Can you guys give Marie any great tips?
Just wondering if you know of good financial institutions in Canada to bank with that have low or no service charges? Also, do you have any advice on how to close a bank account and not be charged a fee for doing so? Thank you.
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I use Coast Capital in BC. They have no fees for anything which is awesome! I can withdraw funds with their atm card using any atm that has the “Exchange” green and blue logo. That includes the HSBC and Vancity banks and any other credit union with that logo.
ING Direct just love it. Free, great website and 24/7 phone service… which gets you to a really person in no time. They also have a network of ATM (some affiliation with different bank), therefore I can use 5 differents ATM near my house with no fees and I got an option when visiting my parents in northern Quebec. The only fee I have is when I order a cheque book. They are $0.50 per cheque, but that’s it.
PC is the best!!
I use ING direct and is quite good
We’ve used PC Financial for about a dozen years now and we’ve been really happy. No fees. Free Groceries. Hard to beat for daily banking. We’ve used ING for our savings accounts for even longer and have had no complaints. Also no fees and interest rates that are a bit higher.
There’s no good reason to be paying for banking anymore!
PC FInancial. Have been with them for at least 10 years now.
I used to work for a major Canadian bank and fees are charged to close an account if it has been open less than 3 months. (May have changed since I retired 3 years ago). Otherwise the only fees charged would be the normal monthly fee for the account you are closing. Many people have good things to say about President’s Choice Financial but I don’t believe they operate all across the country. ING and ALLY are others that I have heard a little about but know no details on either of them. PC financial does pay better interest (ha ha) than the major banks.
PC Financial – not only are services free but you can also collect PC Points when you use the services or the PC MC. As mentioned earlier, PC points = free groceries. I have been with them for about 15 years and have redeemed thousands of dollars of free groceries using the points. Yes, I did say thousands of dollars. Highly recommend PC Financial.
I use both ING and PC financial and both are good. But ING has recently been bought out by scotia bank, they say they will remain no fee but there are people who have their doubts. The only time I pay fees is when I send an email money transfer and I think it is only a dollar, it is how I pay my rent so a dollar a month is not too bad.
The only thing I use my PC account for is buying groceries, so that I can earn the PC points towards free groceries, I just deposit my budgeted amount for groceries for the pay period.
I recently cancelled my account with scotia bank and did not have to pay any fees, but usually you will likely have to pay the monthly fee for your account before you cancel.
I’ve been with PC Financial for quiet awhile now. They are administered by CIBC, but have no fees for all the regular stuff, including free cheques. The only thing I have to pay for is the email money transfers, which makes some sense as the bank has to pay for that service too. I like that I have access to all CIBC bank machines as well as the PC Financial ones that are very Frequently in the Loblaws chain of stores.
The PC points accumulated that you can use to buy groceries are great too, hey, who would say ‘no’ to free groceries for doing what you already do?
I haven’t heard of being charged a fee for closing an account…
If you live in Calgary. The First Calgary Financial has no fees. And I agree with Amie to go online with ING. No fees and a higher interest rate for you savings account. You can have your amounts taken from your regular banking account.
Bmo has a Sobeys bank account. Not 100% sure of details but its supposed to be free. There’s also ING. If you can stay away from the top 5 banks you will make more interest and stuff.
Check out the fb group school lenders. There’s a lot of info on banks and mortgages and financing.
Make sure to follow Gail vaz oxlade (Til debt do us part and princess). She has some amazing advice and is very straight to the point.
I have a PCfinacial account which I love, I pay no monthly fees on it, have unlimited withdrawls at either CIBC ot PC kiosk, you can get cash back with no additional charge at anywhere they offer cashback. They don’t really have a physical branch but anytime I have called the service has been quick. Also you earm PC ppoints which you can redeem for groceries when you you use you debit card at Wholesale/Zehrs/Loblaws etc.