Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Now that you have changed your bank, make sure that your bank earns your trust and your allegiance. In Canada we really only have about 6 choices, so life isn’t that easy, but make sure that whoever you bank with is in there to help you (or at least, hinder you as little as possible).

This is YOUR money that they are holding (and using to make money for themselves), so make sure you get all the good stuff you can out of them:

• Cheap, if not free banking. The fees most folks pay mean that you are actually paying your bank to keep your money. Think about that, if you stuck your money in your mattress, you’d have more at the end of the year? That is just wrong.
• Good on line banking or phone banking. A friend’s bank has a very cryptic interface on their on line banking, and more than once the wrong Mastercard bill got paid. If you don’t like your bank’s interface, tell them to fix it!
• Have they lost your personal info and now want you to close your accounts, because they think they are insecure? This happens RUN don’t walk away from THIS bank!
• Friendly tellers? Yes, not many of us go into the bank, but when you do, wouldn’t it be nice to talk to a friendly (and competent) face? Think about it.
• Good hours of access, yes, again, we don’t go into the bank much, but it better have good hours!
• Interest rates? It would be nice to actually get paid interest on an account, which I am not currently getting anywhere.

Banks need you to exist, don’t keep thinking, it is somehow a priviledge to keep your money with them, make them work for it! –C8j