Canadian Bank Accounts

[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.

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.

It's the no sleep!

I don't get the $1 charge while the actual charge is pending - however it does take a day for any charges to appear - which I think is incredibly weird. Like everyone else has mentioned, i'm used to having up to the minute transactions online.

I get the debit/cheque card thing - but actually i'm not comfortable with it. I use my card online and i'm not happy that someone could potentially have access to my 'real' bank account, but i'm not crazy about someone having my credit card account number either

Edited August 26, 2008 by trailmix

[Krikit 1,164]

Yeah, I totally got scammed using my check card online.

[trailmix 77]

Yeah, I totally got scammed using my check card online.

What happened??

[Krikit 1,164]

Yeah, I totally got scammed using my check card online.

What happened??

Clicked on "Get these magazine subscriptions for one year for $2" or some such #######. Gave them my check card # cause I thought it was a credit card. When it was time to renew I gave them the cancellation notice within the terms and conditions and thought nothing more of it. Suddenly there's over $100 worth of magazine charges hitting the account..... and no way to get in contact with an actual human. Welcome to America. Damn con artists.

[badspellor 0]

Closest WaMu to our place in the states is about 4 hours of a drive further than it is to the closest CIBC, or 7 hours total LOL! Used the bank locater on Bank of America's site and it simply said no locations within 100 miles. Oh well. There is a bank there called Fifth Third bank. Shouldn't it be called One and Two Thirds bank?

As for US credit cards, I find they're a lot less lenient than Canadian cards. I tried to pay a Chase card at 5:05 PM eastern time online on the due date. It was 5 minutes too late and got dinged with a $39 late fee. That wouldn't happen in Canada. Of course you're supposed to pay in full within the grace period every time and there isn't a difference then, but if you mess up, the penalties are far worse in the states, I find.

[DeadPoolX 9]

It's the no sleep!

I don't get the $1 charge while the actual charge is pending - however it does take a day for any charges to appear - which I think is incredibly weird. Like everyone else has mentioned, i'm used to having up to the minute transactions online.

I get the debit/cheque card thing - but actually i'm not comfortable with it. I use my card online and i'm not happy that someone could potentially have access to my 'real' bank account, but i'm not crazy about someone having my credit card account number either

I haven't seen the "one dollar charge" place holder, but perhaps that's just there to make sure your card is legit. I'm sure lots of people use fake or stolen cards all the time. As for the charges appearing later, how fast do you need them to appear? Maybe I'm just used to credit cards, where having up-to-the-minute transactions isn't necessary; maybe it's more useful with debit, I don't know. I don't like paying for things with debit, since among other issues, it's not very secure at all.

One thing that Bank of America is doing now that I really like is offering card holders the option of using a "virtual card number" for online purchases. In other words, you use their system to create a card number, enter the dollar amount it's good for and then use the card number online. It can be setup for single or revolving purchases. The virtual number is actually tied to your real credit card, but the neat thing is if this virtual number got stolen online somehow, the worst that would happen is the thief could only use whatever dollar amount you allowed for the virtual number. If you created a virtual credit card number with a limit of $100, for instance, and it got stolen, the maximum a thief could steal is $100 and everything else on your card would be safe.

The one drawback to that is you need to be a BoA customer. You don't have to have an account with them, just a credit card. But this works with any website you purchase stuff from, so it doesn't need to be set up specifically for it, like PayPal.

[trailmix 77]

Yeah, I totally got scammed using my check card online.

What happened??

Clicked on "Get these magazine subscriptions for one year for $2" or some such #######. Gave them my check card # cause I thought it was a credit card. When it was time to renew I gave them the cancellation notice within the terms and conditions and thought nothing more of it. Suddenly there's over $100 worth of magazine charges hitting the account..... and no way to get in contact with an actual human. Welcome to America. Damn con artists.

egads!

So what is your recourse if any?

[thetreble 19]

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've never had any problems with WAMU either. My husband has a WaMu Credit Card and its only like 6 or 7%. If your bank is charging you 30+ percent, it probably means you never pay your credit card on time and you should really think about getting rid of your card (even if that would be bad for your credit too). I've never heard of someone paying that percentile, even someone with bad or no credit.

I have a credit card and i had no credit. M y credit card is Capital One and its only 5.9%. I have never missed a payment and I only carry a small amount of revolving credit which you are supposed to do.

Also, I've never heard of phone charges. I never had FREE checking until I moved to the US and I feel GREAT about it With all this competition it makes for great incentives

I also have Etrade account where I keep my savings. Last year the percentage was as high as 6% but now it is about 3.3%. Still better than nothing.