WTF Is wrong with our banking system???

[Verb]

So I walk into my bank yesterday dealing with them since 1990(It was my first account), am I presented a cheque to them which was approx $68,000. They told me that the cheque will be placed on a 5 day hold. I told them it is from Lawyer's Trust account and it should be good to go. So they said no and told me to get it certified. I was in downtown and I drove all the way to coquitlam to get it certified cause it HAS to be done at the home branch. Anyways, it became a 3 hour process. I get back to my bank and they told me they need to call in and Verify it. I sat and waited almost 45 minutes and they tell me they cannot get through and that they will try their best to get it done. I checked my account today and I still cannot access the funds. I tried calling the branch and I am getting tossed around at the calling centre. This is total BS. The minute my cheque clears, I am taking my Mortgage, investments, accounts, safety deposit box and move it elsewhere.

Oh yeah, The freaking bank is Royal Bank!!! I have dealt with them for the last 16 years and I cannot believe the level of service that I have received!

 

[Fletch]

Won't get much better anywhere else

Through my office I have to deal with the Royal, TD, Scotia, CIBC, and BMO every month. Out of all of them TD is the best. I would say Royal is close to the worst.

Every sizable cheque we send to our lawyer is always certified. I send funds to client accounts and no matter what the size of the cheque the Royal will not accept them for deposit unless they are certified. Our cheques are trust cheques, we always have to get them certified (if they are a sizable amount) if anyone wants to cash them immediately.

Being in Edmonton, to get a cheque certified here through the Scotia, we have to fax a request to the Business Support Centre in Calgary (yes you read that correctly), who then instructs the bank in Edmonton to certify the cheque for us. This insane procedure came in approximately two years ago. The truly unbelievable thing is that the Scotia is convinced this improves customer service.

 

[henryhill]

Off Topic. Not Trying To Hijack This Thread.

I presented a cheque to them which was approx $68,000

Does anyone really need to know how much the cheque was for? Bragger.

 

[Verb]

Does anyone really need to know how much the cheque was for? Bragger.

LoL!

Its not like Money I can spend.....

I sold my place....


I needed it for another Downpayment.

 

[Randy Whorewald]

Does anyone really need to know how much the cheque was for? Bragger.

That's peanuts - you can't even buy a decent car with that!

 

[threepeat]

I sympathize, but on the other hand I understand where they're coming from too. In this day and age of electronic fraud, they're just trying to cover their asses. It's too easy to use laser printers and other printing methods to forge cheques and other legal documents. For the right price, and I'm sure $68 000 qualifies, I doubt if the metallic print or hologram on a cheque would be that hard to duplicate.

If they don't hold the funds, they'd have to train their staff to hold funds except "when they know the person." Too much of a grey area and it'll never fly, especially with staff turnover being what it is. Moreover, for the right price a criminal can always get a bank employee to help out with an inside job. How about not holding the funds for longtime account holders? How long? What about longtime account holders who have bad credit? Do they count? What about someone who's had five bucks rotting in a savings account for 20 years? Are they considered a good customer?

There may even be legal issues as well. I have worked for a financial institution in the U.S., and their anti-terrorist legislation required that all cash transactions over $10 000 were supposed to be documented in meticulous detail. I don't know if that applies to cheque transactions in Canada, but it wouldn't surprise me.

For better or worse, the days of handshake customer service are over for the mainstream. While you can certainly try other institutions, I would be very surprised if there is another bank out there that would cash an uncertified cheque for $68 000 without holding the funds.

 

[CalgaryJenn]

I had a similar thing happen to me just last month when I purchased my new scooter. It cost me $6000.00 and I had over $9000.00 in my account (joint account with hubby) and they tried telling me "no I'm sorry, your not qualified to take that much out" WTF, not qualified..bitch I sure was qualified to deposit in YOUR institute and pay the monthly banking fee's you charge me but when I want it and need to take it out to purchase something "I'm not qualified?" what the fuck ever. I made such a scene as I had already been to one bank and they didn't have the means to give me that much, so called ahead to another branch and warned them of my arrival. I had all the proper identification, answered all their security questions and even hubby was right there with me as we figured that much being withdrawn, they might want both us there to verify and confirm it.
In the end, I made such a scene that they didn't want to deal with "Thundercunt Jenn" that they just gave me the cash and I was well on my way to Walt Healy where I bought my scooter and went home to scoot my heart out.
I hate banks and how when it is something of yours they try and tell you you can't have it, fuck me I earned it bitch, now give it to me before I poke you in the eyes...LOL

 

[Fletch]

Don't have a problem with fraud prevention

However some of the bank procedures make you wonder if they are trying to prevent fraud or just make your life inconvenient for their own amusement. If I am drawing a cheque on a Scotia account and depositing it into a Royal account, the Royal will not accept the deposit unless the cheque is certified. I have had to get cheques certified to deposit at the Royal for amounts as low as a few hundred dollars.

