I average 8 transactions per month (combo on-line / teller). The most transactions in the past 10 months being twelve. The balance varies, but on average over the 10 months it is $11,366. I don’t know what the minimum is, but I’ve only had the fees waived twice.

I don’t wear expensive clothes, but between the mortgage & home equity line of credit, I owe the bank a ton of money and have never defaulted, so they treat me real nice. I can have the hold on cheques waived, if I deposit in person at my main branch.

The bank is not sympathetic to complaints of high fees. :P I think after hearing the advice above, I should stick with TD and either try and minimize transactions and switch to a different product, maintain a min. balance, or find a credit union in Toronto!

What bothers me most is they make it very hard to analyze. I can’t find the products listed on their website for comparison purposes, I had to do my own number crunching in Excel to determine my average transaction rate / month and average balance per month, etc.

There’s a lot of marketing saying they support small business, but in reality they don’t do a lot to make it easier on you to manage your money wisely…they hope you don’t pay attention and that means more money for their bottom line, not ours.

Gouge gouge gouge. TD banks call centre offers typical Canadian service, helpful attitude until they actually have to take responsiblity for their mistakes. Then defensive and unapoletigic. I’ve had enough.

I believe Coast Capital Savings can only operate in BC as a credit union.

I have no problems transferring funds to my personal account (required to open a business account) and then linking that to my personal savings accounts at CTFS and ING.

Coast Capital Savings account sounds a great option. Questions:

a) can one open a Coast Capital account from Alberta? (because it looks like they are only in greater vancouver/victoria at the moment.)

b) how easy will it be to link the Coast Capital deposit-for-free chequing account to an ING Business Savings account because that also allows free deposits, no monthly fees, no minimum balance. (because they may offer better interest rate than the coast capital savings)

To write cheques, transfer money to the Deposit-for-free chequing account online for free and pay $0.85 per cheque. You can also file and pay CRA returns online for free too.

But I haven’t been able to write cheques. The first time I called their line I was told because I don’t have a signature on my card, so I was sent to a nearest branch to sign one. The branch told me that I do have one in their system! I quietly signed a second one. A few weeks later, cheques were still getting returned, I called the business direct number and I was told I don’t have a signature! Worse, the guy on the phone asked me to submit copies of article of incorporation! I told him that I’ve done that already, and he asked me for the name of the guy I sent gave the articles to. When I told him I couldn’t possibly remember the names of those I’m dealing with, and asked him instead to please check in their system or files, he said, I quote, “we keep records in a lot of different places. Without the name of the person I sent the articles to, he has no way of locating my documents”. I protested, threatening to close my account if they can’t properly keep customer’s records. They guy just said fine, I can go to a branch and close!

When I asked at a local branch to close my account and transfer my deposits to another branch, the branch manager personally came to apologize, asked me to sign yet another signature card, and promised to resolve the issue. I did that. In the meantime, I was forced to pay $15 for drafts because I can’t get cheques cleared.

One month later, cheques were still getting returned. I called the business direct number again, and I was told they now do have my signature, but there’s no record of any cheques being received or returned!

I’ve now decided to open a regular TD account.

Also, be warned that, even when you physically go to a local branch, they have to call the same business direct number to be able to serve you. That means, you still have to wait 1/2 to 1 hr to get through to someone.

a) My personal checking account is with TD (their hours are the best – they are open till 8PM in most branches and are open till late on Saturdays)

b) It’s easy for me to electronically transfer money from my TD business account to my personal account without incurring any charge for the EFT Transfer (the EFT costs in a HSBC Business Direct account are a lot).

c) It’s free to pay taxes (other banks charge a one-time setup fee for this)

d) There’s absolutely no hold on cheques – even when the cheques are above $15-$20K. (does depend on branch to branch, but few branches in Victoria, Vancouver, BC and my main branch are perfectly okay with no holds). So, I can deposit a $20K cheque, and transfer the money to my personal account immediately. How many days is the cheque-hold-time in other business accounts?

The only disadvantage is the $8K minimum and the months that I am unable to keep the minimum it hurts for 2 months at a stretch (because if I am unable to keep the minimum this month, when the next month starts the minimum is not met on the 1st day of the month, so effectively I would end up paying $11.95 for 2 months.

You only pay $.85 per transaction and all deposits are free with no monthly fees. I do freelance graphic design so I don’t have a lot of transactions monthly. Has anyone else used Coast Capital?

The free chequing would have been ideal as it’s an online venture and the only thing we would be using the account for is taking in cheque payments and direct deposits. I guess we will just have to go with a fee based account.

I was shocked to find out that HSBC REJECTED our application because she doesn’t meet their minimum credit requirements. I asked them what they are, but the lady on the phone said its just a number that wouldn’t mean anything to me. Fact is, I have a 770 credit score myself, but my wife just got Permanent Residence status in Canada late last year, so she doesn’t have any history at all here.

Afterwards I hassled her a little about what was going to be done with the information in the application for payback on the condescending remark about the number meaning nothing to me.

All of you looking to take advantage of HSBC free chequing, just make sure you have a good credit score, otherwise they don’t want your business.

We will be going to BMO and RBC tomorrow to find out which one we will be doing business with. I already have a long history with BMO but not much with RBC. I prefer to diversify my relationships with banks so that I never get treated like a stranger when I want a product/service from any of them. It is indeed a lot easier to get things done, and you get more offers when banks have had a chance to do business with you over time.

Thanks for this comparison post. I ended up here while searching for a comparison to save me the trouble of figuring out what each of them has to offer.

I also live in a city with many HSBC branches and therefore, it’s not a problem finding a HSBC ATM machine. I am not saying this account is “THE” one, it might not fit with your own unique business/life situation. For me, it’s a good fit!

Donna, I suggest phoning HSBC to ask them directly: 1 866 808 HSBC (4722).

Last week before I left for work I called the number for their business division. After being on hold for quite some time I opted for the option to leave my name and number and have them call me back in turn. Never got a call back. Tried to apply online but I was missing one piece of information at the present time and it wouldn’t let me proceed. Finally emailed them stating that I want to make an appointment to set up a buisness account when I’m back in town. Got a reply saying to use the branch locator to locate my nearest branch and call the same number I already tried again! Tried calling my nearest branches direct number, during the day, no answer. Tried to reply to the email that they said to reply to if I had any other questions, not able to.
I guess I’ll give it one more shot once I’m home, I’ll just go to the “branch” (which is inside a canadian tire apparently…) and see if they are able to assist me on the spot, otherwise I’ll pay a monthly fee for some customer service!

I’ve been researching business accounts and that HSBC Business Direct account is exactly what I’m looking for. No monthly fee! 20 free checks deposited each month, 18 cents for each one after that. I deposit right around 20 each month, and if I go over a few it’s still cheap! I’d have to deposit 53 checks to rack up $6 in charges, which will never happen. However the account doesn’t start until Nov. 2, which is only a couple weeks away.

Thanks again for posting that link!
Reidun