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Lines of Credit for Medical Students (Scotia is the best option)


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On 6/6/2017 at 9:18 AM, moonlitocean said:

Im dealing with TD right now and they are asking for an official letter of enrolment before they proceed with my LOC application, does anyone know if/when medical schools issue the confirmation of enrolment?

My TD guy accepted the admission offer letter and email print confirming payment of program deposit as the enrollment confirmation. I had the LoC activated & funds released within a day after approval. In my interaction with RBC, their rep asked for a letter from the faculty stating that the student is officially enrolled which doesn't happen for me until mid July. The rep also rejected a personalized letter to RBC confirming my spot in their program as inadequate since it lacked the, "confirmation of enrollment" or similar phrase. So.. the loan application experience seem to vary a lot.

 

TD's specification for proof of enrollment requires four pieces of information: 1. student name; 2. name of university; 3. program of study; and 4. date of current study year. That's what were stated in the document TD gave me for my copy of LoC agreement. So maybe you could push for which specific information TD wants? Or wait until your university student portal shows your enrollment in medicine. 

Edited by wwitb6945
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I was wondering if anyone who is going to the University of Manitoba has got the prime-0.25 and any other perks. I have yet to hear about it in Winnipeg and all the banks I've been asking this about are asking me for proof (I haven't gone to Scotiabank yet, just RBC and CIBC since I've had accounts with them for a long time). I'm not attached to my bank at all, but I for sure want the best deal possible and want to know what to try and get.

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  • 3 weeks later...

You absolutely require a specialist as the normal bankers are totally clueless regarding the special LOC deal or medical/dental students; and should you go to Dufus, your local banker around the corner, he will screw you over without realizing it. It's sort of like going to your local family doctor to do a heart procedure, i.e., the outcome won't be in your best interests! Be guided accordingly.  

And prime minus 0.25% is the new normal!

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7 minutes ago, Bambi said:

You absolutely require a specialist as the normal bankers are totally clueless regarding the special LOC deal or medical/dental students; and should you go to Dufus, your local banker around the corner, he will screw you over without realizing it. It's sort of like going to your local family doctor to do a heart procedure, i.e., the outcome won't be in your best interests! Be guided accordingly.  

And prime minus 0.25% is the new normal!

Thanks Bambi! I will definitely sign with a specialist now haha. Although the advisor at my local branch was very nice, and still offered a similar deal as other branches, it made me slightly uncomfortable that he didn't know what residency was. 

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4 minutes ago, 1997 said:

How do you find specialists ? I went to several banks already and asked for advice on bank plans for medical students and I have always been placed with advisors that are absolutely USELESS. Many of them didn't even know there was a LOC for medical students and I ended up having to explain a lot of things to them... No matter how good the plan is, I can't give my money to someone I don't trust. 

I'm in the Montreal downtown area and I'm interested in seeing a Scotia bank advisor but any bank will do at this point.

Well. RBC @ Peel & Sherbrooke have many specialists. And remember, prime minus 0.25% is the going rate!

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On 6/26/2017 at 10:47 AM, 1997 said:

How do you find specialists ? I went to several banks already and asked for advice on bank plans for medical students and I have always been placed with advisors that are absolutely USELESS. Many of them didn't even know there was a LOC for medical students and I ended up having to explain a lot of things to them... No matter how good the plan is, I can't give my money to someone I don't trust. 

I'm in the Montreal downtown area and I'm interested in seeing a Scotia bank advisor but any bank will do at this point.

Ioan Jurjan at the RBC on peel and sherbrooke. He's a specialist in managing med/dent account and was really knowledgable. Highly recommend

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Can anyone sum up the benefits of RBC's LOC? What do they offer??

I am planning to apply for a LOC with RBC, and too exhausted too read through 40 pages of thread. Thanks guys :) 

I had applied a LOC with National Bank, and currently deciding to close it,since they don't offer prime rate - 0.25 as RBC, TD and Scotiabank.

Also, anyone has a good RBC advisor specialized with medical students & residents to recommend in GTA ? feel free to PM me :)

Also, I assume that as a medical resident, I will get the same LOC as a medical student?? 

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10 minutes ago, LittleDaisy said:

Can anyone sum up the benefits of RBC's LOC? What do they offer??

I am planning to apply for a LOC with RBC, and too exhausted too read through 40 pages of thread. Thanks guys :) 

I had applied a LOC with National Bank, and currently deciding to close it,since they don't offer prime rate - 0.25 as RBC, TD and Scotiabank.

Also, anyone has a good RBC advisor specialized with medical students & residents to recommend in GTA ? feel free to PM me :)

Also, I assume that as a medical resident, I will get the same LOC as a medical student?? 

