Where do you bank?

[bluejaywpg]

With which financial institution(s) do you do your banking?

I often think that the retail banking industry is similar to the cell service industry - in that most people deal with 1 or more of the big 5 (that almost became the big 3 over 20 years ago), even though there are cheaper alternatives. 

[Mellymelrascal]

I bank with RBC, BMO, CIBC, Simplii, Scotia and HSBC.

All of these banks have been offering this year welcome bonuses to new clients hence why I'm with so many.. (If your employer can split your payroll into fixed dollar amounts, and you can meet the individual account minimum balance requirements to have no monthly fees charged, it makes sense to collect the bonus, hence why so many banks for me at the moment :).

Simplii I would recommend if you're looking for the cheapest bank (free), with no minimum balance requirements. RBC I like the most from the big 5. Also held accounts with Tangerine and Coast capital savings last year for their welcome bonuses lol, both no minimum balance required and no monthly fees  - I would definitely recommend them both too.  I wouldn't recommend Scotiabank out of them all, just poor customer service overall at both the branch and call centre level.

[Savebig2]

Tangerine all the way!! 

If you call them and speak nicely they have in the past sent cheque books free for loyal customers been with them since ING direct days!

[cynicustracks]

I enjoy using one of the online digital banks like Tangerine and Simplii Financial. Mind you Simplii doesn't have any physical branches which sometimes can suck if you need do an immediate service. The advantage is that they have no service fees and the cheques are free. 

[e55meg]

CIBC

No service fees because I have a Hi enough balance with their Investors Edge

[tiny222]

EQ Bank and TD.

EQ Bank - for their high interest savings account 1.7%, insured up to $100k (Was 2.3% before COVID-19
TD bank - for convenient hours, and location, the ones near me open early and close late.

[Korth]

@bluejaywpg 

Yes, "financial literacy" does explain banks vs credit unions and answer all your above questions in depth. They also explain how financial institutions affect consumers, how investments work, all sorts of options for how you can make some money and how you can make your money make you money. They explain credit and collection agencies, they explain what how to request and actually read your own credit reports, what all the numbers and codes mean. They point out resources and information, they're generally happy to help educate their customers.

Each credit union is an independent business but they tend to group together like a miniature bank chain with locations and ATMs spanning a few provinces. Their debit and credit and interac and e-transfers and all that stuff are fully compatible with all the big bank systems. They always offer some sort of account with no fees and no service charges, although admittedly these usually don't have great interest rates.

If you have loans and debts, investments, mortgages, whatever, then you can always take your information (or your rate quotes) to the credit union to consolidate or negotiate better rates. Banks will simply state their rates and that's their bottom line, customers can take it or leave it.

Credit union customers are called "members" because they're all shareholders. They can always buy more shares - and structure their shareholdings into other asset portfolios (even within other financial institutions) - but of course anybody with one share worth five bucks isn't going to have a whole lot of control or voting power in a billion-dollar corporation. "Member" vs "customer" is more a legal definition in practice. For comparison, an institution like TD actually sells shares in the bank (open stock market), they have such massive financial leverage that they constantly buy/sell large volumes of their own shares to control their market value and they keep their principle+dividend values exactly the same as the interest rates they'd pay out to funds in their customer savings accounts.

Yes, I maintain minimum funds in each of those five bank accounts, $1000 each. And I even collect some insulting interest on each of them, not as much as I could get by allocating those funds more aggressively. But I think of it as buying a measure of security and a measure of convenience - there have actually been times where I could access payments or purchases through these other banks with less hassle and less delay, there's always people with dumb restrictions on their funds, we don't live in a perfect world where everybody makes smart choices with their banks and their monies.

You can be a customer (or member) at any number of institutions, they're not exclusive, so you don't lose anything by starting a free account.

[Anonymous]

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@bluejaywpg wrote:

@Anonymous 

"A credit union.

Does a bank ever give some money back to their customers/members?"

No never.  Do credit unions do that?  I take it you are saying yes they do?

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Yes, mine does. Not a lot. Not every year.

Yes, we're kinda like shareholders. We can vote at general meetings. Who does that anyway? I never have. What do I know about who's actually running the place.

The usual miniscule interest gets deposited every month.

The only fees I've seen are e-transfers. And even that has stopped as a break for CoViD. It appears some wire transfers have been paid for. But that's a problem of living a few hours away from my home branch.

[Felixbthe1]

Royal Bank, no problems thus far.

[bluejaywpg]

@Korth I assume you would have to have a minimum of $1,000 or more per bank account to have a placeholder account at every bank & not pay fees?

[bluejaywpg]

@Korth you just told me a few things that I never knew.

"Most credit unions offer some sort of free "financial literacy" course which explains everything and answers any questions you ask."

