Switching Banks

[Morozee]

So lets say there's a guy who is fed up with their bank, we'll call it Royal Bank, and would like to switch to a new bank. The guy has a line of credit, another separate loan (truck) as well as a mortgage and RRSP with the Royal Bank. How difficult is it to transfer everything over? I know it can easily be done with loans, but I'm not so sure about the mortgage. Anyone have a past similar experience? What bank would you recommend and why?

[V]

The mortgage will probably be expensive to transfer over, if you have much time left before you have to renew. Probably 3 months of interest. Why not switch everything over except for the mortgage?

Right now we deal with 4 different banks. TD with one mortgage, Scotia with another, First Calgary with our savings account, and PC, which we're currently transferring over to First Calgary. Trying to get everything over is a bit of a pain since we have so much direct debit. If you pay most of your bills over the internet or with cheques you probably won't have too much trouble moving everything over.

[BlackEleven]

Moving your mortgage will require paying a 3 month interest penalty, as mentioned. However, a lot of banks will pay this fee for you, just to get your business. A mortgage is good income for them.

By the way, you can add another person to the list that is fed up with Royal Bank. The only reason I stay with them is because their ATMs are the most abundant, but I've been contemplating switching for a while now.

While we're on that topic, can someone recommend a good bank, just for having a small chequing/savings account? I already have an ING account, I'm just looking for somewhere to put my spending cash that doesn't want to charge me crazy fees.

[V]

PC charges no fees. I'm not sure if there are others out there as well.

[mykalberta]

I use ATB - NormalBanking LoC CarLoan, PC Mastercard Savings FreeCheq Mortgage, BMO Mastercard.

If the people at PC werent the biggest group are narcaleptic whizbangs I would likely transfer everthing to them. Right now I am happy with ATB (support Alberta institutions) and I have the BMO MC becuase they are the CC I have been with the longest and as such have the biggest limit

I have a friend who works at Scotia and she is always trying to get me to switch - she doesnt get commish on it so its likely becasue she feels its the best option although my previous relationship taught me one very important thing, never trust women with your money - only theirs :|

MYK

[jamesteterenko]

Some things are tricky to switch, but a customer service person at the bank should help you with it. They can even arrange for all of your direct debits to be switched over. (TD did this for my wife when we consolidated bank accounts.) If you are sending them a substantial amount of business, they should waive any fees involved and in some cases they'll pay the fees charged by the other bank.

James.

[Prototype]

I work for ATB... but I'm not gonna toot their horn for ya.

Banking is so wide open right now that you're best to sit down with a personal banker at each your looking at and get the numbers. There's so many banks that one will fit your needs while others will be way off. Make it clear in the begining that you're looking at all options, and you may not walk out of the meeting with any products. That way they don't waste too much time selling you stuff, and you don't waste any time getting sold things you don't need.

Bottom line is there's options out there that this board's opinion, although valid, won't be able to show you. The best option, if you have the time, is take a week, and find out what the banks can do for you, then go from there.

[Morozee]

Originally Posted by Prottotype

Bottom line is there's options out there that this board's opinion, although valid, won't be able to show you. The best option, if you have the time, is take a week, and find out what the banks can do for you, then go from there.

That's what I intend to do. I usually find it quite beneficial to tap into the vast knowledge of this diverse Calgary Puck membership. The responses in the last 40 minutes have helped me already!

Anyway, I should have added that I live in Manitoba. I'm going to start with Scotia Bank, I have an appointment with a rep there this afternoon.

[Shazam]

Oh God, I hate RBC. I only use their Action Direct service now. I used to have everything there but they screwed up so many times I had to leave just to protect myself. Mostly, they'd deposit other people's money into my account by mistake. I'd phone them, tell them that they'd mistakenly deposited tens of thousands of dollars into my account and they'd INSIST that it was correct. WEEKS later they'd finally remove the money. They did this to me three times over a period of ten years. I'd also write cheques, they'd be cashed but they wouldn't debit my account, even though there'd be a debit entry but the money was still there (go figure). I would phone them and tell them about the error, and they'd INSIST it was all okay. MONTHS later they'd finally fix it. What a bunch of numb nuts.

