Guanghu Cui was poring over his TD Bank statements in March, preparing to pay taxes for his small immigration consulting firm in Oakville, Ont., when he noticed a $1.50 fee for sending an e-transfer.
It was surprising, because when he’d opened his business account three years ago, his financial adviser told him the plan included five free transactions a month and he’d never exceeded that number.
Cui complained and eventually TD said it would reimburse him for the fees and compensate him for his “frustration and inconvenience.”
But when the paperwork arrived for Cui to sign, it included a condition saying he must “keep it confidential.” While he could speak about the dispute, he would not be allowed to tell anyone that TD had offered compensation.
Cui emailed TD to say he wouldn’t take the offer if the bank didn’t drop the gag order.
“I was told the offer is final and there’s no room for negotiation… take it or leave it,” said Cui. “That is just unfair. And that is unethical.”
Do y’all have credit unions up there?
My brother and Mother have been with the same credit union for a combined 35 years. I was denied an account there because I had a $45 phone bill that was sent to collections 8 years ago.
I would say like 70% of people don’t qualify for an account with a credit union.
Down here most credit unions were run by employers. So the only check required is usually “who is your employer” or “what is the address of your employer” or “what is your home address”?
If any one of the 3 meets their criteria, you’re eligible
Did the phone bill disqualify you from an account without credit? Usually the application for credit involves debt checks, not for a checking account at a Credit Union.
Same in Canada for our Credit Union, they only ask you reconcile past debt if you want a loan through them, but regukar accounts are no issue
I guess each credit union is different but from my experience they only want people with exceptional credit history to be members.
Here in America atleast they run credit checks. I don’t think Canada has a credit score system so it probably works a lot different.
We have credit score system in Canada, but it does not affect you opening a credit union account.
I had middling credit score and a bunch of credit card debt. I showed the credit union I was making the interest payments on my credit card, they offered me a line of credit large enough to pay off the credit card and an interest rate that would keep my payments the same but actually pay down the principle. They then paid off my credit card and acted as my agent to close all of my accounts at TD.
It doesn’t sound like you have credit unions down there. It sounds like you have private clubs for money. Which checks out. In Canada, banks credit unions are tightly government regulated, and opening a personal bank account is a legal right.
my wife had activly bad credit, bad enough she couldn’t co-sign for the mortgage. joined the credit union no problems. Never heard of a credit union caring about your debts as long as you are not taking a debt through them (ie a morgatge or loan)
The 70% is totally untrue. my wife got a Credit Union account with 0 hassle despite having a phone plan that went to collections because she refused to accept new terms while already in a contract. Credit union did not care, because it does not affect them with you using account as savings/ chequing. Now when she asked for a loan, they told her she should reconcile the credit claim fIrst.
We do. People just get stuck thinking the bank is the only way. We switched to CU years ago after multiple screwings by TD