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

[rmorelan]

and to cut off potential problems done the line - you can attack a position on the form any time and any day, but you cannot attack a person. Ha, just because these sort of topics have a chance to devolve I will put that out there now. 

[LittleDaisy]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:16 PM, Tyra said:

Okay, that makes sense! Thank you @distressedpremed

So for example, TD says "interest-only payments while in school."

So with Scotia the interest payments are automatically charged to LOC vs. with TD you would actively have to make a payment?

Yeah that's exactly right. One of the reasons that I switched from RBC to Scotiabank, is that with minimal interests payments deducted automatically from your chequing accounts, it cuts down further your resident's salary. When I just want my bank to accrue the interests onto my LOC, and pay it off when I save more money towards the end of year.

In the end, it all work out to the same  

[LittleDaisy]

Hey guys sorry for my dumb question!

What do people do when they graduate? Do they convert their student LOC to a professional LOC? What does this entail when converting to a professional LOC? Any risks and benefits? Do you have to start to pay down aggressively?

I heard that Scotiabank has 24 months grace period upon graduation where your student LOC stays the same for 24 months? Is this true? How do people approach their bank financial advisor upon graduation? 

Thank you very much  

 

[la marzocco]

1 hour ago, LittleDaisy said:

Hey guys sorry for my dumb question!

What do people do when they graduate? Do they convert their student LOC to a professional LOC? What does this entail when converting to a professional LOC? Any risks and benefits? Do you have to start to pay down aggressively?

I heard that Scotiabank has 24 months grace period upon graduation where your student LOC stays the same for 24 months? Is this true? How do people approach their bank financial advisor upon graduation? 

 Thank you very much  

I was told that it will be interest-only payments during the 24-month grace period. Then it becomes a traditional loan, which can be amortized up to 15 years, if I recall correctly. There exists an option to maintain the approved credit limit as a revolving facility by converting to a professional LOC for business. 

Example: if your student LOC limit was $300K; and you only used $100K by the end of residency. You are obligated to interest-only payments on the $100K for 24-months post-residency. After the 24-month period, they then convert the sum into a traditional loan and amortize it over 15 years max. Since your original student LOC limit was $300K, you still have $200K of room left, that $200K can be converted to a professional LOC for business. 

[#YOLO]

On 7/14/2019 at 11:20 PM, freewheeler said:

Paging @#YOLO...

LMAO MY GUY

[mountainsorbust]

Ok so I’ve narrowed it down to either Scotia or RBC but now having such a tough time choosing. Both offer over 300k LOC accessible immediately and interest only for at least 2 years post-residency. Both LOCs also convert into professional LOCS after grace period at same rate.

 

 That said, here are my pros and cons for both:

 

SCOTIABANK

PROS:

- two credit cards with total $10k credit and pretty great benefits (lounge access, high scotia point accumulation which can convert to Scene, travel and medical insurance, cancellation coverage, etc)

- automatic interest payments from the LOC

- apparently up to $600 sign up bonus if you spend enough money in both the cards you get in 60 days (some restrictions apply so not sure this is a big pro)

- some sort of benefits with MD financial business advisors? Unsure

 

CONS:

- bank and credit account fee waiving stops after residency

- lower max LOC: $300k available immediately (probably negotiable)

 

 

RBC

PROS:

- indefinite fee waiver on VIP account package which includes a chequing account and credit card (about $360 value per year). Yes, this extends even after residency!

- high LOC maximum: $350k available immediately

- 15000 RBC point signup bonus (one flight to Calgary essentially) (Edit: I’m seein some people say 45000 but I don’t think that’s applicable to the student LOC account. Definitely ask your advisor)

 

CONS

- credit card does not have as many perks

- no automatic interest payments from LOC

 

 

Do you guys have anything to add?

