Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce [CIBC]
reviews and complaints

so this happened by the end of April, 2012, which is a week ago, I found out my bank account has been hacked, somebody somehow got my visa debit card information and made 4 online purchased through a Chinese website. I was really freaked out when i see that, it was part of the rent, and I never buy anything in through any chinese websites online in my entire life, and really nervous at the meantime, because I still had some money left in that bank account, but all the banks are closed(the banks closed at 4 pm on Mondays.)so the only way for me to get in touch with the bank was to call the customer service, it was a busy day, so i actually was on hold for 1.5 hour until I got to speak to someone.(I was really surprised they don't have an emergency number for debit card holder to call to report in for this kind of issue.)
The first conversation wasn't pleasant at all, the representative told me that I have to contact with the Chinese shopping website by myself and ask them to stop the purchase and reverse the money back to my bank account, and then he got me the website's info by googling it.
Luckily I speak mandarin although not very well.
So i called in but the representative for the chinese website told me that I should be contacting with the bank not them because they don't have any information for me .
So I call back to the bank and complain for this situation and ask for help, so this time they actually refer me to a supervisor. The supervisor told me he will start an investigation and send this case into the fraud department, they will investigate it for me right away and I will hear from them in 5 days.
During the waiting period, I saw 2 purchases out of 4 reversed back to my bank account, it made me believe that they are looking into this for me now. But the crazy thing happened this morning which I logged into my bank account and check the balance again, i find out Cibc has recharged me the purchases they had reversed back to me again, so I called the customer service and request to speak to the supervisor again, and this supervisor talked with me with no helping info, and even questioned me if i spent them by myself and give me nothing but just asking me to call back to china and ask them to cancel my purchases, it just doesn't make sense with what she had told me, why and how do i have to deal with it with no any transaction information, and what if I don't speak mandarin?
and when she doubted on me, i told her those transactions shows on my bank account as International visa debit retail purchases, I am in Canada, how could I make international ones, then she said: No, as long as I use my visa debit online to purchase something, it will always show up as International visa debit retail purchase. And of course this is BS! I had other online purchases with my visa debit i just made couple weeks ago, it never shows anything with international words... I don't understand why she had to made up the store just because she doesn't want to help me out and just wanna sit in her office and do no work and still getting her pay on time?
so basically she told me she, the cibc can do nothing for me, and the only thing i can do is to call to china and speak to them and ask them to cancel the purchases, and once again, i made this international phone calls and talked to the customer service and of course without any information, the lady can't do any help at all and just to told me what i should do is to contact the bank and let them to deal with them, not me dealing with them and do all the investigation by myself.
So hopeless me called back to the customer service and request to speak to another supervisor as the last one wasn't trying to help me at all.
So thankfully, this last supervisor i spoke to was nicer, and told me they didn't send this case to the fraud department yet...so why the first supervisor i spoke to a week ago promised me, i will hear the report back from the department in 5 days?
and this last supervisor promised me she will send it in as an urgent, and someone from the fraud department will contact with me in 24 hours, we will see about that if i actually get a phone call in 24 hours as she promised.
At the mean time I questioned her that if my account is insured because for this kind of issue that happens to any of my friend (well, they are in state, not here in canada) they got their money back right away, and bank go ahead deal with the rest of the issues, but all i get from the ban k is that they ask me to try to go deal with it by myself. and I also feel they are taking advantage on me just because i can speak some mandarin, so they can go ahead and ask me to talk them . when i complain to one of the supervisor that i have a little bit hard time communication with them or understanding each other, she was so naive and asked me don't them have anyone who speaks English? Well, the hell i would know everything about that website...
anyways... it is just awful experience, and I am so worry now that I wont get the money back since all they seem to do is to drag it and making me feeling tired and disappointed in the all situation and then give up by myself...
the worst bank experience I have ever had!
Of course they won't bother worrying if they lose me this customer because I am not a millionaire, don't have million dollars saved in that bank, but if I do I would start to worry if one day they got robbed or somebody actually hacked in my account and took all the money ...
I don't know what the right processors are, but this is definite not a beautiful one consider how much hassel and worries the person who got fraud and all they do is to be not helpful!

