Presidents choice banking

I know this probably goes towards the Canadian users out there...BUT you never know, they might have it in the states.
I'm thinking of switching banks. The one I go through right now requires soooo many fees. I went to my dad's credit union and the woman there suggested a high interest savings account for my money markets that haven't made any money in 3 years (better interest rates right now). Theirs is at 3.05%. Presidents choice is an online/ATM style banking that has an interest rate at 4.0% and it gets raised for every year you have money in there too. Also, their chequing accounts have no fees (not even for cheques). I'm kind of leary banking with a grocery store though, and given that we're talking about a lot of money here, I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with them.
Thanks!
Jess

I didn't know PC had a bank! Although I must say I do have a soft spot for Presidents Choice and no name food.

My BF's parents us PC and so do some people at work and they have no complaints, personally I don't like CIBC and wont use PC because of that but your money would seem just as safe with the CIBC/PC patnership as any other bank.

PC owns me! I have been banking with them for years (started for the no fees like you). I now have their mastercard, my mortgage is with them, my insurance etc. No complaints from me!

Originally Posted by Renny

PC owns me! I have been banking with them for years (started for the no fees like you). I now have their mastercard, my mortgage is with them, my insurance etc. No complaints from me!

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We were one of their first customers! Everytime we'd use our cards, people would ask us about it. We should have got a commission!
Never had any complaints with them.
LOVE the no fees - there are certain fees such as for bounced cheques, but I think that's reasonable.
I can see you'd be leary of banking with a "grocery store", but as icklemiss21 pointed out, they're wholey owned by CIBC and are a proper bank.

Well, I signed up but haven't moved my money to the account yet. How would I get a cashiers cheque from them? The apartment complex that I just went to look at today requires one for last months rent and one for first months rent when you arrive, but I'm not sure how I'd do that.

I use PC banking and I don't have any plans to change bank anytime soon. You just can't beat no bank fees!
Their interests rates are also really good on the savings account. I looked into other banks once and with them, I would have had to put my money away for 3 years to get the same interest rate. With PC, I can get money out of my savings account with 24 hour notice. And all of it can be done online.

I'm acually still using PC even now that I live in Quebec. Technically, it's not available in Quebec yet but I just gave them a mailing address in Ontario and it's fine.

I would assume that you would go to the CIBC where you would deposit cheques etc, but you can get a bankers draft at any bank by giving them the cash (and fee) without having an account

Originally Posted by Sylorna

Well, I signed up but haven't moved my money to the account yet. How would I get a cashiers cheque from them? The apartment complex that I just went to look at today requires one for last months rent and one for first months rent when you arrive, but I'm not sure how I'd do that.

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You just need to call PC and then they will send the cheque to the nearest branch of the CIBC...that's what I had to do for the down payment on my house.

I just called them, and the woman actually suggested that I just go to the post office and ask for one via debit. She said that there would be a charge, but probably not the $7.50 they have to charge for it.

There is one small problem I have come across at work that you may run into problems with - at work we certify (ourselves) any cheques over a certain amount before depositing them. We can not do that with President's Choice and have chosen not to accept them over a certain amount because of it without a credit card guarantee. According to our bank (who makes us certify the cheques or holds them) a few other companies dealing with that bank are doing the same - so I would guess that it is more common than I would have thought. But then I also just let that customer give me 3 cheques each for a 1/3rd to get around it as it wasn't really her fault we couldn't certify it

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

There is one small problem I have come across at work that you may run into problems with - at work we certify (ourselves) any cheques over a certain amount before depositing them. We can not do that with President's Choice and have chosen not to accept them over a certain amount because of it without a credit card guarantee. According to our bank (who makes us certify the cheques or holds them) a few other companies dealing with that bank are doing the same - so I would guess that it is more common than I would have thought. But then I also just let that customer give me 3 cheques each for a 1/3rd to get around it as it wasn't really her fault we couldn't certify it

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Fortunately I'm in a situation where almost all of my banking includes debit and transfers from one account to another. The only time when I write cheques is when I'm doing something such as paying for rent or writing VOID across it for direct deposit.
Smart way of dealing with the situation though, thumbs up for that one!