Best Bank?

[bitteeinbit]

A bit in the same vein as the recent "best credit card" and "best savings account" threads, I was wondering what people considered the best bank. It might sound like an oxymoron but oh well. I'm currently with Desjardins on my checking account but I'm so fed up with them that I want to switch. I've been with them since I was a teenager and in Quebec, they are truly the "best" in terms of presence. The ATM's are everywhere, only RBC comes in a distant second. I very rarely need to go to a bank physically so I want good online services. I also want the lowest possible fee's. I've been with ING since they came along and I'm quite pleased with them. I recently got their thrive chequing account and I'm pleased with it. The only problem is they don't offer credit cards, which means I would need to keep/have a credit card from another bank. I've never used them to pay bills but I assume they are easy. What would bother me is not being able to see the current balance of my credit card online. I often go travelling so I like being able to see what the balance is rather than wait for it to come in the mail. I would also like a bank which offered a number of free international debit withdrawals per month if anyone knows about a bank which offers that (I know some American banks offer that, but I don't know of any Canadian banks which do).

I've looked at all their checking accounts and they are all kinda similar.

HSBC: I've been there a few times regarding mutual funds and the customer service is pretty fast for the most part.

TD: Good opening hours, though fewer branches. They seem to have better rates for loans. 4$/month for 10 transactions.

RBC: I have a friend who uses them and I've helped her set stuff up online and their website/online banking seems quite nice and easy. I also know a couple who switched from Desjardins to RBC and have never looked back.

Scotia, BMO???

What are your personal experiences with any of these banks and which would you recommend? given that I don't need many debit transactions per month, I'm leaning towards trying to make ING work. They are truly the "cheapest" but the credit card thing bothers me slightly. I'm guessing I could open an account somewhere just for the CC and then I can use that bank's respective website to look up my balance and pay it with cash from ING. Everyone's needs are different but which bank do you guys prefer/recommend?

[Tripz]

All the major Financial Insituitions are about the same in terms of fees, TD does have late hours but since you said you don't physically go to the branch it won't matter much to you.

If you decide to go to one of the major banks, I'd say you should stick with them and have as many products with them as possible (chq account, savings, tfsa, plc, cc, mortgage, etc), most banks have an internal credit score that they rate you on, the higher the score the higher chance you get approve for certain credit products even if debt ratio or credit score is not within line (score is usually based on direct deposits to account, if you are a client in good standing, how long have you been with the FI, etc) - it's all about loyality. Not saying some banks won't approve you for mortgage, heloc, etc. They of course want the business since they are a business in the end and they need to grow.

Since you do a lot of travelling and mention you don't like using your card, as you want to know what available balance you have left without waiting for the statements in the mail, take a look at CIBC advantage cards. It's a debt visa card and won't charge you extra admin fees if you were to use it outside of Canada.

[ddduke]

Mtl and Calgary are completely different, but in Calgary I would say that TD is the best.

For me it has nothing to do with services/accounts/etc, it has to do with convenience, there's a TD on every block in calgary, they have the best hours and they actually have full staff, even on a friday afternoon you can get in and out quickly. I also bank with bmo and rbc and hate both, there's no locations and every time I go inside they have 2 people working and 30 people in line.

[adam c]

I recently went through this and ended up going with First Calgary, been happy with them so far

[Weapon_R]

TD for the fees, hours, and service.

[syscal]

TD took 1.5 months for us to get a business account with a small line of credit and a visa. The account manager simply wasn't interested in making things happen for us.

On top of that TD lost our documents twice during the same business transaction. Personal documents, company documents, and papers signed by our lawyer. The response was "Oh, sorry about that...we'll pay for the lawyer to sign them the second time". We told them we're signing nothing, they can find the originals.

Then they gave us the Line of Credit and Visa anyway, without any proof of documentation signed by us.

I ended up going through their internal channels to get an answer and they found the documents internally. My business partner faxed over his personal tax info and they lost that...still no word on where it is.

We have our mortgage with them too...in the end I'll go with whoever gives us the cheapest rate, which was them this time. The information we get from them is useless compared to Royal Bank and they had our address wrong in their system...even though they have the mortgage!

Royal is great, been with them for 20 years. We have two businesses and our personal accounts with them. Last time I called for a line of credit I had it within 4 days. I wouldn't go anywhere else if it were always my decision to make.

[ExtraSlow]

was with ATB, they were good with the free student account, but terrible after that.

now with RBC VIP banking, and it's been excellent. The few times a year I do need to go into the branch, it hasn't been bad at all.

TD fuckked me hard on a mortgage once, so I've got some hate for them.

[revelations]

I hardly ever (maybe twice in the past 5 years) need to see a teller so I went with PC financial.

No banking fees, unlimited online transcations, debit uses and I get 40$ off groceries every 4th trip to StupidStore (I spend 200$ each time anyway) because I use their no fee debit card.

I can withdraw and deposit money at any CIBC branch the same.

[kaput]

.

[ExtraSlow]

what international services do you need? Any debit card with the Plus of Cirrus logo on the back will be equally useful abroad. I don't think HSBC or Scotia have anything special about them.

[Mar]

I withdrew almost $2000 from my account at TD once without having to enter my PIN. That was unsettling.