Should have posted this much earlier. We wanted to apply for a mortgage on a house we wanted to build and at the time our financial adviser was Stephen Chiu. We told him that we had 3 weeks to get an approval for a mortgage as we had put a deposit down to hold the lot that we wanted and he indicated that it was not an issue and we would be approve.. During these 3 weeks he claimed he was working on the application which needed to be sent out east to be approved. When we came in to sign the papers, he was very brief speaking to us about it and quickly turned to our investments which caught us off guard since the appointment wasn't scheduled for this talk..Stephen spent more than triple the time dealing with our investments as a result.

A few days later he informed us that we were rejected as the people out east didn't believe that we could sell our current house despite the oil boom at the time and the limited number of houses available for sale. Stephen's attitude was less than caring and we felt that we were lied to and all he wanted was to make money off our investments. We scramble over the next few days and got an approval from a western based institution who had no issues with our house selling and gave us a mortgage within 24 hours. This incomptent FA was an Imperial Financial Adviser - which CIBC offers to professionals and as a result of the stress and the potential to lose our wish to build a house was almost screwed by Stephen.

We filed a complaint to CIBC, however his spineless boss defended his incompetency and said he did nothing wrong.
As a hard working consumer, in my opinion do not deal with Stephen Chiu at CIBC if he is still there, or if you do deal with a person of the same name- check if he worked at CIBC ~ 2007 and BE WARNED- HE ONLY THINKS OF MAKING MONEY FOR HIMSELF...

unauthorized Charges to my Visa. Requested an investigation and cancellation of my Credit Card by telephone and E-mail. Lack of response and proper information by CIBC did not stop carges or interest. Complaint to BBB. CIBC response - are not a memeber of the BBB nor do they respond to the BBB. At this time they have not cancelled my credit card and they show it as owing me money(Credit balance). No response

Once again I have been screwed over by cibc another unauthorized withdrawal(transfer)the firs one was in June the made a transfer out of my account of 4500 dollars and then again last week of 1800 leaving my account with a balance of zero yes zero with no! notifacation by the cibc how do you expect me to pay my bills, visa, mortgage when you (cibc) make a withdrawal from my account without any notification? I will be telling friends, family, posting it on utube and calling the Hamilton spectator Toronto sun and Toronto star i am sure your clients will be happy to know how this institution does its everyday business I will be shortly doing banking elsewhere and will be telling whoever will listen to advise them to do so as well as our money isn’t safe in a cibc bank account

CIBC lawyers came after me for a business line of credit I had given a personal guarantee to. I had no money and wanted some kind of settlement I could manage. I expected that a $15, 000 amount would end up in small claims court. WRONG.Their lawyers kept me on a string asking for multiple statements of my financial situation. They eventually took me to supreme court and threatened to sell my house. The legal bill wound up to be more than I owed total bill over $31, 000. Luckily I had managed to get a part time job and was able to convince a bank (RBC thank you) to increase my mortgage. I couldn't afford to fight the legal bill because if I had I might have been responsible for their bill again had I lost, and from my experience to that point there was no confidence in the legal system.

Beware of the CIBC and their legal team they are vicious and devious.

I have been a customer since the early part of the 90"s, and as earlier as 1980 with a previous account. Last week, I walked into the Yonge and Bloor branch with my paycheck, stub still attached. I have been depositing this cheque at Yonge and Bloor for quite some time, and is always told by the teller that because it is a Payroll Cheque, and I have been a customer for so long, there is no need to place a hold. This last visit was not the case. The last teller needed to speak to the manager, cause she wanted to confirm is this is true. Manager then comes out, and states that the policy is to hold the cheque. I told her, this is not the policy I have been told over the past few months, as I presented her with previous deposit slips showing no hold. She claimed that the other tellers were all in the wrong in this situation. I snatched my cheque from her hand, and told her she was making policies up on the fly...because I was told by other managers that this wasnt so. I went to another branch...Yonge and Queen. Walked into the branch, and recieved no issues with the cheque. I asked about the ridiculous policy that I was told at Yonge and Bloor. She said the teller was wrong. I told her it wasnt the teller. She then goes on to say that as long as my pay stub is attached to the cheque, and that I have been an account holder for more than six months, CIBC does not hold payroll cheques. My point is, this Manager from the Yonge Bloor location was completely out of line, and presented pathetic customer service. Who gave her the power to make up policies, especially with nothing to back it up. I have always hated dealing with CIBC, as I constantly run into situations like this. If you need to look up my account, my name is above, please have a look at my account to see which manager is mentioned in this note.

