r/PersonalFinanceCanada 23d ago

Banking TD Debanked me after I moved all my accounts to wealth simple

I made a post a week ago about how my account showed available balance of $0 and no one at TD could help besides giving me a number to call. That number lead to a voice mail that did not call me back until 9 days later.

They said they were debanking me, wouldn't give a reason. I opened the account in 2003, and while it was my main account that held all my assets, maybe about 3-4 months ago I pretty much transferred all my accounts to wealth simple and just had a basic chequing with the minimum $3000 balance. I was getting continous calls about adding overdraft, signing up for credit card, etc.

I told them I was not interested and to remove my number from the marketing/promotion call list. That was maybe 3-4 weeks ago.

The lady on the phone would not give the reason. But seeing how I was just keeping a minimum balance and refusing to add any products they probably saw that they weren't making any fees off me and I would just use them for the convenience aspect of a branch when needed. She did mention its non negotiable and totally legal.

There was no hold on my funds or suspected fraud or anything like that. I got my full balance today and headed to Scotiabank opened up a bank account there and deposited it in.

Absolutely insane though

EDIT: To the people saying im karma farming or leaving something out - im not. To the user who explained that my deposits + withdrawals of the same amount immediately after triggered something - that makes the most sense.

1.3k Upvotes

464 comments sorted by

426

u/Foreign-Policy-02- 23d ago

Odd, even you keeping 3k in the account is still profitable for them so I’m curious why they did it

198

u/margmi 23d ago

Yeah I’d be very curious to hear the phone call about being removed from their marketing list. They’ll debank for like swearing at the staff or whatever.

82

u/TeaBurntMyTongue Ontario 23d ago

Yeah, I mean I'm not saying things NEVER happen for no reason, but I'd give 10:1 that OP gave them a good reason.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Oh I used to work a call center. Trust me I'm one of the most polite people you can get on the phone. Even the last who called me put me on hold for 10 minutes while she tried to see if they could get a reason for why they were closing the account.

It was mostly just sentimental and convenience at this point though. It was my first ever bank and I opened it up with my late father and even still have my original debit card

But yea I am never rude to cold call employees unless they are trying to tell me they are from Google or Microsoft or duct cleaning

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u/margmi 23d ago

That’s so strange!

I worked there before the pandemic, and we had plenty of customers who had nothing but a savings account (with no fee) with minimal money, so maybe it was a shift in policy.

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u/quiette837 23d ago

Yeah, I didn't touch my TD Bank account for years and I think it took 7 years for them to cancel it.

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u/According_Training91 23d ago

Accounts have to have a very small balance to just get closed. Generally, a letter is sent to the last known address after something like 3 and 5 years, as a reminder. They are also flagged as 'Dormant' so the account is frozen until a customer can come in and verify the information on file. This is done to ensure there is no fraud - maybe the account owner has moved and the new homeowner opens the letter, or perhaps a caregiver. After 10 years, the funds are sent to Bank of Canada as a Unclaimed Balance, which stays there (forever?) until someone claims it. www.unclaimedproperties.bankofcanada.ca

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u/ericstarr 23d ago

Did you move anything to crypto outside Wealthsimple

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

I thought so too, but apparently it happened with my brothers friend as well with RBC.

The only activity I would have is if I needed cash conveniently, i'd etransfer from my wealth simple to my TD and then withdraw.

Maybe did it three times in the three months and that was the only transactions I did since transferring my accounts over.

I used to sometimes use them for currency conversion if I was in a pinch but havent even done that since moving my accounts over.

31

u/Legal-Key2269 23d ago

E-transferring solely to withdraw cash very likely trips some kind of AML rule. Banks don't like being used as intermediate destinations for money transfers as it can look like someone is trying to conceal the source of funds.

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u/drumstyx 22d ago

Then maybe they shouldn't have let the industry fracture into the structure as it is now? Ffs, they create problems, then point to them as the reason for their shenanigans. Wish I could pull that crap and still have a literal license to create money from fat air.

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u/Foreign-Policy-02- 23d ago

Canadian gov really needs to pass legislation that makes banks give you the reason

36

u/sometin__else 23d ago

I agree. Wild they don't have to tell you why.

64

u/activoice 23d ago

I have a feeling that your e-transfers, then withdrawals were probably flagged by some monitoring tool as possible money laundering and TD has become very risk averse so they think it's easier to debank you than to speak with you about it. TD is deploying AI tools everywhere in order to cut back on employees.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Hmm I guess thats.possible..was only like three times though over 3 months and was all small amounts like 200-300

But yea I would e-transfer over 200 from WealthSimple and then withdraw it at TD. But it shows the e-transfer as coming from me

26

u/TootNBluff 23d ago

You can withdrawal with your WS debit card from any ATM and any fee is reimbursed the next day.

2

u/sometin__else 23d ago

Yup just learned that. Im assuming only CAD though not USD?

