Bank Recommendations

Forum Sponsor
I think it's my US$ acct too....lol. I'll deposit $1 US.
After a lifetime with RBC, if they dick me around, I'll move. Any bank will cover the cost of transfer that RBC will impose.
 
Lightcycle said:
Credit utilization is not the most critical part of your credit score, payment history is.

Here is a reference:

https://www.thebalance.com/what-your-credit-score-is-made-of-960450

Here's another one:

https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/help/5-parts-components-fico-credit-score-6000.php



But what does this have to do with what we are talking about? This is the original quote:



And I responded:



Nowhere did either of us talk about credit utilization. We were talking about the cumulative total of potential liability. Having one or ten credit cards will have 0 impact on your credit rating.

And even if we were to pursue your line of thinking about credit utilization, more credit cards hence higher potential liability will actually *lower* % credit utilization, if the balance owing stays the same.

ie. I have one credit card, limit $10K, currently has $5K on it. I am at 50% utilization. If I apply for more cards, the available credit increases. Say I have 5 cards at $10K each. I now have a $5K balance from a total of $50K available. That's a 10% utlization. Much better than the 50% utilization with only a single card.

It's actually more *beneficial* to have more cards, or more credit available to reflect a lower credit utilization.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure you know how credit scores are calculated in Canada, or how credit decisions are adjudicated in Canada. Equifax has a FICO agreement, that doesn't mean that's how they calculate credit scores. Your references are from the USA, Canadian credit bureaus are different, they use something similar to FICO, they call it Beacon and it takes into consideration different factors for the Canadian credit markets.

Also, when you deal with credit through banks in Canada, your credit score thru Equifax and Transunion are only part of the equation -- banks keep a unique score and have metrics that are weighed against credit bureau score.
 
Clem said:
That's Crazy. Check the contract you signed and see if they are trying to change the terms of your service. Bell tried to do that with my Cell service once and I argued with them until they reinstated the original terms.

My RBC BankManager was extremely ****** off when I went in to close my accounts. She even asked was this personal. I told her no, its just business. RBC couldn't support my needs.

I did get meet with the TD Bank manager. They have assigned me a personal representative and I have his direct line if something should go happen and I need help immediately. He only deals with 40 customers in total, and can provide a more personalized experience. That's a really nice touch, and I'm not a wealthy guy by any stretch of the imagination. I wonder how someone with a $100mm net worth gets treated :)
Click to expand...
Your story is common in banking, while RBC provides excellent customer service, they do lose a lot of customers due to silly policies -- I left them and took my business elsewhere when they decided to cancel one of my kid's insurance policies because he had 3 tickets.

With respect to someone handling 40 accounts -- think about that for a minute. An account manager in a wealth group manages a few hundred clients with an average of $500K under management, the account managers looking after pro athletes have well over a hundred accounts.
 
Mad Mike said:
I'm not sure you know how credit scores are calculated in Canada, or how credit decisions are adjudicated in Canada. Equifax has a FICO agreement, that doesn't mean that's how they calculate credit scores. Your references are from the USA, Canadian credit bureaus are different, they use something similar to FICO, they call it Beacon and it takes into consideration different factors for the Canadian credit markets.
Click to expand...

You mean this Beacon, where it explicitly states that payment history is more important than credit utilization:

https://www.alberta-mortgages.com/articles/credit-bureau.html

It would help if you actually provided references that supported your statements.
 
Riceburner said:
Strange, all the info I've heard was that it's not beneficial to have multiple credit cards in general.
Click to expand...

For a high credit score it's not. It can help improve your score as long as you keep the overall utilization below 30% (let's remember this applies to Joe Plumber with 1 card as well). But depending on the amount of credit on all the cards, you may be lining yourself for a denial come mortgage or car loan time.
 
Evoex said:
For a high credit score it's not. It can help improve your score as long as you keep the overall utilization below 30% (let's remember this applies to Joe Plumber with 1 card as well). But depending on the amount of credit on all the cards, you may be lining yourself for a denial come mortgage or car loan time.
Click to expand...

See this is useful advice and part of why young people should see a real financial adviser. Not just the guy at the bank, and possibly not your Dad because he may not understand banking realities either.
I've gotten bad advice from a bank, and REALLY bad advice from an RBC wealth adviser. But it was me that took that advice and acted on it. I'm more cautious now, having a better understanding of banking realities .
 
