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

[Eudaimonia 313]

27 minutes ago, beepboopbot said:

I contacted RBC and scotiabank recently and this is a comparison:

1. Credit cards annual fee: both top of the line cards, mostly similar/comparable perks with Scotia having slight upper hand. Difference: RBC offered to waive annual fees for 4 years, Scotia for 4 years + residency + 2 year grace period. That, if RBC does not budge, is a ~$1000 difference (if residency = 5 years, annual fee $120-135).

2. Credit cards welcoming points: RBC gives 30,000 with no strings attached (up to $700 value). Scotia bank gives $250 equivalent if you spend $1000 in first 90 days. That's a +$500 for RBC.

3. iPad/points: RBC is offering the new iPad (with student discount and taxes in costs a little under $500) to NEW clients. It is essentially a perk for new customers opening the VIP banking account, not specific to MD students. It has strings attached, preauthorized payment etc. Easy to fulfill conditions for most of us. Edit: actually, during the summer months, with similar conditions, at Scotiabank you get 10,000 rewards points or scene points, which would be $100 and 10 movies (~$130) respectively.

4. Banking account: unlimited transactions + unlimited e transfers from RBC. unlimited transactions + 2 free e transfers/month from Scotiabank. Again, however, RBC is waiving monthly fees for 4 years of MD, Scotiabank for MD+res+2 years grace period. Another $1000 difference.

 

Summary:

RBC: +$500 (iPad) +$500 (diff in welcoming points)

Scotiabank: +$1000 (saved in credit card annual fees) + $1000 (saved in bank account fees) + $100 (rewards or scene points) 

All of these are upfront offers. I'm going to negotiate with both.

Could you elaborate on that Scotia 10000 points bonus? Is it part of that travel bundle offer? If so, I tried to get it, but my advisor couldn't figure out how the code for that as it doesn't fall under the med LOC or something. Let me know if you are successful in this please! 

[beepboopbot 47]

22 minutes ago, Eudaimonia said:

Could you elaborate on that Scotia 10000 points bonus? Is it part of that travel bundle offer? If so, I tried to get it, but my advisor couldn't figure out how the code for that as it doesn't fall under the med LOC or something. Let me know if you are successful in this please! 

Hi Eudaimonia, my advisor didn't mention this, but I was looking on scotia bank's website, and it says when we open a new Scotia One banking account, we can get up with 10k points. the conditions are in fine print at the very bottom. http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/bank-accounts/chequing-accounts/scotiaone-chequing-account.html

My question for you: did you get anything extra on top of the upfront offer?

[Eudaimonia 313]

19 minutes ago, beepboopbot said:

Hi Eudaimonia, my advisor didn't mention this, but I was looking on scotia bank's website, and it says when we open a new Scotia One banking account, we can get up with 10k points. the conditions are in fine print at the very bottom. http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/bank-accounts/chequing-accounts/scotiaone-chequing-account.html

My question for you: did you get anything extra on top of the upfront offer?

Yeah my advisor said because he applied for my Passport under the LOC plan, he couldn't set up this public reward. Not sure if you could ask to apply for the Passport under the regular program and then they waive the fee on top of that. If so I missed out ha, but honestly I'm feeling very self-conscious about further negotiations if it seems to be so much trouble for them.  

Therefore I didn't get any other perks but the common ones, especially since I negotiated before this news that seemed to have increased the bar lol 

[brady23 77]

The fact that Scotiabank waives fees for residency and RBC may not is what pushed me towards them.

[rmorelan 2,528]

23 minutes ago, brady23 said:

The fact that Scotiabank waives fees for residency and RBC may not is what pushed me towards them.

I guess if you do the math that is worth quite a bit - may not be as obvious as the fees are a slow drain on things but those are exactly the sort of thing you need to look out for. 