OK that sounds like a good thing.  Do you mean how credit unions work?  Basic financial tips in general?  Comparison of credit unions vs. banks?  All of the above?

"1) you gotta buy member shares to join, but no big deal since it's a one-time charge of five bucks and you get it back if/when you ever leave anyhow (along with share inflation rates and interest)"

$5 is no big deal indeed.  So does this mean credit union clients are actually shareholders (similar to a co-op)?

"2) Canadian regulations are different for banks vs credit unions, the only real differences for most people are some different maxima for TSFAs and RRSPs and RESPs, and a lesser amount of insurance/protection for deposited funds (and even those limits aren't problematic unless you keep $60K or more in your chequing accounts when civil war or other disaster forces the financial institution to suddenly bankrupt)."

If anyone is keeping 60k in a standard bank account, they either a heck of a lot more money than that in their net worth or they don't have a clue what they are doing with a significant sum of money (which should be invested in something providing a higher rate of return).

"Credit unions are governed by charters which force them to retain reserves, maintain operating costs, and make some profit ... but which force them to dump everything else back to their members and their community. So after a few years they'll offer you free life insurance, free health insurance, eventually even extended medical and dental and benefits packages which consumers can't normally buy. They'll give you good deals on investments and loans and mortgages, they can even cut you some slack and eat losses in bad times (sometimes) if it means retaining your valuable long-term business.

Banks have no such limitations. They're out to maximize profits any way they can."

OK whenever I looked at getting a credit union account, I saw that they were no better then banks when I looked at fees charged, so I didn't bother opening an account at any credit union.  But now you've mentioned a few things that I had never even heard of related to credit unions.  I'll look into credit unions again, & maybe actually contact 1 of them & get a full explanation of how they work vs. a bank.

When you say "member", who are you referring to?  Clients?

Is there anything else you can tell me about credit unions (good or bad) that people might not know?

[bluejaywpg]

@Anonymous 

"A credit union.

Does a bank ever give some money back to their customers/members?"

No never.  Do credit unions do that?  I take it you are saying yes they do?

[bluejaywpg]

My main account is with Simplii Financial.  Simply because I do not want to pay fees.

I also have a really old account with RBC that I generally don't pay any fees with unless I use it more than usual.  So it acts mostly as a placeholder for using services not offered by Simplii (to get U.S. funds for example).

[Korth]

@Anonymous 

Thieves and bullies always hit the easy and soft targets. If you don't make it easy for them then they'll move their attentions to something or someone which won't require as much effort or involve as much risk. Gotta take some initiative before they do if you don't want to be their next victim, lol, especially once you start getting ahead and looking juicy.

[Anonymous]

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@Korth wrote:

just as placeholders so nobody else can use my identity when doing business with them.

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That just blew my mind. What a brilliant way to pre-emptively block even the possibility of someone masquerading as you.

But sir, you already have an account with us. Who the F are you then?

Brilliant. Thanks for sharing that idea.

Not that I really want to go and set up accounts everywhere a la will13am not spreading his exposure too thinly. And the pre-existing objection to giving them any more money..

But brilliant nonetheless.

[Korth]

A credit union. Actually two credit unions. I do actually have an account at each of Canada's Five Big Banks - along with the minimum balance in to completely avoid any service/maintenance charges - just as placeholders so nobody else can use my identity when doing business with them.

Most credit unions offer some sort of free "financial literacy" course which explains everything and answers any questions you ask.

The only downsides are:

1) you gotta buy member shares to join, but no big deal since it's a one-time charge of five bucks and you get it back if/when you ever leave anyhow (along with share inflation rates and interest), and

2) Canadian regulations are different for banks vs credit unions, the only real differences for most people are some different maxima for TSFAs and RRSPs and RESPs, and a lesser amount of insurance/protection for deposited funds (and even those limits aren't problematic unless you keep $60K or more in your chequing accounts when civil war or other disaster forces the financial institution to suddenly bankrupt).

Credit unions are governed by charters which force them to retain reserves, maintain operating costs, and make some profit ... but which force them to dump everything else back to their members and their community. So after a few years they'll offer you free life insurance, free health insurance, eventually even extended medical and dental and benefits packages which consumers can't normally buy. They'll give you good deals on investments and loans and mortgages, they can even cut you some slack and eat losses in bad times (sometimes) if it means retaining your valuable long-term business.

Banks have no such limitations. They're out to maximize profits any way they can.

[yanzhiqiang]

I have been dealing with Scotia and Royal banks, For safety and security reason, I like Royal, since my bank account in Scotia was hijacked many time. 

[Anonymous]

A credit union.

Does a bank ever give some money back to their customers/members?