Bank question

[brifishrgy]

I received a check from my auto insurance company yesterday and deposited it at a different branch then my own .. they placed a hold on the check for 6 days because it wasn't my "branch" ..the guy at the counter said if I drove to my branch there wouldn't be a hold on it (didn't feel like driving the hour) .. is there a bank that treats you like a customer no matter what branch you go to or is this a normal thing with all banks .. I am currently at Scotia and am looking at getting out and going elsewhere .. the fees keep going up and keep getting less

[BillM]

Depends on you and your standing with the bank.

 

I could see a 2 day hold, but a 6 day hold just for using a different branch? lol

 

Check out TD, good customer service, awesome hours.

[workwear]

this is a pet peeve of mine ....bamks holding checks.....there is no rule of thumb here ...what i mean to say its all up to the teller....if the check is of a certain amount....i think its a few thousand dollars then its up to the teller to decide.....i know this cuz of personal experience.....if my wife goes in and deposits a check for me ....9 out of 10 ten times there isnt a hold ....but if i go in 9 out of 10 times there is a hold put on the check....so any check that is of nominal value the wife goes in .....but if a have a substantial check hoin in i just go to my main branch and usually theyll let it go thru.....

 

 

 

so itbasically its up to the individual teller/branch to put a hold on it or not....

[Mike the Pike]

I am with Scotia bank they usually hold my funds 24 hours but never that long.

 

Yes they can be a bit of a pain in the sometimes.

 

I have an account at Laurentian bank and they seem to be more flexible!!!

[danbouck]

I have accounts at TD and Scotia. TD has a 7 day hold for larger amounts (not that large) and scotia is only 2 days for me I think. You can always ask them if they can change the hold periods.

[yakpiker]

Holding a cheque issued by an insurance company for 6 days is excessive, unless there were other factors (eg. a countersigned cheque). Phone your home branch on Monday and ask to speak to the manager, or ass't manager at the very least, to get the hold removed or reduced.

[GEO]

think that's bad bought Gas in wawa when i went to visit my son.

Used my credit card and found out later they held $150.00 Over what i spent for 3 buisness days.

Glad i had another card cause they said mine was maxed out bit it was not.

[bdox]

think that's bad bought Gas in wawa when i went to visit my son.

Used my credit card and found out later they held $150.00 Over what i spent for 3 buisness days.

Glad i had another card cause they said mine was maxed out bit it was not.

 

If you pay at the pump with a credit card they authorize $150 and then charge whatever you end up using. The authorization usually takes 3-5 business days to clear. Some pumps like at Mac's Milk will show a little button on the screen that says "Other Amount" and you can select whatever you want and the pump will stop when you've reached that amount.

[John Bacon]

I am with Royal. They are even more moronic with their holds. If I deposit a large amount, they won't even let me transfer it to another RBC account. I can understand them holding a withdrawl because they could actually be out of pocket if the cheque bounced; but preventing a transfer is just stupid. If the cheque bounces they just reverse the transfer, they money hasn't gone anywhere.

 

To top it off; they charged me for insurance on my mortgage even though I had specifically stated that I did not want insurance on it. Then they refused to return the money. They eventually refunded 50%. The insurance company is a division of RBC so it didn't actually cost RBC anything to insure the loan. They pocketed money on their mistake.

 

What ever you do not switch to the Royal Rip Off bank.

[pikehunter]

Same happened to us. Insurance cheque for just over 4 G's from State Farm made out to both our names. Wife deposits it into her account at a branch of TD Can. Trust which is one frequented but not our home branch. They put a hold on it which took over 7 days to clear. We didn''t need the money then so no big deal but it bugged my wife who checked it out about every other day to see if it had cleared.

 

If it was deposited at the home branch then maybe it would have cleared right away? Or perhaps the banks are leery on insurance companies when they are writing cheques out all over the place when settling disaster claims? Don't know why because you would think insurance companies, especially large ones, have their funds guaranteed. Or maybe they don't trust the one cashing it and assume first it is a fraudulent cheque...even if you are a customer in good standing for well over 30 years.

 

Guess we just have to admit it, the banks as well as the insurance companies have us by the short and curlys!

Edited October 18, 2009 by pikehunter

[workwear]

do you know where the real scam lies in all of this...........the cheque you deposit gets cleared within 2 biz days max.....but yet your not allowed access to your money till 5 or 7 days.....i wonder why....

 

 

i noticed this when i opened a new bmo acc't ....wrote a cheque to my personal td acc't..... that cheque cleared the next day.....but td didnt release my funds till after 5 days.... oh im still wondering why

[brifishrgy]

gonna drop by my branch on Monday .. if they dont release the hold I am going to give TD a try

[workwear]

doesnt matter who you bank with!!!!......what you need to do is build a relationship with the bank's ppl......if they know you youll have a better chance with certain perks...at my home branch i never get charged any over the counter service fees......but thats becuz i have a long standing repore with the branch......my point is we are at their mercy... better to play nice with them and maybe get a bone thrown our way.....we cant beat the banks...

[pikehunter]

if they dont release the hold I am going to give TD a try

 

Why? Like I said above, you will get the same Bull at TD. So why go through the trouble?

 

what you need to do is build a relationship with the bank'

I gather you don't feel that 30+ years at the same bank with a perfect banking record, RSP's, GIC's etc. and a credit score beyond 800 is not a good relationship. TDCanada Trust is the same as the rest. Canada Trust customer relations went down hill as soon as TD took them over.

