Here’s why you could be ‘debanked’ by your financial institution
Article proceeds to summarize personal anecdotes with absolutely no clear “why” provided at all.
The image of the letter shows RBC felt those customers fell outside of their Risk Appetite. Which probably translates to we aren’t making enough profit off of you
This is messed up. They shouldn’t be allowed to this because banks are essential to modern existence. Especially if the people they’re doing it to haven’t actually done anything wrong. I get if the person was being a dick on the phone or something, but simply because they arent making enough money for the bank is fucked up
I do volunteer work for a couple of homeless groups in Toronto and a very common thing is homeless people can’t get bank accounts. Why? you need two forms of ID. In ontario a health card (which many homeless people have) is not accepted. So many banks will ask for an Ontario Photo ID (which requires an address and $35 plus other forms of ID) or a Passport and some other info. it’s a no go.
Ok no bank account but they can still work right? nope. Guess what the majority of employers pay via? that’s right, Direct Deposit. You HAVE to have a bank account for that. No bank account, no job.
I’ve know a few people that had gotten jobs while homeless but had to quit because there was no way for them to get paid. they couldn’t get a bank account, no bank would open one for them without proper forms of ID. Credit Unions were even worse.
The ONLY thing these people did wrong was someone stole their wallets at shelters or where ever. They played by the rules, jumped through hoops to get health cards and all that and are still told “that’s not good enough” they are people who CAN work and are told “no, you don’t have a bank account”
It’s fucked here.
Canada is not for the people. Its a bought, sold, and divided asset for china and the us.
Credit Union is where I landed after TD pulled some shady shinanegans. Best change of my life
Ive been with them my whole life. Never had a problem
Edit: i thought you meant TD. So this is my TD rant.
They have been playing games to push clients away. Happened to various people I know who’d banked with them their whole life. Older adults getting letters that they don’t suit TDs profile.
I had them as my bank since 1991 they were awesome back then. In 2000s they offered a line of credit with .25% over prime so I signed on, was fine for 10 years.
Then I got sick with Cancer so my income dropped in half, and while I never missed a payment, I was slower paying Line of Credit.
They initially bumped the variance to 4%, then 11%. I called to explain I had a health issue and at first they said oof OK we will apply for a reduction but never called me back. I called them and the CSR person was an absolute asshole and denied the reduction. Then I got a letter that variance would be 17%. Because “they periodically review individual customers profiles”.
There was also another incident that the news broke about them, changing the order of incoming and outgoing transactions on purpose to force an NSF fee, that happened to me.
So I closed Business Account, personal account, house insurance, removed my RRSPs after that. Credit union is great good interest, no fees.
TD are a shit company now: Internally they are pushed to always upsell, and the pressure from upper management is so high to generate new income, reflected in performance reviews, that some employees have said they lie to clients to get the sales numbers.
For us the CSR told me purchasing TD mortgage insurance was mandatory for having a mortgage with them. (Not the CMHC part, but individual insurance) When it went to underwriting , underwriting called me to review details. They asked what made me choose TD mortgage insurance. I said I was told I had to, and underwriting said absolutely not, you are not required to have any mortgage insurance.
If you at some point don’t fit who they want they will do the same to you.
The whole time through that I had an awesome credit score too, which makes 0 sense one why they were being dicks.
You’re just a name and number on a shit to them. They dont mind being dicks because they dont have to deal with you face to face. Thats for some other poor bastard. Its easy to be immoral when you dont have to deal with any consequences and you are totally incentivized to be immoral.
Carney Liberals currently have similar legislation they are trying to pass that can kick people off the internet with no warning, no transparency, and little recourse to reverse. It’s as cruel as cutting off any other utility like electricity or water
It definitely sounds bad when you put it like that. From what I’m reading I don’t know if it’s that concerning.
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If I understand, it requires the authority of the minister of industry. So you really gotta be on Ottowa’s radar.
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Federal Judicial review after the fact sounds like more transparent oversight than some board.
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Given the cybersecurity landscape, I think it makes perfect sense that the government would have the ability to cut off internet access to an individual or organization.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/canadian-bill-would-strip-internet-access-from-specified-persons
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Since we are forced to have a bank account, this should be made illegal.
“It has been determined that your personal and/or business activities fall outside of our risk appetite, and therefore we do not have an appropriate basis to maintain a banking relationship,” the letter reads.
Risk appetite. Riiiight.
Almost sounds like the banks are relying on AI to decide who can have an account … and it leans against those who pay everything off in time.
If anyone takes them to court, I suppose discovery might turn up the reasons why, but until then it looks like they can drop customers the same way customers can drop banks. No reason.
Well, that’s some bullshit
