Canadian Bank Accounts

[Reba 2]

sheesh, it takes my credit union about 5 days to post any transactions to my account! Its bloody rediculous really. Back home I could go make a POS purchase, get home and check my online statement and it would already be there. Even if it was a Sunday!

[thetreble 19]

I only bank online with Wamu and it is easy and I like it.

By the way, I banked with CIBC and Scotiabank my whole life and i ALWAYS has to pay fees. Both banks charged me at least 20 bucks a month in transaction fees and it wasn't from being out of country or anything.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Ihave had various accounts with various Cdn institutions and yes many you had to keep a certain amount of $$$ in your acct to get the "free" banking. BUT if anytime that amount dropped below the appropriate level, you would get hit with all the fees!! President Choice has NO fees and they have been great to deal with. One can deposit/take out $$$ at any CIBC!! But if you head back to the USA, PC will want you to CLOSE the acct. Prior to leaving NS to the USA and I phoned them up to give them my USA addy. That was all fine , THEN they stated I would have to close my acct soon down the road, I forget the time frame. Instead I gave them my parents addy in SK! I keep very little in the acct, but I keep it active. After no use--think its either 3 or 6 months---they deactivate it! I juts have to cal them up, and the reactivate it within minutes, no questions asked

[DeadPoolX 9]

I think the major difference (that I've found, anyway) is that far more people in the U.S. tend to prefer credit cards over debit cards. This isn't just to earn credit card companies money, either. In the U.S., you can use a debit card without entering a PIN number, just like a credit card, only it immediately withdraws from your checking (or in some cases, savings) account. I won't specify how to do this on a public board, but the point is that this "feature" makes debit cards far less secure.

Credit cards are constantly checked over by the credit card lender for any usual activity, placing a stop on your card if it seems like it's been used (or is being used) illegally. In addition, the card holder is only liable for a small monetary amount (sometimes nothing at all) if the card is stolen. There are no protections at all for a stolen debit card, except the PIN number and if that isn't required... well, what's the point, right?

By the way... whenever I make a purchase, it shows up immediately (or shortly thereafter) on my credit statement online. I wouldn't know how it works on my debit card, since I rarely use it for actual purchases. That's just for pulling cash out of the ATM.

[Texanadian 10]

Washington Mutual? No way. They're charging 31.75% credit card interest on my wife's card. Late payments, over the limit fees are $39 each (which of course you then pay interest on next month). Paying your card over the phone costs about $10....I'm not the only one that's noticed this. People at the myfico.com message boards have said that even paying in full every month that their APR's have been climbing up into the high 20's.

I always dealt with credit unions in Canada. Friendly service and the fees weren't bad. I find that fees in the US are higher for bank accounts. Unless you have the minimum balance in there every day, they're gonna ding you $6-12 per account. Then again, the interest rates are a bit better on the US side.

I do find that there are better airmile and cash back credit card options in the US.

As far as time comparison, I have to go with Canada all the way. I'd deposit money in a bank machine at 1AM in the morning. Drive home and the balance would be credited to my account online already. And it was the full amount deposited....In the US, they (at least Chase is this way) only put $100 deposited and hold the rest for a few days. And when I use my debit card it takes 2-3 days for it to show up in my online account....And then sometimes it will dissapear for a day only to come back later on the next day. So my balance is always going up and down.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Texanadian

[Cassie 8]

One of the lovely things that you will notice with Canadian banks (well, at least with the Royal Bank branch I deal with) is that they are totally cool with dealing with foreign currency, particularly American currency. Cashing or depositing a cheque from an American account does not send the tellers in as much of a tizzy as it does when one tries to cash a Canadian cheque here in the US.

And I get charged with fees here in the US as much as I do with my Canadian account.

[Krikit 1,164]

All I have to say is that American banks are C-R-A-P. Every negative in this thread I agree with, and a whole lot more. They don't have a clue.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Washington Mutual? No way. They're charging 31.75% credit card interest on my wife's card. Late payments, over the limit fees are $39 each (which of course you then pay interest on next month). Paying your card over the phone costs about $10....I'm not the only one that's noticed this. People at the myfico.com message boards have said that even paying in full every month that their APR's have been climbing up into the high 20's.

I think you may have missed the entire point. You're supposed to pay your entire balance in full every statement, so you don't get hit with interest payments. If you can't be bothered to pay more than the bare minimum or can't afford more than that (i.e. you've spent more than you can pay back), then you deserve to pay the interest rates. Late payments and "over the limit fees" are just that -- you've paid later than when you're supposed to (you're given plenty of time in which to do so) and if you spend over the credit limit allowed on your card, you're hit with a fee. As for paying over the phone, why bother? You could always mail your check in or just pay online.

I really fail to see what the issue is here.

[Texanadian 10]

My wife went to pay online but their website was down. So she had to pay over the phone. Boom. Phone charge.

