• A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!
  • The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 31 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 31st anniversary: Happy 31st Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!
  • The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!

Costco is switching Mastercard users from Capital One to CIBC and cardholders say it's not going smoothly

MULTIZ321

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
33,273
Reaction score
9,554
Location
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL
Resorts Owned
BLUEWATER BY SPINNAKER HHI
ROYAL HOLIDAY CLUB RHC (POINTS)
This is Canada costco only. US is still citibank.
 
This article is behind a paywall.

Dave
 
This article is behind a paywall.

Dave
Ditto, this article is behind a paywall.
DaveNV, I tried to read it without paying the small subscription fee.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, Richard. I was able to read the article.

When Costco USA switched from American Express to CitiBank, a similar uproar went on. The issues were resolved within a few days. I think the people in the above article who are complaining just wanted something to complain about. Give them a few days, and then you can complain. The card never stopped working. My recollection with the AmEx-Citi switch was there were something like 16 MILLION accounts to be moved over. And it required issuing new credit card numbers to everyone, while trying to keep things transparent. After several days, the complaints stopped happening because everything had transferred. The guy in the article needs to chill for a few days, and try again.

Dave
 
I cancelled my CapitalOne Costco MasterCard a couple of days before the transition since I hate CIBC and don’t want to give them business. Of course I get an email yesterday from CIBC welcoming me.

I’m going to be watching my credit report now. If there is a new credit card on there I’m going tobe mad.
 
I cancelled my CapitalOne Costco MasterCard a couple of days before the transition since I hate CIBC and don’t want to give them business. Of course I get an email yesterday from CIBC welcoming me.

I’m going to be watching my credit report now. If there is a new credit card on there I’m going tobe mad.

If we're looking to be "p*ssed off", we can all find something or someone due to a bad experience. IMO "hate" is a strong word that is overused. We all need to just take a deep breath sometimes. You only transferred your account "a couple of days" before the transition? Why did you wait until the last minute to do so? And now you're going to be "mad" if it gets transferred?

I don't know what type of business you are in, but that process would have started long before that. Operations of that complexity take much longer than a couple of days. If your account gets transferred to CIBC, I would suggest taking it out on Costco or CapitalOne, since they transferred the file, not CIBC. CIBC is just doing what the contract required for any account transferred. Rather than monitoring your credit report, why not just contact CIBC to let them know you don't want the card and that you had cancelled the account with CapitalOne?

It's unfortunate that you obviously had a bad experience with CIBC at some point. We have been dealing with CIBC for almost 35 years, although not exclusively. We have had issues from time-to-time, but no more so than any other institution. We have always found them responsive and willing to work with us to resolve them; CapitalOne, on the other hand, not so much. We severed any relationship with them long ago!

I found this article so negative that I felt compelled to give another side. It's just a credit card. You don't have to use it or accept it. It can be cancelled and there are lots of other credit card options out there. Time for everyone to show some patience and just chill out!
 
Last edited:
If we're looking to be "p*ssed off", we can all find something or someone due to a bad experience. IMO "hate" is a strong word that is overused. We all need to just take a deep breath sometimes. You only transferred your account "a couple of days" before the transition? Why did you wait until the last minute to do so? And now you're going to be "mad" if it gets transferred?

I don't know what type of business you are in, but that process would have started long before that. Operations of that complexity take much longer than a couple of days. If your account gets transferred to CIBC, I would suggest taking it out on Costco or CapitalOne, since they transferred the file, not CIBC. CIBC is just doing what the contract required for any account transferred. Rather than monitoring your credit report, why not just contact CIBC to let them know you don't want the card and that you had cancelled the account with CapitalOne?
I won’t go into too many details- but when a bank can’t manage to open a simple estate account or pay out a TFSA account to the beneficiaries over 9 months after the death of a family member, I think I have a right to be p*ssed off. The branch says everything has to be processed by the “central office” - and keeps sending inquiries - but we are getting no responses and there isn’t an obvious way to escalate to see what their issues are.

The problem isn’t with our paperwork - everything is there and we set it up specifically to avoid probate (I’m a CPA and have dealt with this many times). ATB Financial was able to open an estate account for us same day when we finally gave up on CIBC. My mother is the executor and is beside herself trying to get the TFSAs to all the siblings who are named beneficiaries. Overall, she just wants closure over the death of her father - CIBC just doesn’t seem interested in being helpful.

