Best incentives for switching banks

[twoods]

I'm moving my banking and my investing activities from CIBC to TD soon and wanted to know what sort of "freebies" people have received for switching over.
TD is offering me their select account for free for the first 6 months. That means that I don't have to maintain the required $5000 minimium in my bank account for that time, after that you have to maintain the minimum but you get a ton of benefits with the account ie)you do get a free gold card and other benefits. If you fall below $5000, the monthly fee is $25, which is steep.

Does anyone know when the ipod offer is coming back (if in fact it does come back). What else have people received as incentives to switch over. Obviously TD will cover any fees CIBC charges me for coming over and they will give me a line of credit without any legal costs.

[gman]

Obviously TD will cover any fees CIBC charges me for coming over and they will give me a line of credit without any legal costs.

Is it a secure LOC? There is no legal fee for the unsecured one.

[simms]

I'm moving my banking and my investing activities from CIBC to TD soon and wanted to know what sort of "freebies" people have received for switching over.
TD is offering me their select account for free for the first 6 months. That means that I don't have to maintain the required $5000 minimium in my bank account for that time, after that you have to maintain the minimum but you get a ton of benefits with the account ie)you do get a free gold card and other benefits. If you fall below $5000, the monthly fee is $25, which is steep.

Does anyone know when the ipod offer is coming back (if in fact it does come back). What else have people received as incentives to switch over. Obviously TD will cover any fees CIBC charges me for coming over and they will give me a line of credit without any legal costs.

Summer have the Ipod promo, but usually for chequing accounts with a Gold CC.

[boyoflondon]

I've been with TD for over 10 years and recently opened up a PC account. Wouldn't go back to paying fee's to TD if you paid me to :)

[Thalo]

iPod offer usually from Juneish to August. That's the "every day banking campaign" time, when all the banks are competing for day2day business (checking, savings, credit cards, etc).

I've been with TD for over 10 years and recently opened up a PC account. Wouldn't go back to paying fee's to TD if you paid me to

Different people have different banking needs. If you need to be able to enter a brick and mortar building every once in a while to do some banking with a teller or see a financial advisor, then you need to pay fees. And since fees are nearly identical at all the major full-serve banks, the clearcut choice is the one with ridiculously long hours that wins award after award for customer service.

[tweetybird]

iPod offer usually from Juneish to August. That's the "every day banking campaign" time, when all the banks are competing for day2day business (checking, savings, credit cards, etc).



Different people have different banking needs. If you need to be able to enter a brick and mortar building every once in a while to do some banking with a teller or see a financial advisor, then you need to pay fees. And since fees are nearly identical at all the major full-serve banks, the clearcut choice is the one with ridiculously long hours that wins award after award for customer service.

but their staff and customer service suck big time!

[stunner5000pt]

i was thikning about switching the HSBC becasue
a) their high interest saving account has 4.25% interst plus there are no fees for withdrawal (but im going to ask them tomorrow hwen i go to open the account)
b) i dont like TD... i have both PCF and TD and PCF will give intersts >0.01 for nearly anything i have in the account. i think the big banks are not too nice

[WHO]

Back when I opened my ScotiaBank account, they gave me a 50$ deposit (no minimum deposit required on my part) + first 3 months of service fees free. That's all I needed.
I think it's a good move on their end because since then, I've been hit a few times with little 5$ questionable fees here and there and never really bothered to complain because it still evens out with the free 50$ I got at the beginning. I did complain a few times though, just not every time. Makes me looks less like a cheap-a$$ customer :D

[Just Confused]

Switch your banking for a banking service reason not incentives.

Incentives are a marketing ploy to get you to do something the banks wants you to do. They don't give out free money, iPods or any other crap because they're nice guys. They do it because they're going to get that money back from you in some kind of fee sooner or later.

So move your business to somewhere that meets your banking requirements with the lowest service charges. Whatever that bank gives you in swag is just a bonus afterthought; not a deciding factor.

You can be a sheep and do what the marketers want or you can make an reasoned financial decision... your choice.

[gerbil]

Switch your banking for a banking service reason not incentives.

Incentives are a marketing ploy to get you to do something the banks wants you to do. They don't give out free money, iPods or any other crap because they're nice guys. They do it because they're going to get that money back from you in some kind of fee sooner or later.