Any time I try to apply for a new service at TD they've thrown a fit when I wanted to actually read the 9 million page document instead of just blindly signing it. "We have other customers we need to service, we can't wait all day." Well, should have thought of that before handing me this document during our 30 minute meeting.

RBC refused to give me a debit card to my own account because I was taking too long to read the documents before signing them.

[Mibz]

I've been with BMO for years but I've been wanting to switch for a while. Shitty hours, shitty locations, broken iPhone app. I'll probably go with TD simply because they're close and have better hours, though if I ever got stuck behind Mar I'd probably flip my shit.

[Mar]

Originally posted by Mibz
though if I ever got stuck behind Mar I'd probably flip my shit.
Don't get mad at me, they're the ones handing a guy in line the Declaration Of Independence to read and sign when there's 20 people waiting. They need to better manage their time or cut out the legal jargon. I don't need to read 3 pages defining legal terms just to know "I", "YOU" or "YOUR" refers to me.

I went to TD 2 months ago to set up a business account, get a company credit card and a line of credit for my business but I took too long to read those documents and she pushed me out the door because they were closing, she told me to sign them at home and come back later. WTF? Now I'm getting statements in the mail with $12 in account charges per month and I haven't signed the papers yet. Brilliant.

[max_boost]

Anyone else read all the bank documents or just Mar? :eek:

[Mibz]

I rarely do, but the two occasions it has happened I took it home, read it on my own time and then booked another appointment.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by adam c
I recently went through this and ended up going with First Calgary, been happy with them so far
Been with them since I was 14. Pretty good overall, but their work hours are a pain in the arse. It's also a big pain when you leave Calgary. You can still get free withdrawals at credit unions, but can't do any banking.

[slick2404]

Used to deal with 1st Calgary as my student loan was there, but now RBC is my main account, no complaints here.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
what international services do you need? Any debit card with the Plus of Cirrus logo on the back will be equally useful abroad. I don't think HSBC or Scotia have anything special about them.

If you are dealing with large sum, HSBC would be easier since it's more accessible worldwide.

If you are just dealing with daily spending cash, any bank will do.

I have always been with RBC since highschool. For some reason my account is flagged and was never moved to their new account offerings that requires monthly fees. So I basically only pay for checks and nothing else.

[Strider]

Anyone considering switching to TD, now is a good time.
Get up to $250 free for switching to TD (http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/reason36/)

It may not be for everybody, but the TD Select Service account (no fees with $5k minimum balance) & free First Class Visa Infinite CC was a great package for me and my wife.

You get:
-Unlimited transactions
-Annual fee waived for TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite
-Free small Safety Deposit Box (a value of $42.50)
-Free personalized cheques (a value of up to $53)
-Free certified cheques and money orders (a value of $10)
-Free cheque image returns (a value of $2.00)
-Free CDN/US Dollar drafts (a value of $7.50)
-Free Borderless Plan (US cash account) & US dollar visa

I've also found that I've always waited longer in line at HSBC even with a Premier account than at any TD branch I've been to. The better hours at TD are also a huge plus, even if it's just to get into my safety deposit box.

[bitteeinbit]

Originally posted by Xtrema
For some reason my account is flagged and was never moved to their new account offerings that requires monthly fees. So I basically only pay for checks and nothing else.
Haha that happened to me too. I was a student and then dropped out of university and started working. after two years I noticed I was gettin fee's and i got calls from them saying I was obviously no longer a student but they wanted me to come in to get info on investments and shit, haha. Now I'm back in school for one year to finish my degree and


For international presence, HSBC is pretty much first. They're literally almost everywhere.

I'l have a look at that TD account, looks nice but I hate the idea of having to keep 5k in there is there's o interest on it. Then again 250$ is not bad and the other particulars seem good at first glance. I'll look at it in detail tomorrow.

[dawerks]

TD is the best.

BMO is hands down the worst. If you're with BMO you should SERIOUSLY consider switching. Not least of which is that they are not accountable to the investors they ripped off.

[Mar]

Originally posted by dawerks
TD is the best.

BMO is hands down the worst. If you're with BMO you should SERIOUSLY consider switching. Not least of which is that they are not accountable to the investors they ripped off. Are you new? Banks rip everyone off.

[codetrap]

PC Financial for the past 7 years. Before that, TD, and before that CIBC. Got tired of paying to access my own money. I may have to pay specific service fee's for stuff like bank drafts, but it's FAR cheaper than having to pay $15/month in bank fees. I figure between the 3 accounts I have, I've saved about $3g's in the past 6 years in fee's.

Also running the PC Mastercard with double points. Since we shop at PC, it pays back nicely in about $100 free groceries a month for the gas coupons / PC points.

If you want a pretty good evaluation of different products, then check out www.milliondollarjourney.com.

[ZenOps]

Just throwing this out there.

There is the ever so tiny chance that Citibank (US) might have a bank run.

They changed the rules last year that allows them to refuse withdrawls if you don't give seven days notice. Citibank is also moving some 1.3 million credit card users to CIBC in about two weeks.

Rumblings are - Citibank is about to go tits up.

[dawerks]

Originally posted by Mar
Are you new? Banks rip everyone off.

I can show you where BMO and it's employee ripped off millions, show me a case of TD doing the same or similar.