ONLINE BANKING

On-line banking is here to stay in Canada. Every chartered bank has their own versions of banking on-line, and many have combined them with alterantive services such as brokerage, loans, etc. The choice to the Canadian Consumer is not just with your traditional "bricks and motor" banks, but now includes alterative players such as credit unions, and specialty banks such as ING Direct and President's choice. They key to selecting the right bank is finding out which one is here that meets your needs. Over the course of the next couple of months, myMONEYhelp will be analyzing the Canadian banks and providing you with selections to make the right decision

How Do they Rate?

Most importantly, how do the competing banks rate for their online banking services, fees, and support? Here is a link to an excellent resource providing key ratings and evaluations of major Canadian banks.

www.gomez.com
Gomez is an Internet quality measurement firm for both consumers and ebusinesses. Gomez has ranked Internet banks based on ease of use, customer confidence, on-site resources, relationship services, and overall cost.

See how the Canadian Banks rank!
http://www.gomez.com/main.aspx?m=5&s=2&tc=89

Also, let’s not forget the option of using credit unions. Credential Direct, which serves more than 130 credit unions across Canada ranked among the top Internet brokerage sites according to Gomez.com (placing ahead of such well-established offerings as Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank Action Direct).

Benefits of On-line Banking

The services available to you are growing monthly. Here is a list of basic services that I believe you should be able to expect from your online bank.

• Open a new account
• Check credit card balances
• email money
• Consolidate your accounts into one statement
• Check your mortgage balance
• Make bill payments
• Schedule automatic bill payments for regular bills
• Make credit card bill payments
• Apply for a loan
• Apply for a mortgage
• Transfer funds between accounts
• Ability to send and receive checks online
• Check your brokerage account and trade stocks or mutual funds
• Wireless banking
  

Contact Directories

Bank of Montreal www.bmo.com

CIBC www.cibc.com

Citizen’s Bank www.citizensbank.ca

HSBC Bank www.hsbc.ca

ING Direct www.ingdirect.ca

Laurentian Bank www.lbcdirect.laurentianbank.ca

National Bank www.nbc.ca

President’s Choice www.preschoicefinancial.com

Royal Bank www.rbc.com

Scotiabank www.scotiabank.ca

TD Canada Trust www.tdcanadatrust.com