In terms of the credit card, I’m sure some information was transferred previously, but the balances would have to be transferred in short order - and data integration is much faster now - and I’m sure they would put in protections to prevent further charges on cards that have been closed. I specifically asked CapitalOne whether a new account would be set up with CIBC since we were close to the deadline and was told “no”. Why should I now have to waste my valuable time chasing down CIBC to get it fixed?
 
First, as suspected, it sounds like the credit card screw-up fault lies at least partly with CapitalOne. That is one of the reasons we stopped dealing with them a couple of decades ago. There were constant errors, but no responsibility! I also assume if you cancelled your account, there were no balances to be transferred in any case.

You refer to balances being transferred quickly, but that isn't necessarily the case. My SIL is a retired CIBC director-level IT expert, and she has assured me (with an eye-roll) that it just doesn't happen that way. Even in a highly-digital world, it is never as easy as just transferring a file from one institution to another, when they are using different systems. Priority is always assigned first to cards with the closest monthly billing date, but it still takes time to process millions of accounts. No matter how well you think the transition is set-up, there are always glitches!

In an ideal world, you and I should not have to do all the leg work to fix someone else's error. However, unless someone else magically communicates with them that an error has actually occurred, how do you expect it to be solved? It's a real pain in the *ss, but IME no one else is likely to fix it, unless they know about it! I suspect your account got transferred because you waited too long to close it.

As to the issues with the estate, let me first express my condolences, but it sounds like a problem with a specific branch, or someone who doesn't know what they are doing. I don't know where in Alberta you actually live, so a smaller, more rural branch could be the problem, especially if they lack sufficient authorization ability for larger transactions. Not usually a problem in a larger city.

What you experienced is absolutely terrible service, but it can and does happen at other institutions. I do understand your frustration and refusal to work with CIBC. I won't deal with TD for similar hassles in the past, and also CapitalOne as previously mentioned. I'm glad you found someone to finally get it fixed! There is absolutely no need to deal with someone who is either incompetent or unwilling to provide good service, whoever they may work for.

When things like that have happened to me, I have just asked it to be escalated to the manager or even to the regional director or VP. That usually has solved the problem. I am also a retired CPA, CA and CFP, so have settled a number of estates, and helped clients settle many more, including at CIBC, and have not had more issues with them than anyone else, which was my original point.

I just lost my FIL in November at 102. He dealt with CIBC in a smaller town about 100 kms. from here. The local account manager has been great in helping us pull everything together for the lawyer and getting the estate account set-up to handle the assets subject to probate. My FIL also had a TFSA with his five children the named beneficiaries.

I don't know about Alberta probate rules, but a TFSA is considered a "registered" account. Here in Ontario, a registered account with named beneficiaries does not require probate, so an estate account is not even needed. There was just a form to sign by each of the named beneficiaries, together with the signature of the executor and a notarial copy of the will and the death certificate. The funds were then released directly to the beneficiaries. We only needed the estate account for those other assets subject to probate.

Anyway, we all get frustrated at times with suppliers who seem to prioritize marketing and sales to the detriment of customer service. Don't even get me started on my recent service experiences with Rogers! My only point was that our experiences with CIBC have generally been very positive and at times exceptional.

About 15 years ago, we were in Holland, Belgium and France and discovered neither of our CIBC debit cards would work to get cash at the local ATMs with the correct system logos (and yes, we had 4-digit pins). We had put extra money into our account for our 4-week trip. They not only accepted our collect call that night to our personal banker, but she prepared and walked a bank transfer over to deposit to my RBC account across the street. The RBC debit card was working just fine! She went the extra mile and we were grateful. When we got back they never could figure out why the cards would not work. They did issue us new cards and on our next trip they worked just fine. Gremlins maybe?

In conclusion, IME it is less about the institution, although they can obviously set the tone, than it is about the actual employee or advisor, just like any business. I'm glad we haven't been subject to your experience, because I obviously might feel differently about CIBC! Hope it all works out without too much effort on your part!
 
Top