Banking Survey

[tastle]

I was just wondering who here has their main account with which bank?

Recently I started noticing what I was paying RBC monthly for my chequing account after I started noticing banks like TD and PC Financial were offering no-fee chequing accounts.

I contacted RBC (online) and they pretty much gave me a PFO when I asked if they would stop charging me a fee on my account. So now I'm going to set up a meeting with the bank to see if they'll change their mind. They know I have a mortgage, student loan, RRSP and chequing account with them, yet they don't really care what I think. (of course... I'm too small of a fish to worry about)

It'd be nice if RFD did a report on the best chequing accounts / overall banks to be a member of. Too bad there wasn't a bank client's union to muscle the banks around a bit.

Any thoughts?

[Headhunter]

This should be in Personal Finance.

I'm using RBC, they charge me something like $4/month, and their service is generally bad. Most of the tellers at my branch are idiots; for every one that's good/friendly, there's at least 3 with bad attitudes that make mistakes with your account. Not happy; been shopping around for a new bank to set up with, probably going to TD (amongst the B&M options).

[tastle]

I didn't see that forum. Sorry.

I was talking to a friend of mine. I thought it'd be great if we created some petition to get RBC to at least drop their rates. They sent me this:

We appreciate you contacting us through this message centre inquiring if we could offer waived fees on your chequing account to match other financial institutions.

You are correct in pointing out there are new options in the market where you pay less, however, in these situations you also receive less service in return. We feel a comparison based solely on service pricing is incomplete and it should also take into account those services frequently not provided by other financial institutions, as well as the costs and inconvenience of having to obtain those services elsewhere.

Please be advised that we do not have an account that waives fees with a balance of $1,000 or higher. While fee waivers on minimum account balances may result in lower cost banking for a few customers, they reduce the predictability and fairness of fees for the majority. Our customer research also shows that a large number of our clients believe holding more than $1,000 in an account is an administrative irritant, especially if the balance drops below the minimum (even by one cent).

Summary:

• RBC offers more services than other banks.
• RBC doesn't feel customers want a no-fee chequing account, especially if they need to hold a minimum balance.

[Spent]

Credit Union is the way to go.

Canadian banks are evil, greedy and need some
good fashioned competition from American banks.

[tastle]

What's the advantage of a credit union? (or differences from a bank)

[Spent]

A LOT less BS fees and rebates on loans

[nuropa]

stop using RBC for chequing and go with another bank or credit union with no fee chequing account, free online banking etc. i don't know why you even bother trying to get RBC to drop their fees for you,.

[tastle]

stop using RBC for chequing and go with another bank or credit union with no fee chequing account, free online banking etc. i don't know why you even bother trying to get RBC to drop their fees for you,.

I suspect I'm going to move to TD bank. It seems like a safe middle ground. But it's worth a shot to haggle RBC. I have had luck with other companies just by asking if they would do this and that. You'd be surprised at what is available if you ask or drag your feet. I've heard that you can get favours and breaks when it's time to renegotiate a mortgage... not sure how that works... anyway...

I figured I'd give RBC a shot before bailing on them though. It'd give them a shot at retaining a customer.

[Agent_J]

I'm with PC Financial, check out www.pcfinancial.ca for more info on their no-fee bank account

[tastle]

How is PC Financial in terms of online banking and such? Is it convinent / easy to use?

[GTI]

I'm ready to close my RBC account and move it to TD (when Ipod shuffle deal is cross country ). I used to do a lot with them too (mutual funds, gic's, credit card) but now I moved a lot of it elsewhere. All that because of their BS fees.

[Agent_J]

How is PC Financial in terms of online banking and such? Is it convinent / easy to use?

online banking is the main way of banking with PC and it's very easy to use

[HammerJoe]

I know for a fact that the TD marketing dep had a chart that depicted what customers wanted from a bank.
And I can tell you that fees were not high of an issue.
No, what customers want in after the TD marketing study was to feel appreciated, to feel that the bank cared for their business (that's why when you call easyline the CSR is forced to say "I/we appreciate your business")
another one was that customers feel good when the CSR says their name several times... (again that's why you hear CSR's say your name so often)

Better prices, better products was at the bottom of their chart.

[scottyb]

You cant just go with PC, you need a B&M bank for when you want to desposit US cheques, get certified cheques, deposit USD, etc. I use Royal and PC. For me, the service fee is worth being able to talk to a person when I need to. I have no complaints with Royal's service.

[Spent]

is it takes 10 working days for your deposit to be live-
even it's cash.