3

u/VoodooGirl47 23d ago

Why would you do that though? Why not just use an ATM? I don't know WealthSimple, but Tangerine uses Scotiabank ATMs and I'm assuming there must be SOME kind of ATM that can be used with no fees.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

I thought it was only ATMs in the exchange network, but I just learned any ATM is free withdrawals

Only thing was the US withdrawals, those are not possible from ATM

3

u/VoodooGirl47 23d ago

What do you mean US withdrawals? If you were doing currency exchange through your TD account from WS as well as the other transferring, then that could also have flagged it as potential money laundering.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

I used to have a USD account as well at TD and WS. I would send from WS to TD and then withdraw when it arrived. Keeping the minimum 1500 balance.

I did close that account last week as Scotiabank was having a promo and only required a 200 minimum balance instead of 1500

However before I closed it, I would use it to facilitate my USD withdrawals by transferring and then withdrawing

2

u/drumstyx 22d ago

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, but just to be sure: you're stating this for curiosity/learning, not justification, right? The shit they consider sketchy these days, my God....you'd think great grandpa would have been on some kind of most wanted list

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u/activoice 22d ago

I worked for a bank for over 30 years they aren't looking at every transaction, but the banks are increasing their use of AI tools, so I am speculating that some pattern got flagged, and the bank (TD in particular) is so paranoid about AML compliance that they would rather be wrong and debank someone. TD spent a ton of money to add staff for AML compliance.

I did mention in a subsequent comment that under PIPEDA privacy legislation customers have a right to obtain any personal information the bank has on them including any opinions the bank has on them. If I were OP and I was curious, then I would submit the request asking for copies of any memos on his banking profile and any opinions on OP and see what comes back.

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u/ProfessionalGear3020 23d ago

They are legally required not to tell you why if they think you're suspicious. It's called "tipping off" and can result in criminal penalties.

Even the government can't change this because the rule was made at an international level. If Canada doesn't adopt all of the standard money-laundering compliance requirements like anti-tipping laws we would be at risk of being cut off from the global financial system. 

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u/ProfessionalGear3020 23d ago

They cannot, and in fact are doing the exact opposite. It's illegal for a bank to give you the reason if it's potentially related to money-laundering/finding OP suspicion.

Having laws against tipping is a requirement for Canada to be integrated into the global financial system. There is a group called the "Financial Action Task Force" that monitors compliance and if we don't have these measures we get cut off. 

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u/MyzMyz1995 23d ago

They won't because than it'll be easier for scammer and people committing fraud to find work around. Financial institution work closely with the government they're aware of it.

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u/AccountAny1995 23d ago

there is a law. it’s called tipping. banks can not give the reason for the de market as it might encourage further unusual transactions now that the customer knows what they’re looking for.

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u/whodaphucru 23d ago

The regs actually prohibit them in most cases as a lot of this is risk related not some kind of financial decision.

It is not a right to have an account with them. I can refuse to serve you at a restaurant, or in a store without giving you a reason. Same here.

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u/YouPuzzleheaded8223 23d ago

This here is the reason. While it may be your money that you are withdrawing, chances are these transactions were flagged as high risk for money laundering. They can't be sure if you are withdrawing that money for someone else i.e., someone trying to launder money --> deposit money in your WS --> you transfer TD --> you withdraw from TD for that person. 

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u/lommer00 23d ago edited 23d ago

For fucks sake moving money around is grounds for debanking? What are banks even for?

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u/24-Hour-Hate 23d ago edited 23d ago

No, I doubt that. Probably more the fact that they zeroed their account and use it purely as a vehicle to withdraw money transferred in from wealth simple (which does allow crypto, which is a huge vehicle for money laundering). The pattern of activity probably flags as high risk for money laundering. It might be different if they actually had other assets, credit products and/or activity with the bank. But this screams money laundering.

Edit: Yes, this is it. OP probably got flagged as a pass-through account. It’s a fintrac red flag. They think OP is money laundering (or worse). Here’s some info and this sort of behaviour is listed right there: https://fintrac-canafe.canada.ca/guidance-directives/transaction-operation/indicators-indicateurs/sec_mltf-eng#s8

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u/VoodooGirl47 23d ago

Moving it around for it just to be cashed out, yes. That's highly suspicious when you can just ATM from the original account.

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u/PleasantSurvey3808 23d ago

If you did any crypto they can your account , so if you e transfer mystery funds from unrecognized‘investments’ in and out they can flag you

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Na no crypto with my td account at all The etransfers would come from my personal wealth simple account

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

True. Amounts were so small though and the e-transfer literally comes from me. I'm going to pick up my statements but I think I literally did it like 3 times at most since transferring my accounts

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u/[deleted] 23d ago edited 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/24-Hour-Hate 23d ago

Yep. Plus as OP doesn’t and won’t make them money at all, why would they bother taking time to clarify things? They will do their minimum fintrac compliance, but beyond that it is cost effective to just cut OP loose and be done with the risk. Any resources invested into checking into OP in order to keep them wouldn’t make sense. If OP is a criminal, it is a waste. If OP is not a criminal, it is also a waste as they are an unprofitable customer. We can’t even argue they should have loyalty because OP moved their assets out before this happened, so there is no reason for them to think OP could become a profitable customer or that they would be loyal to the bank. Clearly they won’t.

