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winnie
Joined: 08 May 2005
Location: the forest
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 Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 2:08 am Post subject: Canadians: Who do you bank with? |
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I bank with PC financial. They have told me that if I am living out of country, that they cannot provide me with services. They are an otherwise excellent bank....but this concerns me.
I am wondering if any of you can recommend a bank, which will send statements to me here in Korea and provide me with full services regardless of location. |
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Homer
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 2:23 am Post subject: |
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| I am wondering if any of you can recommend a bank, which will send statements to me here in Korea and provide me with full services regardless of location. |
Internet banking.
Most bank offer it.
You don't need statements
You have access to most services.
Try it out. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 4:19 am Post subject: |
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I bank with Bank of Montreal and they've been pretty obliging . When the magnetic strip on my card broke, they gave my mom a new card to send over, no problem.
As well their internet banking system is very easy to use. |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 6:09 am Post subject: Re: Canadians: Who do you bank with? |
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| winnie wrote: |
| I bank with PC financial. They have told me that if I am living out of country, that they cannot provide me with services. They are an otherwise excellent bank....but this concerns me. |
As well it should. They cancelled me last autumn when I called them up asking about their international transfer codes for when I wanted to wire money back. "You're out of the country? We're cancelling you". Click. Too bad - I loved using their no-fee card at check-outs. They gave me a week to get my money out of the account. Brutal. What about my PC Points!?
I've been a Bank of Montreal client since I was 6. I have no problems with them, and wire money into that account all the time. They send replacement Mastercards every couple of years, which I never use. I also never use an MBNA Canada Mastercard that I'm not sure why I was ever issued. They constantly up the credit limit like crack pushers to try to get me to use it. I think I can buy an Airbus A-340-500 with it by now.
I also have a TD VISA Gold card, which I only use for on-line purchases, because many online vendors (notably Paypal) won't accept my HSBC card issued here in Southeast Asia. I originally got the card when I was a teacher in Canada, and was making enough to quality. TD VISA just temporarily disconnected me for a month because I'm out of the country, but their credit department ruled last week that I'm OK because I've been a good boy and always pay my bills, so the card's working again. Nice things about this card: no annual fee, and I get free car insurance when I rent in North America.
| Quote: |
| I am wondering if any of you can recommend a bank, which will send statements to me here in Korea and provide me with full services regardless of location. |
The sending statements part is obsolete. Any of the major banks allow you to check your transactions and do most bill-paying on their online sites. The only trick is getting money from Korea into them, and different banks charge varying fees to accept these transfers. Check around and experiment.
KB's a good one for sending - better than the Exchange bank, surprisingly enough. |
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Kwai_Chang_Kain
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Location: The Borg Collective
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 8:51 am Post subject: |
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| I just called PC Financial and they said I should be able to wire money to my account no problem just as long as I use a "B.I.C." code. I'm not sure if the same code applies to everybody or if it's personalized for each person so I'm not going to post it here. |
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canukteacher
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 7:31 pm Post subject: |
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I find Scotiabank to be ok. I use their Internet banking. They will send a paper statement if you want one, but why would you? You can download everything from the website.
When you are choosing a Cdn bank be careful of hidden transfer charges. I used to be with TD/CanadaTrust. Everytime I made a transfer Iwould be charged a fee by the Korean bank doing the transfer (reasonable and expected), and then TD would charge me anywhere from 30.00 to 45.00 per transfer (very expensive, and why should they charge me a fee to PUT MONEY IN THEIR BANK.) I was never able to resolve this issue with them, and moved to ScotiaBank.
CT |
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natemk
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Location: center field
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| Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| I use scotiabank also. And KEB in Korea. I pay a charge between 15,000W-18,000W to send money back to Canada. Scotiabank doesn't charge me any fees. Usually arrives in my bank account in 24 hours, except for this month.. ..but everything is fixed up now. |
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Atkinson
Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Location: Land of the Golden Twist-tie
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 8:15 am Post subject: Re: Canadians: Who do you bank with? |
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| winnie wrote: |
I bank with PC financial. They have told me that if I am living out of country, that they cannot provide me with services. They are an otherwise excellent bank....but this concerns me.