275k at prime -.25, Visa infinite avion, 24 months grace period after finishing residency, VIP banking account. The interest rate stays the same throughout repayment after the end of the grace period 

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On 7/2/2017 at 1:11 PM, Synth1 said:

Is it standard practice to deduct student loans that have already been awarded from the total amount?

If you mean other credit that you have taken out from banks, then yes (e.g. I have credit cards from BMO, I signed up for my LoC with Scotia and they want me to either shut down my BMO card, or they deduct the credit limit off the $275k).

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I have to admit I don't know much about this topic but this is my idea of what would be best (and I'd greatly appreciate it if you more knowledgeable folk would tell me if this is possible):

- Get a LOC from Scotia/RBC/TD

- Apply for max student loans and use them throughout my degree because they're interest free

- As soon as the student loans become due after graduating, pay them off with my unused LOC because it'll have the prime -0.25 rate

- Having the LOC now would give me access to all the perks that come with it during my degree such as gold AMEX etc. 

So is this possible? And can I have a LOC and use the credit card without actually drawing money from my LOC?

Thanks!

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10 minutes ago, Redden said:

I have to admit I don't know much about this topic but this is my idea of what would be best (and I'd greatly appreciate it if you more knowledgeable folk would tell me if this is possible):

- Get a LOC from Scotia/RBC/TD

- Apply for max student loans and use them throughout my degree because they're interest free

- As soon as the student loans become due after graduating, pay them off with my unused LOC because it'll have the prime -0.25 rate

- Having the LOC now would give me access to all the perks that come with it during my degree such as gold AMEX etc. 

So is this possible? And can I have a LOC and use the credit card without actually drawing money from my LOC?

Thanks!

Yeah that's the right idea. My goal is to not touch my LOC as well!

If you're in Ontario it's going to be difficult though because tuition is ~26k for me and I got 18k from OSAP (10k of which is a grant) + a few bursaries from my school, so it's enough to barely cover tuition but you'll need to figure something out for living costs. I opted for cheap living accommodations with a roommate (having roommates reduces costs) and plan on working part-time during the school year/full-time during the summer. 

We'll see how it goes :)

 

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1 hour ago, Redden said:

I have to admit I don't know much about this topic but this is my idea of what would be best (and I'd greatly appreciate it if you more knowledgeable folk would tell me if this is possible):

- Get a LOC from Scotia/RBC/TD

- Apply for max student loans and use them throughout my degree because they're interest free

- As soon as the student loans become due after graduating, pay them off with my unused LOC because it'll have the prime -0.25 rate

- Having the LOC now would give me access to all the perks that come with it during my degree such as gold AMEX etc. 

So is this possible? And can I have a LOC and use the credit card without actually drawing money from my LOC?

Thanks!

It's definitely theoretically possible - there's no obligation to use any of the LoC once you have it.

In practice, it depends on where you go to school, what the tuition is, and what, if any, financial help you're getting from family/savings/working.  Because at least in Ontario student loans will not totally cover your tuition/cost of living without a significant top up.

I went to medical school at Western, took out max student loans, and still ended up needing to use about 30k of my LoC.  I did not work (except for a summer research bursary) but I did live pretty frugally.  After graduating, I paid off the portion of my student loans that was going to go into repayment with my LoC (I have Alberta student loans, and some of it stays interest free during residency).

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well it was bound to happen at some point - the bank of Canada has just raised the interest rate for the first time is ages (7 years). 

we will have to see how the banks respond - of note they didn't actually drop the prime rate by 0.25% the last time the rate fell (only dropped it 0.15%). We will have to see how much they increase the interest rate now this time. 

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On 5/18/2017 at 8:03 PM, rmorelan said:

Right now you should aim for prime -0.25% which seems to be what is going around. My bank's prime is 2.7% right now, and I am at prime -0.25% so my interest rate on my loan is 2.45%. 

So I'm guessing prime will now go up by 0.25 since BOC increased its overnight rate, making it 2.7% if you have prime -0.25?

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Just now, Coronaxtra said:

So I'm guessing prime will now go up by 0.25 since BOC increased its overnight rate, making it 2.7% if you have prime -0.25?

likely (although they don't always go exactly in lock step with the Bank of Canada). 

This all just make it more important that you get a loan at the -0.25%

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Hi guys, I have a few questions.

 

1. I signed my LOC with RBC and Im a first year dental student starting the program in september. What would explain the fact that the bank only allowed me 250K instead of 275K for the initial limit ? (I'm not planning to use it completely but I would like to know the reason behind this)

 

2. The central bank rised up his rate by 0,25% and I signed my LOC at -0,25% prime rate ; When I go on the RBC app in my account, they say the interest rate is at 2,95%, but It should be written 2,7%, isn't it?

Thanks for your further answers.

 

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