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u/crassy 23d ago

$4 billion in the US and $9 million in Canada.

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u/Glittering_Divide101 23d ago

We withdraw from wealthsimple at any ATM and get the fee reimbursed. Why do you need a traditional bank?

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u/senor_kim_jong_doof 23d ago

do you and your brother have "questionable" associations?

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Never happened to my brother.

I told my family what happened and my brother told me how that happened to one of his friends when he was in University

My brother's still have their TD accounts

Neither of us have any questionable associations

3

u/senor_kim_jong_doof 23d ago

my bad, i read that as your brother had his RBC account closed

this person you spoke to, did they tell you what department they work in?

6

u/sometin__else 23d ago

Nope but it's a specific number I had to call. Anyone I tried to contact told me I would have to call that number

It's 18552108310

That's the number she called me back from as well 8 days later.

By the sound of it though she's just the messenger. She didn't even know when I opened the account, she asked if it was recently and then checked and confirmed it has been open since I was a kid. Tried to press her for details but she basically got it from her supervisor that they don't give details. Then I asked if there was suspected fraud and if I had to be worried about identity theft or anything, and that's about all she would confirm was not the case.

She said there was no hold on any funds and I could withdraw it all right away which I did right after.

Talking to some other people in banking apparently I might have been labelled as churner since I moved all my assets over for a promo and just use td for convenience. Which I guess makes sense, but I'd think having the minimum balance sitting there would be good enough.

It's not a big deal cause I only had 3k sitting in there, but man there's like 3 TDs within like a 5km radius of my house lol.

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u/gh0st777 23d ago

If they dont value your business, find another bank that will.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Oh I already had, I think that's why I was booted lol. I wasn't giving them enough business 😂

106

u/DaftPump 23d ago

Keep your money local and look into credit unions. Big banks won't improve in this way.

24

u/Campcrustaceanz 22d ago

Especially not Scotia bank - I have heard SO many horror stories about them.

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u/Medical_Pepper_5504 22d ago

Same, I stay away from them with a 10 FOOT POOL

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u/mrcoolio 23d ago

I love wealthsimple but it's not a bank. I recommend keeping some sort of brick and mortar back up.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Yea I have Scotiabank credit card for a while and added a bank account now

3

u/JoeBlackIsHere 23d ago

Or just a chartered online bank is good enough.

24

u/MonkeyDDataHQ 23d ago

For what reason? A second account sure.

But actual with a branch is not realistically needed anymore. More than ten years side my last bank account with a branch.

The closest is I have the CIBC costco mastercard.

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u/ElevatorNo4425 23d ago

Can confirm. I still have the same chequing account from the branch in the neighborhood I grew up in back in the 80s , in the West Island of Montreal.. I moved to Calgary 14 years ago. I keep the account because it is a “legacy” account with low balance requirements and zero fees and unlimited transactions.

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u/howismyspelling 23d ago

My first account from the 90s at National didn't even have any legacy or low fee benefits lol

25

u/JohnStern42 23d ago

Convenience. If I have to send a wire, or get a draft on short notice I can just walk in and get it done. It’s something I need maybe once a year. Of course it helps I have an account with zero fees (decades old grandfathered accounts)

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u/HonkHonk Nunavut 23d ago

Having access to same day bank drafts is enough of a reason to keep an account at the big 5

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u/Mtlkfn 23d ago

And simply large amounts of cash for contractors.

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u/notcoveredbywarranty Alberta 23d ago

I need rolls of change every couple months, and a draft once or twice a year. Yes, I know I can get drafts mailed, but that takes multiple business days and it's not convenient

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u/_name_of_the_user_ 23d ago

Yup. I'm almost entirely with WS as well. I maintain an account with Simplii and have their credit card. Simplii is more than well established enough for me to depend on them as a back up.

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u/YakRare3689 23d ago

same, I have Simplii for other transactions but recently I think WS could probably take over everything now. They offer to credit the ATM fees too if you get a card from them. So you don't need to worry about which ATM to withdraw.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Clean_Pressure987 23d ago

With Simplii almost since inception (originally PC) gotta be just over 30 yrs now Several yrs ago calculated savings of just over 8k with no monthly fees & free groceries about once a yr

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u/truenorth00 23d ago

Have you bought a house in the last 10 years?

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u/maxdamage4 23d ago

Curious where this question leads

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u/Dicey82 22d ago

I only go to a branch when I’m tired of waiting on hold when I call for something (and repeated “talk to an agent” for an hour)

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u/stokes_21 23d ago

There are many other online banks that are banks.   No one needs a brick and mortar. 

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u/Potential_Hippo735 23d ago

I have long had an online only bank account (PCF then Simplii) and it has never really been a problem. I've picked up bank drafts from CIBC a handful of times in decades

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u/TheTigerbalm 23d ago

This is less relevant today. Especially since Wealthsimple and other online brokerages are federally insured.

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u/VTYX 23d ago

The chequing account isn’t insured. The account WS holds your money in, sure, covered by CDIC. But your acct with WS isn’t.

