$5000 + TD Select Service Chequing + TD Gold Elite = Nice savings

[plen]

I've been recently rebuilding my credit over the past year and the first step I took was getting a secured TD Green Visa. I also had TDs Infinity Chequing account which requires a minimum balance of $3000 to waive the $12.95 monthly fee. I adhered to that minimum balance and was happy to hear that the $1000 credit limit secured for my TD Green Visa via my chequings account still counts toward my minimum monthly balance.

I soon realized that by maintaining a minimum balance of $5000 would allow me to get TDs Select Service chequing account and be fee free. This account includes a lot of perks such as a Small Deposit Box, Unlimited Interac ABM and Plus system withdrawals, Borderless Plan with a US Chequings Account and plus they waive the annual fee on the TD Gold Elite Visa for both you and one additional cardholder.

To that end I realized I could switch my secured card to the $5000 limit TD Gold Elite card. This card offers 1% cash back and Emergency Roadside (which I already pay for with CAA) assistance plus some other perks.

So basically here is what I did.

Got my chequings account up to $5500 or so
Changed my account type from Infinity to Select Service
Changed my secured TD Green Visa with $1000 limit to TD Gold Elite Visa with $5000 limit (still secured on my chequings account)

Now I can never drop below $5000 on my Select Service account due to the security deposit and incur the $24.95 monthly fee (this helps me beat the temptation to dip below for unimportant expenses) plus the annual fee for my TD Gold Elite Visa is waived.

Highlights:

• All the perks of Select Service account = $300 yearly savings
• Annual fee waived on TD Gold Elite Visa = $99 yearly savings
• Free Deluxe TD Auto Club Membership = $79 yearly savings
• Unlimited Interac ABM and PLUS system withdrawals = $40 yearly savings
• 1% Annual Cash Rebate on purchases = $80 dollar earned
• More perks with TD Gold Elite Card
  
  • Trip Interruption Insurance
  • No-Fee Travellers Cheques
  • Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance
  • Emergency Travel Assistance Services
  • Delayed and Lost Baggage Insurance
  • CardAssist Card Registry Service
  • Purchase security and extended warranty protection
• More perks with TD Select Service Chequings Account
  
  • Free drafts and certified cheques
  • Free small safety deposit box (subject to availability)
  • No commission fee for Canadian and U.S. dollar travellers cheques
  • 1/4% interest bonus on 1 - 5 Year GICs
  • Free Borderless Plan with U.S. Dollar Daily Interest Chequing Account

I'm not sure if I could currently find a better investment for this $5000. I'm certainly not going to lose any of its value. It's tied up and unavailable but that can always be cancelled in case of an extreme emergency but I have an account with Ally for that. I don't maintain a balance at all. I monitor and pay my credit card weekly.

The fact that my credit card is secured shouldn't be essential. It just enforces my minimum monthly balance helping me beat some temptations at the expense of dipping below and being charged $25. I'm not trying to sell TD here or anything, just thought I'd recommend this option to people who could value from all of the perks, especially existing TD customers.

Thanks for listening

[CanadianCapitalist]

That's exactly what I have myself. If you have a habit of having high cash balances in chequing accounts TD Select is excellent value.

[the-royal-mail]

Was that a sales pitch? A subtle form of spam? It sure reads that way.

[brad]

It's a good deal if you have a use/need for the perks. Personally I can't see anything on the list that I either need, want, or don't already have elsewhere.

Here's the deal I set up:

My main chequing and savings accounts are with ING, no fees, no minimum balance required, unlimited transactions.

I have a no-fee rewards Visa card from TD that gives me a cash rebate at the beginning of each year.

For convenience, I have another bank account at the credit union that has a branch at the top of my street -- they have a wider ATM network than the one ING uses. I set up an account that gives me 12 transactions per month for no fee, as long as I keep a minimum balance of $1,500 in my account. I only use that account when I need cash and there isn't an ING-compatible ATM nearby, and that's usually 6 or 7 times per month so I have a comfortable cushion.

That works well enough for me and it's a pretty stress-free arrangement that leaves more of my cash available for other things. I realize that with today's low interest rates you're not losing much by tying up $5K in a chequing account. But I'm not particularly swayed by the long list of perks.

[NorthernRaven]

I signed up with TD Waterhouse this summer, and for convenience moved my bank accounts from BMO as well. I wound up with the Select package as well. It waives the $99 fee on the Gold Elite VISA (1% cashback) which replaced my old Aerogold from CIBC (you can also choose the $120 First Class Travel Infinite card). That will provide the roadside package once my 3 years from Mazda is done next year. You can also get a fee-waived $US Visa and their Borderless $US chequing account if you need it.