I also used to have my business accounts there, and promptly removed them when one of their business tellers decided to insult me because I only had $15K in my account. Guess I wasn't good enough for them.

Their older employees were also some of the most bitter people I've ever dealt with.

[RedHot25]

My poor Bank !

Ha, well not really. I must say, I have been with RBC since I started out, and have had no problems what-so-ever. Although I am not a big fan of their fees for everything, but most banks have that.

Add to that my wife has had horror stories - that with CIBC - that I stay where I am. And she considers switching over to me.

[jamesteterenko]

Originally Posted by Morozee

Anyway, I should have added that I live in Manitoba. I'm going to start with Scotia Bank, I have an appointment with a rep there this afternoon.

In MB, eh. Check out Steinbach Credit Union. The have a branch in Winnipeg and one in Steinbach. They have some of the best rates available. Saving account starts at 4.25% and goes up. Mortgages as low as 5.2%.

http://www.scu.mb.ca/

James.

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

By the way, you can add another person to the list that is fed up with Royal Bank. The only reason I stay with them is because their ATMs are the most abundant, but I've been contemplating switching for a while now.

The same reason I stick witih Royal Bank.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, I just switched to PC for basic banking because of the no fee thing myself. I don't have a whole lot of dealings with any bank so I figured why pay fees. Usually banks have like a national line that deals with mortgages. Make up some bogus excuse like you're looking to sell your house so you can travel the world and want to build your mortgage payment penalty into your asking price. They always fall for that and like mentioned above is usually three months interest. Any bank that wants your bussiness will pay that fee for you and give you the same rate to get their hands on your mortgage.

[Shazam]

Worst bank story ever:

My roommate kept his CSBs in a safety deposit box at his bank. Years later, he went to cash them. They were missing from his box. Turned out an employee there stole them. His bank wouldn't pay him back. He lost a few thousand dollars from that.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I switched from RBC this year.

Mortgage went to TD
LOC went to TD
Banking went to BMO

Oh, and my fees went from ~350 a year to ~20 a year on the banking side.

was not really hard at all. The TD mortgage part was a bit of a gong show, but once I started talking to someone else at TD that sorted out fine too.

[Morozee]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I switched from RBC this year.

Mortgage went to TD
LOC went to TD
Banking went to BMO

Oh, and my fees went from ~350 a year to ~20 a year on the banking side.

was not really hard at all. The TD mortgage part was a bit of a gong show, but once I started talking to someone else at TD that sorted out fine too.

Your TD Mortgage payments are paid from a BMO bank account? For some reason I was under the impression you have to have a bank account with the same instituition that carries your mortgage?

[Hemi-Cuda]

well my step-mother is a branch manager for Scotiabank, so it's quite in my interest to stay with them. i've never really had a problem with them either. all my debits/credits have always been correct, and when my visa with them was compromised they were quick to send a replacement. i just wish they had a few more ATM locations

[Morozee]

So what kind of interest rates do you guys pay on LOC/Personal Loans? I took out my LOC and Personal loans in 2004 and get prime plus 3.5% on both, which seems a little steep in my mind. However at my meeting at Scotia Bank today they informed me the best they could do was something like prime plus 4.15% if I consolidated. I guess in depends what your credit rating is and how long the term is?

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i just wish they had a few more ATM locations

I used to have an account with them and closed my account just for that reason. They had a bank machine at the University where I did all my automated banking, between classes. When they removed the machine, I closed my account a week later because it was impossible to find one anywhere else.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Morozee

So what kind of interest rates do you guys pay on LOC/Personal Loans? I took out my LOC and Personal loans in 2004 and get prime plus 3.5% on both, which seems a little steep in my mind. However at my meeting at Scotia Bank today they informed me the best they could do was something like prime plus 4.15% if I consolidated. I guess in depends what your credit rating is and how long the term is?

Is that the banks prime rate +4.15% or is that the bank of canada rate +4.15%? Depending on what your mortgage is and what your house is worth a Home equity line of credit should be attainable for Bank prime -.5%. Than again I live in Alberta and my house value has increased big time in the last 9 months. Still even an unsecurled line should come for less than that. I have an unsecured line with TD for prime +1.5%, and first got it when I was like 23.