[fcm420]

I'm with Royal Bank,

 

if I deposit a personal cheque from someone, its a 24 hour hold. If I deposit a corporate Cheque ( such as insurance company etc.. ) there is no hold.

 

Doesnt matter what branch.

 

I think it has more to do with your standing with the bank,

 

I've been a customer for nearly 15 years, have a $40k visa and 2 houses mortgaged through them, i dont think they consider me a risk.

 

so if you dont have good credit, expect a hold.

 

If you want good credit, give the banks some money by using a credit card and letting them collect some interest off ya now and then.. not by missing payments but by paying the credit card off without paying the full balance everytime a statement comes in.

 

so every couple months or so let them have some interest earned from you and they will like you more then if you just pay your whole balance each month.

 

Banks are just companies tryin to make a profit. If you provide them with some profit they in turn will give you more options to bank with them.

[gdelongchamp]

Several years ago I won a $1,000.00 bill in a raffle. While in Toronto I went to three large banks to have it changed into hundreds. They all refused as I didn't have an account at their bank.

 

Holding cheques is very normal for the bank. They are only protecting themselves. It makes sense. If I was a shareholder at that bank I would expect them to do the same for everyone.

[Bitsmith2k]

so if you dont have good credit, expect a hold.

 

If you want good credit, give the banks some money by using a credit card and letting them collect some interest off ya now and then.. not by missing payments but by paying the credit card off without paying the full balance everytime a statement comes in.

 

so every couple months or so let them have some interest earned from you and they will like you more then if you just pay your whole balance each month.

 

dont think your credit has anything to do with it.. unless you've applied for a loan or something, the bank doesnt have access or authorization to view your credit report.. even then the report isnt valid for all that long..

[TC1OZ]

If you've ever been a victim of debit skimming (which is very common aparently) you would want to keep your money at your house....

 

Up to 30 days till I got my money back because someone else compromised their system and stole my money!

 

So when my money that was there gets stolen they can take their sweet time to give it back, when you try to put more money in, they put crazy holds on it.....you can't win!

[bigbuck]

Gotta love our Banking System!!! They 'hold' your money for a few more days than it actually takes to clear a cheque which is pretty quick these days since it's all electronic. Your money gets used by the bank to fund mortgages etc... on a day to day cash flow basis. Basically, they are making money off of yours during this time while you get nothing for it other than a headache trying to deal with them. My advice to you is to talk to the nearest bank manager, move the account over there with the understanding that cheques won't be held for an inordinate amount of time.

[Hooked]

I just deposit my cheques in the ATM and never had a problem accessing it instantly. I'm with Scotia

[charlesn]

gonna drop by my branch on Monday .. if they dont release the hold I am going to give TD a try

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOO. lol

 

I just went through an hour of pain at TD. I have had an account with them since I started my business. I had an ON gov't cheque in September, deposited it through the ATM, so 7 day hold, no biggie. All cleared eventually. Next time, same cheque one month later, go to the teller so they won't put a hold on it (as per what they told me over the phone) and they won't even accept the cheque (the exact same cheque that I've already deposited a month earlier) saying I need to provide proof the my business operates under both the Full name and the Initials. DUH! The initials are also on the cheque!!!! But because the full name was first instead of after the initials, no go. So I go get some legal documents, spend an hour there getting it cleared up, well, actually spent an hour playing Magmic Texas Hold Em King 2 on my crackberry while the lady runs around trying to find my file. And yes this all in my home branch. I'd like to drop em, but after doing business with BMO, Royal, CIBC I've found they are all the same and couldn't give a rat's patootie about you so the inertia of my laziness will probably just keep me at TD and they do have the best hours. I was actually thinking of giving Scotia a try, but thanks to your post will save myself the aggravation.

 

They are all pretty much the same.

[wuchikubo]

Look up a Loblaws with PC financial. Open an account with PC Financial, no minimums, no daily banking fees (e.g. debit card use on most transactions, monthly fees, or such) and deposit and withdraw without fees on CIBC ATMs, NO HOLDS (up to $20K) for most folks I've spoken to. If you like the branch like settings, I would also recommend HSBC, more fees than PC Financial but less than the big 5 banks (the last I looked anyways).

[crappieperchhunter]

My wife is a manager at a TD and both my kids are at the bank as well. Cheque frauds and frauds in general having been getting worse and worse every year. All banks have beefed up there security measures, to protect there own arses and yours.

 

You will get the same treatment every where.

[Big Cliff]

I've been dealing with RBC for about 30 years now. About 8 years ago an employee of mine went into our branch to cash her pay cheque and since she didn't have an account there they told her they would have to put a hold on the cheque. Now, this was my branch and I had a long history with them and more than enough in the account to cover the cheque.

 

She phoned me in a panic; she needed the money now! It took me about two minutes on the phone with the manager. The first 60 seconds were me explaining what I was going to do if they didn't give her the money right then and there. The second 60 seconds were him apologizing and assuring me it would never happen again! They never put a hold on any of my cheques no matter how much they are for! You are a customer and you should expect good customer service unless you have given them reason to believe there could be a problem. If you don't get the answer you want from the teller, go right to the top!

[Fish4Eyes]

I just deposit my cheques in the ATM and never had a problem accessing it instantly. I'm with Scotia

 

you can access part of it right away, not everything