# switching banks



## abcxyz (May 30, 2011)

Hi Folks,

My wife and I have several accounts with a major bank. yesterday i go to the branch to see what they can do for me . There is a decent amount involved and I wanted to get a better rate for a HISA. They preceded to try to sell me more useless products like managed mutual funds, home equity line of credit etc. Needless to say customer service was 0 and sales pitch was in full affect. Can somebody provide insight in whats involved with closing several banking accounts and brokerage accounts at one bank and setting up shop at another? costs-hassle-is it even worth it????

Cheers

ps if your reading this bank manager that was terrible service yesterday - long time customer you know us by name and that is what we got!!!!!!


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Switching banks is a hassle, but some banks have services to make it easy -- TD for example has a switch-it tool that removes a lot of the headache. I also had no trouble switching everything over to ING a couple of years ago and once I saw how easy it was I wished I hadn't procrastinated for so long.

The biggest hassle is if you have lots of automatic payments and links to your existing account(s); it just takes time to get all of those switched. Also if you have e-post bill notification you have to get that transferred to the new bank.

I switched my chequing account to ING a couple of years ago and so far have saved $230 in bank fees. Definitely worth it.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

brad said:


> Switching banks is a hassle, but some banks have services to make it easy -- TD for example has a switch-it tool that removes a lot of the headache. I also had no trouble switching everything over to ING a couple of years ago and once I saw how easy it was I wished I hadn't procrastinated for so long.
> 
> The biggest hassle is if you have lots of automatic payments and links to your existing account(s); it just takes time to get all of those switched. Also if you have e-post bill notification you have to get that transferred to the new bank.
> 
> I switched my chequing account to ING a couple of years ago and so far have saved $230 in bank fees. Definitely worth it.


The way I avoided the issues with automatic payments is that I opened the new account and ran both in parallel until the key automatic parts - depositing my payroll, mortgage payments etc. were shifted over to the new account. Then I closed the old account.

Now I prefer to program the bill payments myself for the hassle factor if I want to change. So I don't have more than two or three automatic items. IMO, it's a lot easier to login to a new bank account, enter the bill payment and not have to worry about notifying the billing company of the change, as well as confirm the update to their billing systems. 


Cheers


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

I agree with Eclectic12, just open the new one and use them both for a month or two until you have everything figured out.

Here's a post about switching to a credit union - http://www.moneyville.ca/blog/post/1121275--a-credit-union-may-be-worth-a-try

I switched to ING Direct last year and it wasn't too much of a hassle. They have a promotion where you get $100 bonus if you open a Thrive Chequing account and arrange for your paycheque to be deposited there.


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## GreenAvenue (Dec 28, 2011)

Echo said:


> just open the new one and use them both for a month or two until you have everything figured out.


 Same here, transferred money from lousy ol' Scotiabank to my new bank one by one, closed credit cards with Scotiabank, opened up one with new bank etc. Took me about 4 months but I'm glad I put some effort & time in it and I don't deal with Scotia anymore. Didn't cost me a cent by the way. Good luck  !!


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## Saniokca (Sep 5, 2009)

GreenAvenue said:


> Same here, transferred money from lousy ol' Scotiabank


I've been thinking about it for years... anytime you call the general line they tell you to call the branch because they can't answer certain questions. If you move, you actually need to switch your "home branch" because many things can only be done there... RBC abandoned that model a long time ago (or maybe never had it - not sure) but they don't let you off the hook with the monthly fees with some minimum balance. Only if you have many products there which I don't need.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

TD have something called easyswitch, they do everything for you.


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## Dave (Apr 5, 2009)

I would not sweat it. Maybe you did not get a good deal because they can not offer you anything better. When I sold a property last year, I had a six figure deposit into my BMO account. They must have some kind of account flags when this happens because within a week I started getting calls from the bank rep who wanted to meet me. I thought that they just wanted to make sure that the money was legal, but oh surpise they were interested in getting me invested with them. Since it was money to be used in the short term, I got offered a 0,75% rate for the priviledge of freezing my money for a year in a GIC. I left wondering why they bothered to waste my and their time, and if they invest their own money in a similar manner. I was by no means offended, just dumbfounded.  And I did my own thing. My main chequing account is with ING. I still keep the BMO account because I need a US$ account and credit card for regular US$ transactions. So it depends on what you need. 

Dave

PS: Just do not switch to a Caisse Desjardins. You can not even fart there if you are not in the original branch where you opened the account. I got a taste of the nightmare when I moved around the country for a degree. Stay away from them.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Echo said:


> I agree with Eclectic12, just open the new one and use them both for a month or two until you have everything figured out.
> 
> [ ... ]


It certainly helped that the new account was with PCF and wasn't costing anything to have open in parallel.

Thanks for the link about the credit union switch.


Cheers


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

I'd just like to add that if you want to close the account, make sure it's after tax return and the government did its withdrawal or deposit. I've had two checking account for a while. It's actually not a big hassle to keep. Occasionally, the bank of the dormant account will randomly charge me for domething, which results in overdraft, but nothing a phone all couldn't resolve.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Causalien said:


> I'd just like to add that if you want to close the account, make sure it's after tax return and the government did its withdrawal or deposit. I've had two checking account for a while.
> 
> [ ... ]


Okay ... now you've got me curious. 

The gov't has only made deposits of a refund to my chequing account, only when I remember to include a cancelled cheque with the tax return. If there is no cancelled cheque then I'm waiting for a physical cheque in the mail (no pun intended).


Are your refunds going automatically, without a cancelled cheque?


Inquiring minds want to know .... (or something like that )


Cheers


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

Eclectic12 said:


> Okay ... Are your refunds going automatically, without a cancelled cheque?Inquiring minds want to know .... (or something like that )
> Cheers


If you log into your CRA account you can setup automatic deposit.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/myaccount/

If you don't the cheque is mailed.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

You do not need to send a void cheque every time you file a tax return to get automatic deposit. If it was set up that way the first time it will continue that way and into that account everytime until you cancel it.

To the OP. If you are just switching to another of the big 5 banks, you are wasting your time and probably some reasonable transfer fee money. They all would have seen you as a wallet and done the same thing.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

OptsyEagle said:


> You do not need to send a void cheque every time you file a tax return to get automatic deposit. If it was set up that way the first time it will continue that way and into that account everytime until you cancel it.
> 
> [ ... ]


That's what CRA claims as well as what happens for other people - the problem is that is not what has been happening for me. 

The bank account hasn't changed in fourteen years, has been the only account registered for automatic deposit for that time-frame and has had several successful EFT transfers of my refund. Yet at least five times when I didn't include a void cheque - CRA mailed me via snail mail a paper cheque. 

It beats me why the same bank account at times gets an EFT transfer and at other times does not. Since my cheques are free, it's easier to include a void cheque. 

My home address has changed twice in that time period and IMO, shouldn't matter for automatic deposit.


Mind you - if that's the only issue, I can live with that. My uncle had to re-file his tax return fourteen times one year before it was finally accepted. Since he wasn't familiar with how to treat one of his investments, each tax return was based on the recommendation from his local tax office.


+1 on the big five banks being less of a deal.


Cheers


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

leoc2 said:


> If you log into your CRA account you can setup automatic deposit.
> http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/myaccount/
> 
> If you don't the cheque is mailed.


Maybe that's what I need to do. 

The tax return form claims that a void cheque is needed once with a paper return but as I posted to OptsyEagle, that has not been my experience. Though I have not used the "My Account" facility yet - so maybe that will work better.


Cheers


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