There’s a lot of things to do when one arrives in Vancouver, Canada. No, it’s not trying out local food or exploring nature. Applying for a Social Insurance Number is important, but not very. Instead, you should aim to open a bank account as soon as you arrive in Canada.
In this post, I will tell you why it’s beneficial to open a bank account as soon as you arrive in Canada. I will also list down the steps to open a bank account, and apply for a credit card, if you require. Lastly, I will also share my experience with banking with 2 Canadian banks: RBC and TD.
Why Open A Bank Account?
One of my friends has been using her father’s supplementary credit card since she came to Canada – for the past year. If she spends about $1,000 (excluding rent) a month, she would have spent $12,000 over the year and paid about $600 in exchange rates and bank fees.
By opening a bank account, we would avoid paying those fees. The bank would issue us with a debit card, which can be used for many transactions in Canada. Depending on your home country’s bank, you will only need to pay for the remittance fee. (DBS, the bank I use in Singapore, by the way, remits money at no charges)
The debit card will also allow us to pay for many fees that the school requires – remainder of tuition fees, textbooks etc. We can also use the debit card to pay for the monthly health plans and load our Translink cards and mobile SIM cards. Somehow, the system at my school refused to accept my credit card from Singapore (which is surprising, because this is the first time I could not use my credit card overseas), so I always had to rely on my Canadian bank’s card.
Having a bank account also means that, when you start working, you can get your pay deposited directly into that account, instead of receiving it in cheque (which still has to be cashed in a bank).
Last, but not least, a Canadian bank account also allows one to apply for a Canadian credit card, which can pay for virtually all transactions in Canada. Most important of all, it helps build your credit rating. It would be easier in the future to take a loan to pay for a car or a house. While this may seem far-fetched, starting this little by little over the few years while you are studying can be helpful in the long run.
How to Open A Bank Account?
While I lament that opening a bank account in Canada is needlessly cumbersome compared to opening a bank account in Singapore, the process is still direct. The key is to make sure you set aside time to do it. I am listing the process down based on my experience opening bank accounts with RBC and TD.
First, research on the bank you want to open a bank account with. The big names are RBC, TD and BMO. They all have special bank accounts that cater to newcomers (international students and workers alike). These bank accounts offer special rates (like no transaction fee for transferring of money for rent) for a period of time (either half a year or during the course of study).
A useful resource I used to find out more about the banks and their product offerings is from Sunset Travellers.
Next, appear in person at one of the bank’s branches. At the teller, make an appointment to open an account with one of the bankers. The teller will help you arrange for the appointment. For both RBC and TD, the appointment was 1 week later.
Show up for your banker appointment, together with the following documents:
- Study Permit / Work Permit
- Social Insurance Number (SIN) (compulsory, if your Study Permit allows you to work in Canada)
- Passport
- Letter of Acceptance from school / Letter of employment from workplace
- BC Services Card
On the banks’ websites, they stated that they will only require 2 identification documents, one of which must be a local identification (i.e. SIN or BC Services Card). However, during the process, the bankers asked for all of the documents above and entered information based on them. I don’t know what those were for, but I was lucky that I brought all of them for both my banking appointments.
You will receive an ATM cum Debit Card. For RBC, they gave me a temporary card. I was supposed to receive the permanent one via mail 2 weeks later. “Supposedly”, because I received it 3 weeks later. For TD, the card I received was the permanent one.
If you want a credit card, the application will be done during the appointment (can’t be done beforehand). Then, return to the banker, after the credit card is approved, to sign documents. After that, the card will be mailed about 2 – 3 weeks later.
After Opening A Bank Account
I am writing this section for the benefit of those who are not familiar with banking services.
In Canada, “Interac” refers to inter-bank transfers. You can transfer to another person’s Canadian account (eg. your landlord) using their bank account number, or their email addresses. There is usually a $1.50 transaction fee for Interac transfers.
