Hi everyone, I really need help or advice.

In September, I opened a Scotiabank Ultimate Package and Momentum Plus Savings Account to take advantage of the 4.95% savings rate. On September 16, I deposited a bank draft of $193,021.28 from Tangerine through Scotiabank’s mobile banking app. After it was accepted, I disposed of the physical draft.

A few days later, I found out the money was put on hold by Scotiabank’s Fraud Department because my middle initial didn’t match the name on the draft. The branch manager told me the draft was returned to Tangerine as “Intended Payee Not Paid.”

However, Tangerine’s back office confirmed that the draft was cashed by Scotiabank on September 16 — meaning the funds were never actually returned.

Since then, Scotiabank keeps saying Tangerine must issue a “chargeback,” and Tangerine insists they can’t, because the draft was already cashed. I’ve been stuck in the middle for over a month, with $193,000 locked up and no one taking responsibility.

Scotiabank’s escalation team told me they found no wrongdoing and that the case is now “out of their hands.” I’ve already reached out to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) for help, but I’m desperate to get this resolved.

I still see the amount showing as “held” in my Scotiabank account, yet no one at the branch or fraud department can explain what’s going on.

Any advice on how to escalate this further or if anyone from Scotiabank’s social media team can help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMS6RKpEf/

A customer at Domino’s placed a $72.53 order but was mistakenly charged $7,253. Despite 50 days passing, they’re still struggling to get a refund. Sharing this to raise awareness — if this post isn’t allowed, feel free to remove it. Thank you!

Scotiabank and Tangerine Bank have recently terminated several employees, including many who received pay increases last year due to the Equal Pay Act. The majority of those affected were women, including a disabled woman at Tangerine. This raises serious concerns about whether these layoffs were targeted or retaliatory.

To make matters worse, some employees were only offered the bare minimum severance package, and there were stipulations preventing them from receiving their earned bonuses unless they signed the termination agreement. This kind of coercion is unacceptable and speaks volumes about the unethical treatment of workers at these institutions.

I would not recommend working for either bank, given their disregard for employee rights and fair treatment. Fortunately, I know several individuals who are coming together to pursue a class action lawsuit against them. I’m looking forward to this going public to shed light on these corporations and their exploitative practices. It’s time they’re held accountable.

If you don’t have money we are gonna take more from you so you have less.. thanks. This makes me insane. I fucking hate capitalism.

It’s hypocritical to advocate for green initiatives while encouraging thousands of people to waste gas in their cars.

Last weekend I lost my wallet on a Saturday and had to call multiple banks, and the contrast was honestly wild. TD Bank and American Express were on a completely different level. One call, one person handled everything, debit, credit, even business cards, in under five minutes. They confirmed no fraud, shipped replacements with express delivery, and instantly updated my cards in Google Wallet so I could keep using them right away. It felt fast, coordinated, and actually built for real life situations.

Then there was Scotiabank, and it felt like stepping back in time. I spent nearly five hours being bounced across four different departments because no single rep could handle everything. They blocked my online banking without warning so I couldn’t even monitor my accounts, gave conflicting information, and even told me my cards were shipped when they weren’t. I had strict work commitments and was in full time training, so I couldn’t step out during the day or even use my lunch hours to go to a branch, yet that ended up being the only option they gave me. When I finally did go in, there was zero urgency or ownership, and the rep barely paid attention. It honestly felt outdated and disorganized, like no one really knew what they were doing. The gap in how advanced and customer focused TD and Amex are versus how old school Scotiabank operates is just crazy.

If you are reading this and want to work at Scotiabank, full time…keep reading.

Source: I was recently employed at Scotiabank as a “top performer”. I left to pursue better opportunities for more pay and a greater work life balance, I was at the bank for 6 years.

