As a once-loyal client, I can attest to the fact that Royal Bank customer service has gone to shit, and recent interactions at TD even worse.
With many street-facing branch staff both communicatively handicapped (English as a recent language), limited in their authorities, and apparently without access to more capable supervisor support — what reason is there to believe such a system breeds competency at higher corporate levels?
Three of Canada’s biggest lenders posted quarterly earnings on Thursday, and as was the case at Scotiabank earlier in the week, they’re all putting a lot more money aside to cover loans that might go bad.
Royal Bank, TD Bank and CIBC revealed their financial results to investors before stock markets opened on Thursday, and while all three remain very profitable, they all showed a sharp uptick in the amount of money they’re setting aside to cover bad loans, a closely watched banking metric known as provisions for credit losses.
At Royal Bank, Canada’s biggest lender set aside $720 million to cover loans that either aren’t currently being paid back as planned, or the bank is worried might soon be. That figure is up by 89 per cent from $381 million a year ago.
At TD, the bank set aside $878 million in provisions, an increase of 42 per cent from $617 million this time last year.
But I’m just the customer. If you work on the front lines at a financial institution, tell me what you know.
It doesn’t matter what the business is, or where it is. Few people speak English well. It’s terrible, and worse on the phone. The insane want to see Canada a nation of 100 million ASAP is just bizarre.
We did it to ourselves by having max 2 kids. And then raising them to be lazy.
Fair comment
Not our three: hard-working professionals as are spouses. And we’re still working (though not always for pay) even in our “golden” years.
I work commercial credit for one of the mentioned banks.
The economy is sliding into a recession, so defaults will increase. Arguably, we been in one for a year. The only thing growing is government spending.
Higher interest rates also mean more debt servicing requirements when rates renewal (or immediately if floating). This also means more defaults.
Finally, higher interest rates lower the value of certain properties, most notably real estate. This is on top of the hit real estate took due to vacancies after Covid (or thereafter depending upon when the lease comes due). This also means defaults and liquidation at a loss.
Curious what u think about interest rates. Going up? Or staying at present levels?
ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) was never a workable long term plan that would result in deficit spending, expansion of the money supply, and inflation.
If I knew where interest rates were going, I’d be rich.
My gut tells me we are near the high point in the current levels. Back in 1981, interest rates were 3X higher than now, but we have 3X the debt now.
I also think that at current interest rate levels, inflation will be more persistent than the government is indicating and will be around longer than planned.
Rates likely won’t drop until the government stops running big deficits. And to get that, we need a different government.
.
Yield curve (aka markets) say rates will go down as curve is inverted: 3 mths 5%, 3 yr 4%, 5 yr 3.7%, 10 yr 3.6%.
Down but not a lot down.
Having had no debt for the past 20 -30 years, I manage to save money. So, higher interest rates means my savings grow. After many years of stupidly low % rates, I was unable to get return outside of the manipulated market … that is an investment casino. win some, lose some.
I have standard advice for the financially inept …
Live below your means.
Save a % if your gross income every month.
Do not use credit unnecessarily … you don’t need to replace things that are in good working order or things you do … not … NEED.
Know that “you can’t always get what you want” – The Stones – but you need the things you ‘need’.
Be grateful for what you already have. Be kind to animals and small children.
More generally speaking, life is better and easier with a partner. Get married and stay married. Choosing a mate is the most serious thing you will ever do. Choose wisely … I recommend a conservative woman/man with a job and a positive mental attitude.
Sermon ends here.
The sermon has been heard by the choir since Shakespeare wrote Act I, Scene III, in Hamlet. Polonius’ advice to Laertes however it is paraphrased and quoted is no longer required reading in our education system, more is the pity. The other side of the coin is that the last generation that heeded the advice and learned from it, sacrificed much to put the next generation into the halls of academia to further their education. The result which is ever present today is that the deans of higher education told the students that their parents were stupid and didn’t know anything. (See the previous UVIC article about qualifying for a job because of your skin colour.) Herein endth the rant for what it’s worth.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
Looks like J West only took the first part of that advice, for loan oft losses both itself and friend.
I trust Antenor that thy habit is most costly?
