Bank customers nationwide are upset over recent increases in banking fees, especially when said institutions are raking in record profits.
Customers with TD, CIBC, Bank of Montreal and Scotiabank have recently contacted Go Public about fees that increased, or are about to, for a range of accounts, products and services. They all question the timing.
The banks tell Go Public that the increases were made after careful consideration and that other options are available to customers.
But a banking critic says the banks are jacking up fees because no one is stopping them.
"Prime Minister Trudeau said a year ago that the banks should be doing more to help Canadians — and gouging them is not helping them", said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, a citizen group calling for government accountability and corporate responsibility. "It's about time he and the finance minister stepped in."
One bone of contention lies with TD's changes to its "preferred chequing" accounts — some of which have been held for more than 25 years — whjich some call "exorbitant and totally unfair." The bank is raising the minimum balance required for avoiding fees from $2,000 to $5,000.
On top of that, for customers who don't maintain the new, higher balance, TD is raising transaction fees on those accounts — from $1.25 to $1.95.
That higher fee will kick in for every transaction, including when customers use their debit card; this after., Canadians were urged to avoid cash transactions in a bid to curb the coronavirus.
TD is also increasing fees for things like overdraft protection on some chequing accounts and wire payments, something folks have complained to GoPublic as being "immoral... (as) people are struggling."