So move your business to somewhere that meets your banking requirements with the lowest service charges. Whatever that bank gives you in swag is just a bonus afterthought; not a deciding factor.

You can be a sheep and do what the marketers want or you can make an reasoned financial decision... your choice.


I agree with you - Just Confused
At the end of the day, it's really about what's best for you and your family - not that ipod.

[twoods]

I agree with you - Just Confused
At the end of the day, it's really about what's best for you and your family - not that ipod.

Thanks for the comments guys but I'm not switching for the incentives. The decision is to switch to TD because of their overall product. The incentives are a bonus and something I'm trying to maximize on.

From the responses I'm seeing in this post, it doesn't appear as though the banks have offered much incentive to you guys to switch. As a result the 6 months free of the "select account" they are offering me (which I never asked for) and they claim they don't offer it to most people is a generous bonus.

They have admitted straight out that they want my business since I am someone who they consider is in the 25% of clients that provide 75% of the Bank's business.

[brunes]

Thanks for the comments guys but I'm not switching for the incentives. The decision is to switch to TD because of their overall product. The incentives are a bonus and something I'm trying to maximize on.

From the responses I'm seeing in this post, it doesn't appear as though the banks have offered much incentive to you guys to switch. As a result the 6 months free of the "select account" they are offering me (which I never asked for) and they claim they don't offer it to most people is a generous bonus.

They have admitted straight out that they want my business since I am someone who they consider is in the 25% of clients that provide 75% of the Bank's business.

That is a fairly good bonus. Worth about $180, more than the free nano they give out at summertime.

Personally I am with BMO, because if I am going to be paying fees, I might as well be getting some Airmiles to do so. And their hours are just as good as TD at least around here.

[Thalo]

but their staff and customer service suck big time!

There's always isolated incidents. I find, from working for the bank, that 99% of "issues" are brought on by the customers themselves. J.D. Power and Synovate seem to think on average though, TD is the best in customer service.

[XmsrpX]

are you guys closing accounts at the other institutions? don't the closing charges kill some many of these deals?

[bcbgboy13]

Switch your banking for a banking service reason not incentives.

Incentives are a marketing ploy to get you to do something the banks wants you to do. They don't give out free money, iPods or any other crap because they're nice guys. They do it because they're going to get that money back from you in some kind of fee sooner or later.

So move your business to somewhere that meets your banking requirements with the lowest service charges. Whatever that bank gives you in swag is just a bonus afterthought; not a deciding factor.

You can be a sheep and do what the marketers want or you can make an reasoned financial decision... your choice.

This one gets my vote for a sticky



They have admitted straight out that they want my business since I am someone who they consider is in the 25% of clients that provide 75% of the Bank's business.

BINGO!!!

But if it makes you feel good... to be milked out for the fat bonuses of the bank senior executives, then it is OK.

I, personally, will love to be in the X% of clients that provide 1%, or even better 0.1% or maybe even 0.00...1% of the bank profit.

[kanimara]

so wrong

[Thalo]

I agree with this most definitely, been with TD all my life.

They charge $1.50 on every withdrawal you ever make from their ATM's. To get this $1.50 waived, you have to pay $25 in banking fees per month. Their least dollar amount banking fee, $4, only allows you 10 transactions per month and if you go over that I think they add $1.50 per transaction you make. In addition to the $1.50 from withdrawaing funds from an ATM.

$3 for overdraft protection, when a line of credit will basically give you the same thing free.

Basically their goal is to charge you a fee every time you use your interact card ever, whether to debit something from a store or to withdrawal. And they actaully succeed in that alot of times.

Also their staff is super ******** at times. They had someone covering the branch phones this weekend, who "couldn't help me via phone because she couldn't verify that I am the one calling so I will have to call the 1-800 number". She didn't even ask me any questions, or what my problem was, her answer straight away was she couldn't even attempt to verify who I was by asking me questions about my accounts with them. Then the 1-800 number was wonky, too long wait times, so I just called a different branch and got what I needed to do done.

So now I'm off to PC.

CORRECTIONS:
-No additional charge for withdrawing from TD Green machines, $1.50 only for using other machines.
-When you're on an account plan that limits the number of transactions, additional transactions are 65 cents each
-ODP is $2/month
-Branch phone lines are for booking appointments to come in, if you are looking to do something over the phone you should call the toll free number in the first place. If you're willing to bank with PCF you should be open to doing stuff via 1-800 numbers and having wait times. If anything, the staff at the one branch was only trying to protect your information. I'd be more concerned about the person at the 2nd branch you called who so freely gave out your information over the phone (assuming they didn't know you personally).

