TD have been terrific all the way for us.
Can't fault any aspect of their customer service, for both checking account and credit card.
All the staff we've had to deal with have been knowledgeable, competent and helpful.
TD Meloche Monnex were also incredibly good for us on the car insurance front, service quality across the TD group appears to be consistent which can only be a good thing.
Recommended without any hesitation

CIBC, on the other hand, have been utter muppets of unparalleled incompetence. OH went for their Aerogold card and it's been a series of spectacular cock-ups on their part from the get-go... even the 15k Aeroplan miles we've got hasn't really been worth the hassle and head**** in recent weeks... :curse:

Definitely TD. When we first came over we went with Scotia they were ok until we asked for a credit card. ( They said no)

Shortly after that OH got a new job and he had to have his wages paid into a TD branch so we open a infinity cheque account with them, while we were doing that they offered both of us a credit card so we switch everything over to them (they even gave us 6 months free checking to allow us to get everything changed over) and we have never been happier with their service.

As for credit cards it is worth getting a guaranteed credit card even with a small limit to help build your credit rating up over here.

For our credit card we had to put an amount of money equal to the credit limit we wanted into a savings account with the bank. They actually recommended a 2 year bond as they had a special deal on at the time and that worked fine for us.

This was with RBC.

To note, there are a few things you cannot buy in Canada with a foreign credit card - the one that comes to mind is Rogers' airtime.

Thanks Bandit

What I was unsure about was getting cheques with the chequing account (like in the UK when you get a cheque book with a current account) - I know they are pretty redundant in the UK now but in Vancouver I have heard of landlords asking for postdated cheques to secure tenancies. I looked at the chart on the TD website showing the features of each of the different chequing accounts:

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/account...e_chequing.jsp

...there are no ticks for personalized cheques for the infinity account on the grid, but when you read about the infinity account it says they are one of the unlimited features of the account:

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/accounts/infinity.jsp

Sorry if I'm being dumb!

Thanks for your help

Adele x

P.S. The secured credit card seems like a good idea to build up your credit rating - if they let me have one I'll have to have a small limit though as can't afford to set aside a lot of money that I can't touch!

A couple of weeks ago, I heard two financial experts discussing the world economic situation as it affects Canada and they both mentioned CIBC as being the most exposed into the sub-prime fiasco in the States. One of them said that if any of the banks was not going to survive, it would be CIBC - and it could very easily merge with another bank and disappear. And then the other expert commented about how, when something bad happened in a bank, it was always CIBC and that the head honchos in that bank seemed incompetent and often made bad decisions.

I have a TD Infinity account. It is possible to obtain cheques with this account. I think you have to pay $5 for 50 but I could be wrong. When we opened our account they gave us the first load for free and I haven't got to using them all yet. Whilst I don't very rarely write cheques to pay for things, you will find that many businesses over here require voided cheques for various reasons. It seems that Canadians do not trust each other to supply sort code, account numbers, etc. and this is what the voided cheques are for.

HTH

Thanks for that, that's good to know.

I do remember when working there before that some employers wanted a voided cheque to set up the direct deposit for your wages - I remember thinking it was a bit weird that you couldn't just give them the codes/details on a form like we do here!

From the feedback on this thread I think I'll go with TD, there have been so many positive comments and recommendations that it seems like the logical choice! I was with CIBC before but wasn't considering going back to them anyway - it was Scotiabank that were foremost in my mind until this thread popped up and now I'm won over to TD!

Thanks everyone for the really useful info

Adele

We've written more cheques in the last 12 months (including many voided cheques that Adele and AC mention) than we did in our last 10 years in the UK! To begin with, we were irritated at not just being able to quote the relevant codes to set up payment arrangments but after a while we just concluded this was the Canadian way and that it was just one of many small adjustments we were going to have to make to settle here.

E&J.

For our personal banking I have an account with Scotiabank and my OH with HSBC. Both have been excellent and I have no hesitation in recommending them.

With various businesses I have had accounts with HSBC (stellar service), RBC, and two credit unions: Coast Capital and Vancity. Again, I have no problem with recommending them.

I have also had a business account with CIBC. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole again. Ever. And, not just for the reasons given above.

I'd stick with HSBC:

Pros:
Passport account is free for new immigrants for first year
Cheques are free for passport account holders
Able to use UK credit history to get unsecured credit card with at least $1000 limit.
Able to get mortgage without requiring 3 months' Canadian employment history using UK credit and employment history.
If you get an HSBC mortgage, you get a $5000 credit limit on your credit card.
Good coverage in Calgary - several HSBC branches plus free access to BMO bank machines.
Several branches open Saturdays (which most but not all banks seem to do)
Instant transfers between UK and Canadian bank accounts, including easy online transfers if you keep accounts in both countries (as we have).
Also good to know: HSBC UK accept collect calls from abroad if you keep any of your British accounts open.

Cons:
Not as many branches as some other banks.
Not everything we have done with them has been completely smooth, due to human errors.
Avoid basing your accounts at downtown branch. They have a very high staff turnover and it took 3 of them (including the manager) 20 minutes to produce a bank draft!

On balance, I would definitely recommend any HSBC customer moving from England to Calgary sticks with HSBC. I can't speak for customers from other banks, or those going to other parts of Canada. Once we are established here and able to get credit for other institutions, we may not stick with HSBC as some of their mistakes have been pretty frustrating. But they are at least flexible enough to be able to work with new immigrants.

HSBC will take your UK credit history into account so getting an account and credit cards etc is very very easy. They have 4 branches in Calgary and they also have a special Passport account for new comers to the country

We found it very easy to obtain credit cards here. If I hadn't heard of such difficulties on this forum I wouldn't have believed such issues existed.

We were given an unsecured $5,000 card with TD immediately, a $15,000 was obtained via PC 6 months later and a $15,000 Costco Amex six months after that

Hi,

We live in Okotoks and bank with Commmunity Savings http://www.communitysavings.ca/ who have been awesome. It is ideal for us, but they do only have limited number of braches in Calgary.

However, if you are looking for a bank with lots of branches, then Scotia Bank have a new to Canada progamme http://www.scotiabank.com/StartRight/index.html

Hope this helps.

Julie and Eddie.

I have some accounts with the TD but I'm steadily moving everything to PC. The big difference is that each time I look at the TD account the bank has taken some money out of it, whereas each time I look at the PC one the bank has put some money in. Financially PC are a better bank than the TD.

The primary advantage of the TD, as I see it, is that the clerks can't do anything at the counter; they have to lean into a window behind the counter to "get an initial" for each transaction. I would find this irritating but most of the staff are young women who appear to have firm buttocks. Each time I go to the bank it's a half hour or so of staring at wiggling bums, something I find restful even if it's expensive.

I think the service can vary considerably with the person you are dealing with, not necessarily the Bank. We opened accounts with both the RBC and CIBC and the service we have received from the CIBC far outweighs the RBC. We were allocated a personal banker and she gave us 100% +++++