I’d like to impose on y’all again. Can I get suggestions on banks in Canada, specifically Ottawa, for a checking account?
I’ve looked at the website of Bank of Canada, and almost had a heart attack.
I’m in a credit union down here, which has probably spoiled me. I don’t use the ATM much, but do use my VISA-branded debit card frequently, and, yes, write checks too.
It should be able to accept occasional transfers/deposits in U.S. dollars.
(And as a side note, of all times for the Canadian dollar to hit a thirty-year high against the U.S. dollar, this is not the time I would have chosen!)
Yeah, the Bank of Canada is not the place to start. It’s the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Reserve in the US.
There are a handful of major Canadian banks. In Canada, banks are chartered at the federal level and subject to federal laws. The big ones:
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
Bank of Montreal (BMO)
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)
Bank of Nova Scotia aka Scotiabank
They all offer bricks and mortar branches in addition to online services. For the most part, I’d say one is about the same as the other in terms of services. They tend to have associated trust and investment companies if you are looking for those sorts of services. All of the major banks would, I expect, have no diffiiculty sending funds to the US.
Also, if it matters to you, they are affiliated with different credit card products. For example, the Bank of Montreal credit card is Mastercard. I think that the Royal Bank is VISA, but I’m not sure.
Canadians use debit cards a lot and have been for 25 years or so. We can and do use them pretty much anywhere and everywhere. The debit card is issued by the bank as a part of opening up your bank account.
You can also get cheques attached to your bank account. I think I’m not unusual when I say that I use them very infrequently. I pay the people who look after my lawn by cheque because I pay via the mail, but otherwise, that’s about it.
On the anecdotal side of things, FWIW, I’ve been using the Bank of Montreal for years, and am extremely happy with the customer service that they provide. I have been fortunate enough that I have had the same CRM for about 15 years, and she is very good. I am not looking forward to the day that she retires.
Sorry about the dollar. It’s been rising pretty steadily over the last while. For the last couple of days it’s been sitting above 94 cents US. There is very strong speculation that it will be at par with the US dollar by year end. There is some minor speculation as to the possibility of it surpassing the US dollar, but I think that is not the widespread view at this point.
Yeah, the Royal Bank is the largest of the banks. If you’re looking to recreate your experience with credit unions it wouldn’t be the place to start.
By the way, sorry I can’t help you with credit unions in Ontario. Credit unions are regulated at the provincial level, and I’m here in Western Canada. I could tell you lots if you wanted to know about Saskatchewan!
I’ve been with the CIBC pretty much forever and have never had a problem with them.
If you’d rather a credit union, there are indeed credit unions in Canada. You can use yellowpages.ca to search them. The CS Coop is very old and well-established. I recognize Desjardins and the Ottawa Women’s Co-op. The others I don’t know as well but you could visit their sites and see if one of them suits you.
I was able to find the web sites of three credit unions in Ottawa, and it seems that they are only a little cheaper than the banks. (Though one did offer a US$ checking account, which is intriguing.)
I’d like to have an account open via money transfer before I get there, so I suppose one of the big boys would be best for now. I can always change once I’m there and settled.
Don’t deal with the Scotiabank - they are scum-sucking rat bastards who tried to rip off an elderly lady (my mom) with their shady, illegal dealings. We caught them at it, but they were fully trying to scam her and her RRSPs (that’s another thing - we have Registered Retirement Savings Plans here, rather than 401Ks).
Expect incompetence from all the banks. You have to watch your accounts and your statements carefully. Don’t use your debit card at interac machines with any other bank other than the one it was issued from - they will hose you BIG time for that.
Soon you can join the rest of Canada in hating banks. Whee!
Yeah dont forget to check out the bank of tim hortons. Deposit your money in a variety of drive through locations or counter tellers and you can check the liquidity of your account almost imediately.
And they pay double-double interest on your account!
Another vote for “all the major federally chartered banks are about the same.” I’ve been banking with the TD for many years, and never had a serious problem–the one time I had a small one, it was taken care of quickly and efficiently.
One edge I do find that federal banks here have over credit unions and the like is that being federally chartered means that (a) you can use any branch of the bank in the country if you need to (example: although I live in Calgary, I can get a certified cheque drawn on my Toronto account from an Edmonton branch of my bank); and (b) cheques clear fairly quickly without any “out of state” hassle. Indeed, if you deal with a bank, there is no such thing as an “out of province” cheque. But as has been said, most people just use a debit card for purchases anyway; leaving cheques and the like for mail payments or for payments over the daily debit limit.
On the downside, you do pay for things. Service charges will nickel-and-dime your accounts away if you’re not careful. The issue comes up in Parliament from time to time, but ultimately nothing is done to address Canadians’ increasing dislike of new and ever-higher bank service charges.
Stay the hell away from CIBC; my roommate has had the most horrendous troubles with them.
I’m with TD-Canada Trust and they give quite good customer service. As humungous metastatizing megacorporations go, they’re one of the better ones.
Also, if you’re not already familiar with how debit cards work here: unlike in the US it doesn’t work like a credit card. Instead, you use your ATM card, which works on a system called Interac (practically every bank in Canada is connected to this; it’s also the network that allows you to take out your money at other banks, like the Plus or Cirrus system). There’s a little keypad and you enter your PIN. It’s apparently the most popular method of payment in Canada right now, and the great majority of stores (just about all large retailers, and most small businesses) offer it.
Oh – as for co-ops, the Caisse populaire Desjardins, previously mentioned, is a Quebec-based credit union, and the largest and oldest chain of credit unions in North America. I understand it has several branches in Ottawa. I imagine their Ottawa branches offer service in English.
CS Coop no longer exists; they’re now called Alterna Savings. They’re my bank and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them. The service charges I pay for the privilege of loaning them my money are ridiculous.
At my bank, you don’t pay service charges at all if you maintain a certain balance and it’s not an unreasonable balance IMHO. I haven’t paid a service charge in years.
There’s also excellent online banking. I have all my regular payments set up via online banking - bliss! And I can manage my accounts from home at 3 AM in my jammies if I so desire.
Yeah, the credit card/debit card thing might confuse you. I was pretty confused when I first moved to the US.
In the States, I have a VISA-brand debit card, which means that I can use it like a credit card (where VISA is accepted), but it takes the money directly out of my account. It also doubles as my bank card for ATMs. It isn’t actually a credit card at all.
In Canada, I have a bank card, which can be used anywhere as a debit card (ie, pay for things directly from your account) that takes Interac (which is, pretty much, everywhere in Canada). This is issued automatically upon getting a bank account. It isn’t affiliated with any credit card companies. Seperately, I have a traditional VISA credit card.
As to which bank to choose - well, as everyone else has said, they’re basically the same. I’m with TD and like it well enough, I guess. It kind of sucks, but I think all of them do.
You should clarify whether they mean an Interac Direct Payment (using it at a merchant) or an Interac Network Withdrawal (using it at an off-brand bank machine).
2 per day is the limit, or is it 60 in a month? 4 Interac transactions on a weekend would be a bit low. If you go shopping and buy at several stores you’d easily blow through that limit.
Of course, if you’re used to just using cash or credit cards for everything, I guess that wouldn’t be a problem.
Other countries’ practices are always interesting. Here I have just the one card (a Mastercard) which serves all functions: a debit card directly from my account at ATMs and wherever EFTPOS is available (practically everywhere) and a normal credit card too.
