Which Bank do You Prefer?

[lat]

I am just about at my rope's end with CIBC. Their Investor's Service division is run by a bunch of clowns, IMHO.

soooo.....

I've been doing a little bit of research on which bank may be better. Some say TD if you want better hours and service. Some say PC Financial if you want to save on fees.

Which bank do you prefer and why?

[Medwards]

Canada Trust. The hours they are open primarily was my original reason. I've stuck with them ever since... including after the buyout from TD

[Ubiquitin]

I'm sorry I won't be able to answer your question but I do want to recommend that you (or anyone else) do NOT go with BMO,

The customer service is terrible and their system is simply not secure. I had made a significant cash deposit to an ABM at one of the branches. A few days later when I came in they confiscated my card because what they said was that they had received was an empty envelope. I spent an hour at one branch (on 66st and north of whitemud) arguing with a teller who had zero customer service skills and seemed like she didn't want to be there, than half an hour with her supervisor. After it was decided that there was nothing they could do I ended up at the millwoods town center location where I spoke with the branch manager directly. Turns out envelopes go to Calgary where they are independently verified by just two people. He refused to admit that he may have a problem with his system though I know (and my friend was there to confirm this) that I did in fact deposit the money. He remained adamant that I had deposited an empty envelope and we left it at that.

Being in the customer service field myself I can recognize good customer service, besides I lost my money, and believe me, I am NEVER going with BMO again.

[sbrussell]

Overall, I've been happy with TD. They offer pretty good service hours, and are typically friendly. Plus, I lucked out and found a really good financial advisor at my usual branch.

[Blueline]

I have had great service from each of the ATB , CWB and the RB (Oliver location)

[lat]

Originally Posted by sbrussell

Overall, I've been happy with TD. They offer pretty good service hours, and are typically friendly. Plus, I lucked out and found a really good financial advisor at my usual branch.

Right now, that's the ONLY thing keeping me with CIBC. The financial advisor I have is good. Having said that though, I'm sure there are a number of good financial advisors out there!

[RTA]

I've been with Canada Trust for over 20 years, and I've never been dissatisfied with their services, even after they became part of TD. While tellers will hate me for saying it, I absolutely love that I can do nearly every kind of banking service through their EasyWeb system.

I've also heard a lot of really good things about ATB, too, though my personal experience with them is limited.

[moahunter]

I'm surprised HSBC is not included in the list. This is a very good bank if you have international family / dealings.

[amelanchier]

I use RBC for basic banking, more through inertia than anything else. I've been with them all my life. They're ok - branch hours mostly suck but their online banking is good, and on the rare occasions I've had a problem, they've fixed it. My investments (rrsps, etc.) are through Investors Group. They're pretty good.

[Susan@eTalk]

RBC is the only major bank I have used. However I have had many dealings with banks over the years and TD does stand out as being one of the best. ATB is also quite good.

[Chmilz]

I switched to ATB from CIBC years ago after a teller accused me of being a "punk". Not really CIBC's fault, but I've enjoyed ATB ever since, and my girlfriend recently switched from TD to ATB. In the few months since her switch, she's noticed 3 major things: 1) Huge reduction in fees 2) Real customer service, especially over the phone, and 3) No standing in lines 30 people deep, usually new Canadians that take forever since they don't quite fully understand basic financial products yet

I should note that my mortgage is through TD though, since the builder of my home had a great cash-back perk if I used their preferred bank when I bought it years ago.

[MagicMonkey]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitin

I'm sorry I won't be able to answer your question but I do want to recommend that you (or anyone else) do NOT go with BMO,

The customer service is terrible and their system is simply not secure. I had made a significant cash deposit to an ABM at one of the branches. A few days later when I came in they confiscated my card because what they said was that they had received was an empty envelope. I spent an hour at one branch (on 66st and north of whitemud) arguing with a teller who had zero customer service skills and seemed like she didn't want to be there, than half an hour with her supervisor. After it was decided that there was nothing they could do I ended up at the millwoods town center location where I spoke with the branch manager directly. Turns out envelopes go to Calgary where they are independently verified by just two people. He refused to admit that he may have a problem with his system though I know (and my friend was there to confirm this) that I did in fact deposit the money. He remained adamant that I had deposited an empty envelope and we left it at that. .

