Well yesterday I finally landed after completing my 2 months notice. So today decided to go to RBC and open their welcome to Canada bank account and get the RBC cash back credit card so that I could start building my Canadian credit history.

My immigration document as for most new residents is the IMM5688 Confirmation of Permanent Residence printed on plain legal paper.

So on going to RBC they said I needed to produce either IMM1000 or IMM 5292.

I told them that 5688 replaced 5292 but they would not accept this. Did I just get an idiot at the bank. I am going to try again Monday with a different branch and will ask to speak to the manager if I have no luck.

This clearly states the new document replaces 5292 so I have printed a copy to take with me Monday.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...2012/ob379.asp

Otherwise who did you open accounts with and did you have any issues?

Try Scotia Bank - we had friends who immigrated from Cuba who opened an account with them. No problems at all. They also got a Visa card.

Congratulations on your landing! I'm voting for an idiot at the bank...I had no problems, but we went to TD Trust. Best of luck.

Just mention CIBC to the manager I am sure they will accept the new COPR form

I'd be inclined to tell RBC to stick their account where the sun doesn't shine, rather like I did with CIBC. There's plenty of other banks out there. When I attempted to open an account with CIBC, they informed me they couldn't give me an appointment until the following week! When I'm a potential new customer, I don't expect to be told to "come back next week"!

I opened an account with HSBC, no hassle whatsoever. At the time I didn't even have resident status in Canada! They were fine about it. No request for form 5668 or whatever....

I think you clearly got an idiot. Talking to other's, it seems apparent the Canadian banking system is less efficient than the UK system, if that were possible?!

You don't need to be resident to open an account, I had an account with RBC years before moving to Canada, then changed the address once I moved here. Not sure why they need a record of landing or anything but proof of identity and address.

Scotia bank. They have new comer's special account that doesn't charge monthly fee for a year. Also they gave me an unsecured Credit card.

Yep, I would recommend Scotia, they've been great with us since we arrived 9 months ago

TD have been great for us, no problems opening the account, getting credit card (all beit secured for 24 months), also mortgage approved. That was on a TWP at that time.

Do you like 'free' banking? Try PC Financial. Minimal documentation and minimal hassle.

Yes I do. Main reason for the RBC was just to take advantage of the credit card and start building the old credit rating.

Until you have an account - Never again!

Scotiabank has dealt with my accounts very well.
I would warn against trying to do anything with TD CanadaTrust. They appear to be a right bunch of numpties at all levels. Having banked with them for several years, I assumed I would have no problem in getting bridging financing to cover one week between the possession date of a house I bought and the closing date on the house I just sold. Fat chance. Although I was willing to put up half the cost of the new house in cash, I was told I would have to either a) cash in all my investments first (and pay a whacking lot of tax) or b) take out a homeowner's equity loan with an upfront "administration fee" of $400. Needless to say, I told TD to get stuffed, closed my account with them, put all the money into Scotiabank and got the bridging financing in half an hour.
I filed a complaint online at TD's head office, was told to call them, but after 20 minutes they still had no idea where my complaint had gone.
I am now going to file a complaint about the complaints department.

The banking staff here aren't the brightest (but then again, neither are the ones in the UK). It took me three tries at RBC to get a credit card. They kept rejecting it because I didn't had a credit history in Canada. And I kept pointing them to their website which stated that new immigrants with no credit history can still get one from them. Finally someone with a bit of a sense decided to call their corporate office and figure out the right process to apply, which resulted in me getting a credit card.

If you are set on RBC, you may want to insist they call their corporate office and find out the process. Fair warning, he or she will tell you they know the process because they have been working at RBC for umteen years (24 years I was told by the lady who was trying to help me first). Well, guess what they don't.

Ray

With TD, we had no problem with financing for two houses. In a bridging type situation. Only problem at one point was the person dealing with us went on holiday (How dare she ) and some one else took over, they didn't communicate some info and there looked like there was going to be a slight delay. When our origianl person returned it was all ironed out and no delays surfaced. We have had overall a very good service from TD. Like most things everyones experiences vary.

Hope you get your complaint dealt with promptly