# Having both credit union and bank



## Wolfkrieg (Jul 24, 2011)

So, i've been a member at Coast Capital Credit Union since I was like 14, and it seems pretty good. But recently ive pulled most of my funds, or at least my savings, and stuck it into TD and TD Waterhouse. It is really inconvenient to have to manually go into both institutions physically just to transfer money since it can not be done online. Just curious if you guys think it is worth it to even hang on to my long time buddies at CC or if I should just ditch them and join the big bad TD full time. I have read a bit about the advantages of holding either credit unions and banks, but not sure if their are really any advantages to holding one of each at the same time.

Suggestions?


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## ChrisR (Jul 13, 2009)

The easiest way to transfer money between accounts at different institutions is to use the "bill payment" function through online banking. From your credit union account, set your TD Waterhouse account # as a payee for bill payments. Now you can "pay" money into your TD account the same way you pay your phone bill.

And if your credit union doesn't have online banking... well, probably time to switch to a bank that's made its way out of the dark ages.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Well, are you paying fees to keep accounts open at both places? If there's no fees and you're not paying any interest then I can't think of any other disadvantages to keeping both open. 

I would also ask what was so advantageous for you to have moved most of your money to another place?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I didn't know you could use bill payment to transfer money to other private bank accounts. Does this work at every bank?


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

ChrisR was referring to TD Waterhouse, a brokerage account. I know when I set up at TDW, I was able to set up my brokerage account as a bill payee in the BMO system and transfer some initial funding that way. I'm pretty sure you can't set up a regular bank account as the destination, but once it is in the Waterhouse account you can use TD's own transfer tools to move it to chequing or savings.

I'm not sure what feature of Coast CU would be compelling enough to keep a setup there if TD is the primary. TD has terrible savings accounts (0.5% Everyday, or 1.25% High Interest with $5 transactions), but the solution for that is to link up with a high-interest online institution.


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## Wolfkrieg (Jul 24, 2011)

I talked to a rep from both banks and they said it wasn't possible to transfer money from my credit union straight to TD. Which is why I had to physically go into CC and pull a big amount of money out and walk to TD and transfer it there. Which was a long and inconvenient procedure including them exchanging phone calls and bringing managers out to make sure I wasn't scamming them and all that good stuff. If I can transfer from CC straight to my brokerage I would have no need to make this thread. I will look into this a bit more ..


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Ah yes, I encountered those same issues recently when I wanted to gift some money to a family member. In the end I had to pay $6.50 for a physical bank draft, purchased in person and then physically walk it to the destination bank, stand in line again etc. I hate how they make it so inconvenient and cumbersome for individuals to move money around amongst themselves.


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> Ah yes, I encountered those same issues recently when I wanted to gift some money to a family member. In the end I had to pay $6.50 for a physical bank draft, purchased in person and then physically walk it to the destination bank, stand in line again etc. I hate how they make it so inconvenient and cumbersome for individuals to move money around amongst themselves.


If you and the recipient are on-line types, there's the Interac e-mail transfer. Most banks charge around $1.50 for this, and some (BMO) include one or two free per month in some chequing plans.

Writing a cheque from your end wasn't an option in this case?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

That doesn't work if one side isn't online. And if the recipient needs a large sum of money fast, the hold associated with awaiting cheque clearance wouldn't have worked.

Paypal perfected this years ago (but with ripoff fees), I don't understand why banks don't open up their system and make it more flexible for all.


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## Dave (Apr 5, 2009)

I have a similar setup: big bank account and credit union.

I learend that big banks as BMO do not accept a credit union as a payee. However, I have found a way around by setting the credit union as one of my bank accounts to which I can transfer money with ING. Since I use ING Thrive as my primary chequing account, money from and to the credit union can be directly transferred. I keeep my BMO account open just for the USD credit card and I transfer US$ to them from ING.

Dave


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## ChrisR (Jul 13, 2009)

Wolfkrieg said:


> I talked to a rep from both banks and they said it wasn't possible to transfer money from my credit union straight to TD. Which is why I had to physically go into CC and pull a big amount of money out and walk to TD and transfer it there. Which was a long and inconvenient procedure including them exchanging phone calls and bringing managers out to make sure I wasn't scamming them and all that good stuff. If I can transfer from CC straight to my brokerage I would have no need to make this thread. I will look into this a bit more ..


Sounds like the credit union really is stuck in the dark ages then. All of the big banks allow you to make online bill payments to literally hundreds (if not thousands) of payees, including to brokerage accounts. If your credit union does have an online bill payment system, make sure you check it thoroughly for anything related to TD Waterhouse as sometimes the correct payee can be tough to find. (For example, from my RBC account if I search for "TD" it will not find the correct payee, but if I search for "Waterhouse" it will. And the same, in my TD account, if I search for "scotia" it will find Scotia iTrade, but if I search for "itrade" it will not!)

I guess an alternative would be to set up the pre-authorized deposit plan with TD Waterhouse, to draw funds directly from your Credit union account, but this will only work if you want to transfer the same amount every month.

Oh and by the way, just because the people who work at the bank tell you something is not possible, does not in any way mean that its not possible! Especially, at TD branches, they tend to not have a clue what their bank can and can't do!


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## ChrisR (Jul 13, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I didn't know you could use bill payment to transfer money to other private bank accounts. Does this work at every bank?


I don't think you can use this to transfer money between chequing accounts, but you should be able to use a bill payment to move money from your chequing account to an account at any major brokerage.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

I do similar with Ally bank...easy to use them to transfer amongst other banks without costs...and 2% to boot is cool as well. There is a few days lag between tranfers though so if you need it done now! cash is king.


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## Wolfkrieg (Jul 24, 2011)

Well, you guys were right. Don't ever rely on what a bank rep tells you as the truth. You can easily transfer money to Waterhouse and most likely other brokers by just going through the Pay Bills tab and searching it. Didn't need to waste a couple hours of my time after all. Its my fault for not searching a bit more on the website, but again, I trusted the not so bright and cute voiced rep at the bank haha.


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