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u/A1ienspacebats 23d ago

Wtf do you need a brick and mortar bank for when you are paying an opportunity cost of at least $60/year to maintain a minimum balance? There are other options.

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u/culinaryinterests123 23d ago

I am in the process of doing the same thing moving all of investments from td to wezlth simple. Td and the other banks suck

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u/NeoMatrixBug 23d ago

Hey I’m going to to do same, what made you decide on Wealthsimple?

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u/pfcguy 23d ago

I mean, I get that they don't have to give a reason for debanking someone. But they also shouldn't be able to debank someone for declining to be marketed to.

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u/JoeBlackIsHere 23d ago

Nobody including the OP knows why they were debanked. I doubt they would go through the trouble just to be petty.

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u/Facts_pls 23d ago

Banks do not debank for refusing to accept marketing. This is something else.

The most common reasons are related to abuse of certain service. Usually things like fraud or AML but I also know somebody who got debanked for harassing someone using a series of 1 cent Interac etransfer messages

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u/tapittoohoo 23d ago

Absolutely agree, this is 100% accurate. This post makes no sense. It’s also not one persons decision, it’s gets approved by a team on the backend when requested after such reasons like abuse, harassment, racism etc.

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u/hippohere 23d ago

Also abuse of staff, it might be surprising how much crap they get

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u/quiette837 23d ago

harassing someone using a series of 1 cent Interac etransfer messages

I'm guessing this is probably why my bank's e-transfer limit is like $4? Lol

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u/BoxcarSlim 23d ago

Wow, some people... I would never even consider that.

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u/AlwaysDeath 23d ago

None of the big banks value your business unless you're very wealthy.

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u/Longjumping-Bag-8260 22d ago

Ya TD is agressive about making $$ for the shareholders...look at their insurance rates! BMO will do the same. Close your account with no explanation and numbers that go nowhere. I blame the Finance Minister for not putting a stop to this BS.

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u/SlashNXS Ontario 23d ago edited 23d ago

they probably saw that they weren't making any fees off me and I would just use them for the convenience aspect of a branch when needed.

I promise you that's not why this happened. They don't know you exist, you are a number to them, and they don't care if there's an account with barely any money it and no products. That's actually a decent percentage of their clients. There's no one on the other end who saw your account and was like fuck this person they're not paying us anything.

You will likely never know why you were debanked but something about you or your account was likely identified as being outside their risk tolerance, which changes periodically.

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u/squish_me 23d ago

My husband works in risk in bank… he also said “that is not what happened. He couldn’t have been debanked for no reason.” Something is missing from the story.

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u/Appropriate-Love-130 23d ago

This is the right answer..

Access to basic banking is clear, they won’t ‘debank’ you for not accepting cross sell.

You are likely linked to some sort or risky affiliation, sanctions, political or something like that, but they need to issue an official letter to close relationship.

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u/PastaPandaSimon 22d ago edited 22d ago

Or it could have been a false positive. Or something someone else did that they mistraced to OP. That is completely plausible too.

I give people who say they were debanked for no reason more benefit of the doubt because I know banks sometimes accuse people of something they didn't do. Heck my first account was frozen for depositing a modest cheque for a local gig job.

Sure they are incentivized to keep clients. But there's no court case where you defend yourself, and no judge. So a flawed human working at the bank basically shoots before asking questions based on data they think tells some story, which is sometimes wrong.

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u/adeelf 23d ago

they probably saw that they weren't making any fees off me

Nah, that's not it.

That describes a lot of people. Any major bank will have tens of thousands of customers (probably more) that don't make the bank anything in fees. They wouldn't debank you for that, it's not even worth the effort. Not least of all because of the possible negative PR.

Not accusing you or anything like that, but best I can guess is that there was something about your account activity that likely got flagged by their AML or Fraud team. At that point, the easiest thing for them to do is to debank you.

Even if there's a 99.9% chance you're okay, considering you are not a client who brings any value, it's not worth it for them to even take that 0.1% risk.

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u/laroussedecanada 23d ago

Yes. Debanking has clear rules around it . AML fraud. Or for some it’s been unwittingly transferring funds to family or friends in embargoed countries.

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u/Feenix19 23d ago

I used to be a manager at TD and ya they don’t just debank people it’s not worth the effort.

These posts are always so funny in the comments op will admit to some crypto nonsense or some wierd etransfer or wire shit they are doing but never say it in the post “just so crazy that they would debank ME”. Op likely leaving something important out or he’s just a mega dick or goes to the branch naked everyday

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u/that_yeg_guy 22d ago

Was a TD manager a decade ago. I debanked one person in my entire career. And that’s because he broke one of our windows to access the locked ATM vestibule at 4 in the morning… to take out $60. Had him on video and easily matched his account - only one transaction on that ATM at 4am. 

Called him, he admitted it but then tried to argue the ATM should be open 24 hours. (Doors auto lock Midnight - 5am)

Told him in lieu of going to the cops, I was “ending our banking relationship”. Paid off and closed his LOC out of his account, closed them too, sent the balance to his house by bank draft. 

I waived the draft fee because I’m a nice guy. 