It has actually been faster for me to courier cheques to clients in other cities rather than direct deposit the funds into their account due to the hassle. You can complain all you want but the banks set the rules. I have no choice other than to try to work around all of the obstacles they come up with.

 

[cruiser]

So I walk into my bank yesterday dealing with them since 1990(It was my first account), am I presented a cheque to them which was approx $68,000. They told me that the cheque will be placed on a 5 day hold. I told them it is from Lawyer's Trust account and it should be good to go. So they said no and told me to get it certified. I was in downtown and I drove all the way to coquitlam to get it certified cause it HAS to be done at the home branch. Anyways, it became a 3 hour process. I get back to my bank and they told me they need to call in and Verify it. I sat and waited almost 45 minutes and they tell me they cannot get through and that they will try their best to get it done. I checked my account today and I still cannot access the funds. I tried calling the branch and I am getting tossed around at the calling centre. This is total BS. The minute my cheque clears, I am taking my Mortgage, investments, accounts, safety deposit box and move it elsewhere.

Oh yeah, The freaking bank is Royal Bank!!! I have dealt with them for the last 16 years and I cannot believe the level of service that I have received!

I had a similar experience happen to me recently (I bank with TD). TD has a 1-800 customer service line and I filed a complaint. The lady asked "what would I like her to do"...I responded "I would like a letter of apology from the district manager (in 5 business days) for the way that I was handled, otherwise I will pull my business from the bank and tell everyone about my experience".

Surprisingly the letter did arrive (on time)..it came via courier...I wasn't home the day the courier came to drop off the notice, but it did arrive on time! The letter basically said that they were sorry, but because they didn't know me (it wasn't my regular branch), they had to take all of these extra steps to deposit my cheque.

Sometimes a person has to raise shit if you want them to listen to you...remember, we are all peons in todays society.

 

[Verb]

The funds will be available tomorrow as the system is updating tonight even after the hold is released. Just to be fair, you would encounter the same experience with any bank, because the funds is over $10,000 that requires Anti-Money Laundry check (thanks to Americans ), even if it's lawyer's trust account, the cheque still needs to be certified, no exception! The branch has compliance to comply with Federal Government, it's their ass on the line. I am sorry you feel this way, but I am sure they've done their best to serve you.

I just got off the phone with a rep and the 10k anti-money laundry is only for CASH deposit only. The cheque has a paper trail trace unlike cash. They removed the hold for me 5 mins ago and I asked if it is a requirement to certify the cheque if over 10k, she told me only if you don't want any kind of holds on the cheque. Something was not right on the phone as the rep told me she see notes on my account that the cheque has been verified through the other bank but the hold was not removed. She removed the hold manually through her end. Lodged in a complaint for me and hopefully when I walk into a branch tomorrow they will not give me any hassels in getting a bank draft.

 

[SteveTJHowe]

Royal bank is ridiculous

I hate that bank to first they deposited 5000 into my account, that was not mine, then they took out the 5000 that was not mine plus 5000 that was mine, and I still have not got my money back. That was over a year ago!

 

[wolverine]

I started out with Royal, was a loyal customer since I was a little kid.
When I grew up, I opened a 2nd account with Bank of Montreal, but I soon closed it because they sucked.
A couple of years after I graduated, Royal turned down a loan to me, but CIBC provided that and other incentives Royal wouldn't match, so I switched.
A few years after that, a refusal of service from CIBC led to a switch to TD and have had very few problems with them since then.
Once you run out of Big 5 banks to deal with then you switch to the next tier of banks, or the little guys like the credit unions. But threatening to close accounts is always a good negotiation tactic.

