destinationnovascotia

When we set up our bank accounts last year on one of our recce trips we only set up the savings accounts as we wanted to set up chequeing accounts closer to our move in order to take maximum advantage of a introductory period of free banking.

I have recently had our chequeing accounts set up for our move and have been amazed at the low daily withdrawal limit imposed not just for cash withdrawals but for purchases too.

Is it normal to have a purchase spend limit of a few hundred dollars and if so how do you pay for expensive purchases such as appliances and furniture or book a holiday.

I asked the bank to increase the limit and they did so to $2000 per day. Obviously this is enough fro normal living but it will still be a problem when I go to an electrical store to buy a refrigerator, washer and dryer in one hit. They say that they don't do more than this as it is an anti fraud measure to protect customers.

For context, I have a job offer and they have put a huge overdraft facility on the account which we will not be using.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Biiiiink

Mine is 2k Interac, 600 cash per day. I was told I could have those limits removed if I signed a waiver that they would not be liable for any theft/fraud. Yeh right!!!

What bugged me was that there was absolutely no telephone override. I've come up to my limit in the UK - massively over once when I transferred house funds to Canada via Switch - and yet a telephone call and some security questions was enough to convince my bank and the FX merchant that I was me.

destinationnovascotia

The cash withdrawal limit is not a problem, but I really can't get my head round the purchases one. How do you buy large items over $2K?

cornmatthew

Credit cards don't have this problem. Also, you don't pay for each transaction on a credit card, which you might have to with your bank account.

Some immigrants have trouble getting a credit card right away. If your bank has offered you a 'huge' overdraft facility, I'd hope they could see their way to giving you a credit card with a decent limit.

Judy in Calgary

We wouldn't even think of paying for appliances, furniture, air fares, etc., directly from our bank accounts.

We pay for major purchases with credit cards, because they offer some measure of protection. That is, there are certain rules about refunds, etc., that protect us.

It doesn't cost us anything to use credit cards, because we pay them in full every month. So we don't pay any interest charges. I think one of my husband's credit cards (American Express if I remember correctly) charges him an annual fee for having the card. Otherwise, we don't pay fees for having our credit cards. If you don't pay your credit card statement in full and on time, the interest rates are appalling. But you don't feel the effects of this if you manage your credit cards and don't pay any interest on them.

At department stores, like The Bay and Sears, you get 10% off the price of your purchase the first time you use their card. Their interest rates are absolutely atrocious, far worse than the interest rates that credit card companies charge, if you can believe it. However, if you manage the card well, you can use it to your advantage. You can go into Sears, apply for their store card, buy a fridge, washing machine and tumble dryer, and get a discount of 10% off the entire purchase. And then, if you choose, cancel the card or never use it again or use it only very rarely.

Edited to add that there is the problem of credit limits that new immigrants run into. I don't know what the work-around is for that. Hopefully, as cornmatthew said, if your bank has given you a big overdraft limit, they'll give you a credit card with a decent credit limit.

If you can't arrange for a credit card with a decent limit, you may just have to get a certified cheque from your bank for your first purchase, or go into the bank branch in person and withdraw the necessary amount of cash, or whatever.

But these problems, which may be very real in the beginning, will go away fairly soon.
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cornmatthew

One workaround: if you're planning a large purchase, pre-pay the credit card before going to the store. If you have a TD bank account and credit card, you can do a transfer on-line and your available credit is updated immediately.

I imagine the same is true of other banks, so long as the two accounts are with the same bank.

Alberta_Rose

The other way around making a large purchase is to get a bank draft. It'd be a pain if you had to do it often, but OK for the occasional large amount.

On the subject of store cards .... when you first arrive and haven't built up a credit history here you might be offered a store card, but when they come to put it through you find it's refused. This is annoying after you've taken the time for all the form-filling, and I heard it rumoured that every time you are refused credit it has a negative effect on your credit history. I'm not sure how true that is, but it struck us that we didn't want repeated refusals to go onto our history.

Thus for most of our set-up costs we were unable to take advantage of the discount offered when opening store card accounts!

Zoe Bell

The Bay (HBC) is actually very good at offering credit cards to those with little/no credit history , we got ours within a month or so of landing . Its crap limit on it but does allow us to build up another line of credit.

leepee

Putting ALL purchases - big and small on our Areoplan card has (as of a few days ago) given us 16 Air Canada flight segments!! As long as you stay in control and pay it all off every month you are laughing....
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ann m

We agreed with our bank that for the first three months we were very likely going to be spending large amounts, and they upped the limit to $20,000 with no problem at all.

At one point, at the till of one store, my debit card was refused on a purchase of just over $5,000. Rather embarrassed, I used the store's phone to call the number on the back of my card. T'was my fault as I'd omitted to transfer the funds from the savings into chequing account But the nice lady on the phone just did it for me, and a few mins later the transaction went though OK (Didn't do that again ).

The other thing I used regularly in those first few months was my UK M&S credit card.

Ref Zoe's comment above, we were refused the HBC card (The Bay) - but the assistant insisted we fill out the forms and we already explained it was very likely we would be refused as we'd only been in the country three weeks. So hey - who knows on these things?

There are ways around everything - just keep asking nicely. Especially if you actually have the funds sitting there nice and obviously in your account !!

Wish we'd been savvy to the airmiles or aeroplan collection schemes in those first few months - we did spend thousands - might have been very useful at this point in time !

destinationnovascotia

Can you sign up for air-miles in Canada whilst you are still in the UK?

destinationnovascotia

Never mind. I've done it. Google really is my friend

Biiiiink

If I'm buying something big the store is usually okay with up to my daily Interac limit now, and the rest later - or I pay part cash, part Interac, or split it with Mr B's Interac. I've done it a few times for furniture, last time I went back a few days later and paid the balance owing... but it's annoying that there's no manual override alright, not sure what the point of security on the account is when you can't spend more than they'll let you anyway

Ann's 20k limit for a month or two at the beginning sounds like a very good idea, I wasn't offered that - it was 2k or on my own head be it

destinationnovascotia

Yes, my bank have said $2k max, not negotiable. If i want to make a large purchase all in one go I will just have to use my UK credit card. Really annoying isn't it?

dingbat

No.....doesn't work. If you pay your RBC credit card, RBC hold the funds for three days before they credit the card, even when you have bank account(s) with them..