 

[Aurelius]

1 hour ago, Whistlrkid said:

Ok so I’ve narrowed it down to either Scotia or RBC but now having such a tough time choosing. Both offer over 300k LOC accessible immediately and interest only for at least 2 years post-residency. Both LOCs also convert into professional LOCS after grace period at same rate.

 

 That said, here are my pros and cons for both:

 

SCOTIABANK

PROS:

- two credit cards with total $10k credit and pretty great benefits (lounge access, high scotia point accumulation which can convert to Scene, travel and medical insurance, cancellation coverage, etc)

- automatic interest payments from the LOC

- apparently up to $600 sign up bonus if you spend enough money in both the cards you get in 60 days (some restrictions apply so not sure this is a big pro)

- some sort of benefits with MD financial business advisors? Unsure

 

CONS:

- bank and credit account fee waiving stops after residency

- lower max LOC: $300k available immediately (probably negotiable)

 

 

RBC

PROS:

- indefinite fee waiver on VIP account package which includes a chequing account and credit card (about $360 value per year). Yes, this extends even after residency!

- high LOC maximum: $350k available immediately

- 15000 RBC point signup bonus (one flight to Calgary essentially) (Edit: I’m seein some people say 45000 but I don’t think that’s applicable to the student LOC account. Definitely ask your advisor)

 

CONS

- credit card does not have as many perks

- no automatic interest payments from LOC

 

 

Do you guys have anything to add?

 

Haha I'm going with Scotia because they're offering me indefinite fee waivers, but RBC was only giving me 4 years. 

[frenchpress]

 

15 hours ago, LittleDaisy said:

Hey guys sorry for my dumb question!

What do people do when they graduate? Do they convert their student LOC to a professional LOC? What does this entail when converting to a professional LOC? Any risks and benefits? Do you have to start to pay down aggressively?

I heard that Scotiabank has 24 months grace period upon graduation where your student LOC stays the same for 24 months? Is this true? How do people approach their bank financial advisor upon graduation? 

Thank you very much  

 

 

14 hours ago, la marzocco said:

I was told that it will be interest-only payments during the 24-month grace period. Then it becomes a traditional loan, which can be amortized up to 15 years, if I recall correctly. There exists an option to maintain the approved credit limit as a revolving facility by converting to a professional LOC for business. 

Example: if your student LOC limit was $300K; and you only used $100K by the end of residency. You are obligated to interest-only payments on the $100K for 24-months post-residency. After the 24-month period, they then convert the sum into a traditional loan and amortize it over 15 years max. Since your original student LOC limit was $300K, you still have $200K of room left, that $200K can be converted to a professional LOC for business. 

RBC just came out with a new plan for a personal LOC offer for all medical professionals, including students - it’s no longer a student line of credit that has to be paid back within some set number of years post residency, and instead you can just keep the LOC at prime -0.25% for as long as you have an active license (educational or full). Banking fees are also waived indefinitely, and they have additional business and mortgage products at the same interest rate to go along with it. My advisor just contacted me about it and got me swapped over a couple weeks ago.

I assume the other banks will follow quickly. So whoever you’re with, you probably don’t want to rush out to convert your LOC to a loan anytime soon, unless you can somehow get a better interest rate by doing so.

[frenchpress]

7 hours ago, Whistlrkid said:

15000 RBC point signup bonus (one flight to Calgary essentially) (Edit: I’m seein some people say 45000 but I don’t think that’s applicable to the student LOC account. Definitely ask your advisor)

I believe that it’s 15000 initially for the card that most people will get with the account as a student, and then you get the remainder of the 45,000 automatically once you fulfill some random criteria - something like spend at least $1000 within a certain amount of time, log into mobile baking, etc. You’ll have to read the fine print on the exact criteria for this year.