[shematoma 89]

The credit card fee waiver is only worth so much in practice. You get a better deal just opening/canceling a premium credit card once a year, getting the bonus and the benefits. And they often have first year fee waived promos on top of that. It's also very easy to get a free bank account with e-Transfers - most banks have a student account, or one that waives fees with a small balance, or just use a branch-less bank. Also you're never stuck with the bank you choose for the LOC - you can just switch banks as often as you like,  transfer the balance and get all the benefits as if you were new.

[GTA Med Advisor 25]

13 minutes ago, shematoma said:

The credit card fee waiver is only worth so much in practice. You get a better deal just opening/canceling a premium credit card once a year, getting the bonus and the benefits. And they often have first year fee waived promos on top of that. It's also very easy to get a free bank account with e-Transfers - most banks have a student account, or one that waives fees with a small balance, or just use a branch-less bank. Also you're never stuck with the bank you choose for the LOC - you can just switch banks as often as you like,  transfer the balance and get all the benefits as if you were new.

Be careful with that - depending on how many cards you open in any given period of time it could affect your credit score quite substantially. One of the factors that determines your credit score is the average age of your accounts, and if you start getting a new card or two every year it will bring that average way down. Your credit score is worth something in practice.

Physicians have the option to keep these cards free with us throughout school, residency/fellowship, and also on an ongoing basis into your working career. The general public do not have this option. You can essentially keep these cards free with us indefinitely, I don't think other banks offer that though. 

[fz90 0]

Question about LOC eligibility and buying a house. Does anyone know if my eligibility for a LOC will be affected if I decide to buy a house (as a co-owner)? Based on previous comments, I believe OSAP eligibility will not be impacted as it will be my primary residence. However, can someone please shed some light onto whether buying a house will impact my LOC eligibility or the limit of the LOC?  

 

Thanks!

[shematoma 89]

29 minutes ago, GTA Scotiabank Med Advisor said:

Be careful with that - depending on how many cards you open in any given period of time it could affect your credit score quite substantially. One of the factors that determines your credit score is the average age of your accounts, and if you start getting a new card or two every year it will bring that average way down. Your credit score is worth something in practice.

Physicians have the option to keep these cards free with us throughout school, residency/fellowship, and also on an ongoing basis into your working career. The general public do not have this option. You can essentially keep these cards free with us indefinitely, I don't think other banks offer that though. 

Your credit score could dip slightly but let's face it, the biggest factor is payment history. I have been open and closing lots of accounts and haven't been turned down for anything. Yes I can keep the card open indefinitely without fees, but why would I do that when I can open and close without fees and get big bonuses?

[casajayo 48]

I realise this would be a bit of work (and morally dubious), but what's to stop someone from opening an LOC with RBC, setting up the pre-authorized payment in order to receive the iPad, and then switching your LOC to Scotiabank afterwards and receiving their credit card offers? If you transfer the LOC, will RBC make you return the iPad?

[goleafsgochris 179]

Hey everyone, I was hoping to get some advice from people who know what happens to the LOC after residency.

So I finished residency a year ago, and like most people have been working on paying the loan back.  I was just over 200k, and now I'm close to 100k.  The issue is that I was actually hoping to take some money back out to make a larger purchase, but it doesn't seem like it can be done?  Does anyone have experience post-residency converting their LOC to a regular loan?  I haven't talked to the bank yet (I hate going in there), but I will.

[PhD2MD 292]

8 minutes ago, goleafsgochris said:

Hey everyone, I was hoping to get some advice from people who know what happens to the LOC after residency.

So I finished residency a year ago, and like most people have been working on paying the loan back.  I was just over 200k, and now I'm close to 100k.  The issue is that I was actually hoping to take some money back out to make a larger purchase, but it doesn't seem like it can be done?  Does anyone have experience post-residency converting their LOC to a regular loan?  I haven't talked to the bank yet (I hate going in there), but I will.

Scotia can convert it to a professional line of credit for you

[la marzocco 351]

10 minutes ago, PhD2MD said:

Scotia can convert it to a professional line of credit for you

But the professional loc is at prime if I’m not mistaken?

