Well, I'm pretty much the opposite. I have probably too many banks, but I don't mind doing some rate chasing and fiddling with multiple accounts and banks. It's a hobby that I enjoy.
It seems with most banks you get the account fee waived with a minimum balance and $5000 seems steep to me. I have one bank/CU where it's $1000 and one where it's $2000. I don't have to have any other things with them to have the fee waived.
I pick financial institutions based on how well they serve my needs and I use different banks for different needs. Here's why I've made some choices:
- major national bank - originally picked because it was the closest bank when I was a teen. Now I keep that account open in case I move to a different province. I use their chequing account for day to day transactions. And have a back-up credit card there. Otherwise I don't use them as the investment services aren't what I want and, savings account and GIC rates are too low.
- ING - I originally started with them because of the higher rate savings accounts and the ability to transfer money between other banks without going anywhere. I used some of their mutual fund products as they had low fees and were easy to deal with when I had less money to work with. I'm slowly moving away from ING.
- Credit Union #1 - went there for better GIC rates, stayed for great customer service. They have lots of locations here and I'll probably get my mortgage there.
- Credit Union #2 - they have the best savings account rate in the city, so I use them specifically for that. Quite bad customer service though, so once I need less money in cash (hoarding for a house downpayment) I won't use them anymore.
- PCF Financial - 1% cash back credit card - use them only for that as we use the credit cards for almost all purchases.
- TD - have started doing the online investing thing in the e-series funds, now that I have more money to play with. They seem to be the recommended choice for that type of thing, and so far I'm pleased with everything. I prefer online banking, so have no problem with doing everything through their website.
- Different major bank - have a car loan with them, as that's what the dealer set us up with. Won't use them for anything else.
So what am I at - 6 banks now? It seems crazy but it works for me. And if I consolidated I'd lose money. This is just my portion of the money as well. My husband uses a different major bank (same reasons as me) and a different credit union (good rates and he was a client before we met) and the PCF mastercard as well.
So that's why I do what I do. Pretty much everything manages itself once it's set up. I use a lot of automatic bill payments, transfers into the RSP account, as well as online bill payments.