Alex B

I have been a excellent customer of cibc for 28 years I have tried to reach my financial adviser numerous times with no return phone call, we have hit some hard times and need the bank to help refinance, if they can't, let see if there is any thing we can do. I have done my best to pay all my bills on time .Hard times can hit any of us, you would think a business you have been a loyal customer to would be there for you, at the very least return your call

Here's my experience with CIBC Bank
I opened a bank A/C with CIBC bank in 2005, because they have one nearby my home.
They have a Everyday Chequing Account which require to put $1000 to waive the $3.90 service fees.

Here is the events that pissed me off

1. One day, I deposited a cheque and need to on hold for a period of time, but after 1 month, that cheque still on hold, so I went there and asked them to check it out for me. They charged me $5 for the investigation. I think it's the obligation of the bank to check out that transaction for me, how come they need to charge me?

2. I have a GIC with CIBC, but I found their interest rate is lower than other bank. So I went to CIBC and wanted to cancel the GIC and with drawl the money. They checked all my IDs, but they still suspected my identity. They keep asking me my personal question to prove my identity. Do you think it's very hassle.

3. One time, I deposited a US bank cheque with CIBC bank, they will take it, but when the cheque is cleared, they charged me about $35 for the fees. I asked another bank, they said they won't charge it. CIBC bank looks like a thief.

4. Finally, I decided to cancel all my A/C with CIBC bank, my chequing Account have $1000 it supposes no services charges on it, but they charged me the service charges of the last month.

Now my business relationship with CIBC is terminated. I will never have business with them forever.

I am in arrears with CIBC mortgages to the tune of about $11, 000. CIBC have instructed Lawyers and commenced Power of Sale Proceedings.

I have offered to pay half the arrears now and requested that they capitalize the rest of the arrears and costs which will create a new mortgage balance. In an effort to ensure continued payments I have asked that they take interest only payments for the next 12 months.

My mortgage is less than 50% of the appraissed value (as at Nov 2008), however the lawyers have refused my offer and advised that POwer of Sale will proceed and I will be repossessed if the mortgage is not brough up to date by Jan 14th 2009.

I am told that part payments are not an option.

In these times I surprised that Banks are not flexible. There is no real danger that they wil lose money when they are sitting at less than 50% loan to value. In the meantime they are happy to write down billions for the US mortgage industry where there is ZERO prospect of any returns.

I am not a new borrower, I have had the mortgage for over 5 years !

If these Banks are truly committed to helping their borrowers through tough times, they need to listen to realistic proposals.

Here's my story. On a Saturday, I tried using my ATM card to pay for some groceries. The card was rejected. I thought that, somehow, the card had been duplicated and that the bank cut off access for my own protection. I went home and immediately accessed the online banking ' my accounts were emptied. I was victimized. In the following minutes, I phoned the Customer Care Service and explained the situation to a bank employee. While asking if the bank had any reason to believe that my card had been duplicated and unlawfully used, he replied that no suspicious or unlawful activity was noted on any of the accounts.

I was told to go to my local branch, change my four digits PIN and double-check the activity in my accounts to see if anything was amiss. I replied that I was looking at my online statements and everything was gone. The bank's security technology determined that those activities were not unusual and no further action was taken. Furthermore, several other transactions were allowed, bringing the account to a minus balance. No red flag there either nor a 'courtesy call' advising that an unauthorized transaction had been made.

I was put on hold and had to wait until a supervisor was available. Finally I got in touch with the supervisor. I explained my situation once again and the supervisor assured me that a formal claim will be made and a CIBC Fraud division representative will be contacting me in 2 to 4 business days. She also made a note that all pre-authorized payments, cheques, etc will not bounce back and payment will be honored. Needless to say, no CIBC representative had contacted me. Furthermore all pre-authorized payments bounced back and, of course, payment penalties followed.

