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Has anyone ever switched banks before?

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
I have everything with RBC right now, and due to the outsourcing fiasco and overall corruption going on at their corporate level I want to switch. There's a whole campaign going on right now to boycott them. Basically they fired Canadian staff to replace with foreign. I'm even considering a local credit union given the other big banks are probably just as evil. Never used one before, is it good, bad? Are they basically the same as a bank as far as services go? What about things like using ATMs, direct withdrawal etc, all the same? I have a mortgage, RRSPs, credit card, credit line, TFSA and several regular "savings" bank accounts where my pay check goes to and all payments come out of.

What is involved in transferring things like a mortgage and RRSPs? When you take out RRSPs you get dinged with like half it's worth in taxes, is there a way to transfer them without that happening? I have about 10k.

Obviously I'd have to change where my pay check goes as well, then call all utility companies to switch bank info etc... That's the easy part, just tedious. I'd have both accounts running at once for a while till everything is transfered over and that I confirmed I did not miss anything. Last thing I'd want is a payment to not go through because it's still setup with the old bank.

For credit line and credit card is it as simple as just opening them up at the new bank then just canceling them at the old bank, or is there a specific way of doing it so it does not affect my credit? They are both at 0 balance, so I imagine it's going to be easier.

Come to think of it, once I find a bank to move to, do they do most of the leg work to get stuff transfered? Maybe I'm over thinking this.
 
Not a Canadian so I don't know what the retirement laws are like there. But I'm sure there is a process to move retirement accounts from one holder to another without penalty so long as it's still considered a retirement account that you are moving into.

Mortgage will be the hard one. Typically in the US that would be considered a refinance since you would be changing lenders/terms. You can't just move that..at least how we typically structure them.

Everything else is just a matter of how big a baller you are. If you have a decent sized account/assets and the bank is a larger one, they will typically set up all of the autodeposits/withdrawals/ect for you. At least that is my experience moving from one large bank (Wells Fargo) to another (Commerce). We have an account rep that did all of the setup for us.
 
I don't think you can force a mortgage transfer. You can refinance into a new one, that's it.

Credit cards aren't movable. You can apply for new ones, you can cancel existing ones. That's it.

RRSPs should be able to be moved to a different institution without actually taking the money and paying taxes. "Hey New Bank, set me up with an RRSP account and go get the existing funds from RBC."

Most banks have "switch kits" for the asking when you open an account as they are highly motivated to make your transition as easy for you as possible.

You never close an old account until the new one is up and running with no problems for a couple months. Make sure you don't overlook any recurring payments that happen less frequently than monthly.

Just ask a prospective bank what they will do for you to help get moved over so there are no surprises.
 
I'm switching banks right now. It's a pain in the ass because the new bank has a 9-business-day hold on non-cash funds coming from another bank for the first 30 days, and banks have to report any cash withdrawal of more than $10k to the IRS...so I'm split between two banks right now while I wait out the 30 day thing so I can move all my money.

Really annoying.
 
I've switched a few times. I typically keep both accounts open and split funds to cover any auto-debits that might hit the old account via ACH. You may want to think about any yearly recurring charges that come up...
 
I looked through the last year of statements to make sure there wasn't a recurring charge I was forgetting about. That was a lot easier than it sounds, since I put as much as I can through CCs. As another poster mentioned make sure not to close anything at the first bank until you're certain it is working at the second bank. It would be unfortunate if there was a hold or something on checks over a certain amount for new customers and you had a big bill to pay.

Oh and I find it amusing that after all the shit with banks in the past five++ years there are people who won't bother switching until someone tells them to on twitbook.
 
Never thought about checks definitely something I'll have to watch. I don't think I have any that are outstanding though... I try not to write checks unless it's a contractor or other company where I know they wont somehow forget about it and find it in a year from now.

Think I'll get the ball rolling, I'm going to ask around locally to see what bank/institution is the most recommended and go from there.
 
It is, considering what they're doing. But chances are all the other banks are doing it too and lot of other companies do it, sadly. So I need to do my research before I jump the gun, might be a lost cause. Though I'd imagine the smaller banks or credit unions are better for not doing crap like that. I have to do further research. I really think this outsourcing crap needs to be illegal. I was reading that 100,000+ jobs are lost due to it every year. It's gotten really bad. Companies are too greedy and never have enough. I suppose it's up to consumers to vote with their wallets if the government turns a blind eye to the problem.
 
Heh, my father-in-law is going on about this and wanting to switch all of his stuff because of it. I can only imagine he (and you if you do it) will get hammered with fees for transferring certain things.

I'm with RBC and will not be touching anything. As far as I'm concerned all banks are or will do it anyway and the credit unions are far too inconvenient.

KT
 
In what ways are they inconvenient? I'm just curious as I've never actually dealt with one before but it seems like if I'm going to switch it's probably the best bet. That or maybe a smaller bank like Caisse Populaire?
 
So I finally got around to doing this.

Decided to go with Caisse Populaire (https://www.caissealliance.com/). I called them a few days ago to see if I need to make an appointment and I actually got a local human! No appointment required. Was already impressed.

I went in today to make the initial account and get setup then went to the finance advisor to setup everything else. Line of credit and credit card was quick and easy and they're ready to be used. TFSA was also quick and easy. For RRSPs, they will work on transferring but I don't have to do anything. For the mortgage, same thing. They will also work on transferring and do the leg work for me. RBC wants around 2k penalty for it, the new bank will cover part of it. Also going from 3.7% to 3.3% for the interest rate so that's a big bonus. I'll get a call from the new bank once it's ready so we can discuss further options like payment dates etc... I might increase my payment while I'm at it, too.

Overall this bank will actually be more convenient because of the location too, and I like the fact that they have a drive thru ATM, that's pretty cool. I just spent the last of today sorting out all my preauthorized payment stuff and all of it is ready to go. Some stuff I was able to do online, and other stuff has to be done through mail, so I will mail it all in tomorrow. I'll have to go in the office to change my work pay settings too.

Silly question, but can I make a cheque to myself? To transfer the funds over I'm thinking the easiest way is to just make a cheque with my old account in my name and deposit it at the new bank. Was looking at the online banking on both banks and I don't see anything obvious to do a money transfer that is compatible with both banks. For a one time thing I figure a cheque will be easier.
 
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