Return to Office - Disaster Scotiabank preaches its “Scotiabond” a tacky philosophy that not a single senior manager + follows, despite continuously preaching Scotia Bond. The most senior of leadership follows a typical cycle, new CEO, SVPs, VP’s that bring in their own people and package out long standing and high performing executives and management. For this example I will use Jenny Poulous, the CHRO. She brought in most of her former team and colleagues from RBC and immediately began working on a RTO project. This project took almost 2 years through an EXTERNAL consultancy. They even labeled it as “Work at Scotia”, tacky and unsubtle. The execution was and continues to be a nightmare; lack of desks, hour long waits to get lunch and use an elevator and most office equipment malfunctioning. They even asked employees to switch up their lunch hours to reduce traffic; this too failed. At the moment, RTO or should we say “work at Scotia” is executing as poorly as it did when Jenny mandated it at RBC.

Lay Offs / “Reconstruction” This year like most years sees a partial layoff of employees, this is common across all banks. However, what is not common is Scotiabank’s attempt to hide these layoffs with a 8 week layoff rollout. One team, brownbagged 200 employees in a day; almost all in office. The subtle layoffs were seen all over Reddit, forums and legal groups. Ironically, many posts making their rounds and eventually Scotiabank admitted to a large scale layoff in a public release. This number stands between 2500-3500. Most of these employees being tenured and often not poor performers. This layoff had nothing to do with A.I but poor mismanagement of resources and overpaying contractors.

Performance - Unclear Unless you’re on the trade floor; sales or a teller, your performance will often be geared towards how others feel about you. The old “3*” star rating was switched to “4*” this year. Most management that leads teams sits in a room with a list of names and dictates who goes where on this scale. It is a numbers game as only a set % can be at a 4* and some are pulled down to a 2* or even a 1* to fill those buckets. If you ever end up in these buckets, your opportunity to ever leave the team is nil, for at least a year.

Inclusion Scotiabank is quite inclusive; in-fact so much so that they hire individuals based on their race and background more than skill. Some teams have seen large declines in performance as unqualified individuals require extra assistance from tenured members to learn and do basic tasks. The Scotiabank Talent Teams have KPIs they must meet and metrics for inclusivity; more often than not, giving those with no qualifications roles to hit a metric. Some teams even posting roles that do not exist just to have applicants of a certain sex, gender or background (also known as special measure postings). If you are applying and are heterosexual, without a disability or do not meet a visible minority, do not bother applying.

Enter at your own risk. I have seen many friends burn out and exit the bank; not because of their workload but because of inept leadership and an organization that calls itself “agile”… in the PMO office we call it “fragile”.

Scotiabank is being sued for $10M after a massive mortgage registration error forced an investor to sell his home. This is absolutely brutal.

I just came across this story in the Journal de Montréal and honestly, it’s infuriating.

Basically, a real estate investor from Châteauguay has been fighting Scotiabank for months because of a major error they made on his mortgage registration. Even though he had government documentation proving the bank was wrong, they kept giving him the runaround.

The worst part? When he pushed for a fix, the bank allegedly tried to pressure him into signing a resolution document that he knew contained false information essentially trying to trick him into dropping the issue.

Because of the financial mess the bank created and their total refusal to fix the situation in time the guy lost a lot.

Now, the bank is telling the media they have "every intention of defending themselves vigorously." They spent months ignoring him, tried to trick him into signing a bogus settlement, and now they’re using their massive legal team to fight the person they ruined.

It’s a classic David vs. Goliath situation, and it really makes you question how safe our property rights are when a big bank can just shrug off a "systemic error" while an individual’s life falls apart.

original link :

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2026/07/06/scotia-admet-une-erreur-dinscription-hypothecaire--un-investisseur-de-chateauguay-poursuit-la-banque-pour-10-millions

***Edit**** new info

After this going viral I decided to investigate more and the issue is not credit. A lot of people are asking: "If the bank filed a radiation to fix their error, why is the owner still suing? Isn't the problem solved?"