Even paying the minimum or more, their interest rates can mean your balance goes up. To mail a check from Texas to Washington takes at least a week. Even when you do pay them, they can wait up to 5 days to credit your account.

[DeadPoolX 9]

My wife went to pay online but their website was down. So she had to pay over the phone. Boom. Phone charge.

Even paying the minimum or more, their interest rates can mean your balance goes up. To mail a check from Texas to Washington takes at least a week. Even when you do pay them, they can wait up to 5 days to credit your account.

WAMU has more branches in Texas than I can count. I don't see why you couldn't bring your check or some sort of payment to them. WAMU would still receive their money and I can't imagine it'd take any longer than writing a check for your closest branch to communicate with Washington State.

Interestingly enough, while I have both a WAMU checking and savings account (plus a debit card with them), I've never bothered to get a WAMU credit card. I didn't see the rewards potential as being good enough. Other card companies offered more, such as Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, and American Express. You don't need to get credit cards from the same bank you have your savings/checking accounts with, either.

[Flames9_RN 358]

In Canada I always used my ATM (debit) card, rarely ever used a CC. But here in the USA its always my CC (to get the points) have never used my debit card at a store!! have just used it at the ATM machine to deposit/withdraw $$

Another thing I found veyr different was Locking in of mortgage rates! When i got my mortgage in BC, the interest rate was not "locked" in until we closed on the house. It was locked in a fashion that if the rates went higher you were safe, but if they went lower,u were able to take advantage of the lower rate! But when we were getting estimates here in the USA,that was not the case. Once you locked in, thats what you got, even if the rates lowered prior to closing. At least that was what we were told by a few banks we got estimates from!!

[Krikit 1,164]

In Canada I always used my ATM (debit) card, rarely ever used a CC. But here in the USA its always my CC (to get the points) have never used my debit card at a store!! have just used it at the ATM machine to deposit/withdraw $$

I do that too.

[trailmix 77]

I don't know if this applies to ALL U.S. banks or just RBC Centura.

In Canada I would go to a bank and talk to a loans/mortgage person about getting a mortgage.

Here, I am put in touch with one of their independent mortgage people. I was talking to her one day about closing costs (which are outstandingly huge here) and she was listing them off and mentioned having to get an appraisal.

I said in Canada normally the bank will do this and waive the fee to the purchaser. She said if she did that the money would be coming out of her pocket.

I think it's rather kooky to have independent people handling your banks mortgages - if for no other reason than the options they can provide you with - as above - are non-existent.

I don't have a debit card here, just the visa cheque card - I was never offered a debit card.

Edited August 26, 2008 by trailmix

[Flames9_RN 358]

I don't know if this applies to ALL U.S. banks or just RBC Centura.

In Canada I would go to a bank and talk to a loans/mortgage person about getting a mortgage.

Here, I am put in touch with one of their independent mortgage people. I was talking to her one day about closing costs (which are outstandingly huge here) and she was listing them off and mentioned having to get an appraisal.

I said in Canada normally the bank will do this and waive the fee to the purchaser. She said if she did that the money would be coming out of her pocket.

I think it's rather kooky to have independent people handling your banks mortgages - if for no other reason than the options they can provide you with - as above - are non-existent.

I don't have a debit card here, just the visa cheque card - I was never offered a debit card.

In canada (victoria) we used a mortgage broker. They shopped around and got us the best deal--was with TD. Didnt cost me a cent!! AND prior tothat I had gone in person to TD about a mortgage and what thier best offer was AND it wasnt as good as a deal that i got through the Broker!! YET it was with the same bank! No clue why one would get a better deal with a broker,than going in person to the bank!! The broker has to ge typaid, and I didnt pay him! I asked the bank about that later, and i forget their response!~

[Krikit 1,164]

I don't know if this applies to ALL U.S. banks or just RBC Centura.

In Canada I would go to a bank and talk to a loans/mortgage person about getting a mortgage.

Here, I am put in touch with one of their independent mortgage people. I was talking to her one day about closing costs (which are outstandingly huge here) and she was listing them off and mentioned having to get an appraisal.

I said in Canada normally the bank will do this and waive the fee to the purchaser. She said if she did that the money would be coming out of her pocket.

I think it's rather kooky to have independent people handling your banks mortgages - if for no other reason than the options they can provide you with - as above - are non-existent.

I don't have a debit card here, just the visa cheque card - I was never offered a debit card.

Yeah, the mortgage process and closings costs are really different here. And it took me forever to figure out what a check card was. It's a debit card that can be used like a credit card, but without the credit. And it doesn't hit your account until the vendor does their banking, so you'll see a $1 charge on your account until the vendor gets around to processing their sales, then the $1 charge will disappear and you'll see the actual amount. It plays frigging havoc with your actuals, because you never flipping know where you're at unless you do the math in your head and keep a running tally of all your credits and debits. Kinda defeats the premise behind electronic banking. No bloody wonder people keep getting themselves into trouble here.

I'm cranky today.