On the following week I went to a local branch and opened new accounts, advised payees about my new banking info, changed cards, etc. Opening new accounts took us almost 2 hours. Frustration could be probably read from my face as the customer service representative asked me if I could evaluate her service. Another note in the file was made ' 5 days after my initial call, the investigation hadn't even started. In other words, no action was taken. I'll have to wait for the magic call from the Fraud investigation unit. The only good think about going into the branch was to have the branch following up on my complaint. It was then when I found out that the investigation unit wasn't even notified about potential fraudulent activity on my account and it was then when the branch first put the claim into the system on my behalf.

Next day, the Customer Service Care Centre politely advised me that I'm looking at possibly another 5 business days until somebody from the now well known Fraud Unit will contact me. That will make the initial response time of 2 ' 4 business days to be somewhere between 8 to 10 business days. Is this acceptable? According to CIBC's protocols and procedures, yes, it is. And the saga continues. My intention is not to make a blog or keep a journal. I strive to present facts the way they were. But I know for a fact that, while waiting for the Fraud unit to knock on my door, payments need to be made out of my account and late or non-payment fees will follow.

In these troubled times, the mattress is probably the best place for someone's money. And when it comes to customer service, believe me, you haven't got any.

Great thanks to all the competent folks at CIBC.

Beware of Banking with CIBC Albion!

Those who have visit this branch will never forget the experience and never return to them.

This is for new people in Kipling and Finch area. Those who have done business with them knows how these people are.

CIBC Albion have special hidden rules and policies which I experienced and i would like to share

1. Before paying any bill makes sure you have reserve money to pay the same bill.

2. Must have a very strong heart to stand the insults the CIBC Representatives Shower on you.

3. Never complaint they don't know what to do with it. (I wonder even if they know the meaning)

4. Mistake should be tolerated by clients or will be insulted.

5. Never expect minimum manners.(Even from Manager)

6. For appointments never be on time come half an hour late. You can save your time

7. Before meeting a representative you should ask if he/she is newly joined or not.

If you wonder these are wrong rules just try once. You will feel it is true. Take my recent experience

CIBC does claim their customers are really valuable for them and "strive"to maintain a healthy relationship between their customers. Of course they are right in some branches. I should admit that e.g. CIBC Main branch at Bloor; CIBC branch at Wilson; CIBC Branch Richmond BC..

But what I wonder is do they differ in their policies branch wise?

This is what I experienced with CIBC Albion branch.

As usual one Friday I visited the branch to pay my CIBC visa. The teller who was much eager to help and due to her "over eagerness" she paid my phone bill and returned my Visa card along with my banking card. I didn't know that I came home and started to pay my bills online with my Visa Card as I always do that and I know my limit and usually pay within that.

I was trying to book my exam and found my card is declined. I could not believe it. I called the Visa and asked them what happened. They told me I have crossed the limit and I will be charged $20 as the over limit fee. I argued and told them I paid the bill in the branch through the teller and it should reflect in the very next minute. They said there was no recent transaction after July 30th. I was wondering where my money went. This happened on Saturday and I had to wait till Monday to get a resolution.

I went to CIBC Albion Branch and addressed this issue to the receptionist. She apologized for what happened and assured me there is a procedure to cancel the transaction and I will get my money back but will take 2-3 days. While she was helping a lady who claims herself the Senior Financial adviser came in between and told the receptionist they can't do it and this is not possible at all. I told her I don't want to suffer for a mistake done by CIBC representative. The Financial Adviser became furious and started yelling at me. Seriously I was shocked! I couldn't understand how a CIBC representative can talk to a client like this. She shouted and asked to follow her. I thought I will be taken to a cabin and discuss. Instead shockingly she took me to a chair in front of the Manager room which is in the main banking area where more than 30- 40 people were there and shouted "You better sit here!". I was insulted I can't understand anything. I asked her "Is this the way CIBC representatives behave to customers?". This made her increase her volume and yelling at me she said "SIRRrr.you have to sit here".

