Yorkiechef

Or you keep £50k in your uk account, most don't buy property immediately, therefore, the money has to sit somewhere! No requirement for any minimum amount in Canada, because it is GLOBAL banking.

Yorkiechef

I think the important point here is PREMIER banking, I didn't have my bank card from uk because it took time to produce one, when I arrived, the bank asks your name and address on premier banking service and some ID AND bingo, you are up and running. If you need bank drafts for rental property or to buy a car, you have to have cleared money in your account. Global banking permits that AS IT IS INSTANTANIOUSLY transferred and a credit card, and a credit line, not everyone's experiences are the same, I accept that, I could have kept this to myself, thought it would be helpful to someone in the future. Got to poshel Von! Bye!

dbd33

to have a lot of money so that the banks are friendly to you.

Yorkiechef

That helps of course, but it is all relevant. Once we buy a house, we will be in the same boat, property and little cash, but my transition to Canada will have been done much more smoothly thanks to the service provided by Premier banking.

JamesM

The problem with HSBC and going back to the lack of branches is that they have the least by some way.

Again it comes down to requirements but that is why I never went there.

Also Barclays were meant to have some partnership with Scotia. Don't let that con fool anyone as it gave no benefits what so ever.

beckiwoo

That is fine for people selling their properties but for the people coming out on an IEC its not a lot of good.


I just shut my TD account down and withdraw the amount that I had accumulated in there. When they asked my why I was closing the account I was honest and said: you guys refused me a credit card so I went somewhere else that did and the money was only in there for my PR application Bye!

Siouxie

All the banks have newcomer packages and most are much of a muchness - debit card issued immediately, online banking, potential approval for car/visa/mortgage.

I agree 100% that it's branch dependant - get a good customer service manager and you are laughing.

scilly

until he/she leaves or is promoted elsewhere ......... that's what has happened to us several times

Snowy560

I think it's branch dependent. Having said that, I've had an account for a million years with FD in the UK (no branches) and I think they're excellent. They did help me open an account with HSBC here before I came and the local branch I use is good. But you can't get global view if your UK bank is FD.

S

Shakyuk

While many on the forum are quick to jump on someone when they post... about pretty much anything! Sometimes on BE it is hard for people just trying to be nice and share their experience.

I personally appreciate your perspective and won't write passive aggressive responses to you because you have enough money to have a premier account.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Other than that the thread for the most part has been very informative, it seems banking in Canada isn't so much about the bank but about the person you're dealing with on the day.

beckiwoo

The point that was being made is that 'suitable banking' is not a one size fits all.

Whilst it is good to have recommendations, the OP really should have made it clear that this bank account requires a large amount of money to maintain it - although I already knew about HSBC Premier

Tirytory

We had a HSBC premier account and set up a Canadian account too, but we literally used it once. The local branch was too far away and so we set up a new one.

I think the key to banking in Canada is not which one is the best, but which one is the least worse.

Novocastrian

I honestly think that for banking in Canada alone you're probably right. They're all much of a muchness.

But if, like us, you have financial interests in Canada (less so now than before), in e.g. the UK and in our case in France as well, the HSBC Premier account is unrivalled.

I can appreciate that for beckiwoo etc., the $100k qualification for the full service is off-putting, but for other folk that's a relatively trivial amount.

BristolUK

I wouldn't be put off by that requirement. Anyone got a spare $100k knocking around?

Tirytory

Oh I can see that.. We maintain our UK account..

Do most people close their UK bank accounts when they move?