We're coming to the end of our recce trip here in NS and have had a wonderful time - just love the place! However one question has come up... banking. We were advised to open a bank account, and I hadn't looked into this at all before the trip. But now I find it seems much more complicated at home, mainly because of the quantity and variety of fees! I've read the BE wiki but I was looking for some specific points of view.
They talk about 'fees per transaction'... what's a transaction? Paying for something in a shop with a card? Or a payment coming out of your account? Or ATM use? If it's all of the above, how can anyone have one of their cheap-fee accounts, as they seem to charge for over 1 transaction a day? Or is this just how things work...
Do savings accounts also have these fees? I guess you wouldn't be using them frequently in any given day...
Interest rates seem to be generally lower, is that just to be expected? (I guess I'll be using up all my savings to emigrate so it's probably not so much of a concern right now!!)
Lastly, I've read about the Presidents Choice Financial account, which is fee free. It looks like a 'Tesco' type account in the UK.. is it worth having? Seems much more straightforward than the other bank accounts re. the fees. Can we apply for one before we've landed?

Thanks for the help - I'll be back online on Sunday to check this (mind you.. I'll be back home so )

Best option would be to talk to the banks you are interested in. Depending on the type of account, they will typically say if you leave $xxxxx in the account you will not pay the monthly charge.

You are right about the transactions - that will be a cheque, a withdrawal, using your card in a store etc - each time the account is used, you will be charged accordingly.

Since being here, we have opened a Presidents Choice chequing account - I feel that it is much more like the accounts we are used to.

Hope that helps, feel free to email me if you want anything else.

Hello,
we have just got back from our recce trip, and we opened an account while we were there. We picked HSBC canada, simply as we have a HSBC account in the UK so transfers are faster (plus it is easier to open accounts with other banks if you already have history in the country). Canadian banking is similar to many other countries - like Oz - and does involve more charges than UK banking. Most accounts are set on a sliding scale, if you pay more on a monthly charge (like a banking plus/premium account in the UK) you will pay less on transactions. You can get free/no monthly charge accounts, but you are charged more often on transactions.

Example (not factual charges, just approximations):
Free account = no monthly charge, first 20 transactions free, after 20 transactions you pay $0.30 per cashed cheque or ATM withdrawl.
Basic account = monthly charge of $11, first 40 transactions free, after 40 transactions you pay $0.23 per cashed cheque or ATM withdrawl
Premium account = monthly charge of $30, unlimited ATM withdrawls, etc etc

This is really standard for many countries, the UK is actually unusual, but you can always shop around for the lowest charges. Rates on savings accounts are pretty naf at the moment, but that is also due to the recession. Go with who you know for now, you can always get another account later. Remember many banks will offer free banking to new immigrants for the first year - it is worth asking.

Hope this helps

LL x

We did HSBC before we moved to Canada and was relatively easy. Our mortgage is with TD and we opened a bank account same day as we signed mortgage and had no problems. Use both regularly and although no local HSBC to where we live do all online banking and any queries have been answered OK by the bank

We have an HSBC Premier account and pay no fees,everything is negotiable

We opened a HSBC account prior to moving to NS. We have since opened an RBC account simply because that is the bank in the area where we live. With HSBC anything involving a visit to the bank involved a drive into Halifax as this is the only branch. Fine if you live or work close to Halifax, but a pain for us. Look what is available where you are going to live/work.

Thanks for the replies! It's taken me a while to post because it's taken a while to get back into the old routine.. plus I now have a cold
I guess we've been focussing on the big upheaval issues so far and the banking thing is the first glimpse of the smaller, 'taken for granted' issues that we've not discovered yet! I just didn't expect it to be so different, which is a good wake-up call for me at this stage because I'm no aware I have to consider *everything* as a potential issue
I guess the best plan is to pick a bank, go in and chat to them on the next recce, try to get a good deal on monthly charges as we won't be using it much, and then get a PC account when we arrive properly as it seems to get reasonable comments from people and sounds more like what we're used to.

Thanks