ordered to change the PIN number, the service was quite superb.

I am sure that it has helped my credit ratings here, Shaw, Enmax Utilities, Rogers all done without deposits and without blinking an eye, it has been very worthwhile the effort to initially open the account in UK.

I can only praise the service they give and I commend them to you.

Aviator

Certainly a stark contrast to my HSBC experiences!

beckiwoo

'HSBC Premier eligibility
HSBC Premier eligibility requires you to have an active Premier chequing account and maintain a $100,000 balance in combined personal deposits and investments with HSBC Bank Canada and its subsidiaries. Please refer to the Personal Service Charges / Statement of Disclosure for fees which may apply.

taken from their website

Great for people that are loaded. Not an option for us that don't have that kind of money

Allie73

We have HSBC Accounts in both countries too. Our Canadian Account is an Advance account and we don't pay transfer fees. We've been banking with HSBC for about 20 years with no issues. I had a problem with a stolen credit card number last year and they sorted it out quickly and refunded all the charges within days.

ChrisBan

HSBC the World's local bank... local bank because each branch acts as if it has no idea any other HSBC branches exist.

Personally I wont ever waste my time with HSBC, awful outdated service in the UK and poor offerings in Canada. Get a better experience and options with one of the Canadian institutions

habsfan

I did want to ask what fellow BE's experiences have been like with Scotiabank? I have been swaying towards them for once I reach Canada but I guess you can't beat some real life experiences.

Thanks

dbd33

I have accounts with the TD and with Scotiabank and don't notice any real difference in service; it all depends on the person at the branch that you're dealing with on the day. I'd choose by seeing which one offers the best "Welcome to Canada" package on the day you need to open the account.

R I C H

I think that's true of all banks. I use RBC and Scotiabank and have had lousy and excellent service from both. Sometimes it's branch dependent, sometimes individual staff.

I'd choose as dbd says and if branch location convenience is important factor that in too.

miss_mp

I've also been thinking of Scotiabank but don't know too much about other banks in Canada. Their Startright account for newcomers seems good since they allow you to open the account and transfer money in from home before you land in Canada. I understand CIBC also do one for newcomers too. But wondered if there are any banks which I should avoid, or are particularly good for newcomers?

scilly

We've used BofM since we arrived here in 1968 ..... had both good and bad from them.

Sooooooooo much depends on the staff in the local branch

We find a lot of the tellers in our local branch, including the manager and assistant manager, are Asian immigrants and struggle with the language and knowing the system. There is still 1 Canadian lady who has been there for years and years and know literally everything. I dread the day she retires, because she always knows what to do.

I had my own account at CIBC for several years but closed all accounts after the new manager told me that if I did not like what he was doing, I could leave. So I did

I moved all my money over to BofM, much to the anger of the CIBC tellers who wanted me to report the manager to Head Office. I gather they were upset with him

I still have my Visa Classic card, no annual fee, and write a BofM cheque to pay off the account.

BofM have been excellent with the MasterCards that we have with them ........... their security services have caught 3 misuses of a credit card number (not stolen card, but stolen number), have contacted us with the information, refunded all charges made or refused them, and sent us a new card within a couple of days.

I would add that daughter and her husband have accounts at RBC in another province .............. we hate our local RBC branch. They were just plain stupid on 3 occasions when we were trying to put money into their account in another part of the country .. we were even reduced to telling them to phone the teller at our own bank across the street and find out what to do! We refuse to go in there. Others love that branch, and daughter and OH say they have no problem with the branch(es) they deal with

so it seems you pick and take your chances.

JamesM

Branches are a dying concept.

The two nearest Scotia's to me are both gone.

What annoys me is they don't leave an ATM behind so you are left having to pay fees for using what ATM you can find if you do actually need cash.

R I C H

If you run a business a branch is still important, but I agree for personal banking they're of more limited use.

trickdog

My wife had a rotten experience with HSBC when moving here. As she had a HSBC account back in the UK, we figured it was good if she opened an account open over in Canada with HSBC, thinking this was a logical thing to do before we moved....Oh how we were wrong!

Originally we tried to open this from the UK, went to an appointment and faffed around with a load of paperwork and staff who didnt have a clue how to organise this. It wasnt finalised by the time we came over despite trying to get it sorted a month before we left.

Then upon arriving in Canada, my wife found one of the few HSBC branches in the GTA to see if she could get it all sorted. This seemed to do the trick - they would post the card and banking info via the post to us...

Only they didnt send it to the Canadian address we gave them, but instead the UK address we had moved from. Trying to get this resolved was a nightmare so we just gave up. Over the phone HSBC have been totally useless, simply telling you to check their website for information - not much help!

Compare this to my experience.

Day 2 of being here, I walked into a BMO account and within 20 minutes had my account details, bank card and internet banking all sorted. Pretty much free banking for a year and some decent terms after that.

I also was charged a $50 fee by my Gym after they logged my bank details incorrectly and took money out of my savings, not chequing account. I went into my local BMO branch and they waived it just like that as they saw it was a genuine error not to be repeated.

All told, HSBC have been a nightmare, whereas BMO have been a joy. If thinking opening with HSBC before coming, my advice would be to forget it!

habsfan

So basically it might be easier to wait until I arrive and judge their competence in-branch, got it

So Scotia is still on the list and I guess I'll look into BMO's immigrant packages as I will be moving to Quebec.

Thanks everyone, helpful as always

dbd33

But the system still involves branches to some degree. This caused me some aggravation recently. My Mother inexplicably decided to send a thousand quid by bank transfer. The transfer mechanism requires the address of the branch, which has long since closed. So has the one to which the account was transferred. I went and asked at a nearby branch what address should be used and each time was told a different one, the transfer kept failing because of the wrong branch address. In the end the matter was resolved by sending an envelope full of twenties.