A Comparision of Banks
by Not sure if it’s paranoia, or just stubbornness, but I’ve spent many years with multiple bank accounts in just about every bank in Canada. Here is an account of my experiences and comparisons to help you select the bank(s) that are the best fit for your needs.
Originally I thought, if I had bank accounts in all of the major banks, I could avoid paying those dump ‘Interac’ and convenience fees when using “the other” bank machine (by the way it doesn’t work). Each bank account charges it’s own monthly fees anyway, plus you have to deal with all those banks and keep track of them yourself. One of the good that has come out of this, however is that I now have a pretty good understanding of what bank(s) meet my needs best and hopefully this information will help you as well.
Most banks share the same common features (similar fee structure, similar mortgage rates, online banking, etc), but here I will describe some of the “hidden” benefits you may not be thinking about when choosing a banking institution.
My Banking Needs:
Online Security & Protection
When I got my first online banking account, I didn’t do much online banking. Truthfully, the whole idea of moving my money around on the Internet, one of the most insecure systems out there scared the crap out of me. I’m still not convinced it’s all that good of an idea, but the convenience wins out in the end I think.
But still you’ve got to be careful. A good secure system will go to extreme lengths to verify your identity before allowing you to do your transactions. Such as
a) Read-Only Access until your address is verified -> A good secure system should not allow you to any banking transactions until first verifying you are the account holder. Suppose you loose your card and you’ve never signed up for online banking, this gives the ‘bad guy’ easy access to your account by signing up and impersonating you, but if sign-up originally only gives you read-only access you are safe.
b) Complex Password Policy and Password Reset Policy -> A secure system will require you to pick a secure password, or at the very least warn you if you password is insecure. Passwords should be at least 7 characters with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters (.#$, etc). If you need to reset your password, a good system will have on file at least 3 or 4 different questions of your choosing that you need to confirm to verify your identity, that you can change on a regular basis.
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