President's Choice Financial

[Redguard]

Does anyone here have any experience with this bank?

It's been on my mind to change my banking habits lately, and then I was reading up on PCF and was kinda surprised.

- No banking fees
- Low mortgage rates
- Reasonable savings accounts

I'm a 100% electronic banker, so I never set foot into a branch.

I just want to know if there's a catch to using this bank, because the three things I mentioned above are pretty much all I care for.

 

[zoziw]

I know they have been around for awhile and I believe they are an extension of the CIBC but NOT the CIBC, and that is important to remember.

When it comes to my money I will only deal directly with the major chartered banks like: CIBC, RBC, BoM or TD.

President's Choice Financial is not listed on the CDIC member list. The CDIC is the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation and if a bank or financial institution is a member, then if they fail the CDIC will cover your losses up to $100,000.00.

http://www.cdic.ca/?id=5

For example, in the unlikely event that the Royal Bank of Canada collapsed and you had $75,000 in an RBC chequing account, you would get it all back through the CDIC.

If you put your money in a financial organization that is not a member and they go bust, you lose your money (or at best end up as an unsecured creditor scrounging for left over scraps after a bankruptcy, receivership or CCAA filing (or all three).

Because I deal with a bank that is a member of the CDIC, my chequing and savings accounts are guaranteed by the federal government and I face no risk of losing what is in them.

So, to finally answer your question: the reason why President's Choice Financial offers no fee banking, low mortgage rates and reasonable savings accounts is because you are putting yourself at greater financial risk with them than you would be with a CDIC member bank.

Again, I will only deal directly with a CDIC member financial institution for basic banking. I do not recommend going outside of that protection when it comes to your primary banking accounts.

The above is offered as an unprofessional personal opinion and should not be taken as financial advice.

 

[Redguard]

I used to work for a CIBC subsidiary that handled the transaction processing for PCF accounts. I have a CIBC account right now, so would still be able to use their bank machines since PCF is linked to CIBC.

PCF, and all of their products, are covered under the CDIC through CIBC.

http://www.cibc.com/ca/cibc-and-you/to-our-customers/dep-reg-info.html

 

[zoziw]

Thanks for pointing that out.

If they are covered by the CDIC then maybe they are offering these rates to build up a customer base.

 

[Athanasian Creed]

What about ING Direct??



Ray

 

[zoziw]

The ING Bank of Canada is listed on the CDIC's website as a member.

See this website for a complete list of covered accounts:

http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/depositregister.html

 

[simplicity]

I like both PC Financial and ING Direct. I think a number of retail operations are planning to copy the PC Financial model, which is proving to be successful in Canada. People seem to like the idea of free groceries.

The traditional banks have a lot of fees because their witless executives keep investing in non-viable business operations. When their businesses experiments fail, the traditional banks raise fees to pay for their bad decisions.

 

[Redguard]

I opened up a PCF account on the weekend. And I'm happy.

Grocery points aside, I can't believe how long it took me to clue in to the fact that virtual banks were designed for people exactly like me. And to think of all the monthly banking fees that I could've been saving myself all this time.

 

[simplicity]

You have the option to access all of your account statements online, too. It's better than having a passbook or monthly mailed statements. Plus you can post-date payments months in advance.

Also, because the PC Financial Master Card reminds people of groceries, it is less likely to be copied by crooks looking for high-profile credit accounts such as Platinum VISA and AMEX. Having a PC Master Card is like telling the world, "Hey, I'm frugal, I like to eat food that I cook myself and I like free groceries. Does it look like you should be taking money from me? Nah."

At the checkout you can flash your PC MC and command respect and admiration from other shoppers who lack the good sense to collect valuable points.

 

[traingosorry]

President's Choice Financial is not listed on the CDIC member list. The CDIC is the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corporation and if a bank or financial institution is a member, then if they fail the CDIC will cover your losses up to $100,000.00.
For example, in the unlikely event that the Royal Bank of Canada collapsed and you had $75,000 in an RBC chequing account, you would get it all back through the CDIC.

well, if you got nothin' to lose.....

Yeah I have been thinking about PC financial too... my friend is uber-frugal and she flaunts the fact that she doesn't have to pay fees to anyone who seems as though they may be listening AND she gets the free food.

She says that since CIBC seems to own the most debit card machines she doesn't have to pay other banks fees either.

For the love, why am I still with BMO?
there has to be a drawback! THERE"S GOTTA BE!

 

[Redguard]

well, if you got nothin' to lose.....

Yeah I have been thinking about PC financial too... my friend is uber-frugal and she flaunts the fact that she doesn't have to pay fees to anyone who seems as though they may be listening AND she gets the free food.

She says that since CIBC seems to own the most debit card machines she doesn't have to pay other banks fees either.

For the love, why am I still with BMO?
there has to be a drawback! THERE"S GOTTA BE!

For me, it's been good so far. I've even made some transactions through the CIBC machines.

So much money lost in monthly banking fees... and for nuthin'!!

 

[zoziw]

She says that since CIBC seems to own the most debit card machines

IME, that is very true.

 

[simplicity]

For the love, why am I still with BMO?
there has to be a drawback! THERE"S GOTTA BE!

The only major drawback is the weight a person gains eating all the free groceries. Just imagine going to Zellers and collecting Club Z points AND PC grocery points! It baffles the mind one's potential exploits in savings and free food.

 

[simplicity]

I have a friend who put the down-payment for his new Ford Ranger Supercab truck on his PC Master Card. Now he has more than $75 in free groceries. That's in addition to nearly $450 worth of free groceries he's eaten so far. Wow, wow, wow. This is one crazy country.

 

[Anij]

I've had an account and a mastercard thru them for a number of years, and for the most part I've been very happy with it - not to mention that since I shop at Supervalu all the time, I get free groceries quite often which is nice ...

The PC points can also be exchanged to or from Petro points ... which is nice too !

 

[simplicity]

The gas station near our house actually gives I think a $0.02/litre coupon to use at No Frills. So if you use your MC to pay for the gas, you get the PC Points on top of $0.02/litre coupon. Yesterday I bought about $20 if free applesauce, pasta and herbal tea. I used to own shares in Loblaws. In retrospect I probably should have kept them rather than freaking out during the recession. Because people keep on eating food during tight times anyways.

 

[frost82]

I've been a PCF customer for years now and I have to say that they're fantastic except for a few noteable service issues (cashier's notes, etc.). There are some things that you really do have to maintain a traditional account for, but for day to day banking, PCF is excellent.

 

[tqpix]

I currently have BMO MasterCard and have been collecting Air Miles. I'm thinking of getting a PC Financial MasterCard and dropping my BMO MasterCard, but it doesn't interest me enough to actually do it.

 

[Redguard]

I currently have BMO MasterCard and have been collecting Air Miles. I'm thinking of getting a PC Financial MasterCard and dropping my BMO MasterCard, but it doesn't interest me enough to actually do it.

I've got the AmEx AirMiles card that gives me an AirMile on every $15 I spend on it.

What's neat is that if I go to an AirMiles sponsored store and pay using my AmEx AND hand over my regular AirMiles card, I get extra points.

Win-Win.

 

[simplicity]

Your current balance is:

19809

Total points ever credited: 474869 Total points ever debited: 455060
I only need 191 more points for my next $20 in free groceries! I've eaten more than $455 in free groceries so far. No wonder the president chose this company.