Ask me anything about retail banking...

[aequitas]

Like the title says, ask me any questions you might have about retail banking. I work as a teller and if I dont know the answer, I can usually get it to you within 12 hours.

[vm_fan]

Hey, thanks for offering your advice, aequitas. I'll start off with a very newbie question for someone who's too old to be a newbie. :)

Do you have to sign your name on the back of a cheque when depositing at the ATM? I've deposited many cheques without doing so and they've all gone through. I'm just wondering if I've just been lucking out, that's all.

And if you write "for deposit to payee only" on the back of the cheque above or below your signature, does that prevent someone else from depositing your cheque? Thanks.

[ZxExN]

Cool. A question I have would be what would you have to do to get annual fees waived on credit cards?

[arnyk]

What is the smallest denomination you can withdraw from a bank machine?

Also, does it piss you tellers off when I run in in a hurry, and ask for a $5 bill quick and leave because I never carry cash and Timmies doesn't do debit?

[volan]

Timmies doesn't do debit?

What do you mean Timmies doesn't do debit? I use debit all the time at Timmies.

[HighFlyer]

What do you mean Timmies doesn't do debit? I use debit all the time at Timmies.
Not in many, if not all, GTA stores.

[lesnar]

hey, what bank do/did you work for? because i may have specific questions for ya. I bank with TD, PCF, CIBC, ING, BMO

[volan]

Not in many, if not all, GTA stores.

Wow! I wonder why that would be. All Calgary stores (as far as I can tell) allow debit transactions.

[aequitas]

In regards to endorsing your cheques:

In the olden days, yes you had to endorse them, BUT these days, since you have a pin and access card, and we know require you to swipe your card and enter your pin #, that acts as your signature. Its how we know its you depositing. (granted you can just give someone your pin, but the idea is, if they have your pin, you must have given it for the 3rd party to deposit and since your just depositing, its not a huge issue). That goes the same for the ABM. If the cheque is made out to you, and the account that the cheque is being deposited into is of the same name, then you dont need to sign the back of the cheque. If you are giving the cheque to someone to deposit into their account, and your name isnt on the account, then you would have to endorse the cheque.

If you write for deposit only, or deposit only to the payee then the cheque can only be deposited and deposited into the account of the payee.

Waiving the annual fee on a credit card:

I personally have never seen this done. The reason for the fee is to pay for all the features (that you honestly will problly never use) that come with the card. But I will ask someone more familiar with credit cards tommorow and get back to you on that. I do know that there are some no/low fee cards for students and other types of customers. Again I will get concrete info and post more on this tommorow.

Withdrawing from an ATM:

The smallest denomination you can withdraw from a BANK ATM/ABM is $20. Its because atleast at my bank, its the smallest denomination bill we put into the machine. I know there are some 3rd party ATM's that will dispense $10 bills but these are usually in convenience stores/malls etc.

Small withdrawls/deposits:

If you come in for a $5 withdrawl it doesnt really affect us. You're a customer and our job is to serve you. Now, if you have to wait in the line because you came during the lunch rush, thats just an inconveinence to you. :P I routinely have a customer come in to deposit all his loose change, usually always less than $5 cause he hates carrying it around.

Before I finish this post, a note on 3rd party ATMS:

DONT USE THEM...and only use them if you really have no choice. They charge ridiculous fees. First its atleast 1.50 from your bank for using a 3rd party machine (either a no name atm, or another banks atm) and then that ATM company will add their own charge, from 1.50, all the way up to $4 i've seen. (the more expensive ones are the 3rd party, no name atms you find in bars/malls) I see this all the time on peoples accounts when I update their passbooks or print their statements. They will withdraw $20 and pay atleast $3 ontop of that. While its not so bad every so often, they are doing it almost everytime they withdraw and its almost always just a $20 withdrawl. You can easily run atleast 40-50 dollars in services charges (again, ive seen this A LOT) over the course of a month and most customers don't realize it because its really just $3 every time. Not only that the msg that comes up that says "this transaction will cost X amount" is only what that company/other bank will charge you, it doesnt state that your bank will also charge you a fee as well. So if you can, try and avoid it. Take out enough cash from the teller or from your banks atm and avoid throwing your money away.