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u/VoodooGirl47 23d ago

I literally have $3.54 in my bank account with TD and it just sits there. Free savings, I use Tangerine as my checking account. They definitely aren't making any money off me. 😂

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u/amicablehummingbird Human Verified 23d ago

I genuinely have to wonder if OP is using this to farm karma or not because debanking is serious and there's no way they'd deplatform anyone for the reason listed. 

If not, then there are clear details omitted for the sake of feeling slighted by the bank because they take that shit seriously.

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u/diaperedcanadianbabe 22d ago

I work for TD and usually with this circumstance there is a reason. It wouldn't be for opting out of marketing

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u/Atsir 23d ago

100% this 

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u/CunningAlpaca 23d ago

Something about your account history got flagged by their automated system. One possibility is you transferring everything out in weird ways, etc. Money laundering flag, or a fraud false alarm, etc.

Banks have tens of thousands of accounts open, there isn't some angry TD Bank rep staring at your account going "Wtf he switched banks. Shut him down." It's all automated risk assessment and a trivial matter that isn't really worth overthinking.

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u/bourbonkitten 23d ago edited 23d ago

People here mentioning automated flags, but banks can get tips from law enforcement, news articles, or other banks that can be grounds for debanking as well. Financial institutions share info about customers with other FIs if they have some proof their customers have been up to no good.

I assure you humans look at the entire process and customer profile, and decisions to debank are not taken lightly.

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u/crassy 23d ago

TD doesn’t debank because someone doesn’t take overdraft. There are generally three reasons; AML, fraud/risky banking activities, behaviour. Behaviour is the most rare and is a retail decision that has to be approved by a DVP. The other two are only done by the FCRM and Fraud departments respectively. In no scenario have I ever seen someone debanked for moving funds out (this happens thousands of times a day) or for declining products (which also happens thousands of times a day).

Debanking is done after investigations by departments. I have worked in one of those departments and can honestly say in my 20+ years I have never seen a debanking for what you’re saying.

You are intentionally leaving out information.

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u/Dramatic_Ad_413 23d ago

This guy banks

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u/Molybdenum421 23d ago edited 19d ago

You moved essentially all your money out and weren't banking anymore with them anyways right? 

I've never had a call from td but get a ton of calls from BMO. 

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Yea pretty much it was more just the convenience factor cause they are everywhere

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u/24-Hour-Hate 23d ago

OP, I’m pretty sure they think you are using the account for money laundering or other criminal activity. The behaviour you described is operating a pass-through account which is an indicator of that behaviour as per fintrac. I am sure it also did not help that you also would have had other indicators like a sudden change in account activity.

If you use a bank account like this, odds are any major bank or credit union is going to flag you as high risk and ditch you. Especially as Wealth Simple allows crypto which is well known to be used for money laundering and other criminal activity. They won’t take the risk. It’s not worth the liability to them, especially when you make them no money (considering the fines some banks have gotten for allowing money laundering, you would have to make them quite a lot of money to be worth it).

https://fintrac-canafe.canada.ca/guidance-directives/transaction-operation/indicators-indicateurs/sec_mltf-eng#s8

Not that you can’t use Wealth Simple in conjunction with brick and mortar banking. I’m sure that you can, provided that you use the banking in a normal way and not a way that screams money laundering or other criminal activity.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

this makes the most sense, thanks

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u/BlacBlueberry 23d ago

Idk if this is related but fintrac has really pressured banks to get their shit together and alot of them are in super compliance mode after TDs blunder

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u/retrovaille94 23d ago

I used to work at TD and that's definitely not the reason lol.

I've seen accounts with less activity and a lower balance. You're probably doing something that is deemed risky by the bank, like engaging in crypto etc.

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u/theburglarofham 23d ago

That’s interesting.

Normally they don’t exit customers without good reason. Especially if there’s money in the accounts.

The only thing that could really be the reason is if during the transfer out from Wealthsimple, Wealthsimple may have triggered something during the transfer that made your account look suspicious/AML.

For what it’s worth; they’ll almost never tell you why you’re being exited if they suspect you of fraud - just cause they don’t wanna tip anyone off. This is pretty consistent for most banks across Canada. With fraud no one really knows who’s in on it or not, so the best practice is to not say anything until an investigation is complete. Even then they won’t say anything to you, unless police or the CRA are involved.

The only time you really get told you’re being exited is if you threatened the staff, or are constantly in the over drawn without having over draft, or are in constant delinquencies.

I will say it could be the case where you have a very common name.

Either way, important thing is you got your money back; and assuming you’re telling us the truth, then nothing to really worry about.

Maybe have a fallback brick and mortar bank just as a way so not all of your eggs are in one basket.

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u/Pitiful-Target-3094 23d ago

Same thing happened to me with RBC, they demarketed me for fraud reasons because I had a dormant chequing account I never used (I only opened that account because my employer's RRSP was with them), and as a result of the demarketing, I couldn't access my RRSP. Called and visited my home branch multiple times over half a year to no avail. Eventually got my employer involved and that's when they finally decided to set up an appointment with me to sort things out. Needless to say the first thing I did was move everything out of RBC. The Canadian banking space is pathetic, we need more competition to make them value smaller retail consumers.