[ellorie]

5 hours ago, frenchpress said:

 

 

RBC just came out with a new plan for a personal LOC offer for all medical professionals, including students - it’s no longer a student line of credit that has to be paid back within some set number of years post residency, and instead you can just keep the LOC at prime -0.25% for as long as you have an active license (educational or full). Banking fees are also waived indefinitely, and they have additional business and mortgage products at the same interest rate to go along with it. My advisor just contacted me about it and got me swapped over a couple weeks ago.

I assume the other banks will follow quickly. So whoever you’re with, you probably don’t want to rush out to convert your LOC to a loan anytime soon, unless you can somehow get a better interest rate by doing so.

Hm I need to contact RBC. I’m with them but I don’t really have an advisor so it’s always a bit of a headache. 

[la marzocco]

6 hours ago, frenchpress said:

 

 

RBC just came out with a new plan for a personal LOC offer for all medical professionals, including students - it’s no longer a student line of credit that has to be paid back within some set number of years post residency, and instead you can just keep the LOC at prime -0.25% for as long as you have an active license (educational or full). Banking fees are also waived indefinitely, and they have additional business and mortgage products at the same interest rate to go along with it. My advisor just contacted me about it and got me swapped over a couple weeks ago.

I assume the other banks will follow quickly. So whoever you’re with, you probably don’t want to rush out to convert your LOC to a loan anytime soon, unless you can somehow get a better interest rate by doing so.

Very interesting. Thanks for the heads up @frenchpress!  

[AltitudeMentoring]

Wow that RBC deal sounds fantastic. Does anyone have the contact info for an RBC rep in Toronto? Thanks so much!

[mountainsorbust]

18 hours ago, Aurelius said:

Haha I'm going with Scotia because they're offering me indefinite fee waivers, but RBC was only giving me 4 years. 

 

Jeez it's ridiculous how we all get such different information... clearly it all depends on who you talk to. I think I'm just going to go into both RBC and Scotia and be like "Ok here is what I want. Will you give it to me?"

[mountainsorbust]

12 hours ago, frenchpress said:

I believe that it’s 15000 initially for the card that most people will get with the account as a student, and then you get the remainder of the 45,000 automatically once you fulfill some random criteria - something like spend at least $1000 within a certain amount of time, log into mobile baking, etc. You’ll have to read the fine print on the exact criteria for this year.

I just got this summary table from an RBC advisor... it looks like you get the 45,000 if your'e a new client

 

[frenchpress]

10 minutes ago, Whistlrkid said:

I just got this summary table from an RBC advisor... it looks like you get the 45,000 if your'e a new client

 

That’s what they said a couple years ago too - and I was an existing client, and my advisor said I wouldn’t, but I still ended up getting the points. I assumed it was because the credit card was new and it just happened automatically in the computer system. It’s always a bit of a surprise, ha ha.

[frenchpress]

24 minutes ago, Whistlrkid said:

 

Jeez it's ridiculous how we all get such different information... clearly it all depends on who you talk to. I think I'm just going to go into both RBC and Scotia and be like "Ok here is what I want. Will you give it to me?"

The issue with this is that a lot of the people at the front desk don’t know anything about the plans. They just look them up and give you the same info you can read yourself. Its a problem even with some of those who claim to be plan ‘specialists’. I got a lot of bad info in my search, but I kept contacting advisors on the lists for the plan specialists at different banks until I found one who seemed to know what she was doing. And now it’s great - she checks in about once a year, keeps me up to date on major plan changes, etc.

Definitely shop around advisors.

[anonymouspls]

8 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

The issue with this is that a lot of the people at the front desk don’t know anything about the plans. They just look them up and give you the same info you can read yourself. Its a problem even with some of those who claim to be plan ‘specialists’. I got a lot of bad info in my search, but I kept contacting advisors on the lists for the plan specialists at different banks until I found one who seemed to know what she was doing. And now it’s great - she checks in about once a year, keeps me up to date on major plan changes, etc.

Definitely shop around advisors.