[rj2]

in regards to fees for the credit card.
we bank with scotia bank and we have never paid any fee`s.
maybe having our mortgage, and over 200k in funds with them has something to do with that :D

[HighFlyer]

Do you base service levels based on how much business a client does with your bank? Reason is the teller had the monitor angled towards me, and when she swiped my bank card, the first screen that came up was:

Age:
Gender:
Client Since:
Status: (this was used to indicate profile level, not whether the account was open or closed)

I didn't catch the others before she flipped to another screen and turned the monitor the other way, but it looked like there was a dollar figure indicating total assets.

[aequitas]

base service levels are not determined by those factors. At the teller, we service you wether you have no money or lots of it, no matter your age or income or anything.

A lot of what happens when you visit a teller, is really teller discretion, to an extent ofcourse, there are guidelines and policies we must follow. As a teller you get to understand and become familiar with your customers and their banking habits, and this helps you a lot determing what you can do for them, and what you cant. New customers, or customers you dont know, you do take a look at what they have with the bank, their history with the bank etc. all this information is available to us when you swipe your card and is used to help us determine how to best serve our customers.

The most common example is wether or not to place a hold on a cheque. If i know the customer, and they routinely deposit at our branch then I usually do not put a hold on the cheque unless it is a high amount. However even if I dont know the customer, I can see their history and services with us to help me determine wether or not to place a hold. I.e. do they ahve the money in the account to cover the cheque, do they have a history of depositing cheques that get returned, do they immediately withdraw the funds in full or most of it when the funds are available, do they have direct deposit of their paycheck. There are a lot of factors and information to help us make these decisions.

A lot of banks offer an amount which you can deposit up too without a hold being placed. To find out if you can qualify for this and what amount you can get if you do you should contact your bank.

[ElvishMerchant]

What is the best way for a self-employed person (with very low verifiable income) to consolidate their debt (multiple credit cards) into one big line of credit? I know most banks just care about your income tax statements & a credit check (numbers are entered and the machine tells them yes or no), but are banks flexible on this and are there any tricks to getting approved even when the numbers don't add up? Does ownership of a car or business count for anything (collateral)?

[bubble.tea]

Does the bank freak out when someone walks in with 70,000 USD CASH and smacks it down on the table? :D

That's how my ol' man paid off his mortgage a couple months ago hehe. There was left overs so into a high interest account it went.

[babysham]

1. Which bank do you work at?

2. Do you like your job/company?

[coolspot]

Wow! I wonder why that would be. All Calgary stores (as far as I can tell) allow debit transactions.

In the GTA, Debit is hit and miss. Probably ~50 - 60%?

[coolspot]

Does the bank freak out when someone walks in with 70,000 USD CASH and smacks it down on the table? :D

That's how my ol' man paid off his mortgage a couple months ago hehe. There was left overs so into a high interest account it went.

Nope - but I believe you need to sign some anti-money laundering papers ;)

[manho]

A lot of what happens when you visit a teller, is really teller discretion, to an extent ofcourse, there are guidelines and policies we must follow. As a teller you get to know your customers and their banking habits, and this helps you a lot determing what you can do for them, and what you cant. New customers, or customers you dont know, you do take a look at what they have with the bank, their history with the bank etc. all this information is available to us when you swipe your card and is used to help us determine how to best serve our customers.

so ure saying u get a better service if your account is loaded ?? :|

[a_1_a]

Like the title says, ask me any questions you might have about retail banking. I work as a teller and if I dont know the answer, I can usually get it to you within 12 hours.
what time of each business day they will open the ATM and process the deposits in there? What is the cutoff time they will send the cheques that were deposited at the teller counter, to the cheque process center?

[fly]

Be careful that you're not giving away trade secrets; although, all the Banks know what each other is doing. You can tell people of policies, but don't get into operations. eg. what time cash is delivered and how much on average your branch carries..

[el_diablo007]

so ure saying u get a better service if your account is loaded ?? :|
how did you come to this conclusion? :confused:

How much do you get paid as a teller? (just give a high/low relative figure I guess...)

[blink]

Actually, when does the next day start? If I deposit something at 5pm on Monday, do I only get my interest starting the next day? If I go to a branch that is open until 8pm, do the same cut-offs apply? What about the weekend?