We get great service at all of our small town banks but their telephone customer service is not anywhere near as good. Unfortunately, we bank with Scotia and they’re closing down the local branch and removing their ATM. The next closest Scotia bank is an hour away. I expect all of the big banks to follow suit and close down in small towns like ours. We will be moving our accounts over to the local credit union because, due their business/ownership structure, they’ll probably be the only bank that stays open in town. I like to be able to walk in and talk to a person so not having a local bank branch is a deal breaker for me.
– I’d say 99plus percent of people where l live speak English as their first language so I’ve never had issues with language barriers at local banks or stores.
They did the same with our local Royal branch. Closed and relocated our accounts, and the only reliably competent front facing staff are the ones who used to work at our branch and now commute to Saskatoon.
Yeah, Scotia’s plan is to move all of our accounts to Saskatoon. I’ve also found that you just don’t get great customer service in the city so I’m not interested in keeping our accounts with them. I’d rather talk to someone l know and they know us. I suspect the local credit union will get a significant portion of Scotia’s customers.
I went credit union many years ago and have never looked back.
I’m Currently with Simplii Financial (Presidents Choice), been with em since 1998. Digital only bank – under the CIBC umbrella. Zero issues – Zero FEE’s and it was the fee’s at Scotia and others that pissed me off back in ’98
Literal theft.
But am thinking that a Local Alberta Credit Union sounds mighty appealing. It might just be the right time.
Also with Simplii, with investments at TCU. Simplii has been great and you can do everything at Simplii that you can at a more traditional bank. I bought a vehicle and two properties, one out of province, using Simplii’s services and had absolutely no issues with the online and telephone banking aspect of things. I try to tell people about Simplii and most people still have this weird notion of “I want to deal with a local branch where they know me.” People also have this weird idea of loyalty being rewarded. No bank cares who you are. And there is no such thing as loyalty or even respect from a commercial institution in our culture anymore. The fact that institutions are staffed with people who don’t speak your language should tell you immediately which customers the bank really values.
There’s nothing wrong with online banking. I do almost all of our banking, investments and bill paying online. Sometimes though you need to go in the bank. The other day I was in the bank to get a couple rolls of loonies and twonies for the car wash and I pay cash for my bootleg farm eggs. Other customers included an elderly lady who paid all of her utility bills with help from the cashier and a farmer discussing his business account with 3 of the bank’s staff. One of the bank’s asst. managers emerged from her office because she recognized the farmer’s voice.
And it’s cliche but I knew the first and last name everyone in the bank except one person. I see them often at town functions, gas stations and grocery stores. I like that.
“Sometimes though you need to go in the bank. The other day I was in the bank to get a couple rolls of loonies and twonies for the car wash and I pay cash for my bootleg farm eggs.”
I got into a dispute with the TD over this a couple of months back. TD, you see, all but refuses to allow any of their customers to buy rolls of change *without recording the transaction* (which really isn’t a ‘transaction at all: it’s an exchange). One young teller told me “it’s FINTRAC”. This happened at more than one branch, although some made jokes about it and waived the ‘requirement’ for me. Interestingly, if you are not a TD customer they will just do the exchange for you with no ID requirements, so I started doing that. My other bank across the street has no such requirements and laughed when I told them about it.
Finally one day when a teller refused to sell me any change without identifying myself and recording the exchange, I demanded to see the manager…who then spent 20 minutes on the computer trying to find the actual written requirement. She *failed*…but came back saying that she “knew” it was a rule, even though she couldn’t find it, and helpfully provided me with a sheet listing all the steps I could take to ‘escalate’ my concern first through the TD Bank and then government agencies. That was the first time I walked across the street and bought change from the HSBC instead.
Speaking of HSBC, though, they have their own issues. They were the first local bank to shut down ATM machines at night in my area (the TD now does it as well), and they used to have separate teller lines for ‘wealthy’ people (they were forced to stop that practice, it looks like…might play well in China, but not here).
Lately they have been putting four day holds on every cheque I deposit, while claiming they are now doing this for every customer…after first trying to convince me that it has “always been like this” (yeah, no…it hasn’t. Not for years…). They claim that widespread fraud is being committed so everyone is now suspect (“even the rich people”, he said. Whatever. But yesterday I went in to get a money order, bringing one of my pension cheques with me but *not* depositing it into the four-day Black Hole that the ATM has become, I handed the cheque to them in person thinking that would mitigate any security issues. They REFUSED it. I was at first astonished, then annoyed. Asked to see the manager…they looked confused (all the while babbling to each other in Chinese) and said that wouldn’t help…they were just following the rules. I told them it was a Government of Canada cheque, and that there was no question of it being NSF…they still wouldn’t budge, telling me again about cheque fraud “over the internet”. I told them this wasn’t the internet: they had the cheque *in their hands*.