I saw all the customers looking at me. I felt ashamed I sat there. I couldn't believe it. There is not a mistake from my side and I have been insulted too. She went inside and came out in another couple of minutes. This time she told me that there is a procedure to cancel the transaction and my money will be given back and the receptionist will help me in the matter.(Bloody hell ! This is what the receptionist told me why this lady should interfere! To show her bossy attitude) This was said in a mild soft manner. I don't dare to talk to her.

I simply went to the receptionist. While the receptionist was doing it the financial adviser was saying "wow this is Wonderful. I didn't know that. I learned something today". (What the Heck? If she doesn't know it why did she interfere? Why did she insult me in front of all the customers present there? I pity the victims who took advice from her) this time I asked her name and she gave me her name card.

I made a hand written complaint and gave to the assistant manager regarding the rude behavior of the CIBC representative and the loss of money. She said the Manager will take care of it and I will be informed and my money will be back in my account by Wednesday. I asked for complaint registration number and the Assistant manager assured no need to worry the matter will be taken care and I will be kept informed.

I waited until Thursday and nothing happened. I visited the bank again and this time the Assistant manager went on vacation and the receptionist went for lunch. One Representative was there to help me. I had explained all the situations again. This time I asked whether they have any complaint registration process or procedure. This guy doesn't know if anything like that exist and humbly said I am new I don't know anything. (It is good that these people are wearing a name plate so they can remember where they are working and their name!How thoughtful CIBC is!)

Again I came on Friday to get my money and this time too I did not get it. I asked for an appointment with the Manager to know whether she is aware of what is happening there. I got an appointment on Tuesday at 1 pm because Monday is Labor Day. (What Labor Day for them! insulting Clients?)

On Tuesday I came and waited more than half an hour to get another appointment on Thursday. (Why don't these people call and inform if they are busy? I was just expecting the minimum manners. My mistake. I should know I am dealing with CIBC ALBION branch). This time I received manager's visiting card with date and time of appointment. I got my money back. But nothing was done for the insult I faced.

I came on Thursday sharp 1:55pm so I won't be late. So there was nothing surprising I had to wait until 2:30pm to meet her. I talked to her regarding the complaint and I informed her it has been 7 business days (CIBC language! To be frank it is 10days according to ordinary calendar) after I registered the complaint and I was not even acknowledged that the complaint has been registered or any action taken on.

The Manager (Remember THE MANGER) told me I didn't ask for any acknowledgment or any complaint registration number. (Interesting!) . To my inquiry on the action taken she replied she cannot disclose it to me as it is internal matter but since I have taken much interest in it she told me that she asked for a statement on the incident from the financial adviser. On the Statement she agrees that her behavior was bit rude to me. This statement was taken on Friday, the previous week and they didn't take any further action. At least an apology letter! A phone call! I have given my full address with phone number for contact. Usually when anyone registers a complaint they should be contacted even after 5 Business Days! The Manager said she can't do anything further. So when a complaint is registered against any CIBC Employee the Managers will take a statement from the employee... That's it...I couldn't apply for the exams I planned for the week. I have to wait another 5 days for the money; I am insulted. I can't realize any mistake I done other than doing my banking in this branch.

Even after the financial adviser accepted her guilty the manager was trying to justify her... It is the tone of her voice and all. I can't understand if this is the service clients has to expect .

There is no respect for clients. It's like we clients are slaves and we have to suffer for what they do. They don't pay the interest of the money which is held for their mistake. If we do a mistake like pay our loans after one day they charge us interest. Does it fell like justice?

I could have left this matter and live. But think about the hard earned money of the people working 12-14 hours a week that belongs to the majority in this area are looted and ill-treated for banking with CIBC Albion. While I was waiting for the appointment from 2:00pm to 2:30pm I saw 4 people getting pissed off because of their service. Seriously I wonder whether they are running any financial institution or running some "Corner Bank Shop". Those who run corner shops, please don't feel offended. You guys do better than CIBC Albion People

I dedicate this complaint for them and I request all those had bad experience with this branch better reply to this complaint and together we can wake them!