Rbc / V.i.p. / Visa

[Z_Fan]

RBC has an account package called V.I.P. It's benefits are supposed to be many, however, a specific one involves VISA. The V.I.P. package allows for pretty much any VISA card annual fee and one additional cardholder to be waived per annum.

So, if you wanted a VISA Platinum Avion, the $120 fee and $50 secondary cardholder fee are to be waived. Meaning your VISA fees to hold a premium VISA card are zero.

RBC recently notified many clients by special letter than VISA fees were in fact not being reversed and that this may have been going on for some time, and if you wanted to have RBC review your situation, you needed to contact them at the number on their mailout.

The problem is many people did not read the fine print about having to call them. And the mailout looked just like all their other junkmail.

I use my VISA for virtually everything and the VISA fees are something I wouldn't even notice in a statement, since I don't ever look over my statements in detail unless I know something is amiss. I am one of the people who is in fact owed a pile of money in VISA fees that should have been reversed.

In some cases, RBC has charged clients in excess of $1,190.00 in VISA fees that should have been credited dating back to at least 2003.

If you are a V.I.P. account holder at RBC, you should verify that your VISA fees are being credited now, as well as in the past. Currently, they are well aware of the problem and are crediting VISA fees back to the cards. But be sure to look at your past statements to find out whether you may be owed a pile of cash in fees that should have been reversed out annually.

Not sure who this may effect, but hey, if it helps you out, so be it!

[yellowsnow]

what's the requirements for a vip account? min account balance? or portfolio size > than?

[Z_Fan]

Anyone can have one AFAIK. It's just a type of bank account. You pay the monthly fee, and you are entitled to its benefits.

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by Z_Fan
Anyone can have one AFAIK. It's just a type of bank account. You pay the monthly fee, and you are entitled to its benefits.

I have a VIP account and just noticed earlier this month that I was charged $120 for anual fee, even though it's supposed to be included.

[Z_Fan]

Originally posted by tictactoe2004


I have a VIP account and just noticed earlier this month that I was charged $120 for anual fee, even though it's supposed to be included.

Now go get your statements (VISA statements) and go back as many years as you can - back until you opened the VIP account.

I have all my VISA statements since 1989. But I didn't get a VIP account until 2003. Still, they've charged me the $120 every year plus the $50 for the secondary cardholder and both should have been free.

I think if you figured out how many people had this happen, which will be hundreds of thousands, it could take away some of RBC billions of dollars in profits. Hahah.

Good luck getting your money back. I'm still working on getting mine back...

[tictactoe2004]

Originally posted by Z_Fan


Now go get your statements (VISA statements) and go back as many years as you can - back until you opened the VIP account.

I have all my VISA statements since 1989. But I didn't get a VIP account until 2003. Still, they've charged me the $120 every year plus the $50 for the secondary cardholder and both should have been free.

I think if you figured out how many people had this happen, which will be hundreds of thousands, it could take away some of RBC billions of dollars in profits. Hahah.

Good luck getting your money back. I'm still working on getting mine back...

I just got off the phone with them, they put me through to Visa and refunded me for this year. I'll have to see if I still have my old visa statements so I can see if they did it before.

[Z_Fan]

They phoned me today (Yes, on SUNDAY! WOW!) and have credited my VISA $510 plus $31.xx in interest reversal. Ha.

They also still owe me more, and I have all the statements which I will send them...but the guy on the phone was pretty good, and knows they owe me a few more years worth of fees which he was expecting to show up as a credit on my VISA by the end of the week.



If you were charged this year, then your account will have been coded incorrectly since you got your VIP account. So you will likely have been charged all along.

What should have been happening is the charges show up, and then are reversed on the same day - that's how it should appear on your statements in the past.

[civic_ek4]

they did that with the student visa once. it was a refund for the insurance i think balance protector or something like that.

[ExtraSlow]

Mine shows up like this every year:

Annual fee: $120
Annual fee rebate: -$120


Has been flawless.

[Z_Fan]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Mine shows up like this every year:

Annual fee: $120
Annual fee rebate: -$120


Has been flawless.

Yeah, that is how it should be. The guy on the phone told me many accounts were coded incorrectly, especially accounts that existed already with another level of service.

Accounts that were opened as V.I.P. were supposedly coded properly in their system. I don't know about this. But that's what the guy on the phone told me. So maybe since you've never had the problem, can you confirm your account was not converted to V.I.P., but was simply opened at V.I.P.?

My account existed for a long long time before I went to the V.I.P. service level. So I had a signature account, then a rate link essential account, etc, etc, then finally a V.I.P. account and when my account went V.I.P. the coding never was updated properly for the VISA aspect of things.

That's RBC's story - pretty much.

[Jerms]

Hmmm.. I am trying to find out if I have a VIP package with them, but I can't find our exactly.. I'm paying $13.95 a month on fees and I have been paying the $120 annual fee for the Visa for the past 5+ years. How much a month is the VIP package that RBC is charging?

[Z_Fan]

It's $30 a month.

Then there are other rebates applied as well.

Your statements from the bank would be stamped V.I.P. in the top right corner.

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by Z_Fan
can you confirm your account was not converted to V.I.P., but was simply opened at V.I.P.?

Yep, mine was opened as a VIP account.

[Z_Fan]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Yep, mine was opened as a VIP account.

So I'd be willing to be tictactoe2004 had an account before upgrading, and his wasn't coded properly - like mine - and has likely had this problem since the day he opened his V.I.P. account.

RBC is crediting my full amount of VISA fees all the way back to 2003.

tictactoe2004 should check for when you signed up for the V.I.P. service with the RBC and then check your past statements. It could very well be they owe you $1k in fees. (Or more!)

Which is why I started this thread. I know there will be lots of people out there who could be having this problem on their account. Most likely long term RBC clients, who've had accounts for a lot of years, and at some point changed to the V.I.P. service.

A lot of people will have changed to the V.I.P. service in the early 2000's. Like, 2001-2003 etc because that's when banks were big in to charging per use fees for interac ands even just debit card usage. The V.I.P. account gave unlimited usage of debit cards, as well as several interac fees waived per month. So people switched as it was better than paying $1.50 service charges to use another banks machines.

[cjab]

I had been with RBC for 10+ years and had had recently switched to the VIP account. Encountered so many problems and poor customer service that I decided to switch banks. Luckily my loans have been paid off, and I won't be taking out a mortgage until later this year, a few family members have also had several problems but are tied down with RBC for the time being.

Always have to check statements for the little things - that $120 fee doesn't raise an eye when you have a large credit card balance, or a few of those $1.50 charges per month, but they can add up. It's just more frustrating when none of those charges should have occurred in the first place.

[yellowsnow]

i don't see a big benefit to the VIP account. i'll just stick to TD's select service account. min balance $5000. all fees waived including the premium credit card fee