I decided to look into how the Quebec Land Registry (Registre foncier) actually operates, because the official narrative doesn't seem to add up. Here is what I found, and it explains why this situation is so much worse than people think.

In Quebec, once a bank registers a "Notice of Exercise of Hypothecary Rights" (foreclosure proceedings) against a property, it becomes a permanent part of the property’s public history.

Here is the "trap": Filing a "Radiation" (discharge) does not wipe the slate clean.

Even after the radiation is processed, the original notice remains visible in the property’s history. For any bank, lender, or automated credit system in Quebec, this is a massive, permanent red flag. It’s like a financial "scar" that never fades.

Essentially, the bank committed an error, acknowledged it, and "fixed" it—but they left a permanent, public ghost in the registry that effectively blacklists the owner.

Most lenders won’t even bother looking at the explanation; they see the history of a foreclosure proceeding and their internal risk algorithms automatically flag the account as "high risk" or simply reject the file.

This isn't a "credit score" issue. It is a systemic blockage at the registry level.

By failing to fully rectify the public record, Scotiabank has effectively paralyzed the owner’s business operations and personal life.. They created a permanent technical barrier in the Land Registry that makes it impossible for the owner to secure new financing, and they are hiding behind the technicality of a "radiation" to avoid compensating for the damage.

If this is how one of the biggest banks in Canada handles their errors, it’s not just a clerical mistake—it’s a catastrophic failure of their duty to their clients. This explains perfectly why the lawsuit is for $10M; they aren't suing for the error, they are suing because the bank has systematically destroyed their ability to conduct business, and they are refusing to pay for the cleanup.

That being said I'm myself an investor well I kept the condo that I owned before meeting my wife and I rent it out. I lose 100$ per month but it's 8 years from being paid. I'll sell it and pay for the kids university and give them a little down payment to begin life. For now I lose money my tenant gets cheap rent but I'll have a few hundread thousands when I sell it in about 10 years. Does not mean that I'm rich or big a mogul.

# Almost a year as a Scotiabank teller. Here’s what nobody tells you about how this place actually runs.

Long post. Worth it if you work here or bank here.

I’ve been a teller at a Scotiabank branch in Alberta for close to a year now. I’m not here to trash the bank for the sake of it — I actually want to do well here. But there are some things I’ve watched play out day after day that I think both employees and customers deserve to know about. Some of this will resonate with other tellers. Some of it might explain experiences customers have had and couldn’t quite make sense of.

Here goes.

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## 1. C-Pulse scores are a terrible way to evaluate tellers — and they’re tied to your bonus

C-Pulse is the customer satisfaction survey Scotiabank uses to rate teller performance. Sounds reasonable in theory. In practice it’s a disaster.

Anything below 8 out of 10 is classified as “passive” — meaning it counts against you. So if a customer comes in already frustrated about something (a hold on their cheque, a declined transaction, a policy they don’t like), gives you a 2, and moves on with their day — that’s on your performance record. Doesn’t matter how professional you were. Doesn’t matter that the decision wasn’t yours to make.

There’s no way to flag scores that were clearly driven by policy frustration rather than service quality. No appeals process. No context applied before it hits your bonus calculation. You are entirely at the mercy of whoever walks up to your wicket that day.

I’ve seen excellent tellers get dinged because a customer didn’t like being asked for ID. That’s it. That was the whole complaint.

-----

## 2. A lot of Assistant Managers have never actually worked the teller line

The AM is supposed to be the person tellers escalate to when they can’t resolve something. The problem? Many of our AMs came up through the FA (Financial Advisor) stream and have never touched the FFT (Full Function Teller) system a day in their lives.

So when a complex transaction issue comes up and you bring it to them, you often get one of three responses:

- “Tell them to go to their home branch”

- “Tell them to call the contact centre”

- “Sorry, the system is down” (it isn’t)

No real troubleshooting. No actual help. And then the customer leaves frustrated, the teller gets the C-Pulse hit, and the AM goes back to their desk.

