LOC in Saskatoon

[Speculator]

For any previous or current med students that applied for a LOC in Saskatoon, has anyone ever went with CIBC? I know the general consensus is that Scotiabank offers the best deals for medical students but I am curious to hear some perspectives specific to Saskatchewan (for schooling/living anyway). Thanks!

[ffheynowff]

following

[Scorbix]

I have my LOC through Scotiabank, and I felt very comfortable working with them. When I started medical school, my student debt was below their cut-off for the maximum allowance; however, as my student loans grew yearly, they were still very accommodating and worked to get me the most money possible as their limits increased.

[lolz3]

Went with CIBC for a brief period when they were the only bank with Prime - 0.25%. Service was better than Scotiabank, but worse than RBC (which is by far the best in the province and has a reputation for being one of the better teams in the country). Credit card offerings were the worst of the three. The most annoying aspect of CIBC is that they limited access to the LOC amount depending on what year you're in (i.e. 1st years get 1/4th, 3rd years get 3/4ths, no matter what the total LOC limit is). While it didn't really impact me, it just felt inconvenient in case I had something come up.

[12345mdsk]

Not for med school, but for undergrad I went to CIBC for a student loan. I will never recommend this bank to anyone. It was absolutely brutal. I had to go back twice in the first month because they had my information wrong, and have had issues throughout the whole process. Example: them upping my fees from the student discount to insane amounts thinking I graduated (when I didn’t, and they had my enrolment letter and schedule for that year). I had to fight to get even some of the money back

[Speculator]

On 6/4/2020 at 2:42 AM, lolz3 said:

Went with CIBC for a brief period when they were the only bank with Prime - 0.25%. Service was better than Scotiabank, but worse than RBC (which is by far the best in the province and has a reputation for being one of the better teams in the country). Credit card offerings were the worst of the three. The most annoying aspect of CIBC is that they limited access to the LOC amount depending on what year you're in (i.e. 1st years get 1/4th, 3rd years get 3/4ths, no matter what the total LOC limit is). While it didn't really impact me, it just felt inconvenient in case I had something come up.

Thank you for the reply! I just recently spoke with them and they no longer have a limitation on the access of the 350k and they do offer 35,000 welcome points with the adventura credit card. I found their premium bank account to be better than what scotiabank offers and the nexus card would be a bonus. I appreciate your honesty. Due to Covid RBC has honestly been limited on their offerings which is unfortunate. 

[Speculator]

I have a question for anyone who has went with Scotiabank. Do you believe their partnership with MD financial has really been beneficial especially if you have other financial connections? Doesn't MD financial offer a lot of free services to med students regardless of whether you are with Scotiabank?

[Abreezy]

If anyone is looking for a LOC with RBC in Saskatoon, I contacted Oleksandr Holovko
(306-668-3881, oleksandr.holovko@rbc.com) and he has been absolutely amazing! He is a Medical/Dental Healthcare Advisor and knows his stuff. I was in a bit of a rush for the LOC so I let him know and he got my LOC submitted in one day. It was approved two days after submitting everything!

I would definitely recommend him if you are planning on going with RBC.

I just went with RBC because they were slightly faster in response times/follow-ups and after doing hours and hours of research I found both banks were comparable for my needs. Remember, you can always switch easily down the line! 

[AKMed2024]

1 hour ago, Abreezy said:

If anyone is looking for a LOC with RBC in Saskatoon, I contacted Oleksandr Holovko
(306-668-3881, oleksandr.holovko@rbc.com) and he has been absolutely amazing! He is a Medical/Dental Healthcare Advisor and knows his stuff. I was in a bit of a rush for the LOC so I let him know and he got my LOC submitted in one day. It was approved two days after submitting everything!

Thanks for the heads up! I am talking with someone from RBC, thinking that's where I am going to go as well on recommendation from a few friends who have loaned with them.

I'm not sure if I'm alone in this issue but I can't access my Confirmation of Enrollment letter which states that I am enrolled in the MD program. I spoke with someone from Student Central and was told that the CoE would not be available until I was registered in MEDC courses. Is there an alternate way to access it so that I can provide my advisor with proof that I am enrolled in the program?

[Abreezy]

3 hours ago, AKMed2024 said:

Thanks for the heads up! I am talking with someone from RBC, thinking that's where I am going to go as well on recommendation from a few friends who have loaned with them.

I'm not sure if I'm alone in this issue but I can't access my Confirmation of Enrollment letter which states that I am enrolled in the MD program. I spoke with someone from Student Central and was told that the CoE would not be available until I was registered in MEDC courses. Is there an alternate way to access it so that I can provide my advisor with proof that I am enrolled in the program?

I just let my advisor know that the CoE wasn't available yet and he said I could send the receipt for my acceptance deposit and my letter/email of acceptance as proof instead!

[tallshirts]

I talked to Anika at RBC yesterday. I was told that my confirmation of enrolment and payment receipt were enough. I will probably end up going that route, as I already have some loans from RBC and they all seem kind of similar.

[lolz3]

12 hours ago, Guy in the know said:

Hi.  CIBC changed our policy in September 2016 so that for Canadian programs, the limit is advanced upfront.   Installments are only for non-Canadian programs.   The $10,000 visa card option with the lounge passes etc is also better value than many others.

I was with CIBC in October of 2016, so I guess my advisor signed me up wrong. You have a past comment that also said the policy changed in 2017, so not sure what the real timeline is.

Regardless, looking at the credit card you might be referring to (Aventura Gold Visa or Visa Infinite), I would still prefer the Scotiabank offering of getting the Passport Visa Infinite + Gold American Express, as Scotia's cards would give you 6 free lounge visits (over 4 for CIBC), better sign-up bonuses, way better earning rates (e.g. 5 points back vs. 1 point at a restaurant), and no foreign transaction fees. The only perk the CIBC credit card offers have are the NEXUS rebate (easily nullified with the better sign-up bonuses) and some of the insurance coverage (CIBC has mobile device coverage, but their policies also lose out in other areas such as price protection, duration of the trip insurance, etc.). If comparing to RBC's credit card offerings, you have a bit of a better argument, but with RBC's system offering a variety of different cards and the opportunity to switch between them, they ultimately provide way more flexibility and potential to get more perks than CIBC.