Finally I just smiled and said that Liberal MPs office was just a few miles away and did they really want me to go there and tell my MP that the HSBC “refused to honor” my government pension cheque? THAT got their attention real fast (“No, don’t say it like that”), and they went back to working on it.
I got the money order, finally, but notice that it appears to be ‘co-signed’ by one of the tellers(?). I heard the word “override” used, and guess that they had to get ‘creative’ to make it happen.
Banks are certainly not what they used to be. Maybe I should take my dad’s advice and switch to a credit union like he did.
It sounds like the banking system in Canada is becoming a nightmare. I haven’t had those troubles (except check withholding which I rarely do because I mostly do e-transfers now). I expects that’s because the bank employees here don’t want to do things that annoy their friends and neighbors unnecessarily. In a city you’re an anonymous nobody and treated as such.
My interaction the other day literally was “Hi, *LC. How can I help you today? Sorry for the wait” and finished with a short chat about Xmas holiday plans. I never produced ID or a bank card for the rolls of coins.
*not my actual name, of course.
Be aware that Australia is phasing out cheques as have many other countries. If you don’t use them, you’ll lose them. Governments want everything to be electronic: no cash, no cheques.
I use both cash and cheques as frequently as is convenient to myself.
Also with Simplii, Presidents Choice originally, since about 1993, because NO FEES. We were banking thru CIBC, keeping the $1K account minimum to avoid fees, but it was a bit inconvenient. Were saving $50+ in monthly fees.
Still with them to manage money, but in far fewer account transactions. Very convenient and can always visit the awful Penguin bank if really needed.
That said, our soon to be extinguished mortgage is at BMO, the same bank that was first to freeze accounts of the Truckers Convoy. The local branch has always treated us well and been very receptive to our business, an excellent credit score gets you exemplary service. But, corporately, they disgust me.
FYI, we’ve been screwed over by credit unions in the past, so, just because they are “locally owned” , means nothing.
Example, VanCity Savings? It’s a Commie NDP bandwagon. Comrade Bob Williams was an unrepentant socialist, former CEO and NDP cabinet minister. I would never have anything to do with them. Just look at their virtue signaling commercials. Nauseating.
VanCity is really horrible, I agree. They had great tellers, but shut the branch down after covid. They are the worst possible neighbours who break city bylaws repeatedly.
The board of directors all have “activist” credentials.
I used to bank with Saskatoon Credit Union, but it seemed to me that “locally owned” meant to the people working there that they owned it.
I have been with TD for over 50 years. My experiences with TD have been good. I moved around thus I have dealt with several branches over the years and it’s been good.
Of course rarely borrow money and I pay bills on time.
However, I do not trust any bank. They do what the government wants them to do. That is not good for personal freedoms …. what they did in freezing the accounts of the Truckers and their supporters (me) WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN, NOR FORGOTTEN.
TD Waterhouse closed my RRSP account after I disagreed with my financial advisor about covid and the banks’ response to the truckers’ protest. Essentially, it was something like “How dare you accuse us of fascism for suspending accounts for political reasons! Your account is now suspended!”
TD Waterhouse is cancer.
Feb 2022: TD CEO to Freeland “if you list them as people subject to sanctions (i.e. as if they are terrorists) we could act swiftly”
I don’t know if it’s true but I read some years ago that banks weren’t really enthused about ATMs at first. Since all banks do the same stuff, they figured they could use their front line staff set themselves apart.
Pretty sure they’ve given up on that.
“I don’t know if it’s true but I read some years ago that banks weren’t really enthused about ATMs at first. Since all banks do the same stuff, they figured they could use their front line staff set themselves apart.
Pretty sure they’ve given up on that.”
I read somewhere that some of them were trying to get rid of smaller accounts, since they weren’t making a lot of money on them. Don’t know if it is true.
Switched the bulk of our banking business from Royal to ATB here a couple years ago during the convoy incident. Settling my parents estate which mean moving money from the Montreal to ATB. ATB still has the fees that the big banks do but it is backed by Alberta which is in better financial shape than the feds. Having one or more of the big six fail would be a good thing for the country. Unfortunately it is impossible to escape the evil communist canucksitanian bank act while still a resident here.