[kanimara]

wrong wrong wrong

[Thalo]

I really don't want to look like a TD fanboy here. As many people here already know, I work for them. But you keep spewing out garbage that isn't true.

ODP is a flat $2/month, doesn't matter how much you have/use. There's pay as you go ODP as well, that doesn't charge a monthly fee, only $5 if you ever use it. PCF's ODP is similar to the latter, it charges $4.97 only in months when the ODP is used.

There is no ABM surcharge for withdrawing from a TDCT account at a TD Greenmachine. Those transactions on your statement for $21.50 are withdrawals at other bank machines and yes, on top of that you are charged an additional $1.50 in other bank fees. PCF has the same charges when not using PCF or CIBC machines. There is also no way you could have been charged these in error, if you actually were using a green machine.

Regarding the Gold Elite card, it's not $99 just for cash back, there's much more to that card.

Regarding calling the branch, the branch has no policies for telephone verification. Telephone banking does have a very stringent verification procedure (I know because I used to work there). It's good to hear that the person at the one branch did verify you before giving out your information, they must have been senior staff, did their due diligence and were willing to take the risk.

[kanimara]

Interesting. You're not a fanboy, I was just wrong.

Sorry about the ODP fee I was wrong on that, $2.

And I was wrong on the 1.50 too. They have the "GM W/D" and the "Interact Network WD", didn't see the GM W/D's.

And the TD visa does indeed give alot of benefits, basically like AMA for free. If all you want is the cash back, like I do, it's good but not great.

Was jumping to alot of conclusions.

I still think that TD is average everything, but at least you can get average everything from one bank. To get the best of everything it seems like you have to have various different accounds and cards at different banks.

Still going to PC though, there's really nothing to keep me with TD. They've never offered me anything special and I've been a lifelong customer with them, now that I'm out of college and making a great deal of money I don't want to wait and see what they secretly have that is worthwhile for me.

Really wish PC had a downtown location though, that is going to kill me.

[elty]

Main advantage from TD is the long hours, and their service is more than acceptable.

[Thalo]

I think the brass at TDBFG discovered a long time ago that it's useless to compete on price or innovative products, because when you do the competition copies you almost instantly. That's profits and product development costs flushed down the drain. Much more advantageous to differentiate through better service and longer hours, which are much harder for the competition to replicate.

[BMNB1tchesss]

Thanks for the comments guys but I'm not switching for the incentives. The decision is to switch to TD because of their overall product. The incentives are a bonus and something I'm trying to maximize on.

From the responses I'm seeing in this post, it doesn't appear as though the banks have offered much incentive to you guys to switch. As a result the 6 months free of the "select account" they are offering me (which I never asked for) and they claim they don't offer it to most people is a generous bonus.

They have admitted straight out that they want my business since I am someone who they consider is in the 25% of clients that provide 75% of the Bank's business.

This one gets my vote for a sticky

[Goldenhawk99]

Much like Thalo, I work for one of the major banks. As an employee, they make banking very cheap for you. Having said that, before I worked for them I was a long time customer but left them after their fees continued to increase, especially on so-called "self service" transactions. I moved to PC Financial and was quite happy there until I moved back to the old bank. If you have relatively simple banking needs, I don't know why you would not use the online banks that offer free chequing/high interest savings/low rate lines of credit. In the long run it would be worth far more to you than an iPod.

[BMNB1tchesss]

soooo... are there any good incentives out there right now?

[Thalo]

Bank at a bank that's actually open when you're not at work.... TD. :)

[BMNB1tchesss]

no free ipods or no free baking promotions out there?

[rockbottom]

No matter how you cut it, the best switch one could make is PC Financial. No fees, no gimmicks, simply the best. It's been five years and I have not looked back since.

[Thalo]

Anyone watch Newsworld a couple nights ago (I usually don't watch that socialist crap, but I happened to be channel surfing), with the study they did on call centers of major Canadian companies? PC Financial ranked dead last on wait times and getting a problem resolved.

[ehmcee]

Incentives should be a bonus. Switch to the bank that meets your needs the best.