I am wondering if any of you can recommend a bank, which will send statements to me here in Korea and provide me with full services regardless of location. |
I bank with PC as well. It was great while living in Canada, but crap out of Canada. I get charged $10 for receiving money into my account. When I ask questions about sending money (traveller's cheques in particular), they give me inconsistent and wrong answers, resulting in two months' delay in having the money deposited (My mom deposited it after visiting me).
When I told them I was living abroad, they said they would cancel my account after six months. I lied and told them I'd be coming back soon after. I'll get my Mom to use my card for something and tell them it was me, and I'm back, then get another contract and "move" back to Korea.
Not satisfied. Looking to open something new. Maybe Scotia?
Edit -- I should mention I'm able to transfer money within 24 hours no prob. Took 10 mins at KEB even the first time. I had to tell them that PC was a CIBC bank before they would do it. |
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Kwai_Chang_Kain
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Location: The Borg Collective
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 9:42 am Post subject: |
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I called PC Financial three seperate times and spoke to three different people and they all tell me the same thing. Living overseas and wiring money to your account here is no problem (withdrawing money is a different matter all together) as long as you still have a Canadian address (ie. parents, relatives).
How recent are your experiences with PC Financial? Maybe their policy has changed within the last few months? Maybe I should call a 4th time? |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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I have CIBC but they are useless *beep*. If it wasn't for inet banking I would have dumped them.
I am still kicking myself for not opening a HSBC account back home they said I could have had an international account and lower fees for transfers. I think same applies for CITIBank |
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Koreabound2004
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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I use PC financial. I have been here for about 10 months. They froze my bf's account after he was here for a couple of months...due to some fraud going on back home...anyone who had used their PC card at a certain gas station had had their cards cancelled by PC. Lucky him.
So he couldn't pay any bills online or transfer funds home.....and he couldn't open up another account from here....was told to go to a PC pavilion in Canada!!!!!!!
I asked him to contact the ombudsman, and after that PC agreed to open another account for him without him being there, and transferred everything to the new PC account.
However, they did tell him that since he was out of country, they would cancel it after 6 mths!
I have just led them to believe I am still in Canada....gave them a family member's address back home. However, I have not taken any money out, and keep wiring large amounts of cash every month...I wonder if they will get suspicious soon, and cancel it.
I want to stay another year, and to be on the safe side, I think I want to open another account just in case. I will go home for a bit soon, so I want to do it then.
For you Scotia/BMO customers, did you give them your Korean address, so that they know you are abroad, or what? |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Kwai_Chang_Kain wrote: |
I called PC Financial three seperate times and spoke to three different people and they all tell me the same thing. Living overseas and wiring money to your account here is no problem (withdrawing money is a different matter all together) as long as you still have a Canadian address (ie. parents, relatives).
How recent are your experiences with PC Financial? Maybe their policy has changed within the last few months? Maybe I should call a 4th time? |
This happened in September. Their policy has not changed.
http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/en_ca/templates/legal_banking.jsp
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moving out of Canada
If you move out of Canada, you agree to close all of your product holdings with us prior to moving. |
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Atkinson
Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Location: Land of the Golden Twist-tie
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 8:39 am Post subject: |
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Interesting. There's no time limit stipulated there. When I moved, I openly told them I was moving to Korea, and told them my new address. They said they had to maintain a Canadian address, so I gave them my mom's. The third person I talked to about wiring money got all officious on me and said she would have to close my account if I stayed longer than six months, but if I was moving back in August (my little lie) that they would probably overlook it. Either way, this is one flunkey's interpretation of the rules, and apparently not PC Financial policy. |
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tommynomad
Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Location: on the move
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 10:10 am Post subject: |
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I go with a BC-based credit union, and they're amazing. Internet banking, bill payments, automated payments, free transfers, and I've even had friends pick up money in person at my home branch. The staff are friendly and helpful and we call each other by first names in our correspondence. I've even sent them wine as thanks for the great service.
Why would anyone go to a bank anymore? |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Atkinson wrote: |
| Either way, this is one flunkey's interpretation of the rules, and apparently not PC Financial policy. |
Right. It was my bad luck that I got a flunkey who chose to enforce the policy in ways others would not.
However, I was upfront when he asked about whether I'm a Canadian resident. I want no record anywhere within an arms length of CCRA/Revenue Canada of me ever claiming I'm a Canadian resident, for obvious non-residency tax purposes. |
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