ceiling on depositis at People's Trust. | General comparisons | Discussion forum

Good advice, Liquid Man.

Basically, the $100,000 CDIC limit is *per depositor* at *each CDIC institution*. This means that if you had, let's say, you had the following accounts:

$100,000 in your name
$100,000 in your wife's name
$100,000 in your joint accounts with your wife
$100,000 in your RRSP(s)
$100,000 in your wife's RRSP(s)
$100,000 joint with your son
$100,000 joint with your daughter
$100,000 your wife has joint with your son
$100,000 your wife has joint with your daughter

* TFSAs are counted as part of your own non-registered deposits, if memory serves me correctly.

You and your wife (or partner) would be fully CDIC insured for the full $900,000. There are other vehicles which are CDIC insured as well, such as mortgage tax accounts a bank sets up to automatically pay your property taxes on a mortgaged property. Accounts in trust for someone else are also CDIC insured -- there are some strict rules though, namely that the bank needs to have fully documented KYC (ID, SIN, etc.) details for all parties involved (including the trust beneficiary) and have the account clearly labelled as a trust account.

Commercial accounts are considered separate legal entities and as such are afforded the same CDIC protection as personal depositors. Unincorporated entities, however, would be included in the person's sole account personal deposits.

Finally, Some banks have separate, mortgage and loan companies as well as a trust company or two with which they can use to hold your GICs or possibly savings accounts as well. I know with HSBC Bank Canada, for instance, our systems allow us to open a new GIC that's held under HSBC Bank Canada or one that's held under HSBC Mortgage Corporation so one client could hold more than $100,000 in their own name that way. Speak with your financial institution to see if they offer this ability.

Cheers,
Doug