First Chequing Account: Royal Bank

My first ever chequing account was opened during the summer of 2003 when I started a part-time job at Toys R’ Us. It was the summer before the first year of University and the account was opened with Royal Bank (RBC) by my mom’s recommendation. It was also the closest branch to my home at the time.

Second Chequing Account: CIBC

Now Royal Bank wasn’t bad, but when I started attending the University of Waterloo, the most convenient bank located around campus was CIBC. Penny pinching was the norm as a student so I opened a student account there to save on ABM withdrawal fees and for convenience and decided to close the account with RBC. CIBC even gave me my very first Visa credit card with a $700 limit. I hold this very same card to this day, despite opening and cancelling a few other cards in the last couple of years.

Third Chequing Account: Bank of Montreal

Fast forward to my first co-op job with BMO Capital Markets. I was forced to open a chequing account with them to get paid so I opened an account and held both the CIBC and BMO chequing accounts concurrently for a few years. Now I don’t recommend holding more than one chequing account as I see no immediate benefit for splitting the cash between two accounts and shuffling them back and forth. Plus, you’ll be hit with twice the monthly and maintenance fees.

Fourth Chequing Account: TD Canada Trust

Shortly after came temptation with TD Canada Trust’s iPod Shuffle promotion. TD offered a free iPod Shuffle if you completely switched over your chequing account and set up at least three direct deposits. This iPod was worth $129 I thought, so without hesitation, I signed up, transferred my BMO account, cancelled my CIBC account, and a month later, received my Shuffle in a white plastic, bubble wrapped envelope. At this point, I kept only the TD account and because I was a student, I had the Value Plus account for no monthly fee.

Sweet. Life was good, I thought.