Banks are not backed by Canada. CDIC is a creature of the banking system whereby they self insure each other, no fed backstop. CDIC as of Q3 2023 had $0.0073 for every $1 of insured deposits (goal is to get it up to $0.0085 whoopee!). If a big bank fails, there is no “insurance” as the gig will be up.
Last year at the Royal Bank I tried to get a bank calendar from one of the new staff and he clearly did not know the word “calendar”.
It was not that this middle-aged man did not seem to speak English clearly, he did not know the word and seemed glad to discover it when I explained it to him.
He may have be Libyan.
At least the Liberal government has not demanded everybody learn Arabic to do any banking… yet.
Calendar at the Royal Bank? I tried last year and was told they don’t do calendars any more.
“Calendar at the Royal Bank? I tried last year and was told they don’t do calendars any more.”
My Liberal MP sends me a little desktop calendar in the mail every year. It’s the only useful thing he does, in my opinion.
My husband and I have been dealing with CIBC for over thirty years, personally I hate their level of service or lack there of. We have substantial investments with said bank, yet they can’t be bothered to replace our investment advisor, we’ve not been “Advised” for four years and they charge us lavish fees for said no advice. So a while back their call center called and told us they had to update our information because they were in violation of their own laws. So long story short my husband ask said call center to perform a service to which they said nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooo. He told them to Get forked and hung up on them, now my husband is the calmest person on the planet but even he’s fed up with the level of no service. Eventually he answered their questions but only after some one in power in Tarrana got involved, I really don’t need their advice our portfolios are on a spread sheets we designed so we know the ins and outs but we are paying lavish fees for services not rendered.
“… Royal Bank customer service has gone to shit, and recent interactions at TD even worse.”
Can confirm. That and RBC’s CEO inserting himself into the trucker’s convoy debate was the last straw for me. You got some balls working in concert with the gov’t to dutifully freeze customer’s accounts without so much as a challenge. It also illustrates what a fine line it is where theoretically one’s savings that he or she has worked for all their lives can disappear with the stroke of a pen whenever Ottawa barks. “We like to take care of you at the Royal Bank”. Yeah, sure you do. God may forgive you but I won’t.
Too harsh?
Feb 2022: RBC CEO to Freeland “If we list them as terrorist we could act more comprehensively”
Have you seen the social engineering woke ads from these institutions?
And it isn’t like I can change banks if they lobby expressly against my moral values. They all are like that.
You might want to start there.
Just a couple of articles that have been around for a while and every Canadian should be aware of how the system is abused by those in power, both financially and politically.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bank-canada-registry-unclaimed-assets-interest-pensions-finance-missing-owners-1.4970490
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cpp-oas-debt-collection-cra-esdc-duclos-it-glitch-1.5047349
In a double entry book-keeping system how do accounts go dormant? How does the CPP function at this level of incompetence?
There is also a program from CBC about how carousel companies have grifted millions from Revenue Canada that is interesting.
Mistakes made by the so called elites and leaders in finance and politics and yet it is always the working schmuck that has to bail them out. Somebody has to start fighting back. I’m open for suggestions.
Addendum to my post above here is the article about CRA being duped.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cra-carousel-scheme-1.7037614
Bona vacantia.
Charles will take care of it.
“Britain’s King Charles has been siphoning tens of millions of dollars intended for charity, thanks to a medieval law called “bona vacantia,” (vacant goods) which transfers the assets of those who died in a particular region without a will or known next of kin to the duchy. With said funds, Charles has been upgrading a commercial property empire managed by his hereditary estate.”
Same as in Canada and the US. Unclaimed assets of the dead revert to the state, ie wind up in some easy-to-hide slush fund.
Was with Canada Trust which got bought out by TD. Local Branch employees changed constantly. Asian/Brown always courteous but communication requires repeating myself. $36.25 withdraw fees this morning, ‘no idea’ Wish me luck will be visiting my branch today.
$36.25 withdraw fee. Went to Bank and cleared up. “Stop using Debit Tap 20 times a day” got it will do.
“$36.25 withdraw fee. Went to Bank and cleared up. “Stop using Debit Tap 20 times a day” got it will do.”