[aequitas]

CC annual fee waived:

yes, it is possible to get the annual fee waived, however you have to contact your VISA card center and deal with them. Its only done in very special circumstances... and it is rarely done at that.

Self-employed:

depending on your history with the bank, it is possible for you to get a LOC...both my parents are self-employed and they have no trouble getting a LOC... many things are takin into consideration, and your better off speaking to a personal banker at your branch, but the jist of it is, if you can prove that you actually make a certain amount (easy if you do your banking with the bank your applying for the LOC with) they do look at all the factors. Another big plus is tell them the reason you want the LOC is to do balance transfers and consolodate your debt...they will love to earn your business! There is no garuntee that you will be approved, you have to apply and see..but talk to your banker, and he/she can provide you with some clear cut solutions.

Large cash deposits:
Anything over 10 000 you will have to declare where you got the funds from, and also , you will have to do it at your home branch.

I work for one of the big 5 banks, and yes i really do enjoy my job... salary is decently above working in retail, plus the opportunities to grow are tremendous.

ATM:

deposits are processed the next business day. I.e. if you deposit on a monday, your transaction gets processed on the tues. and then the appropriate holds (if any) remain and clearing takes place.

[chimaera15]

Large cash deposits:
Anything over 10 000 you will have to declare where you got the funds from, and also , you will have to do it at your home branch.

It's a federal law that any cash deposit over 10k over a period of 24 hours be declared. It is not necessary to go to your home branch to do the deposit, you might want to double check your information.

[wetsnot]

believe it or not, we have all signatures on file and my bank is now in the process of scanning all customer signatures, so its becoming fairly easy to verify


many people have more than one signature.

I did a short stint with the Management Board Secretariat, Official Documents Services was in the same office. notary publics are required to sign all their different signatures for an official record. there are volumes and volumes of binders with notary public's signatures that ODS uses to make sure no one is forging documents. Some notaries have 10, 15, 20 different "official" signatures.

How is your bank going to deal with that?

I started my bank account along time ago. My signature has drastically changed since then, this should also be a problem for the bank.

[mart242]

Why is it that there's always a line-up of customer and 9 tellers at the back but only 2 booths open? Is it bank policy so that people go to the ATM instead?

[wetsnot]

good question mart242,


i wanna know why during that situation (long line, lots of tellers but only 2 booths open), does the teller try to upsell products to a customer thus holding up the line even more? why don't they ever send that customer to the personal banker?

you guys get commission as tellers when you upsell?

[Getting.Out.Our.Dreams]

To get accepted for a Line of Credit and have a fair rate.

[fly]

Actually, when does the next day start? If I deposit something at 5pm on Monday, do I only get my interest starting the next day? If I go to a branch that is open until 8pm, do the same cut-offs apply? What about the weekend?

I've been to those branches and they usually have "Operating on next business day" sign at the teller after 5PM and on weekends.

[vm_fan]

many people have more than one signature.

You can say that again. My signature changes depending on how hurried or tired or nervous I am. And has anybody ever signed a decent signature on a screen using one of those electronic pens or styluses? My signature from Grade 1 looks better than that. :)

[Punky]

so ure saying u get a better service if your account is loaded ?? :|

Doubt it at the teller level, but individuals with over a certain amount of money in the account become VIPs and have personal bankers. So I think yes in this level. Tellers are usually really nice. But yeah, the line can get sooo long like mart242 said.

If you have connections (with the manager level), is it almost guaranteed youll get hired as a teller? Dont they look for some experience still?

[aequitas]

It's a federal law that any cash deposit over 10k over a period of 24 hours be declared. It is not necessary to go to your home branch to do the deposit, you might want to double check your information.

if you try to deposit 10 000 or more cash and its not your home branch it is highly possible that they will direct you to go to your home branch especially if you arent a known customer in the branch. again, it is teller discretion and the individual banks policies.

we for the most part do not deposit large cash amounts if we are not the home branch, however if the customer is known to us, and is a frequent customer we can help them.