Kedo said:
I received the same letter last week on a $US account I have with $1K balance. Advised to make a transaction by mid March or $20 applies.
I have not travelled to the US for 3 years so money is just there.
Here is the kicker. Upon receipt of the letter I tried to transfer funds. Not allowed in...not allowed out. Insufficient funds.
I contacted RBC and they had already locked the account but would take the hold off to allow transactions.
WTF!! .?
Now I am thinking I will take the nice exchange rate and move it to my other savings account, if they want to be like that.
Click to expand...

Yeah I got one of those letters as well. I tried to move some money online but got some strange error. I guess I have to call them like you did.. ugh the dread of having to speak to some customer service robot person.
 
Kedo said:
I received the same letter last week on a $US account I have with $1K balance. Advised to make a transaction by mid March or $20 applies.
I have not travelled to the US for 3 years so money is just there.
Here is the kicker. Upon receipt of the letter I tried to transfer funds. Not allowed in...not allowed out. Insufficient funds.
I contacted RBC and they had already locked the account but would take the hold off to allow transactions.
WTF!! .?
Now I am thinking I will take the nice exchange rate and move it to my other savings account, if they want to be like that.
Click to expand...

craziness
I'd just draw it out in cash
load up a USD prepaid card
let the account die. eff RBC
 
sburns said:
Yeah I got one of those letters as well. I tried to move some money online but got some strange error. I guess I have to call them like you did.. ugh the dread of having to speak to some customer service robot person.
Click to expand...

I hear you and was expecting the same.
Actually it was a very friendly live N.A rep.and a quick answer
..even before the first "your call is important to us" loop.

I gave a quick explanation of what the notice stated and current lock-out issue and the correction was done instantly.
Super apologetic.
Less than 5 minutes from dial tone to dial tone.


I then moved $5 for a NEW transaction record so I should be good for another 2 years. LOL
 
crankcall said:
See this is useful advice and part of why young people should see a real financial adviser. Not just the guy at the bank, and possibly not your Dad because he may not understand banking realities either.
I've gotten bad advice from a bank, and REALLY bad advice from an RBC wealth adviser. But it was me that took that advice and acted on it. I'm more cautious now, having a better understanding of banking realities .
Click to expand...
You are going to get good and bad advice on finances everywhere. There is no special education or training required to be an FA at a bank, you can start as a teller at retail branch straight out of high school, work hard and demonstrate dependability and you're an FA before your third anniversary.

Retail banks provide great advice on everyday banking and lending, they are not the place to go for wealth advice. Banks all own wealth management operations, these services are not part of everyday banking and you don't get their services from a bank branch. Banks all have subsidiary companies that offer wealth management.

If you have a wealth qualifying portfolio (which I believe at RBC starts with as little as $250K+ of assets under management not including real estate) you'll deal with a wealth adviser. You'll pay fees, huge fees! You will get a professional adviser who is part of a team and a customized portfolio management plan. The advice you get is pretty good, that's not to say they don't make mistakes, but these folks are in the money making game and they do it quite dependably.

I always say that advice is like any other product or service -- you get what you pay for.
 
I cant argue any of that. I have no issue paying fees , everybody has to make a living.

My mini trainwreck with RBC wealth was my own making. He suggested I use the equity in my house to leverage in the market, it was 2007. I didnt go as deep as suggested but put 250K in, borrowed on a line of credit. Then came 2008. Pooff, i was down 200k and owed it on the LOC. Stay in for the long haul says buddy, it will all come back. The interest servicing the debt was more than it was accumulating in investment interest going forward.
I could have said no thanks.

The banks job, and the tellers (sales agents often on a quota ) is to make money for the bank. They will sell you products that are good for you , and good for them. They dont want you to default on a loan or mortgage, they dont want your car or house, they want you to carry as much debt as your shoulders will bear so you can keep paying interest and service charges.
 
So.... Latest update.

I moved everything to the TD back in February. They were very nice, did all the work for me and waved all the fees. I've been on a 6 week business trip to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and all the new cards worked without a hitch. Perfect.

I didn't have time to close my Royal accounts before I left but thought, no big deal, I'll do it when I get back. There was only about $5 left between all of the accounts that were still open

Got home Saturday and on Tuesday evening there was a knock at the door. I open it and there are 2 big guys standing there. They ask for me by name and then give me an envelope and have me sign for it. All very strange.