To add on to this, yes it's critical that you go with the right advisor. I've signed up with Scotia and initially I went to a local branch to have a meeting. Within the first 10 minutes it became clear to me that I knew more than the person I was meeting with. Afterwards I looked up the person that deals with medical students at Western for Scotia, and had a meeting with him. Now I've done all of my business though him and my experience has been smooth (his name is Rod for anyone curious)

 

It makes all the difference if your advisor is someone that knows what they're doing, no matter what bank you go with.

[Aurelius]

At this point it just seems to be between either Scotia or RBC and if one offers something better you can expect the other one to match it soon.

[LittleDaisy]

21 hours ago, frenchpress said:

 

 

RBC just came out with a new plan for a personal LOC offer for all medical professionals, including students - it’s no longer a student line of credit that has to be paid back within some set number of years post residency, and instead you can just keep the LOC at prime -0.25% for as long as you have an active license (educational or full). Banking fees are also waived indefinitely, and they have additional business and mortgage products at the same interest rate to go along with it. My advisor just contacted me about it and got me swapped over a couple weeks ago.

I assume the other banks will follow quickly. So whoever you’re with, you probably don’t want to rush out to convert your LOC to a loan anytime soon, unless you can somehow get a better interest rate by doing so.

Is this for everyone??? When I signed up for RBC LOC originally, they only offered me 100 K as LOC as my residency was short. I still have banking accounts with RBC, but I transferred my LOC from RBC to Scotiabank, through Rob at Western who advocated for 300 K as my LOC limit. 

Could you PM your advisor's contact information? Anyone has a good contact for RBC advisor in Toronto?

[frenchpress]

7 minutes ago, LittleDaisy said:

Is this for everyone??? When I signed up for RBC LOC originally, they only offered me 100 K as LOC as my residency was short. I still have banking accounts with RBC, but I transferred my LOC from RBC to Scotiabank, through Rob at Western who advocated for 300 K as my LOC limit. 

Could you PM your advisor's contact information? Anyone has a good contact for RBC advisor in Toronto?

For everyone, students, residents, staff. My advisor is in Vancouver, but if that works for you I can send you her info. 

https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/healthcare/en/

[GTALife]

1 hour ago, frenchpress said:

 For everyone, students, residents, staff. My advisor is in Vancouver, but if that works for you I can send you her info. 

 https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/healthcare/en/

I also know a good advisor at scotia in the GTA for medical LOCs if anyone needs his info.

[GTA Med Advisor]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 6:47 PM, Whistlrkid said:

SCOTIABANK

PROS:

- two credit cards with total $10k credit and pretty great benefits (lounge access, high scotia point accumulation which can convert to Scene, travel and medical insurance, cancellation coverage, etc)

- automatic interest payments from the LOC

- apparently up to $600 sign up bonus if you spend enough money in both the cards you get in 60 days (some restrictions apply so not sure this is a big pro)

- some sort of benefits with MD financial business advisors? Unsure

 

CONS:

- bank and credit account fee waiving stops after residency

- lower max LOC: $300k available immediately (probably negotiable)

 

Do you guys have anything to add?

 

FYI Scotiabank does keep the fees waived on credit cards and chequing accounts after residency. They have a new dedicated Healthcare+ page for physicians, students, residents etc. which outlines everything available to you in each stage. The student/resident page is up to date with all the offers, details etc. the student professional plan comes with. I think this was long overdue to have everything so readily available online for everyone to see.

[anonymouspls]

17 hours ago, GTA Med Advisor said:

FYI Scotiabank does keep the fees waived on credit cards and chequing accounts after residency. They have a new dedicated Healthcare+ page for physicians, students, residents etc. which outlines everything available to you in each stage. The student/resident page is up to date with all the offers, details etc. the student professional plan comes with. I think this was long overdue to have everything so readily available online for everyone to see.

I couldn't find this information on the links you posted - does anyone know what the interest rate is on the Scotia LOC for physicians after the 2 year grace period? I believe my advisor said the LOC converts to a different kind for physicians, but I don't recall if the interest rate changes.

