CND DVC's - US Bank Q's?

[jenkh]

(Posting in both DVC and here - sorry bout that, but I'm really looking for help)


Hi All,

Well today we got some troubling news. We closed our contract and all the paperwork was done and ready to go (back in Sept). We opened up a US bank account at BMO and sent DVC all the info (months ago - we even got all the signed paperwork back over 3 weeks ago)

Today they call us and say it has to be a US bank not a US bank Account. So they've taken away our 1% finance discount and are now making us pay our dues yearly (rather then the much appealing monthly) until we all get this sorted out.

To say were upset is an understatemt as we've talked to member accounting many times when we were getting all this organized and we even specifically asked if our CND bank would work. sigh. Why they waited until less then 14 days before our first payment of 07 dues are due, I have no idea.

So now it's rush time as we want this settled NOW. So my question is, are there any CND banks that have a US partnership? If not can anyone recommend a US bank as Buffalo is not to far away and we'd be willing to drive.

Thanks in advance

(and ignore my little rantings, I know no one is really to blame, but with such a huge money purchase you'd think they'd be much clearer for us Canadians)

 

[Questforthemouse]

I believe RBC has a US bank (RBC Centura) that you can set up an account in through a local branch here. Give them a call. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[bbangel]

TD has one, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called.

 

[afehrman]

If you are an RBC customer, go into your branch and ask them to open an account with Centura, it will be linked to your information at your local branch. I work for RBC in the IT field, this can be done as we own Centura, as well when in Florida their are branches that you can visit and do banking with while you are there.

 

[tribus121]

TD has TD Bank north in the new england states

 

[jenkh]

Thanks all for the replies. On the way home we stopped by a TD. Because it was near closing they couldn't solve our problem then and there (we didn't expect them too) But they were more then willing to set up a proper meeting tomorrow where they are willing to talk to member accounting themselves and make sure we are getting exactly what they require before we open the account there.

We will also look into RBC as well. Thank you all! If anyone has any personal experience I would love to hear it

 

[CanadianGuy]

In summary what DVC needs from you is a bank account that has an ABA (American Banking Association) routing number.

Canadian checks clear thru the Canadian banking system and our routing numbers are one digit more or less (I think less) than the US numbers. Frankly, the systems are so stupid to keep separate but regulatory concerns keep them from being coordinated more than anything.

RBC and a few other banks can offer US checking accounts that clear with ABA routing numbers.

Knox

 

[hematite153]

TD has one, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called.

TD has an alliance with Price Waterhouse and can get you a US Bank account that way.

Generally speaking, most Canadian banks have a partnership along these lines. However, I don't think the average branch teller is given a lot of information about them. I tend to get information about them mailed to me whenever I do banking in US funds. However, the service fees involved tend to cancel out any savings for having the account.

ETA: If you are paying annually, xe.com has the best exchange rates I've ever found and will upload directly from your CDN bank then pay DVC by electronic transfer or bank draft.

 

[who's ur daddy?]

Off topic, but why are you financing through Disney? Isn't it extraordinarily high? I think the interest rate is too high - 12%

 

[hematite153]

Off topic, but why are you financing through Disney? Isn't it extraordinarily high? I think the interest rate is too high - 12%

Good point! Get a line of credit at home. Not only will you save on interest, but your cost will also go down as the CDN dollar continues to climb against the US dollar.

 

[jenkh]

So the routing number is the key. Thanks, that will help at least knowing exactly what i need.

As far as financing through Disney for now it's a short term thing. Because I'm still fairly young and still have student loans I am paying off, although the bank could offer me a much smaller interest, the time frame just was too short. I plan on paying this off within a few years any way so I'm not too concearned about the long term. But if need be once my student loans are paid off in a year or so I know I could get a good loan from the bank then. (but i did check it out )

 

[Mickey Fanatic]

So you could open a line of credit here, pay off Disney and then pay back your line of credit at our interest rates? That would make more sense to me, and DH who is teetering on the fence. Coming closer to the DVC side day by day!

 

[jenkh]

Hi All,

Just wanted to give an update for all the Canadians in case you end up in our situation. After many failed bank meetings (really long story, but very very long story short no Bank in canada can make head or tails of the DVC's insistence of a physical US bank address as your home branch)

BMO could not provide this. TD just recently acquired TD North in the US. So they could not help us currently but definitely within 6 months will have the ability to open an account with there US banks. (if not sooner, the branch manager we spoke to said it may even be done before the year is out)

So we finally ended up at RBC thanks to the suggestion of many of you DIS'rs. They were able to open us an account through RBC Centura with a bank right in Orlando. It was a lot of form filling (all electronic thankfully) And in the end took about an hour. So they said we should have all our account info mailed to us within 2 weeks and then everything will finally be settled.

So I just wanted to say Thanks! for everyone that helped out and just wanted to post the results for whenever the search function gets working again.

We are planning on sending a letter to the DVC though as we asked specifically our guide, and 2 people in accounting and they all said just a US funds account from Canada would be fine. And then when they finally called us and said our US account was no good, when I asked if any bank in canada could help us they actually said, and i quote " I don't know why don't you ask some message boards online" So that was very much a shock to us as far as customer service is concerned. But we are happy it all seems to be worked out and are looking forward to our first trip home and making these 2 weeks of headaches all worth it

 

[jmtf2004]

Sorry I am a bit late hopping into this discussion. My husband got a no fee checking account at M&T in Buffalo a while ago because he occasionally had clients who paid in with checks in $US. It was convenient that we had that account already when we purchased our DVC membership. We use this account for our dues payments. With the M&T account we don't pay a dime in fees for having the account - only pay for transactions if we use the debit card to pay for things in Canada, or do a cash withdrawal here. We did finance our DVC purchase through Disney (yes the rate was high) and our loan payments used to go through the M&T account too, but when the exchange rate improved I used our Air Miles MasterCard to pay off the balance of the loan through the DVC website (got Air Miles for that) and then used a Canadian line of credit that is at a lower rate to pay the CC balance off. Had I known the dollar would go as high as it is now, I guess I could have actually waited to do that and saved even more - oh well.
Another option to pay annual dues is to use a rewards credit card like Air Miles to pay off your dues through the DVC member website, then pay the balance off - hopefully with cash, but if not that, then a low interest line of credit.
Hope this helps someone.