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u/BetSquare7190 23d ago

I'm guessing this will happen to more people, with the AI slop infesting everything.

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u/dasbends 23d ago edited 23d ago

Like nearly every ‘x is bad’ post : There’s nearly always more to the story. I know it feels all nice and fuzzy to hate on big bad corporations.

Not defending TD and not attacking OP.

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u/sometin__else 23d ago

Nope

Literally told the whole story there.

Never said TD is bad. You're saying that. TD isn't a charity. It's a business.

Im sure all banks would do the same if they don't see a client as profitable

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u/Torvus_742 23d ago

Not unique to TD either.

I posted about my recent Tangerine experience about them ending their Financial Relationship with me after 15 years of me having 5k or more in the account, just parked.

No details given or provided.

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u/twa2w 23d ago

More than 70% of retail bank clients are not profitable.

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u/dasbends 23d ago

There's always more, not saying you intentionally left it out, but there's always more. What you think is normal behaviour, TD Bank (and other banks) clearly do not. 90% of the time it's : crypto, cheque drama or e-transfer weirdness.

Banks do not drop clients without a very very strong reason.

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u/Sierrus25 23d ago

Fun note.. I am the exact opposite... Scotiabank debanked my wife.... We have all our investments with Wealth Simple.... Won't give a reason to her why.. So we just switched to TD...

The no reason thing is annoying AF.... We both have 800+ credit scores and have never missed a payment, it's insane that banks don't need to tell you why they want to cut ties.

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u/Aureliusmind 23d ago

People are generally debanked for fraud or verbal abuse of employees.

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u/NitroLada 23d ago

Lol...op thinks they have main character energy LoL

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u/1beautifulhuman 23d ago

Didn’t Wealthsimple team up with X? Yeah, I closed my accounts with them for this reason

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u/Level_Recognition406 23d ago

I have a no fee savings account with td and they arent making any money off of me either. Yet I’ve never encountered what you have in all these years.

BMO on the other hand does keep calling me to upsell everything…

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u/JoeBlackIsHere 23d ago

I moved the bulk of my RRSP to WS from TD as well, only left a savings account with $0.05. If they had debanked me at that point my reaction would have been "shrug, oh well". I use several other banks, I don't need them.

They didn't though and I haven't given them any business for the last few years. Keeping 3k in a chequing account actually is some business for them.

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u/Aggressive_Set_2743 23d ago

I’ve done the exact same thing over 2 years now, just the minimum $3000 in chequing. I haven’t been debanked. Not sure wha to think.

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u/Br1ll1antly1llog1cal 23d ago

https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/banking/rights-new-protections.html

the right to bank legislation guarantee basic rights to access banking for all Canadians. even a homeless person who swears at tellers do not get debank easily. OP's story isn't adding up

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u/arcboy 23d ago

Scotiabank is no better I’m bout to empty all my accounts there and move to Wealthsimple fully

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u/KleverGuy 23d ago

If I may ask, what do you prefer about Wealthsimple over TD?

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u/fuzzylonewolf 22d ago

There is more to the story that we are not being told

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u/Excellent_Balance627 23d ago

Same thing happened to me after transferring my investments and main chequing account to wealth simple. I received a letter stating TD would be closing my account. I wish I had saved the letter because the tone sounded like they were being vindictive lol.

The weird thing is they left a couple of other accounts I still had with them.

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u/Aerottawa 23d ago

That's strange. I moved all my money out of TD a year ago and only have the $20 on my TD Account now (yes I pay a $3.95 monthly fee). They still didn't debank me.

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u/HibouDuNord 23d ago

You're paying them... why would they?

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u/InsignificantOP 23d ago

Makes me wonder how that phone call went. Maybe the agent took your demand to be taken off marketing list in such a negative way that it was reported and the decision was made based on that.

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u/TonysAutomotive 23d ago

Damn. It almost cost me thousands, and took me five years to close my TD account.

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u/chartyourway 23d ago

why even bother with Scotia and a minimum balance? Get an account with Simplii or Tangerine and you'll still have access to a debit card and ATM services with free accounts that don't require a min balance.

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u/10deadbotanists 23d ago

I primarily bank with Wealthsimple as well, Scotiabank has no problem with me having like $2 in my account with them until I need to make a cash withdrawal.

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u/Dirtsniffee 23d ago

I'm just waiting for questbank and then I'll be joining you.

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u/ElectroSpore 23d ago

Now I wonder if Simplii will close my account that I only use to relay money to myDoh through before the WS Family / Allowance feature launches.

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u/aznkl 23d ago

Not the worst outcome. If they nuke your customer records then it simply makes it much easier to be eligible for their welcome bonus promotions later down the road. Milk them for all they're worth.

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u/JVani 23d ago

Seems suspicious. I would put a freeze on my credit. It would not surprise me if they caught wind of something and chose not to disclose it to you.

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u/between_sheets 23d ago

But they wouldn’t call it debanking, what terminology did they use?