Except for Interac and withdrawing and depositing cash, every other bank service needs to be completed in person. Like applying for a credit card. Or closing a bank account.
The banks will charge a fee for remitting money out of Canada. However, there is no charge to receiving remittance. My experience of remitting money from Singapore to Canada says to cater for 3 days for the money to be in the Canada’s bank account. This includes 3 hours for the money to be processed out of my Singapore bank account, and 2 days for the money to be in Canada. Therefore, make your own judgement on how long the money will take to come in, based how your home country’s banks process remittance.
p/s: I used DBS, which offered zero charges for bank remittance. OCBC, on the other hand, does not have such a benefit.
Comparing Bank Services
As I mentioned, I opened accounts with 2 banks. And in case you find my recount biased, yes I am. I had to open an account with TD because I was fed up with RBC. However, one man’s fish may be another man’s poison, so do not be too affected by what I complain about RBC.
RBC
RBC is the largest and most established bank in Canada. Their bank account for newcomers are actually more attractive than the others. So, what went wrong with my experience with them?
First, I was late for my appointment by 15 minutes, so the banker cancelled my appointment,. This meant that I had to wait for another week before opening my bank account. This was the first time a bank cancelled my appointment even though I was late. FIRST FREAKING TIME. Somehow, RBC reckoned that they could live without mom and pop customers. Therefore, they’re unlike other banks (like Singapore banks), who would do whatever they could to keep customers, including NOT CANCELLING APPOINTMENTS WITH CUSTOMERS.
Another crazy thing about RBC was that my Interac transfers were capped at $1,000 per day. This meant that I could not pay my rent or tuition fee at one go. Imagine having to pay $6,000 worth of tuition fee over 2 weeks!
The worst thing about this saga was that I do not have the power to change the cap. When I tried to increase the cap, the system told me to go to my banker to have this change “approved”. If you’re puzzled, in Singapore, I have total control of how much money can be transferred and I could make changes through internet banking. Therefore, this was actually the first time I was told by a bank that I do not have control over how I spend my own money – my money deposited into their banks. My goodness.
I tried to apply for an RBC credit card, but that card never came. By then, I was so fed up with RBC, I did not bother following up on it, because that would mean having to personally go down to the branch to meet my banker (after making an appointment) to find out what happened.
Finally, whatever online banking RBC has, I would call it pathetic. The user interface seemed stuck in the early days of the internet. The mobile banking app was much better, though may I add, they only started using fingerprint login around December 2019.
TD
The process to open a bank account with TD was identical to RBC. Pretty much all of the banking services that RBC had were also found in TD.
The only difference? My banker told me there was no such thing as a limit of $1,000 per day for Interac transfers – as long as you have the cash in the account, you can transfer up to $3,000 per transaction. He too, was amazed at hearing about the limit in RBC.
My credit card was approved within 15 minutes after I left the branch. I received the card within 2 weeks as promised. I had to activate it over the phone only (no such thing as internet activation).
However, as I am a newcomer, I could only apply for a secured credit card – I have to keep $500 in a second bank account (savings account) associated with the card. This also meant that my credit card limit is at $500. This is quite sufficient for daily expenses as a student.
The downside of using TD is that their product for newcomers are not as good as RBC. I only enjoyed “newcomer benefits” – like no Interac transaction fees, no bank account service fees – for only 6 months, while RBC’s was for a year.
Other than that, I do not have anything to complain about my experience with TD.
Parting Words
I have summarised the process of opening a bank account, as a newcomer, in Vancouver, Canada. This was based on my banking experience with 2 banks, RBC and TD and I also recounted my personal experience banking with them. I hope this information is useful to help you in your initial phase of settling down in Canada!
Do Like and Share this post if you find it to be useful. Feel free to read about my other posts like “3 Steps I Took to Find A School to Study in Canada” and “Comparing Education Credential Assessment Service Providers in Canada”. Follow Sing in Can for more of my sharing on settling down in Vancouver, Canada.
Till then, sing while you can!