It's a good deal if you have a use/need for the perks. Personally I can't see anything on the list that I either need, want, or don't already have elsewhere. Here's the deal I set up:

My main chequing and savings accounts are with ING, no fees, no minimum balance required, unlimited transactions.

I have a no-fee rewards Visa card from TD that gives me a cash rebate at the beginning of each year.

For convenience, I have another bank account at the credit union that has a branch at the top of my street -- they have a wider ATM network than the one ING uses. I set up an account that gives me 12 transactions per month for no fee, as long as I keep a minimum balance of $1,500 in my account. I only use that account when I need cash and there isn't an ING-compatible ATM nearby, and that's usually 6 or 7 times per month so I have a comfortable cushion.

That works well enough for me and it's a pretty stress-free arrangement that leaves more of my cash available for other things. I realize that with today's low interest rates you're not losing much by tying up $5K in a chequing account. But I'm not particularly swayed by the long list of perks.

It isn't as bad a hit as you might think, even without the perks. Assuming all money at 1.5% by default, I'd lose about $90/year with an average $6000 balance in the TD chequing. Keeping a $1000 balance in an ING chequing would cost $12.50, and there's likely a few dollars lost in lower interest on $1500+ in the credit union. TD's no-fee cashback VISA only pays 0.5% on the first $3000, so that's another $15/year.

What is really irking (and this is most banks in general) is that the accounts seem designed to either require keeping a big safe bulge over the minimums, or tedious manual monitoring. The TD savings account I keep for topping-up and other purposes allows free manual transfers (web/phone/ABM), but debits and other transactions are $2 after one freebie per month, and not even the mighty Select plan waives this. So you don't want to be doing Interac purchases from savings, and there's no way of saying "please make transfers from my savings to chequing to keep the balance above $5000". You could set up an preauthorized transfer, but these are debits so anything more than monthly would hit that $2 fee. Even transferring to my brokerage account has a bit of extra hassle - if I transfer from savings it is one of those $2 debits, but if I transfer from savings to chequing, then immediately from chequing to brokerage, it is free.

What I'd really like is for a "OneAccount" system. For the first, say, $6000 no interest is paid. For the portion from $6000 to perhaps $25000, it would pay the savings account rate (0.75% at TD right now). On the portion above $25,000, it would pay their high interest savings rate (1.25%). It would be fascinating to know where the breakpoints would have to be set to come out revenue neutral for their existing customer base. I suspect it would be quite a bit higher than one might guess.

[DavidJD]

Was that a sales pitch? A subtle form of spam? It sure reads that way.

I am sure it is just a coincidence that he joined and is offering such a glowing recomendation for a bank service.

[plen]

I am sure it is just a coincidence that he joined and is offering such a glowing recomendation for a bank service.

It really is, I'm not into spamming at all, far from it. I'm just trying to point out how I was able to get a lot of perks and save money - Honestly. I suppose I should have saved the post until I was a bit more of a community member, but just trying to share my experience with others.

If the admins want to pull the thread, feel free.

[the-royal-mail]

Maybe the mods could post a reminder of what our rules are regarding spam. Just because the post was written in the first person, doesn't mean it isn't spam. Check out all the links that were posted. It really begs the question, why the OP would take the time to do all that writing and message composition. What's in it for him?

[DavidJD]

It really is, I'm not into spamming at all, far from it. I'm just trying to point out how I was able to get a lot of perks and save money - Honestly. I suppose I should have saved the post until I was a bit more of a community member, but just trying to share my experience with others.

If the admins want to pull the thread, feel free.

Sorry dude - the post was very flattering and well put together. More thought went into it than we are used to (or than I do).

Skills are too sharp for a newbie perhaps!

Apologies.

[plen]

Maybe the mods could post a reminder of what our rules are regarding spam. Just because the post was written in the first person, doesn't mean it isn't spam. Check out all the links that were posted. It really begs the question, why the OP would take the time to do all that writing and message composition. What's in it for him?

What's in it for every one here who provides free advice, whether formatted nicely or not? To help others and learn themselves? Maybe the discussion would prove that I could have been putting the $5000 to better use through various means. As for my message composition and formatting, I just like to be very clear and concise, plus I'm a vBulletin user for a decade, so I use the codes often.

Not the start I wanted to get off to here, especially tripping your spam concerns the-royal-mail. I've really liked your posts throughout the forum as I lurked.

Anyway a moderator did have to approve my thread, so I'd like to think they did see it was just a well composed personal experience report.