Thursday, August 26, 2010

Why I Do Bank at TD Canada Trust

A few years ago, I became trustee of two family trusts, which were to be dissolved.  The proceeds were in US dollars, cheques payable either to me as trustee or to the trust.

I took the cheques to Coast Capital Savings in Surrey, where I intended to purchase mutual funds.  However, Coast Capital was unsure whether they could deposit the cheques made out to the trust.  I showed them the trust document, identifying myself as trustee. After several conversations with their legal department, Coast Capital said that they would open an account for me, but only if I had the trust document verified by a lawyer.

Not being inclined to do this and pay a few hundred dollars, I contacted Ellen, their financial planner about the problem.  She said they were doing "due diligence", and that she would check further.  Eventually Ellen said that they couldn't accept the cheques, and further I would have to have the cheques reissued, as no bank in Canada would cash them.

I went to Bank of Nova Scotia, who said they would accept some of the cheques, but not all.

I went to TD Canada Trust.  They opened two trust accounts for me, making me the signing officer on each.  I deposited the cheques.  After the hold period expired (required for foreign cheques), I transferred the funds to my chequing account and closed the trust accounts.  TD Canada Trust was satisfied and so was I.

TD Canada Trust has helped me many times, while some of the other banks couldn't be bothered.  Among  services at TD Canada Trust is "certified signature" service, which is free and allows you generally to avoid the cost of a notary public.  In addition they have excellent online services, allowing you to do most of your banking at home. They have recently expanded into the U. S. and are promoting themselves as "America's Most Convenient Bank".

To be fair to Coast Capital Savings, they gave me a line of credit secured against my home, and waived the legal costs, which can be hundreds of dollars.  But for some services, their staff are under-trained.      

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