[eastcoasthopeful 1]

I'm just reading this thread now and am wishing I'd read it earlier. I'd signed up for a LOC with Scotia at prime interest  the other week, though it seems as though many of you are managing to swing prime - 0.25% rates. The advisor that I had talked to (recommended by a friend who works at Scotia) had led me to believe that this was the absolute best lending rate that I could be offered as an incoming medical student and that lower interest rates could only be extended to those starting residencies in lucrative specialties.  It seems as though that isn't really the case. At this point, is it reasonable to expect to be able to talk my way into this lower rate? 

[la marzocco 351]

5 minutes ago, eastcoasthopeful said:

I'm just reading this thread now and am wishing I'd read it earlier. I'd signed up for a LOC with Scotia at prime interest  the other week, though it seems as though many of you are managing to swing prime - 0.25% rates. The advisor that I had talked to (recommended by a friend who works at Scotia) had led me to believe that this was the absolute best lending rate that I could be offered as an incoming medical student and that lower interest rates could only be extended to those starting residencies in lucrative specialties.  It seems as though that isn't really the case. At this point, is it reasonable to expect to be able to talk my way into this lower rate? 

Do it. If not, take your business elsewhere. Contact one of the SPSP advisors http://www.scotiabank.com/content/dam/scotiabank/canada/en/documents/Scotiabank_SPSP_representative_English.pdf. If your rep is on the list I would be surprised to hear that he/she doesn’t know about prime less .25

[shematoma 89]

2 hours ago, casajayo said:

I realise this would be a bit of work (and morally dubious), but what's to stop someone from opening an LOC with RBC, setting up the pre-authorized payment in order to receive the iPad, and then switching your LOC to Scotiabank afterwards and receiving their credit card offers? If you transfer the LOC, will RBC make you return the iPad?

The T&Cs at RBC stipulate the bank account (not the LOC) must be open for some period of time (something like 1 year) otherwise you have to repay the iPad. The LOC being open may be what prevents fees from being payable on the bank account, unless you maintain a certain minimum balance.

But there's nothing to prevent you from switching LOC providers otherwise.

[shematoma 89]

30 minutes ago, eastcoasthopeful said:

I'm just reading this thread now and am wishing I'd read it earlier. I'd signed up for a LOC with Scotia at prime interest  the other week, though it seems as though many of you are managing to swing prime - 0.25% rates. The advisor that I had talked to (recommended by a friend who works at Scotia) had led me to believe that this was the absolute best lending rate that I could be offered as an incoming medical student and that lower interest rates could only be extended to those starting residencies in lucrative specialties.  It seems as though that isn't really the case. At this point, is it reasonable to expect to be able to talk my way into this lower rate? 

It's probably an oversight. The LOC's used to all be prime, and prime -0.25% is relatively new... maybe they just didn't set it up properly. Talk to them and if they don't budge (I'd be highly surprised if they didn't), then you just threaten to walk over to another bank.

[PhD2MD 292]

1 hour ago, eastcoasthopeful said:

I'm just reading this thread now and am wishing I'd read it earlier. I'd signed up for a LOC with Scotia at prime interest  the other week, though it seems as though many of you are managing to swing prime - 0.25% rates. The advisor that I had talked to (recommended by a friend who works at Scotia) had led me to believe that this was the absolute best lending rate that I could be offered as an incoming medical student and that lower interest rates could only be extended to those starting residencies in lucrative specialties.  It seems as though that isn't really the case. At this point, is it reasonable to expect to be able to talk my way into this lower rate? 

Your rep clearly doesn't do many med LOCs...I'm sure they're a nice person, but I'd suggest you find someone else as you don't want to constantly deal with problems.

[FlameGrilledChicken 35]

10 hours ago, beepboopbot said:

I contacted RBC and scotiabank recently and this is a comparison:

1. Credit cards annual fee: both top of the line cards, mostly similar/comparable perks with Scotia having slight upper hand. Difference: RBC offered to waive annual fees for 4 years, Scotia for 4 years + residency + 2 year grace period. That, if RBC does not budge, is a ~$1000 difference (if residency = 5 years, annual fee $120-135).

