Joseph Harvey was looking forward to renting his first apartment, but a dispute with TD Bank over cashing his rent cheque nearly left him homeless.
Harvey, 20, has used the bank’s services since he was a child. He recently became a recipient of welfare and had just received his first cheque from Social Services on March 3.
Having found a suitable apartment, he went to TD Bank to cash the $900 cheque so he could pay his $600 rent and purchase groceries. However, after the bank deposited his cheque, it refused to give him the money. Both the bank teller and branch manager, Kara Cale, told him they would hold his cheque for 10 days, as was supposedly the policy for cheques.
“I didn’t know what to do at the time,” Harvey said. “I just said, ‘OK,’ and went with it because I didn’t know what to do. I figured if I got angry it would end bad … (It) was very stressful to say the least.”
Upset and confused, Harvey called his new property manager, Janice Baigent, to explain the problem.
Harvey was stressed because he didn’t think his apartment would be held for him, Baigent said. It also didn’t help that welfare cheques for March were late for everyone in Saskatchewan.
She went down to the bank to help out. Upon arriving, Cale reiterated that this was the bank’s policy for holding cheques.
“I said it’s illegal (to do that). It’s federally mandated across Canada (that) you can’t hold a cheque under $1,000 for more than four business days,” Baigent recalled. “No, she argued and (said) that is their policy and wouldn’t change it … . I said it is a Social Services cheque. It’s not like a third-party cheque.
“No way would she release that cheque. I said … that is so wrong.”
March 13 was when TD Bank released the money to Harvey. During those 10 days, Harvey said he struggled and couch-surfed longer than he wanted at a friend’s place. Meanwhile, he relied on family to provide him with food. He was later able to move into his apartment without having to pay rent immediately.
Based on this incident, Harvey — along with his friend — has decided to move his banking business to a different institution.
The Moose Jaw Express reached out to the branch for comment. The branch manager initially provided the bank’s hold funds policy, but then deferred all other questions to the national media relations office in Toronto.
According to the policy, holds are placed on “cheques or other instruments issued in Canadian dollars that are encoded with magnetic ink character recognition, are not damaged or mutilated, are drawn on a Canadian financial institution including TD Canada Trust” for a certain number of business days.
The restrictions include:
accounts open for less than 90 days: five-day hold;
accounts opened for more than 90 days, but for cheques up to and including $1,500: four-day hold;
accounts opened for more than 90 days but for cheques more than $1,500: five-day hold;
cheques or other instruments issued in U.S. dollars drawn on a Canadian financial institution: five-day hold;
cheques or other instruments drawn on a U.S. financial institution: 15-day hold;
cheques or other instruments drawn on a financial institution located outside of Canada or the U.S.: 30-day hold.
Based on TD Bank’s policy, Harvey’s cheque should only have been held for a maximum of four days.
“Please also note that providing immediate access to funds from a cheque is a credit decision that is applied differently for each customer based on a variety of factors including credit history, the length of time a customer has banked with us, and the current status of a customer's existing accounts,” Ian McColl, manager of corporate and public affairs, said by email.
“We cannot comment on specific customer concerns due to privacy regulations. However, we take customer issues very seriously and that’s why we’d like the individual to contact Customer Cares to discuss her/his concerns directly with us.”
Customer Cares can be reached at 1-833-259-5980 or [email protected].
