A stern warning for those considering RBC's interest promos | RBC Royal Bank | Discussion forum

Kasper665 said
Earlier this year, I signed up for this RBC promo rate and made a significant deposit into the account. The first interest deposit didn't include the promo. Went to our advisor, they fumbled around for a week and nothing happened. Escalated to the branch manager, same thing. Escalated to the back office. Now months later, the status is still "under investigation" with no time frame given for the simple resolution of immediately deposit the interest owed into the account.

I pulled my funds and will be closing the account. They owe me thousands in interest. Looks like I'm going to small claims court because OBSI is a black hole.  

Thanks for sharing your experience. The promo is less attractive when one factors in the risk of having to chase down the promised interest payments due to administrative error.

Interestingly, RBC is the only Canadian bank that I ever had a significant administrative problem with. About 35 years ago, I deposited 2 cheques into my account through one their ATMs at Bloor and St. George Street in Toronto.

Back in the day, you had to put cheques in a deposit envelope to process them through a slot in the machine. Although my receipt showed both deposits, RBC only credited one of the two checques and claimed the other had gone missing because I put two in one envelope. The result was that my account was overdrawn due to to not having the funds on deposit when I wrote another cheque.

After a couple of weeks, RBC did find the missing cheque, but they refused to reverse the overdraft fee, insisting that it was my fault for putting two cheques in the deposit envelope. I promptly closed my account and moved over to TD, where I've been reasonably well served ever since.

Sounds like plus ca change, plus cést la meme chose at RBC.

Lost me at "owe me thousands in interest" on money that was deposited a few weeks ago! Why on earth would anyone with that kind of cash be putting it in a savings account? Have all the questions from the anti-money-laundering team been answered or is OP just trolling? As for holding a grudge for a self inflicted wound from 35 years ago; RBC has never made a mistake in the 75 years they've held my accounts [first account opened for me by my father at one month of age]. TD, OTOH, has caused my sister and me considerable grief along with modest losses of opportunity.

Sounds like the recent promotion for the BMO Savings Amplifier Account.

Receive 4.6% for 120 days on the Amplifier account if one opens certain BMO chequing accounts, like the $17.95/month BMO Performance Chequing Account, and then opens the Amplifier account within 30 days of opening the chequing account.

The described issues are more likely with the branch staff and than with the RBC offers. Staff sometimes don't understand the details of the offers and give wrong info to unsuspecting clients.

Bank branch staff are a varied group. Some are sharp, like one BMO teller who eventually became one of the bank's CEO's. Sadly, some can't handle anything outside routine deposits and withdrawals.