2. Credit cards welcoming points: RBC gives 30,000 with no strings attached (up to $700 value). Scotia bank gives $250 equivalent if you spend $1000 in first 90 days. That's a +$500 for RBC.

3. iPad/points: RBC is offering the new iPad (with student discount and taxes in costs a little under $500) to NEW clients. It is essentially a perk for new customers opening the VIP banking account, not specific to MD students. It has strings attached, preauthorized payment etc. Easy to fulfill conditions for most of us. Edit: [not confirmed] actually, during the summer months, with similar conditions, at Scotiabank you get 10,000 rewards points or scene points, which would be $100 and 10 movies (~$130) respectively.

4. Banking account: unlimited transactions + unlimited e transfers from RBC. unlimited transactions + 2 free e transfers/month from Scotiabank. Again, however, RBC is waiving monthly fees for 4 years of MD, Scotiabank for MD+res+2 years grace period. Another $1000 difference.

 

Summary:

RBC: +$500 (iPad) +$500 (diff in welcoming points)

Scotiabank: +$1000 (saved in credit card annual fees) + $1000 (saved in bank account fees) + [not confirmed] $100 (rewards or scene points) 

All of these are upfront offers. I'm going to negotiate with both.

So Scotia also gives the Amex Gold which would give another 150$ equivalent if you spend $1000 in the first 90 days. So the fees waived on the Passport Infinite and Amex Gold are about 240$ a year combined. The passport infinite also comes with free lounge access which has a value of about $260 per year. If you don't travel that doesnt mean much but we'll all have to travel quite a bit for electives+interviews later on and if you fly once a year or so you're still getting value. That adds up like you said. They also provided unlimited e-transfers when I asked. If I add it up that way Scotia would be +$1680 saved in credit card fees +$1000 (saved in bank account fees) + [not confirmed] $100 (rewards or scene points) + (alot of value with lunge access depeding on how often you travel)

[rmorelan 2,528]

14 minutes ago, FlameGrilledChicken said:

So Scotia also gives the Amex Gold which would give another 150$ equivalent if you spend $1000 in the first 90 days. So the fees waived on the Passport Infinite and Amex Gold are about 240$ a year combined. The passport infinite also comes with free lounge access which has a value of about $260 per year. If you don't travel that doesnt mean much but we'll all have to travel quite a bit for electives+interviews later on and if you fly once a year or so you're still getting value. That adds up like you said. They also provided unlimited e-transfers when I asked. If I add it up that way Scotia would be +$1680 saved in credit card fees +$1000 (saved in bank account fees) + [not confirmed] $100 (rewards or scene points) + (alot of value with lunge access depeding on how often you travel)

If I remember correctly the passport infinite also has no currency conversion fees in the US - since a large number of important conferences are in the US that is a consideration. 

[ScotiabankMedsAdvisor 36]

As well I don’t think I have met a med student that doesn’t go on a trip in the summer.  Also lots of online shopping is in foreign currencies.

[Doctorofmydreams 19]

Do people generally switch over all of their banking to the LOC bank? I'm thinking of switching to scotia for the LOC and all banking services after i leave my job. It might be easier to centralize most financial things with one bank. Is this wise? 

[docK 1]

12 minutes ago, ScotiabankMedsAdvisor said:

As well I don’t think I have met a med student that doesn’t go on a trip in the summer.  Also lots of online shopping is in foreign currencies.

hey any updates on the new changes that Scotia is bringing in? limits? 

[beepboopbot 47]

12 minutes ago, docK said:

hey any updates on the new changes that Scotia is bringing in? limits? 

I contacted Lynne for U of T scotiabank and she said the overall limit is increasing in the next few weeks.

[shematoma 89]

If I'm not mistaken, you continue to have access to your LOC once you start residency. But can you still open a new LOC, or transfer your LOC to a new bank while in residency?