hwyc said
... Search for Vancity led me to this archived forum, might as well leave a mark.

Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB) was founded in 2017, when Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity) relaunched its national subsidiary, Citizens Bank of Canada, as Canada’s first Schedule 1 community investment bank.

Then VCIB acquired CoPower in 2019  

They subsequently wound down and wound up the CoPower business. They've also recently exited the prepaid credit card business, so their sole business line is in business lending and banking.

Their former CEO, Jay-Ann Gilfoy, is now the CEO of Motus Bank.

Cheers,
Doug

Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB) was founded in 2017, when Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity) relaunched its national subsidiary, Citizens Bank of Canada, as Canada’s first Schedule 1 community investment bank.

Then VCIB acquired CoPower in 2019

Cheers,
Doug

Example:

Scotia Bank has the Gain savings account that allows you to make 2 free transactions (no monthly fees).

National Bank of Canada has their pay per use checking account (65 cents / transaction).

TD Bank has their Investment GIA saving account that allows for 1 or 2 transactions a month (no monthly fees).

I already mentioned Royal Bank in the previous post.

I have not checked BMO and CIBC yet, but I'm sure they have similar products.

Then use a credit card like MBNA's Smart Cash Card (or even a credit card offered by the Bank you have a checking/savings with) for all daily transaction. Remember, with credit cards you do not pay on a transaction basis. You only pay should you carry a balance from month to month (which would NOT be the case if you paid the statement balance by the statement due date).

This way you are only paying for transactions that you cannot complete via credit card which should not be as much as you may think over the course of a month.

djino

Day to Day checking account gives you 15 transactions per month which is a cost of $4/month.

BUT, if you open up a rewards credit card with RBC and any type of investment (RRSP, TFSA, etc) account (I had the Rewards GOLD Visa -- no annual fee with a RRSP account that only has had a $10 balance for the past year) you will get a Multi- Product monthly rebate in the amount of $4, which makes the Day to Day Checking account free.

I'd say from out of the Big 5, this is the best offer out there.

I would also recommend PC Financial (as Doug has above), as you you can simply open the one Checking account (without having to open up any other products and without having a minimum balance) and you get unlimited free checking with free checks. BUT you do not have access to a teller (ie, the banking relationship you can have with the Big 5). All banking is done online, phone, and by ATM.

djino

If you really don't want to pay for all of this, I would recommend direct banking options or look for accounts that give you so many transactions for maintaining a small monthly balance. Some good options to consider include:

* Canadian Western Bank or its direct banking division, Canadian Direct Financial, which offer free unlimited banking including cheque writing privileges and free initial cheque order (might be able to squeak extra cheque orders out of them at no charge so long as it's not more than one every two years) if you hold $5000 in great rate, non-redeemable GIC or your chequing account. Plus, with CWB, when you call their branch number, you get a real live person located at the branch and not in a call centre. It's like credit union banking with the security, safety and regulatory provisions of chartered banks

* ICICI Bank Canada - Free unlimited banking with $500 monthly balance and connected to The Exchange Network of surcharge-free ATMs

* President's Choice Financial - Free unlimited banking and free cheques through the direct banking division of CIBC. Also offers a great MasterCard product through President's Choice Bank, wholly-owned by Loblaw Companies and its back-end managed by MBNA Canada Bank

There are others, such as BMO and the credit unions. These are a selected few I like though have never used.

Hope that helps,
Doug

The only thing we can do is find other banks that have lower fees. But in your case, it might because of "SENTIMENTAL" reason that's why you cant give up on Vancity. Vancity is your bank since 1997? that's a long relationship already me friend. My first bank is also Scotiabank, and after this time, all those fees i paid, i should have already bailed out and bank with other banks but i can't simply because I have already set-up some automatic contribution and withdrawal with that account. But I tell you, my bank [scotia] is also a sucker for fees. And their customer service is i say just borderline average.

Other options include:
* ICICI Bank (monthly fee waived with $500 minimum balance)
* Canadian Direct Financial (so many free debit transactions for every $1000 of minimum balance)
* HSBC Bank Canada's Advance Savings account (only able to be opened online through Personal Internet Banking once you've opened a High Rate Savings account; no cheques permitted though)
* Scotiabank, BMO Bank of Montreal and CIBC all have great accounts where the monthly fee is waived for as little as $1000 of minimum monthly balance and they have large branch networks

Hope that helps,
Doug

P.S. What route are you taking, Peter? You live in B.C., right, so you could theoretically open a VanCity account. 🙂

I transfered my savings including a Tax Free Savings Account to Outlook Financial http://www.outlookfinancial.com

From Outlook's website: "Outlook is a division of Assiniboine Credit Union, one of the most respected financial co-operatives in Canada. Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Assiniboine's commitment to doing business in a way that is financially sound and socially, environmentally and ethically responsible has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally." You can read much more about their ethical policies and practices on Assiniboine's website http://www.assiniboine.mb.ca
Outlook is in Manitoba but you can live anywhere.

Outlook is an online bank and they have some of the highest rates in Canada, but they don't have a chequing account. Although, with the High Interest Savings Account you do get a few free cheques & an ATM card so you have easy access to your funds if needed, but there is a $1 fee for each transaction except the first one per month which is free.

For now I am using VISA cheques since they are free and I only use about 6 cheques at year. They are charged interest from day 1 just like a cash advance. If you use Visa cheques just make sure to pay off the cheques plus all charges that are posted before the cheque (since payments are applied to the oldest posted transactions first) on the day the cheque is posted to avoid fees. I am considering opening a Presidents Choice chequing account since their are no monthly fees.

I moved my USD Account to ING Direct.

Duca Financial and Achieva Financial were others I considered.

Thank you very much.

Ed