I’m curious what products and services everyone uses. I like trying out new services, but it seems like the big banks are pretty effective at squashing competition.
I’ll go first: Chequing - BMO Savings - Wealthsimple Investing - Questrade with Passiv Credit cards - BMO, Costco, Amazon
I have tried Brim (credit card) and Koho (kind of a chequing account), but eventually dropped them because they couldn’t effectively replace BMO.
I’m interested to know everyone’s experiences with their banks and other financial service providers.
Edit: This thread has been amazing! Thanks for all the replies!
Checking : EQ Bank with Tangerine as a backup (for cheques and interac debit)
Savings : CASH.TO with IBKR
Credit cards : Desjardins, PC Financial, Tangerine, Canadian Tire, Rogers, CIBC Costco, Brim, American Express
Investing : I’m currently moving everything to NBDB for registered accounts and IBKR for non registered, but in the mean time, I also have Wealthsimple and Questrade
I also have a KOHO account, that I use for my oldest kid’s allowance.
This sounds like you’ve shopped around. It seems from the responses that I need to get a Tangerine account for chequing.
Checking - Tangerine
Savings - Tangerine or EQbank
Credit cards - Tangerine, Brim, Amex
Investing - Questrade
I also use a credit union’s services for all the same services.
I’ve mostly kept with free online or cheap accounts. Was with a big bank before but didn’t like the fees, and generally big banks have old and clunky web interfaces.
I do feel like managing this many accounts is a pain, and sometimes I do think about a one big bank solution. But, I can’t justify the fees.
Totally agree with the opinions about the big banks. I end up keeping a big chunk of cash in the account to avoid the monthly fee. So your experience with the credit union is that you get all the same services with no fees?
I can say on my side, that’s true for some things and not others. This will depend on the specific credit union though. I’m a little unique in that my credit union is the only financial institution with a branch in the town I used to live, and my dad managed it for about 30 years. I initially got my mortgage from that Credit Union, matching the rates available from the banks, but at the first renewal we switched to BMO because the CU wouldn’t match the rate I was offered then. My plan 24 account is at 2.65% interest, which is pretty good for a basic savings account, as good as many banks are offering on term deposits right now. Service charges are pretty low, and I don’t need a have a big balance to keep it that way. My chequing account usually only has my last paycheque in it, and anything left after bills are paid gets moved to savings.
@MacroCyclo In terms of your main savings account, you can consider those on https://highinterestsavings.ca/chart (Tangerine could work as a backup; they also give occasional offers); if you don’t require branch services (such as writing a bank draft / guaranteed cheque), then those online banks are enough. KOHO is not really a bank account; it’s better to just treat it as a prepaid card with cashback. WS is okay for casual investing. For credit cards, just go with the rewards (assuming you pay on time).
Tbh I have a CC with most banks just for the deals lol but the main ones I use:
Wealthsimple for general spending/saving
Tangerine CC for the stuff I get extra cash back on
Wealthsimple & Questrade for investing
Credit union for everything
Which one?
Some people don’t realize that Credit Unions are actually a whole bunch of different organizations, or maybe like me they use one of the few left that have just a handful of branches and don’t want to identify for that reason. Mine has two branches, one of which is only open part time in a neighbouring town.
As for the original post:
Small, local Credit Union for chequing/savings/TFSA Mortgage with BMO, because best rate and wife’s been with them a while. CIBC/Costco credit card because best rewards, as well as a Collabria credit card, because that’s the company my CU works with but haven’t used it since I got the Costco card.
