Avoid. Still awful. | Peoples Trust | Discussion forum

Dean said

Dean said

Hi Svg1234,

. . .

Perhaps you could give us a few more details, so we have an idea of what's happening.

Dean

We're still waiting . . .

Dean

  

My apologies to all. I wasn't subscribed to the thread and didn't realize there were replies. Oops.

Well, the main problem I had with People's over the years is that they don't answer their phones! Sometimes you get through - and other times it takes days and days to get them. Even when I've left messages to call me back, they didn't get back to me. I believe I wrote or added posts to another thread about that issue. Many others experienced the same thing. To suggest that merely because there aren't many complaint posts on this forum that things are going well flies in the face of reality. Because the clients who stopped doing business with PB & PT are obviously no longer going to have anything to complain about. 🙂

Another annoyance w/ People's is that you cannot give maturity instructions online. Oaken, Tangerine, et al all let you specify upon buying the GIC and to change it (if so desired) anytime before maturity. But not People's. You have to call them, which most times in the past has been difficult. It's 2024. Update your platform!

My current issue with them is related to my POSSIBLY moving out of the country and perhaps changing tax residency. I had multiple emails with a terribly annoying, stubborn, and overzealous customer service rep who just wouldn't listen to what I was trying to get her to understand (i.e. that my inquiry was a hypothetical - not yet a reality because at this point we're unsure of our plans). She kept giving me boiler plate answers until I finally gave up. To protect my identity, I don't want to provide too many details. She went ahead and flagged my account to automatically cancel (yes, you read that right) my GICs without my authorization - even though I told her not to! Further, she said that even if I merely MOVE to another country - even temporarily - but maintain my Canadian home and tax residency - they would still not allow me to keep my accounts and my GICs would be killed. Huh? That make zero sense. How would they even know if someone was just traveling to another country versus actually moving there? What if someone intended on moving, but for whatever reason changed their mind? Anyway, the entire exchange was really stupid and tiresome (for no good reason).

BTW, I have GICs with numerous institutions. If I do decide to leave and become a NR, they are the ONLY ones that would be treating it this way. I was not aware that they were even legally allowed to break/cancel a GIC once it's placed. I've inquired at each institution I do business with. The bummer is that I have a relatively high rate of interest on a couple of GICs with them (5.40%) which they would cut short by many months.

Anyway. None of this is the end of the world as we know it. Take it all in stride. But perhaps it's helpful to share the experience with others? Also makes other institutions I deal with a lot, like Oaken, really stand out that much more.

AltaRed said
Some Canadian banking financial institutions simply will not do business with those who are no longer a resident of Canada for tax purposes. It is the rule more than the exception with brokerages due to certain regulatory obligations.

Some banking institutions will allow existing accounts to stand but deny access to do any transactions other than withdrawals. Some may allow term deposits to stay until maturity and then cash must be removed.

If you know you are only going to be out-of-country temporarily, but remain a resident of Canada for tax purposes, then one should not be changing their postal address to an out-of-country address. It is that change which tells the FI that you are no longer a resident of Canada.

Been there, done that a number of times as an ex-pat.  

Thanks for the reply and for your many informative posts here and on other forums. Much appreciated.

Yes, I'm aware of most of the non-resident considerations as I've been researching it for quite some time. Not an easy thing to do, but we're getting much closer to "going for it". Thus I've transferred assets over the past year to address some of the issues (hello Questrade). It's unfortunate that while it's perfectly LEGAL to have non-resident brokerage accounts, firms like TDDI, IBKR, and many others, will either freeze, limit or force you to close said account. Very frustrating. If we do become NRs, I'll move some (eventually all) assets out of Canada and to international brokerage account(s), probably back to IBKR in SE Asia. But what I did NOT know was that a Cdn FI could break a GIC if one becomes a non-resident! I'm just glad there isn't that much time left on them (March 2025 maturities), since current rates are quite a bit lower already. It might be because they can't handle issuing NR4s - only T5s? Or maybe because it exposes them to liability? Not sure. FWIW, Tangerine said I can keep the GICs and even buy more in the future, but not over their website. Steinbach and Oaken can handle it as well.

As far as change of address goes, that's exactly my point. They shouldn't be changing anything in my accounts UNTIL they have a proper notice of change of address or residency from me. She just jumped the gun for no reason and wouldn't listen to me trying to explain that it was a "what if" not a notification. I think it might have been a language issue. I tried 3 times to get her to see that it was a misunderstanding, but no luck. Oh well. If I do decide to keep things as-is, I'll have to give a call to People's and let them know that they are NOT to break any of my GICs without my authorization. As I said, I'm not entirely sure at this point what my wife and I are going to wind up doing.