[GTA Med Advisor]

3 hours ago, ysera said:

I couldn't find this information on the links you posted - does anyone know what the interest rate is on the Scotia LOC for physicians after the 2 year grace period? I believe my advisor said the LOC converts to a different kind for physicians, but I don't recall if the interest rate changes.

 

From the first link, if you sign up for the Scotia Professional Plan (for your corporate business account):

Quote

Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card

Packed with premium travel benefits, complimentary airport lounge membership, 6 free visits per year³, no foreign transaction fees on your foreign currency purchases made on your card (only the exchange rate applies)⁴, and comprehensive insurances⁵. As well, earn up to 2X Scotia Rewards® points on eligible purchases.⁶Annual fees are waived for the duration of your Scotia Professional Plan.

Scotiabank Gold American Express® Credit Card

Earn travel rewards up to 4X faster⁸ than our other cards and enjoy extraordinary benefits including the flexibility to book and redeem Scotia Rewards® points for travel anywhere, anytime with no travel restrictions.^9,10Annual fees are waived for the duration of your Scotia Professional Plan.

Scotia One™ Chequing Account

Unlimited self-serve and teller transactions² and choice of rewards program (SCENE® or Scotia Rewards®).

Exclusive Benefits: Monthly account fee waived indefinitely, unlimited monthly Interac e-Transfer rebates and auto-approval for $5,000 of overdraft protection.

 

And if you choose not to sign up on the Scotia Professional Plan you would only get the chequing account with the ongoing fee waiver:

Quote

Scotia One™ Chequing Account

Unlimited self-serve and teller transactions² and choice of rewards program (SCENE® or Scotia Rewards®).

Exclusive Benefits: Monthly account fee waived indefinitely, unlimited monthly Interac e-transfer rebates and auto-approval for $5,000 of overdraft protection.

Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card

Packed with premium travel benefits, complimentary airport lounge membership, 6 free visits per year,³ no currency transaction fees on your foreign currency purchases made on your card (only the exchange rate applies),⁴ and comprehensive insurances.⁵ As well, earn up to 2X Scotia Rewards® points on eligible purchases.⁶

Exclusive Benefits: Annual fee rebate for the first year**. Plus, earn a bonus of up to 45,000 Scotia Rewards® in your first year (that’s up to $450 towards travel rewards)⁷ which includes a welcome bonusupon first purchase exclusive to physicians.

 ^{**The Annual Account fee will initially be charged to your Account and will be fully credited back to your Account as a rebate within two statement cycles after the fee was charged to your Account}

 

As far as the conversion of the LOC goes, you can convert it to ta personal LOC with the same Prime -0.25% rate:

Quote

ScotiaLine® Personal Line of Credit

Competitive limits and rates available on funds you can use whenever you need it.

Exclusive Benefits: Preferred interest rate of Prime -0.25%¹. No annual fee.

 

[mountainsorbust]

 

On 7/18/2019 at 9:51 AM, GTA Med Advisor said:

FYI Scotiabank does keep the fees waived on credit cards and chequing accounts after residency. They have a new dedicated Healthcare+ page for physicians, students, residents etc. which outlines everything available to you in each stage. The student/resident page is up to date with all the offers, details etc. the student professional plan comes with. I think this was long overdue to have everything so readily available online for everyone to see.

6 hours ago, ysera said:

I couldn't find this information on the links you posted - does anyone know what the interest rate is on the Scotia LOC for physicians after the 2 year grace period? I believe my advisor said the LOC converts to a different kind for physicians, but I don't recall if the interest rate changes.

Agreed... I can't see anything about indefinite fee waivers on any of the links you posted. 

To follow up though, I chatted with someone else at RBC. Apparently the indefinite VIP account fee waivers only apply if you incorporate with RBC after residency. Always check the fine print...