My wife and I had the exact same thing happen to us and if we were in a poor financial state it could've been serious, as it took about a week and a half to sort everything out, and if we were living cheque to cheque we'd have been screwed. Other then this incident we've mostly good experiances and all our accounts including business accounts are through them.
CIBC on the other hand... When I was in highschool trying to open my own account they were rude, demining, condisending, and the only account I could open there required a $1000 deposit and I could not use the debit card for any transactions other than deposits and then only at my branch atm.

[etownboarder]

I've had accounts at three different banks:

1) Scotiabank - My first bank account ever was with Scotia, and then one day $100 went missing from my account even though I didn't withdraw any cash from the account for over a month before this took place. I complained to Scotia and they said I MUST have withdrawn the money and refused to look into the problem (I was all of 10 y.o at the time). I closed my account that day and took my business elsewhere.

2) CIBC - I have been nothing but happy dealing with CIBC. They treat me very well. About 3 years ago, someone double swiped by debit card, made a fraudulent card, and withdrew $500 from my account up in Beaverlodge (somewhere I had, and still haven't, ever been to in my entire life). All I had to do was go sign a paper saying I did not profit from it in any way, and they deposited the money back into my account without any problems at all. I was very happy with the way in which the situation was handled. I have also been very happy dealing with my Investors Services financial advisor out of the College Plaza branch.

3) PC Financial - I opened an account with PC Financial thinking the fee savings would be worth looking into... but was very wrong when I found out it took up to a month to have a cheque cleared. I quickly closed that account and never looked back.

[lat]

Interesting, Scotiabank takes the early lead in the poll.... Wouldn't have predicted that! Don't know why though... They just don't come to mind for me as an option...

[patrick]

ATB has given me good service - particularly Oliver Square branch

[Tiran]

I use CIBC and I have no real complaints. In the past when I had issues that were not quickly and easily fixed at first contact, a little judicious yelling got them resolved with minimum hassle, (It is just an expression, I have spent a lot of time in retail and call centres, I know how to complain for results) and I have not had to do that in over a decade.
The financial/investment people I have dealt with (while I lived in Calgary) were great. I haven’t really had to deal with any of them since I moved, although the couple of times I went into the Oliver Square branch to ask some questions I was not impressed with the advisors I spoke to.
I have considered switching to CW or Servus, but I really don’t want to be bothered with having to switch all my auto deposits and withdrawals. Or my post dated rent cheques. If the fee savings are good I will consider it though.

[etownboarder]

Tiran, I would suggest going to the branch at College Plaza to speak to someone from their Investors Services. Ask for Steven Chiu. He is quite good.

[JeffB]

I've been with Scotiabank for my day-to-day banking for 29 years, but I never chose to be a client - that was my parents' doing. Many moons ago (I'm not sure about today), they offered great banking plans for under-18s, and they offered really good plans for post-sec students.

I've been a client with a number of branches across the country, but I can count on two hands the number of times I've actually been in a branch in the last 6 years. The service in the branches can be spotty as their people move around so much, but I've always found their call centre reps and on-line banking system great to work with.

What I really like with Scotiabank is their international presence and their participation in the Global ATM Alliance. I can get easy and free access to my money from almost anywhere in the world without paying any ATM or interac fees, just the usual exchange rates. I was just in Mexico and really liked having my Scotiabank ATM for access to my accounts as usual.

All that said, I only use Scotiabank for my day-to-day banking and one non-registered investment product. My RRSPs are with an independent investment house my family has been using for 30 years; my mortgage is with TD Canada Trust (because they were willing to hold my rate and terms for as long as construction took); my car loan was with ATB Financial; my TFSA is at ING Direct; and my Mastercard is through BMO. I use the various institutions for what they're respectively best at, and I don't really like having all my investments at the bank as they're always trying to sell only their products and charging for everything through the nose.

[Sonic Death Monkey]

Started out with Royal Bank as a kid and stayed with them all throughout university and early in my career.

Then one time RBC wouldn't approve a consolidated loan, so I applied for one at CIBC, got approved, moved my banking with them, and even went out with the hot financial advisor for a bit. Eventually when I bought my condo I got my mortgage through them.

Then same pattern - I needed a loan, but CIBC said no. So I applied at TD, they said yes, so I moved all my finances outta CIBC, keeping only the Aeroplan VISA card I still carry to this day.

That was 10 years ago, and I have remained with TD since. They never said no to me. They paid off my mortgage with a home equity line of credit and have bumped it up when I needed to, and providing some sound advice.

So, don't be afraid of switching banks if you're not happy with them.

TD - every day banking
ING - savings account, GICs and TFSA
RRSPs and investments are handled by a trusted friend of mine.