I discovered the same thing. Guess I should have been reading those statements instead of just shredding them. What a bunch of bandits.
A bank is willing to lend you an umbrella when they can tie up double the assets you are borrowing ( more likely every thing you own ,no matter the size of the loan) and your outlook is sunny . They will demand it back at the first sign of a cloud in the sky.
You should be aware that any assets deposited are the banks property , returned to you at their discretion. Steven Harper did consumers no favors when he allowed banks the power to turn deposits into stock of the institution. The banking laws vastly favor the institution and the are well aware they can act in addition to these rules with near impunity.
It is a wise decisions to spread your affairs to more than one institution, keep cash on hand ,as well as some silver and gold. I don’t have enough understanding of the digital currencies to have confidence in them, but it also may be a good choice. These are options for people at the stage of life that have the means to do so, but I believe it should be a goal for everyone.
Lastly ,it seems to me given the events of the last few years , there really no sure way to protect what you have accumulated and counted on to carry you through the later stages of life. If your skillsets are lacking in the areas of self reliance and preparation, upgrading them seems to be prudent. Some people i know have gone as far as residency permits and residences in other countries . Lastly, banks are not your friend.
I know a guy who hasn’t filed taxes in 15 yrs+, bailed on around $1000 credit card debt about 10 years ago, makes around $1000/ month, and his bank just pre-approved him for a credit card.
It was bonds that were allowed to be flipped into stock, not deposits. I would never buy a bank bond (unlimited downside, limited upside).
Always press 2 for French. Chances are better than fair you’ll get someone on the line whose English is better than the person who just hopped off a plane from the turd world and is likely servicing the English customers. Unless, of course, the company is into the recent trend of outsourcing the French business to Haiti…then sigh, hang up, and try again.
AFAIC, that’s the only benefit to the official bilingualism bollocks.
Just to add my ten cents worth, (probably should be ten dollars worth these days)
I’ve been with a local credit union for over thirty years, and I’ve had my ups and downs with them, but a few more ups rhan downs, so I stayed with them. However, due to the way things are regressing, plus covid and the truckers convoy etc, I only keep enough funds to pay bills in even that institution. I am also using cash a lot more nowadays, and have been deliberately paying some bills in cash. (I am totally against digital money idiocy) Anyway, last week, I went in to the local CIBC to pay my monthly Visa bill in cash, as I’ve done now for the last six or eight months. That is the ONLY reason I go in to the CIBC, but the teller recognized me this time and said, ‘Where do you bank?’ I said, ‘Not here’, and she carefully explained, ( I’m in my seventies, so I guess she thought I was elderly and confused) that I can pay my Visa bill through my own institution or online. I said,
‘ I am aware of that fact, and asked if there was a problem paying my bill in cash?’ She states, ‘It’s a longer process and a bit of a pain to deposit your cash here’ I said, ‘This is a bank, is cash a problem???’ at that point she averted my gaze and completed the transaction without further mumbles.
When a teller in a major bank starts to complain that depositing cash is a pain, the writing is on the wall for digital money ie, CBDC’s and the turd just signed an agreement with the WEF to bring in CBDC’s. If we don’t all start resisting and pushing back on this global enforcement of us all, we’ll all become their slaves real quick!
And we aren’t slaves now?
Good luck, we will need it.
Try NEO, they are moving to become a bank. It was started by the guys that created Skip the Dishes.
I went to a credit union in Calgary more years ago than I care to count. They have been merging with other credit unions for some years now. They still have brick & mortar locations with human tellers but no reception staff. FWIW, my experience with ‘financial advisors’ has been that the females are less helpful or knowledgeable than the guys. One Chinese girl was all set to collapse my RRSP when what I wanted was to renew it in a different vehicle IN THE SAME BRANCH. When I pointed out this rather major error, she didn’t know how to correct it and had to phone her husband who worked at a different bank (not a c.u.) and he walked her thru the process. If he worked at a c.u. I would have liked him as my financial advisor.
With call centers overseas, they are just as dumb as the CRA and deserve everything they get.
Fully agree on the positive comments re Credit Unions. Been a member since ’72.
But yeh; VanCity has turned to crap. I still have an acct. there that I never use. I moved to my small town, local, CU 20yrs ago and they’ve been excellent
Be selective with the details you add to an etransfer. The banks are reading them.