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At least four Canadian banks are raising their fees, at the same time they are raking in record profits and customers are struggling through the pandemic, CBC reports.
Customers with TD, CIBC, Bank of Montreal and Scotiabank have each contacted CBC’s investigative team about bank fees that have recently increased, or are about to, for a range of accounts, products and services.
Duff Conacher, a co-founder of Democracy Watch, a citizen group calling for government accountability and corporate responsibility, is also a TD Bank customer.
Conacher told CBC the bank is raising the minimum balance required for avoiding fees from $2,000 to $5,000 on the “preferred chequing” account.
“In an environment where people have lost their jobs, they’re on furlough, they’re trying to get CERB payments, who’s going to be able to keep $5,000 in their bank account to not get service fees?” he told CBC.
Conacher also said TD is raising transaction fees on those accounts from $1.25 to $1.95 for every transaction, even on debit cards, and fees for overdraft protection.
TD’s reported net income is up from 2019, CBC reported, with the bank disclosing $3.2 billion in net income for this year’s first quarter profits alone.
The new fees come as each of the big five banks reported billions in profit for the first quarter, with profits higher than the same period last year for all five.
Bank of Montreal reports $2 billion in net income, Royal Bank of Canada reports $3.8 billion, Scotiabank has $2.4 billion and CIBC has $1.6 billion.
Conacher said Democracy Watch had collected nearly 80,000 signatures on a petition asking Ottawa to force the banks to do more to help Canadians during the pandemic.
The citizen group is calling on Ottawa to change the Bank Act, and is pushing to see built-in independent audits of every division of the banks to determine if they are taking in more profit than is fair.
“If it’s more than a reasonable profit margin of 10 to 15 percent, then the banks should be forced to lower their fees and interest rates to a reasonable level,” Conacher told CBC.
The group said it hasn’t seen any action from the government so far. The government told CBC it could not address questions on what it was going to do about banks’ fee increases.
TD encouraged customers worried about fees to contact it about options available. The new fees go into effect in one week.
What do you think about Canadian banks raising their fees right now? Let us know in the comments!
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13 thoughts onCanadians Question Why Banks Are Raising Fees Amid Pandemic, Billion Dollar Profits
I’m in financial ruin. Was put on disability back in October 2020 and it’s been a nightmare since. Manulife kicked me off of insurance just because right before Christmas. Since then I’ve been scammed by nearly everyone. I can’t afford food. The Banks? They are all insane and liars!!! I caught there systems screw ups, for months now I’ve tried to stop them! TD, Scotiabank, even ATB have lied and lied. They all say we offer support. Just like Telus who is threatening to cut off my service even when they say continuing support. Won’t say what. Scotiabank told me a number of times that Covid was fine? 90 bucks a pop NSF. Won’t extend loans, won’t defer, ridiculous interest. They took all my money and lied about everything. TD just makes things up as they go. They screwed up on paperwork and deny everything. Scotiabank laughed at me stating that the big banks don’t make mistakes? Had credit card insurance for years. Claim I never did? 30 dollar premiums to pay? Can’t cancel anything? Non stop calls threats of during me? 30 years with Scotiabank. They are monsters all these banks are monsters that are greedy and lie lie lie. They record calls? Why so they can get rid of the bad parts? Insurance companies are a joke. Scotiabank sent the police to my house the other day. They were apparently worried about me after our million chats. Sounds like some guilt? Or maybe they are worried they can’t keep stealing from me. Too many Skeltons in the closet
Hope these slimy, greasy little pukes that own these banks and insurance companies are proud. Making profit on misery. Scotiabank for sure is dead to me, so is Manulife. There was a reason in the old days people buried there money.
I feel for you, Buddy. I know from experience exactly how you feel. Eerily similar situation too…I was disabled in ’98 and lost everything just fighting for disability. Got screwed over on the card insurance too. Now I refuse to deal with any of the big banks. It’s credit unions for me now, and will never go back. at least they treat you like a human being and not just another number. Ps- have made more money just with a credit union ‘share’ in one year than I’ve made in a lifetime of supposed ‘interest’ with the big banks. I will never go back to those money-sucking leaches.
Its because my funds was split up and is entitled to me when I get my.cards again cuz of an identity theft recently n the person who has it only spends on dumb shit guns drugs etc not even a thing for there kid
Banking with TD has never been a joy. I have moved some accounts to another institution. My Line of Credit with TD is slowly paid off every month, and TD has increased the interest rate and the prime amount! (S)(l)ick, sly, deceptive, dishonest elitist and globalist agenda to take from the people. No communications, just pure theft!
I agree with this action. Even God only gets a 10 percent fee and look all he does for us. These banks flush out Ceo pensions and perks while the customers are scraping to get by!
I am a pensioner and there is no way I can make the cap. How did they decide that $5000 was an Ok number? By looking at all our data. Surely something can be done!
Does such a link to sign the petition exist?
I had moved my credit card balances moved to my line of credit. The credit cards were then closed . All was well for 6-10 months, I paid down some of the line of credit and closed a couple of other cards. Last month I applied for a credit product with HSBC looking to get a lower rate than my line of credit. This was declined.
Then my next statement comes for my line of credit. On the right side was a notice that Scotia Bank had lowered their prime rate by about 1/2 percent. I was happy about that until, just by chance, I looked over to the left side of my statement where there was a notice that the bank was raising my L.o.Cr by about 1.15% !!!! This was buried in several sentences of blah blah clearly in an attempt to not make it obvious.
There was no explicit reason. I can only surmise that when HSBC did a credit bureau on me, that it triggered a flag at my Scotia Bank and they raised my rate.
I agree, a link to sign the petition would be helpful.
The banks making record profits each quarter, yet they dare increasing the interest rates, fees and cutting services. Every little thing is itemized and charged separately, even though the online services have reduced dramatically the costs to the bank instead of passing on the savings to the consumers they are charging more??? Totally a free pass to the fat cats!!! The decades old Bank Act need to be revisited.
These is pure greed and overlooked by government agencies…no checks and balances? Hello, is anyone paying attention to this? Is there a class action law suit in process and where is the link to raise our voices?
Appreciate Mr. Conacher efforts toward this.
Nothing but pure Greed.
Why do you not link to the petition!?