 

[JustAGuy]

Regarding the anti-money laundering rules that we in Canada are now stuck with courtesy of our paranoid "war on drugs" crusading neighbors to the south, here's an exact quote from a letter that I received from Transamerica Life in August when it was time for me to pay my annual premium on a personal life insurance policy:

"Transamerica Life Canada's policy regarding accepted forms of payment will be changing effective June 30th, 2007. The changes are a result of a recent review of Federal anti-money laundering legislation that has caused us to revise our policy for handling and accepting funds. Transamerica Life Canada will no longer accept the following forms of payment on life insurance policies: cash, cashier's cheques, bank drafts, money orders, traveler's cheques, third party cheques, MGA and Advisor ITF (In Trust For) cheques. Canadian residents can continue to pay premiums by pre-printed personal cheque. Or, to set up automatic monthly withdrawals from your bank account, complete the enclosed Pre-Authorized Debit form and send along with a pre-printed void cheque to the address on the enclosed envelope."

Since my personal cheques show only my first name initial and last name, no address or phone number, I wondered whether they would accept the cheque I mailed to them but I see where it did clear the bank earlier this week. I'm sure by next year, though, they will have retooled their policy and will only accept a personal pre-printed cheque that you hand over to a representative of the company while standing in front of your home, holding your passport in your hand as six neighbors sign sworn affidavits that you are indeed who you claim to be and that you do indeed live there. This world gets more insane with each passing day!

 

[Miss*Bijou]

In the end, I made such a scene that they didn't want to deal with "Thundercunt Jenn" that they just gave me the cash and I was well on my way to Walt Healy where I bought my scooter and went home to scoot my heart out.
I hate banks and how when it is something of yours they try and tell you you can't have it, fuck me I earned it bitch, now give it to me before I poke you in the eyes...LOL

ROFLMAO
OMFG You are TOO FUNNY!

This is the kind of things I'd be bitching about to a friend on the phone on the drive home.. I would LOVE to be able to say that shit to those concerned when something like this happens.

 

[Pantherdash]

No doubt about it. The Royal Bank sucks big camel balls. And all their mistakes are supposed to be absorbed by the client's assumed patience.

If they place a hold on YOUR money in the form of a certified cheque or a cheque from a source that you have deposited before, they're earning interest on that amount while it sits in limbo for 5 days. Imagine the interest they earn or save on millions of cheques a day that are deposited and tranferred to this "safe zone."

With communications technology that we have these days there is no excuse for a cheque to take 5 days to clear. Royal Bank just happens to be UNDER-staffed by morons. I cannot begin to tell you how many times in 12 years these mongoloids have fucked up either with my mortgage, student loans, Visa or bank accounts. They get a 10 out of 10 in the fucking up department. THE WORST business I have ever had to deal with.

Panther

 

[cruiser]

I hate that bank to first they deposited 5000 into my account, that was not mine, then they took out the 5000 that was not mine plus 5000 that was mine, and I still have not got my money back. That was over a year ago!

I'm surprised that you haven't take it to the police....basically it's theft. If I came into your account and took out $5,000, you would charge me with theft. That's what they did to you.

I would push this right up the chain of command....and don't forget to factor in the interest that that $5,000 would of made for you in the last year !

Let us know how it goes !!!

 

[mick_eight]

Go to bank tell them when you tke it in that you will cover it if no good, you'll sign this form,bingo money is in. You only need enough to cover cheque.That way I never have to jerk around. Like the old saying. '' Show you don't need it and they give it to you. Jenn you should have given the dealer cheque an let him do the work, they'd take it no problem.

 

[john23]

I set myself up with a Presidents Choice account (CIBC) 7 years ago and they've been steadily losing money from me since then. Its a very satisfying feeling

However, I do like ING Direct. I've used them for savings for years now and have never had a problem. I think that might be because they've minimized the number of humans you have to deal with. When PC wouldn't give me a lousy $5000 loan they had no problem whatsoever extending my line of credit.

While TD does tend to have better customer service even they have f*ck ups as employees. A couple of weeks ago I went in to get a password for online banking. The cow that was scheduled to set this up spent more time explaining to the information desk why she couldn't help me than it would have taken to get the job done in the first place ...

 

[bendover baby]

Favorite.... all of them.. 1 by 1

After i try them all , I will let you know.

 

[TheRater]

If I had to guess at the business RBC has lost just from listening to people who have had experiences like this in the past 10 years, I would guess that RBC is losing a TON of money from people not renewing mortgages, withdrawing accounts, closing investment accounts. Royal Bank of Canada has become Really Bone Customers.

- TR