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If you’re trying to consider which bank you should open up a savings account with, it can be quite complicated. There are many banks in existence, each with their advantages and disadvantages. In this article, I review a Canadian bank known as Scotiabank, or as I like to call them, the Bank of No Service.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), also known as Scotiabank, should actually be renamed as the “Bank of No Service.”

Do you remember the 1970’s? My dad does. Long lineups at the bank. Sometimes standing for hours at a time. This bank longs for the seventies. They offer three kinds of service – slow, slower and slowest. They seem to enjoy watching people standing there. Elderly people are forced to endure long periods in the lineup. Do they bring out more tellers when they see the lineup becoming longer? Absolutely not. Perhaps they need some lessons from the TD Canada Trust. When the Toronto Dominion bought over Canada Trust, they learnt what the word ‘Service’ really meant. When the Bank of Nova Scotia bought over National Trust, they learnt absolutely nothing at all. Canadians went to trust companies because of the service. They did not want to deal with financial dinosaurs.

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Do you want to invest money with this bank? Think carefully!

My dad had a small sum to invest. The manager at one of the branches suggested that he go downtown to meet with their investment division.

He made an appointment. Upon arrival, he was asked to sit and wait. After several minutes, he was greeted by a woman who was a senior representative in their downtown head office. She didn’t even shake hands. Her excuse was that she had a cold. Where is her intelligence? Shouldn’t you wash your hands with soap and water and then shake hands? My mom and dad were escorted to her office where she quickly informed us that unless the amount I had to invest was at least one million dollars, I would have no say in how any money that was deposited with them would be used. That was exactly what she said. You can imagine how flabbergasted my parents were. Perhaps they should change their marketing campaign slogan to, “Scotiabank. Your money is actually our money.” Needless to say, my parents quickly left the establishment.

I guess my parents shouldn’t be surprised with this bank’s attitude. They have had marketing campaigns in the past that show how incompetent they really are. Take for example the posters they had about a year or two ago. A man and a woman in a forest of trees with the caption: “We’ll find the money that you need.” Hmm, last time I checked, the old slogan still applies: “Money doesn’t grow on trees!”

Or how about another recent slogan: “Scotiabank. You’re richer than you think.” Perhaps that one should actually read “Scotiabank. You’re poorer than you think.” Or maybe even “Scotiabank. We’re richer than you think.”

Why? Well for starters, with all the fees they collect and deduct for using their services, by the time you add them all up, it amounts to a small fortune. Maybe we should talk about the itsy bitsy amounts of interest they pay on deposits you make. What about when you want to withdraw money from an RRSP? They take a nice chunk of dollars for each transaction you make.

Although bank machines are very convenient, they are saving the bank huge amounts of money by not having tellers to service the public. In addition, with all the scams involving bank machines and the fact that the bank doesn’t recognize deposits that have been put into a machine until they process it manually, your money is put at risk every time you do business with one of their robotic slaves.

Whichever way you look at it, this banking institution needs a major overhaul. Otherwise it should be relegated to the history books.