random_idiot2

Hi,
are there any restrictions in Canada on foreign nationals regarding opening a bank account?

thanks

gooding

No, many of us on here have opened bank accounts. We needed passport and driving licence and deposited $100 initially. Got bank card and cheques on the spot, all paper work on doorstep back home 5 days later. We used RBC. if you do a search through past posts you will see many other peoples comments on which bank they used. We used RBC because they do interent banking, and i found it very very easy to use, as we have to pay bills from UK reguarly. Then when we go over we can jsut use our cash card for food, petrol etc.



are there any restrictions in Canada on foreign nationals regarding opening a bank account?

thanks[/QUOTE]

pak2

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Gooding,

Do RBC charge? and if so how much. (mainly interested in internet banking).

Phil

gooding

yes they do but not much. I think we pay $2.95 a month, for the internet banking.They do charge for cheques we just got some more an they charged about 50c each for them, but I dont use these much. If I set up a direct debit the companies want a blank cheque, voided to show bank detailsso I give them away! They also charge for other transactions, but not much. I do not pay much attention as I needed the bank account no matter what . We have a house over there and all bills are paid by direct debit. When we go for good I will open a savings account to get interest, but you cant do that unless you are a resident.

My husband is over there at the moment and he has just applied for credit card as well.
I find the bank helpful. if i need to speak to a real person I get one on the phone none of this automated lark, press one pres 2 etc. and they are not in India either. They are in Canada. I never mind paying for good service!
When we go over I may look at moving to an account that does not charge, but for now I am more than happy. Also if you have to pay bills etc. many of the big businesses etc use RBC too so paying money form one account to another is very quick and easy, as you can just pick from a list on the RBc website of who has an account ,hit the pay button, and it is all done in a flash!





Do RBC charge? and if so how much. (mainly interested in internet banking).

Phil [/QUOTE]

pak2

Gooding,

Thanks for the info. I am still getting used to the charging bit. It has been a while since I was charged in the U.K.

Phil

Rich_007

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Same as above, it was a doddle (HSBC Canada). We took reference / intro letters from current UK bankers and motrgage lenders, which HSBC did say they would want to see anyway.

Cheaper banking, loans and mortgages all available at your local Canadian credit union, and better interest returns also. 2% o savings account ? Hmmmm. Must do better LOL.

Rich.

gooding

Same here, but if it means it helps towards building up a credit hstory in Canada from the Uk then it will be worth a quid or two. Once your there then you can aford to looka round a but. I get charged by LLoyds £20 every time I sent money over seas That is more than I pay iin Canadian bank charges in a year.!!

iaink

Just remember to switch accounts to a fee free bank like PCfinancial once you land. Bank fees...what a rip off

My understanding is that just by having a canadian account it doesnt in fact do anything for your canadian credit rating, to do that you need to get and repay some credit in canada. Maybe once you have a canadian account its will be possible to get a secured credit card (eg secured against a large deposit in a GIC or something like that) that you could use and pay off to get the ball rolling, but just having the account without any credit wont help.

Not sure if you also need a SIN to get onto the credit rating system..probably not..never mind!

gooding

RBC gave my husband a credit application a few days ago. he is out on holiday ( without me) So we will see if we get a card. I got a HBC card whilst out shopping last year. Took 5 minutes to fill form in , and they put me down as retired, as we have a house there, no mortgage and I told her I was not working as I had not got PR yet. I told her how much I earned in Uk.She just muttered thats Ok we will put retired. Got card when i got home I have a $300 credit WOW !!!!!!!!! What can I buy with that. A weeks shopping maybe?? BUT it does alow me to start buying and paying off, then it will increase the more I buy. So when we go on holiday we will use it in The Bay Zellers and Esso Stations to pay for goods to value of $300 pay it off and so on.
We want to buy a car to leave out there for us to use and family as hire charges just mount up. We were told one way to get credit history, is to buy a car on credit. Many sell with 0% interest for limited time, or some good deal that is worth doing it on credit. Then we set up payment from bank to loan company. We can but cash, but if it means it gets that creidt history going then so be it. We have been told that just using out RBC responsibly, paying bills on time , getting regular statements etc will help to get establised not maybe on the credit history side, but getting a good bank reference. Just like our bank does here, they watch how you use your bank and score you points on how good they think you are! I am sure RBC do the same.

Then I will switch once I get PR ( or if)

iaink

Sounds like a good plan, one of my first bits of credit here was the zellers (now HBC) card too.

Remember that the "Zero percent finance" is for "qualified buyers only" and there is a good chance you may not be sufficiently qualified. The lease rate on my Jeep when I first arrived was painfull due to lack of history, as was the required security deposit... but it was better than nothing, and I think did help credit worthyness, although at a price.

gooding

We seem to be extremely lucky so far with everything we do. We asked for a worst case senario insurance quote, with no discount for showing no claims in UK, just to see what they quoted. We gave them two cars to quote , a minivan and a 4 x 4 The dearest was about £600. Then she said if we can show 6 years proof of no claims. Which we both can. We have never made claim in over 20 years she will give us 5% discount for max of 6 years so 30% discount. We dont think this is to bad as it is full comp for both of us and another named driver! So now we just need to see what deal we can get on a car next time we go over.

Getting started with a bank account just seemed like a step further to getting that history rolling......

Rich_007

Just be careful that you get insurance letter in the right format, can send you a copy if u want, loads of peeps have had problems when they land cos they didn't have right letter and relied on insurance 'standard' document, which isn't the same thing at all.

I got our copies and faxed them to our Canadian broker just to be sure...no probs.

go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Brits2Vancouver/files/ and see 'letter to UK insurers'

Rich.