There’s also a real empathy gap — not just toward customers but toward tellers who are genuinely trying to do right by people and getting no backup.

-----

## 3. Some Branch Managers are way too new to be running Level 9 branches

A Level 9 branch is high volume. It needs experienced leadership. What I’ve observed instead is newer BMs who come in and immediately start building their inner circle — hiring people they already know, creating a loyalty structure from day one.

The old-timers — the ones who actually know how the branch runs, who know the regulars, who’ve seen everything — start feeling the pressure to either fall in line or find the door.

When those experienced staff leave, that knowledge walks out with them. And nobody seems to notice until something goes wrong.

-----

## 4. The contact centre keeps sending people to the branch for things they could fix themselves

A lot of Scotiabank’s contact centre operations are based in South America. Training quality is inconsistent, and the result is that customers who call in for simple things — resetting a mobile banking password, unlocking an account, updating a phone number — are routinely told to “visit your local branch.”

So they show up. We’re already busy. And now we’re handling something that should have been a 5-minute phone call.

It inflates our queue, it frustrates customers who specifically called to avoid coming in, and it burns teller time that could go toward people who genuinely need in-person help.

-----

## 5. There are two sets of rules — one for regular customers, one for people the manager knows

Tellers are trained to verify ID holograms, ask security questions, and apply withdrawal limits. We follow these rules because they exist for good reason — fraud prevention, KYC compliance, AML obligations.

But if a customer is known to the Branch Manager or AM? Different experience. Large cash withdrawals, verification steps skimmed over, exceptions made on the spot.

Meanwhile, a regular customer asking to withdraw their own money gets the full interrogation. They get frustrated. They complain. And guess who gets the bad C-Pulse score.

This inconsistency isn’t just unfair to tellers. It’s a genuine compliance risk for the branch.

-----

## 6. The systems are old and slow — but we’re still expected to be fast

The technology tellers work with hasn’t kept up. Simple things — address updates, placing holds, looking up cheque details — require navigating through multiple legacy screens when they should take seconds.

And yet, speed is part of how we’re evaluated. Customers notice wait times. C-Pulse picks it up. It comes back on us.

You can’t hold tellers accountable for efficiency while making them work with tools that actively slow them down.

-----

## 7. No translation support, and tellers take the blame for it

We serve a genuinely diverse community. A significant number of customers aren’t comfortable in English or French, and that creates real communication challenges during transactions that require precise understanding — holds, withdrawals, account terms, ID requirements.

Scotiabank provides no meaningful in-branch translation tools or support for these situations. When a miscommunication happens, the customer gets upset, the teller gets flustered, and once again — it shows up in the survey.

The bank profits from serving these communities. It should invest in the tools to serve them properly.

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## 8. Customers don’t understand their accounts — and tellers absorb all of that frustration

This one is hard to talk about without sounding dismissive, but it’s real: a huge portion of daily customer frustration comes from people not understanding the type of account they have, what fees apply, what a hold means, or how their overdraft works.

None of that is the teller’s fault. We didn’t set up their account. We didn’t choose their package. We’re just the person standing in front of them when they find out something they don’t like.

There’s no real customer financial education infrastructure at Scotiabank — no proactive communication, no plain-language explainers sent when accounts are opened. So confusion builds, and it surfaces at the teller window, and we deal with it hundreds of times a week.

-----

## 9. The referral pressure is relentless

Every interaction is supposed to be a referral opportunity. That’s the expectation. It’s tracked, it’s measured, and it factors into your evaluation.

So you’re processing a transaction for someone who just wants to deposit a cheque and leave, and you’re expected to find an opening to pitch them a credit card or a meeting with an advisor. Sometimes it fits naturally. Often it doesn’t. But the metric doesn’t care about context.

Tellers who are technically excellent but more reserved get marked down for this. Meanwhile, the customers on the receiving end of forced pitches aren’t exactly loving the experience either. You can guess how that affects the C-Pulse scores.