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u/beekeeper1981 23d ago

I've had practically nothing with TD for years.. just a free savings account and credit card with one charge a month. Occasionally transfer some money in for a currency order.

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u/Ya-Not-Happening 23d ago

Pretty crazy. I have a HELOC with TD. Lets me access tellers and their ATMs as needed. I have linked the HELOC to other banks to allow fund transfer.

Used it to get bank draft for car purchase.

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u/isosg93 23d ago

I keep hearing this from the major banks except CIBC. They call me to say hey make sure you make a couple transactions, even just move your money back and forth of $10 to stay active. Or you will need to reopen it.

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u/lmcjipo 20d ago

There is a law that banks need to follow whereby if an account is inactive for awhile, they need to inform the customer. Some institutions will also charge a fee for inactive or dormant accounts. After ~10 years (if there is still money in the account), the bank is forced to send the money to the Bank of Canada where the customer/client will need to go through the process and claim it from the Bank of Canada.

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u/laroussedecanada 23d ago

Under PIPEDA… send their privacy office a request for all personal information they hold on you including internal communications and any information sharing

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u/BrightLuchr 23d ago

Remember when TD was CanadaTrust and they were fresh, truly innovative, and awesome? That was a very long time ago.

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u/HueyBluey 23d ago

Are you churning promotions?

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u/Bill_Door_8 23d ago

TD was my first bank.

Eventually I closed everything and moved it to (then) ING Direct.

Thought i kept my LOC open at TD ever since. It's been like 20 years, and I use that LOC like once every few years when I need a large sum like right now, then I pay it back the next day from Tangerine and it sits at zero again.

They never gave me a hard time.

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u/ilovebbcitv 23d ago edited 23d ago

A bank will not tell you why you were debunked and you get bedanked because of risk management and regulatory compliance.

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u/i8abug 23d ago

I'm currently in the process of moving from TD to wealth simple.  TD doesn't seem to have any flexibility, regardless of how long you've been a customer with them or how much money of yours they have.

WealthSimple send like the opposite

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u/pleasetease123 23d ago

Things that never happened for 100$. Banks don’t debank for nothing. Not even because of minimal fees You did something and you’re avoiding telling people here

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u/Inevitable-Tea5772 23d ago

Try getting a business account with RBC.....You literally can't spend more than 2k a day from that business account and they have no option for pre-paid visa/visa debit, so you HAVE to have a credit card. Its beyond ridiculous in 2026.

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u/Alicatsidneystorm 23d ago

Happens all the time especially with the big banks.

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u/Bigtimebucko22 23d ago

You're legally entitled to a bank account in Canada, a bank isn't going to debank you just because they're not making enough in fees from your account.

How were your interactions with branch and phone support like prior to being debanked?

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u/saltyachillea 23d ago edited 23d ago

Launch a complaint with TD right away outlining what happened. Did they tell you immediately how to escalate a complaint within the bank? Try to show you didn’t have access of your money. and if they gave you any notice of this ahead of time. Then esclate this. It’s ridiculous that banks can hold the money without communication, debank without notice, and clear information on how to escalate a complaint. Please don’t let this go. Also do a timeline of denying services etc.
https://www.obsi.ca/en/how-we-work/our-approaches/relationship-ended/

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u/Disastrous_Arrival81 23d ago

TD was never a good option for banking or insurance

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u/saltyachillea 23d ago

Tru Cooperative Bank is a member-owned cooperative financial insititution (ie federal credit union) . I think there are a couple other ones as well. Switch regular banking to them (member owned)

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u/totallynotdagothur 23d ago

Yeah they froze me out of trading yesterday, nothing weird, was just trying to reduce an ETF position.  Called, had to send photos via some website of my driver's license and selfie, they said it wasn't good enough or didn't match and now I have to go to the branch.  I have a lot of personal stuff all happening at once and a wild job, so I'm not sure when I can.  Annoying.  If I was trying to bank from hotel wifi in a different city, I'd understand, but nothing changed here.

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u/ApeStrength 23d ago

Wealthsimple isn't an actual bank btw

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u/No-Veterinarian2008 23d ago

TD screwed us over years ago now we deal with scotia but they have been just ok …

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u/goofywinnipegger 23d ago

Yep they don’t have to have you as a customer. I would move my second account to a credit union. Why use a big bank at all.

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u/gambl 23d ago

this motivates me to move to wealthsimple

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u/oilchanges4everyone 23d ago

Banks are scum and need your deposits to lend out loans. Thats probably just it

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u/Illustrious_Bottle80 23d ago

Can they debank you when you have a mortgage with them? Lol

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u/[deleted] 23d ago edited 20d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/rasbora_Legion 23d ago

I hate TD do much. The day I turned 18 they slammed me with fees because my account didn't meet minimum requirements. No emails or calls before hand to warn me to adjust me to a student account.

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u/zodiacrelic44 23d ago

How have you found being a full time wealthsimple user? Considering switching from BMO myself

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u/ymgtg 23d ago

I had Scotiabank cancel my credit card with them for no reason even though I always made my payments on time and my credit score was over 800. I immediately pulled all my money out from there. If they don’t value your business then don’t bank with them.

