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Posted Wednesday 2nd October 2011 at 11.20am
What a bunch of bankers
And I thought French banks were stupid...
It turns out it will cost me $43 for a chequebook. For that price I can have my choice of picture in the background and cheesy quote on the cheque. Whoopy doo. Here's a heads-up: I just want to be able to use my bank account to do banky stuff, like, er, give money to other people, accept money from other people, buy stuff, things like that. Is that too much to expect? It even costs me $1.50 every time I want to transfer money to someone online (unless they have an account at the same bank as me).
In the UK,
a) My account is free.
b) They send me chequebooks regularly.
c) The online banking is extremely secure.
d) I can send money online to whoever I like easily, securely and for free.
e) I can use my debit card to buy things online.
f) I can withdraw cash from any bank's cash machine for free.
g) I can use my account as much as I like.
In France,
a) My account costs about 5 euros a month.
b) They send me chequebooks if I ask for them.
c) The online banking is quite secure.
d) I can send money online to whoever I like for free, although it's a bit of a palaver.
e) I can use my debit card to buy things online.
f) I can withdraw cash from any bank's cash machine for free.
g) I can use my account as much as I like.
In Canada,
a) My account is $10/month, although because I'm a student that's waived.
b) It costs me $43 for a chequebook of 50 cheques (no option for fewer for cheaper).
c) The online banking only requires one password, that I just type in.
d) It costs me $1.50 every time I want to send money to someone.
e) I can't use my debit card to buy things online.
f) It costs me $1.50 to withdraw cash from any cash machine other than my own bank's.
g) I get 25 transactions "free" per month* and each extra transaction costs $1.50.
*Subject to the costs highlighted above.
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Comments
Posted Thursday 3rd November 2011 at 3.25pm
Nathan Broomhead says:
How come you count as a student?
Did you have an account in Germany? I think it's almost as bad as Canada:
a)My account is apparently paid for out of my monthly interest (I don't know quite how much it costs).
b)'What's a cheque book?!'
c)ONLINE banking is very secure (see (h)).
d)I get two free transfers per month and then it costs me 1.50Eur (within Germany and more to elsewhere) every time I want to send money to someone.
e)It costs extra money to have a visa card, which I didn't spend and therefore, in general I can't use my debit card to buy things online. There are a few German websites where it works by direct money transfer (see remark (d)).
f) It costs me 1.50Eur to withdraw cash from any cash machine other than my own bank's (although to be honest there are so many I've never had to do this).
g) I can use my account as much as I like.
h)The bank has a machine that given a card, prints out your most recent bank statement including account numbers and address and requires no pin number. It was also apparently possible to walk into the bank and change my address knowing just the account number and not showing any form of identification.
Posted Thursday 3rd November 2011 at 3.37pm
Matt Roberts says:
For some reason McGill (and maybe other Canadian universities, I'm not sure) count postdocs as students. I didn't have an account in Germany - I was only there for 6 months, and WIAS were happy to pay my UK account. And when I needed to pay rent by bank transfer, my French account allowed me to make free online transfers even to German accounts!
Regarding b), my (basically) Swiss officemate says the same is true in Switzerland - cheques haven't really been used for about 10 years. I think the UK is trying to phase out cheques entirely too. There's not much need for cheques if online transfers are free and easy. My Canadian flatmate just looked a bit puzzled when I brought this up with him, and said he's never sent money online - it didn't seem like he thought there would be any point. I guess you don't know what you've got till it's gone, and you don't know what you haven't got until someone tells you you're missing it. (There's a pithier version of that sentence, right? I can't remember how it goes...)
Posted Saturday 5th November 2011 at 5.09pm
Matt Roberts says:
The way around some of my complaints seems to be to open an account with ING Direct or President's Choice. They're free but don't have physical branches. At the cost of sending ING one cheque from TD (they gave me 4 free to get me started) to open the account, I get a free cheque book and free online transfers. It's not ideal having to keep money in two different accounts, but when the alternative is paying $42 for 50 cheques with pictures of puppies in the background...
Posted Monday 14th November 2011 at 1.40pm
Matt Roberts says:
I applied for a credit card from my bank (since I can't pay for anything online with my debit card, this is pretty much obligatory). The employee I spoke to - Avi Satim - said that with my salary and employment status I should be accepted for a $500 limit. But when he tried to submit my application, the system refused. It turned out that my social insurance number was too recent. So I instead had to submit an application for a "secured credit card" - one where they lend my own money to me. It would take 24 to 48 hours to process, said Avi, and then I could come in to sign the documents.
Two weeks later, I emailed Avi to ask whether there was any progress. "Sorry, I was out of the office last week," he said. "You can come in tomorrow and sign." So I went in the next day and signed. He told me that in a couple of days I should see $500 go out of my account, and the card should arrive in 7-10 days. 9 days later, I emailed him, saying that no money had gone out of my account. He replied today, saying "Sorry, I was out of the office last week. We are rectifying the problem." Is this guy ever *in* the office? It's been a month now since I applied. All I'm asking is that they lend my own money to me!
Posted Tuesday 15th November 2011 at 10.25am
Matt Roberts says:
Now ING have emailed saying that "something went wrong" with my cheque order. I have to call them to sort out the problem. Why? I want you to send me cheques. It's not complicated! What's going to happen when I call? I explain what's happened, they say "so, you want us to send you cheques," I say "yes," they say "OK" and send me cheques. (Or then I get another email telling me something went wrong and I have to call them.)
Posted Monday 28th November 2011 at 8.29pm
Matt Roberts says:
MY CREDIT CARD HAS ARRIVED! It only took 41 days!
Posted Monday 12nd December 2011 at 1.23pm
Melina says:
How come you are a student?
I thought Germany is the worst - but your Canadian experience tells me otherwise;-)
(In Germany only pure online accounts are/seem to be free - and withdrawing money always costs if you go to a different bank)
A plus thing in the UK!
After having lived in UK/Germany/Austria/US I almost want to built my own little island where I just collect what is perfect in all of those countries;-) German Bread, British Pubs, .. Wanna join?;-)
Posted Monday 12nd December 2011 at 1.27pm
Matt Roberts says:
I don't know why McGill counts postdocs as students, but I like it!
You Germans and your bread... that is NOT how bread should be!
Posted Friday 1st March 2013 at 11.34pm
John latter says:
You sound like an angry person. Get laid.
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