[aequitas]

in regards to the signature issue...yes we do our best to keep our signatures upto date...and if your signature does change you should go to your bank and update it.... however this is where knowing a frequent customer comes into play...if you know a customer and they change their signature, you still know its the same person... and when that happens, you do get them to sign a new card, so that if they go to someone who doesnt know them or to another branch they wont have a problem. while signature issues still arise, we try to make it as convienent as we can for the customer while still protecting the banks interests.

in regards to line ups...i know at my branch, when its busy, all tellers MUST be open. anything else we have to do administrative related is put on hold until after the rush has died... we cant avoid line ups especially around the lunch hour, but we do our best to try and service customers as quickly and efficiently as possible and all tellers are open. we do try to upsell when we can, but if its busy, we breifly mention a product, and if the customer would like, we forward it to the personal banker to follow up. we DO NOT get commision by upselling.

in regards to LOC...again there are a lot of different factors that is looked at for each applicant... talk to your branch, and see what they can do for you.

on a side note, i knew a branch manager, and it was a great deal of help getting my foot in the door.

[urameatball]

so ure saying u get a better service if your account is loaded ?? :|
most likely, but not necessarily.
your level of service would depend more on how many services you have with the bank and how loyal you are as a customer, but having a million in your account definately helps.

if you walked in needing to cash a $10000 cheque, and I (I was once a teller) saw you were with the bank for 10+ years, had a mortgage, LOC, 2 visas, and 3 savings accounts, assets valuing over 1million, and a good banking history. All I'd have to do is tell the manager and my manager would approve the transaction.

Whereas if you have a single savings account that you opened 6months ago and you need to cash your $500 paycheque, depending on your account history, I will probably put part of your paycheque on hold.

then there are those who have been with the bank for 20+ years, lots of accounts and banking products, fluctuating balance on your account between -1000 and 1million, but a horrible banking history... (late payments on mortgages and visa, bounced cheques, pushing overdraft limits, etc.). I'll probably put your entire cheque on hold even though you're a valued customer who earns the bank a lot of money through interest and other fees.

[vm_fan]

I have a question about dormant accounts (inspired by a thread about ING). Do you still earn interest and are you still charged your normal monthly fee (that is, if you had such a fee before dormancy) when your account is dormant? What exactly happens when your account becomes dormant and what are the consequences? I know that some banks might charge you a reoccurring inactivity fee and/or a fee for the dormancy notices after 2 and 5 years of dormancy, but is there anything else? Thanks.

[arnyk]

What is the smallest denomination you can withdraw from a bank machine?

Can you deposit loose change (toonies and loonies) without rolling them?

[vm_fan]

What is the smallest denomination you can withdraw from a bank machine?

That was already answered in a previous post (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3643982&postcount=9) by aequitas.

[arnyk]

D'oh. My bad, it was kind of in the middle of the big post. No use editing eh, my B.

He mentioned you could deposit loose change? I always thought you had to roll them? I'm obviously not going to come in with a jar full of pennies, but if say I had a few quarters/dimes in my pockets, could I drop it off? I hate carrying around cash, especially in coinage form.

[UrbanPoet]

Cool. A question I have would be what would you have to do to get annual fees waived on credit cards?

you can get your credit card fees waived if u have a certain amount of mone yin your bank account. some plans allow this...
you could always get the basic classic visa with no options whatsoever. just plain credit, for free.

[pitz]

He mentioned you could deposit loose change? I always thought you had to roll them? I'm obviously not going to come in with a jar full of pennies, but if say I had a few quarters/dimes in my pockets, could I drop it off? I hate carrying around cash, especially in coinage form.

I walked into a Calgary TD Canada Trust last year with $500 in tip money (quarters, loonies, pennies, and dimes mainly) from a waitress friend of mine. They enthusiastically took it (and even took my word concerning its value).

Didn't receive an adjustment on my account pertaining to it, so my counting must have been accurate ;)

[arnyk]

I walked into a Calgary TD Canada Trust last year with $500 in tip money (quarters, loonies, pennies, and dimes mainly) from a waitress friend of mine. They enthusiastically took it (and even took my word concerning its value).

Didn't receive an adjustment on my account pertaining to it, so my counting must have been accurate ;)

Neat. But if I had like $3.65 in my pocket and just threw it down on the counter, I figure I would get some pretty naughty looks. ;)