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Best Canadian bank for cruisers?

3K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  SloopJonB 
#1 ·
Just wondering what my fellow Canadians think is the best major bank for cruisers. Of the big five (Royal, TD, Scotia, BMO, CIBC), which do you find most useful? I'm thinking in terms of access to local branches, quality of services for cruisers, low cost, etc.

My short and medium term plans are to be travelling the east coast (Maritimes then maybe US Atlantic coast), perhaps out to Bermuda, and then into the Caribbean for a number of years.

I've banked with a local (Thunder Bay, ON) credit union for the past 15+ years. I'll be staying with them, but now that we're cruising I've run into a few hurdles with the lack of local branch access.
 
#2 ·
I've banked with Scotia since water was invented and often received help from them when cruising out of country however, I believe thats probably more due to a long term relationship with the branch and knowing everyone in it. I also have a"personal" banker in that branch who's job it is to take care of me.
 
#6 ·
Thanks! Yes, our banking system is more regulated. Probably means we jump through more hoops, but it certainly helped us in the 2008 melt down.

Scotiabank has a big presence in the Caribbean; TD is a big player on the US east coast (interestingly TD has more branches in US than Canada now).
I'm beginning to think I should open both a TD and Scotia account. Maybe just TD for now...
 
#5 ·
Scotiabank has a big presence in the Caribbean; TD is a big player on the US east coast (interestingly TD has more branches in US than Canada now).
 
#7 ·
Why would you need a branch, with credit and debit cards along with modern internet and mobile banking apps? I can even deposit a check over my smartphone. Or does Canada not have them? I get foreign currency in an ATM and pay for as much as I can with a credit card that automatically does the exchange rate.
 
#16 ·
The EC dollar is similar to the Chinese yuan in that it is not a floating exchange rate currency like most including the US dollar and Canadian dollar. The exchange rate for the former currencies is totally fixed or floats only within a government set narrow range. From time-to-time, generally not that often, the fixed rate is changed to reflect current realities.

Back to the original question from Mike, check with Scotiabank to see how integrated their Caribbean operation is with the Canadian one. I think it may not be that open. TD only integrated their US operation to the Canadian one a couple of years ago. Before that we went into a US branch (of one of the several US banks that TD had bought) of TD. It all looked familiar but at that time they had no integration. Now a Canadian access card is accepted in the US TD banks.

When we started cruising we took a stash of US cash (less than $10,000 which must be reported on entering a country). More recently we have typically used local ATMs with our Canadian debit card and it has worked fine in a few dozen countries. The only problem we have run into is that daily limits can be quite low which is a hassle if you have a large bill and cannot use a credit card - which is more common than you might think. We recently spent a couple of weeks in Vietnam and almost no businesses took credit cards (we were not travelling in the circles that richer tourists might use so were not in international chain hotels for example). There were ATMs everywhere and you could save a bit of money looking for lower transaction fees - these were typically $3 to $5 no matter how much you took out so a higher maximum was good. Foreign exchange is done by your home bank so you need to shop around to see who might have the best deals. In general, the foreign exchange rates were quite good and better than you get if you took, say, US dollars into a local bank.

Now if we know we are going to be in a country for a time when we are in Canada we will get a few hundred dollars, euros, whatever in Canada just as a convenience, for example to pay initial costs on entering the country. Generally if you pay for visas, etc in local currency you will get a better deal than if you pay in US dollars. Our TD in Canada has provided EC dollars, Aussie dollars, SA rand and euros with with a few days notice.
 
#20 ·
Again, thanks for all your help with this folks. Banking fees are a fact of our modern life. So to is the ability to get local currency just about everywhere with only a plastic card and a PIN. No need to stash wads of USD in zip lock bags all over the boat anymore.

I'm gonna look hard at Scotiabank and RBC. TD seems to rank high as well, but for my travel plans, the first two look best.
 
#21 ·
RBC is way bigger - the biggest CDN bank by far but it has always had much more of a commercial focus than BNS.

If you are asking because you plan on sailing in the Caribbean, BNS is a no-brainer - they are everywhere there and Latin America. Those areas have been the central focus of their international operations since inception.
 
#23 ·
BNS has a good presence in Caribbean.
If you spend a lot of time in US however TD is probably best, open TD account in both countries and link them allows you to transfer money over phone or online. Also gets you access to a US CC if you want that.
BNS has an agreement with Bank of America to help with fees, but trying to move money from Canada to any US bank to bank is a pain, the TD program is the best we have seen to do this, was specifically designed for snowbirds.
 
#24 ·
I'm a US citizen so may not apply. So far BoA has been good. No fees using Scotia ATMs. Pay big bills via wire transfers managed thro electronic signature via financial advisor. Works for yard bills and the like.
May wish if your local bank has recipicality with which bank(s) in future cruising area(s) at no fee.
Hassle has been how many countries don't allow foreigners to open bank accounts.
 
#25 ·
Because dealing with banks is painful, like searching for ATMs in remote places, cards the sometimes don't work, exchange rates, and credit card fraud. Bleh. Now I simply take a box of money. A box full of crispy new one-hundred dollar bills. Usually ninety-nine of them if I am flying to the boat. My own little ATM. The cards only get used for online payments in the home country: air tickets, Defender orders, etc.

Of course this is not going to work if the pirates learn the is a box of cash on each cruising boat. So don't you do it, okay?

Truly relaxing.
 
#27 ·
I'd ask them - those sort of requirements have been changing with the advent of Internet banking, telecommuting and such things.
 
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