Anyway I open it and its a letter from the Royal Bank saying they were terminating all my bank accounts as they have determined that I am a "risk". WTF???

Anyway I call the Royal Bank Manager at my branch in Oakville and ask what all this is about. She says she is not at liberty to talk about it or discuss why it happened but, basically, the Royal don't want my business any more and its not up for discussion.

I went up to the TD branch and was talking to the guy they assigned to handle my accounts. He just laughed and told me not to sweat it. Basically there would have been questions asked of the Royal Bank manager at my branch as to why she lost the account which included all our deposits, our RRSP's, RESP's, my wife's business banking, etc.

To save her own ass, all she had to say was something like this guy is transferring large sums of money between banks so it looked like a risk for money laundering or whatever BS - so I terminated the accounts.

According to the guy at TD the agreement you sign with any bank gives them the right to unilaterally terminate the agreement at any time, no questions asked.

Still, it just seems like a bunch of sour grapes and she clearly took this personally :) Although it was not personal for me. I just wanted a bank that could help me. Maybe the question she should have been asking herself is what she could have done differently to keep this business instead of making excuses.

I was worried that it may bugger up my credit rating or something, but the Guy at the TD said that really based on your payment history on credit so don't sweat that either

So I have until May 21st to go in and get my $5 before they close the accounts... LOL.
 
Clem said:
So.... Latest update.

I moved everything to the TD back in February. They were very nice, did all the work for me and waved all the fees. I've been on a 6 week business trip to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and all the new cards worked without a hitch. Perfect.

I didn't have time to close my Royal accounts before I left but thought, no big deal, I'll do it when I get back. There was only about $5 left between all of the accounts that were still open

Got home Saturday and on Tuesday evening there was a knock at the door. I open it and there are 2 big guys standing there. They ask for me by name and then give me an envelope and have me sign for it. All very strange.

Anyway I open it and its a letter from the Royal Bank saying they were terminating all my bank accounts as they have determined that I am a "risk". WTF???

Anyway I call the Royal Bank Manager at my branch in Oakville and ask what all this is about. She says she is not at liberty to talk about it or discuss why it happened but, basically, the Royal don't want my business any more and its not up for discussion.

I went up to the TD branch and was talking to the guy they assigned to handle my accounts. He just laughed and told me not to sweat it. Basically there would have been questions asked of the Royal Bank manager at my branch as to why she lost the account which included all our deposits, our RRSP's, RESP's, my wife's business banking, etc.

To save her own ass, all she had to say was something like this guy is transferring large sums of money between banks so it looked like a risk for money laundering or whatever BS - so I terminated the accounts.

According to the guy at TD the agreement you sign with any bank gives them the right to unilaterally terminate the agreement at any time, no questions asked.

Still, it just seems like a bunch of sour grapes and she clearly took this personally :) Although it was not personal for me. I just wanted a bank that could help me. Maybe the question she should have been asking herself is what she could have done differently to keep this business instead of making excuses.

I was worried that it may bugger up my credit rating or something, but the Guy at the TD said that really based on your payment history on credit so don't sweat that either

So I have until May 21st to go in and get my $5 before they close the accounts... LOL.
Click to expand...
If you want real fun, when you go in with your $5 to close the remaining business, ask for a printed copy of all notes related to your profile and accounts. Banks are obliged to provide any information they keep on you within 30 days of a written request. You can also ask the bank manager to provide you written acknowledgement that they have received your request, they should do that on-the-spot.

For a bank to 'exit' a client, or in RBC terms 'de-market' a client, the bank will have documented reasons on file to justify their decision and actions. Those notes are available to you as a customer - the bank has 30 days to provide them, they do not have an option to refuse. If they do not agree, send a request through FCAC, they will get the notes for you.
 
Kedo said:
I hear you and was expecting the same.
Actually it was a very friendly live N.A rep.and a quick answer
..even before the first "your call is important to us" loop.

I gave a quick explanation of what the notice stated and current lock-out issue and the correction was done instantly.
Super apologetic.
Less than 5 minutes from dial tone to dial tone.


I then moved $5 for a NEW transaction record so I should be good for another 2 years. LOL
Click to expand...
Well I forgot about the deadline on the RBC letter, and they withdrew a $20 fee....Dam...
But luckily I have a pretty good relationship with one of the tellers at a branch and she reactivated the account and refunded the fee.
So now I am sitting on the account and will try to keep it active.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom