My GF has recently had a very bad experience with CIBC. Basically she had the misfortune of shopping at Homesense in December, and had her credit card number stolen. It was used for some online purchases (gambling sites) for about $800. When she called CIBC to dispute the claim she did not receive even adequate customer service. They basically accused her of lieing to them. She did eventually get it worked out, and has been credited with the money but she is now very angry at CIBC. However she had a fairly large amount of credit with them, as well as a card that offered Cashback (I do not know the exact details but it was something like 0.5% for any spending under a certain amount and 1% after, resetting each month). She is now looking for a new credit card. I remembered reading a thread which detailed some of the evils of certain credit card companies.
Also I found this site in another thread on credit cards however I assume that is just for American cards. I did find a canadian equivalent, link , but there are not nearly as many options. Would the American one apply for Canadians? Or does anyone have any recommendations for a good Cashback Canadian card? Thanks.
Not exactly the same but check out Redflagdeals. The have an excellent forum dedicated to good canuck deals including a personal finance section with credit card reviews.
Though she was banking through CIBC, I believe CIBC actually offer cards through Visa. If that was what she had, that is aCIBC Visa card and she was unhappy with her experience she needs to find a financial institutional that offers something other than through Visa. The Bank of Montreal, for example, offers Mastercard.
Exactly. CIBC has no credit card of its own. She was dealing with Visa. She doesn’t have that many other choices if she wants an all-purpose card; it’s Mastercard or AmEx and that’s it.
Yes it was a Visa. So it wasn’t CIBC who gave the poor customer service, but rather Visa? So the bank issuing the card has nothing much to do with the customer service aspect of the card? So I am somewhat confused here then. What is the point of banks offering cards?