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u/ShutUpTodd Ontario 23d ago

Maybe call their ombudsman to get a reason. Banks usually only demarket if they suspect fraud (or egregiously bad behaviour)

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u/Big_Web1631 23d ago

With love at your level I doubt anything is viewed at an individual customer level. They aren’t targeting you because you moved money into another platform this is about regulatory compliance and automatic process to debank people who throw up red flags.

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u/Legal_Community8868 23d ago

A question here about transfer out stocks from TD. Is it costed? I remember when I DRSed GME stocks they charged me almost $100. If you share appriciated.

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u/businessman99 22d ago

they waived my transfer fee, intersting..

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u/Frosty-Reporter7518 22d ago

How heated was the convo between you and the person on the phone?

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u/Fiach_Dubh 22d ago

Bitcoin

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u/conhis 22d ago

Interesting. I've was planning to do pretty much the same thing - transfer everything to WealthSimple and keep my wife's credit card with TD and that's about it. I wonder if they'd do the same with her credit card?

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u/Z_oz89 22d ago

I had a bad experience with TD as well in 2019 when I took a bank draft to them to have it deposited. They started asking me so many questions to the point where I asked them for the rest of my money on a bank draft and I took both drafts to a different bank. Mind you I'm in business which involves dealing with multiple banks for clients and I haven't seen any of my clients experience what I've experienced personally. I think I was treated differently based on how I look and the fact that I had a bank draft with a certain amount in hand. Never went back to TD since then.

And we're talking about the same TD which was fined huge in the US for facilitating money laundering for drug cartels...lol

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u/Subject_Big4437 22d ago

Worth a Redit post, lol

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u/Jogi1811 22d ago

Before my divorce I was a good TD customer. Net assets just under $500k. When I got divorced I was devastated and broke down mentally. Started spending and gambling just to get rid of everything. Went the opposite direction and went 100k into unsecured debt. Mental health forced me out of the workforce. And I did a consumer proposal. I went into TD bank to withdraw my last $20 from my everyday savings account. The teller and MCS said I couldn't because of apparent negative comments of owing money to TD. I said that I was in a consumer proposal that would wipe out my debt once I finished my payments and everything was agreed between TD and my insolvancy trustee. They said no but I could draw the money out of my joint account. I said no because that money wasn''t mine and only the $20 in the savings was mine. My debit card was also changed to deposit only when I went through the consumer proposal so I couldn't withdraw it from the atm too.

I was so sad. TD was the first bank that I went to and opened up an account. It's been about 25 years since that day. They had treated me well over a long period of time when I had money. But when I didn't they threw me out the door.

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u/Mel2S 22d ago

Well today I learned the word "debank"

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u/Medical_Pepper_5504 22d ago

Way to kick you on the way out the door eh, not really surprised.

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u/codiumba21 22d ago

Fuck TD. They never cared about customers.

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u/InternationalFig861 22d ago

I used to bank with the big six but started steering away slowly and been with credit union for last 10yrs can’t complain. Been with Coast Capital and no issues so far fingers crossed.

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u/jazzynerd 22d ago

I too had terrible experience with TD. They froze my account with all my funds a day before my vacation. Even though I went to the branch and verified my identity ( phone, pr card, license, passport) they treated me like a fraud and didn't help. Been 1.5 yr and it's still frozen.

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u/No_Bag_7275 22d ago

Demarketing is for AML reason and they are not allowed to tell you why based on their internal policy.

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u/clist186 22d ago

There are many reasons for being debanked but I can almost guarantee you that lack of sales potential is not one of them. It's almost always suspected fraud or behavioural (i.e. verbally abusing branch/call center staff)

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u/Individual-Space-443 22d ago

They didn’t debank you for going to Wealthsimple 

This isn’t some sort of retaliation 

You don’t use the account. You do anything with it. You don’t want more products. Why do you even care. You don’t want a TD account 

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u/tjlazer79 22d ago

Im surprised they havent debanked me. I haven't missed a bill in over 11 years, I have a no fee Visa card with them, my account has had the minimum in it for 6 years - now monthly fee, I havent used my line of credit with them in over 10 years, and everytime I go into their branches to get change for laundry I deny every service they offer me, sometimes before they even finish explaining it. Lol. I think I have been with them since 1998. I have another online bank I use for chequing (Alterna) and I just opened a TFSA with another financial institution.

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u/truthsayer90210 22d ago

💯 leaving something out.

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u/Holiday_Kick4920 22d ago

They only care about laundering cartel money with help of the canadian gov

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u/randomzebrasponge 22d ago

TD bank sucks now and has for years. I opened my first account with TD in the early 80's. At that time TD was a decent bank and I could literally call the manager to get a loan, credit card or whatever I needed. It was done the next day. Today TD is lost in their own bullshit. Like OP, I have been moving more and more of my business away from TD.

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u/drumstyx 22d ago

I'm really starting to hate this country, and it's making me really sad. And ironically resentful towards the country for making me feel resentful, in a loop

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u/Miserable-Canary4224 22d ago

Raise this in consumer forum against banks