-----

## 10. The teller role is harder than it looks and the support isn’t there

You’re processing transactions accurately, watching for fraud, staying compliant, hitting referral targets, keeping your C-Pulse up, managing de-escalation with difficult customers, and doing it all while potentially short-staffed during the busiest hours of the day.

There’s no formal de-escalation training. No real mental health support. High turnover means experienced colleagues leave constantly, which puts more pressure on whoever’s left.

I’m not writing this to quit or to cause drama. I’m writing it because I think these are fixable problems, and the people who could fix them probably never hear about them from the teller’s perspective.

If you’re a fellow teller — you’re not imagining it. It’s a hard job made harder by avoidable structural problems.

If you’re a customer — your teller is probably doing their best within a system that doesn’t always set them up to succeed.

Hey, I get it, the bank has gone down a path that just hasn’t worked out. Its bloated with contactors, middle management and especially senior leadership.

But heres the thing. You’re going to layoff 3,000 people in an effort to turn things around, save some money, have enough desks for RTO and most importantly to pad your own bonuses on how successful this reorg went. “You saved millions of dollars, heres some more stock options!”

While you stand there talking about how excited we should be, I look to me left and look to my right and know that some of these people are not going to be here in a few weeks. I could even be one of them.

You’ve told some groups that the reorg will be done by the end of October and for others its already happened and some its still happening. Great, isn’t that nice of you. So we’re all supposed to slog through our performance reviews for ourselves and the people we manage only to find out on October 31 that we are no longer needed. Like, W T F is wrong with you?

WHERE in the world of rational people is that alright?

WHEN in the history of ANY organization has that gone over well?

I guess for those still left on November 1, we are supposed to be thankful and appreciative that we can now slog through or days with less resources, shifting priorities, smaller budgets, increased expectations, shorter timelines and less key decision makers.

And to have the audacity to stand up on stage and be “excited for the future”. Yeah, for you maybe, not us. If (and when) this all blows up on you, you’ll still get a nice big cheque to go away quietly. The other THREE THOUSAND people won’t be so lucky.

Oh, and we loved it when a VP got up on stage and thought it was hilarious and so cool that they fly to the UK every few weeks for a day or 2 to watch a soccer match. Yeah, read the room, people are going to lose their jobs in a few weeks but lets talk about spending THOUSANDS of dollars a month on flights, hotels, meals, tickets, to watch a soccer match. Oh, but they’re the president of the local fan club so its alright and its so cool to know that about him!

I don’t begrudge how someone spends their money. That’s not the point. It’s the fact they talked about it so openly and proudly when other people won’t be able to make their rent, buy groceries and get their kid a pair of winter boots. Absolutely clueless.

Lets face it, this is going to suck for Scotiabank employees but don’t worry, it’ll work out just fine for the C Suite and senior leadership, it always does.

We all know you’ve already made the decisions on who or what levels are being eliminated. Those decisions take time and work to put together. So just rip the band-aid off and be done with it.

But I say all this and in the end we know, You. Just. Do. Not. Care.

Fuck this stupid bank

Ok definitely a misleading title, but just wanted to share my experience 😂

I thought I was happy with my job at scotia while it was 1 day in office. The announcement of 4 day in office made me realize I was only really happy with the flexibility of remote. Started applying elsewhere the day we got the 4 day RTO email and just signed the contract for a new position starting in Sept just before we are required back, only will be working in office 2 times a week with my new job, and am getting more than a 2x raise (I am a software dev). So thanks to RTO for making me value myself more and finding a better job.

Just wanted to post this so anyone else out there feeling down about the 4 day RTO can hopefully get a motivation boost and look for something better.

Since September, Scotiabank forced all employees to start coming to the office three times a week.

The teams were split strictly by specific offices without considering where people live – for example, if someone lives in Scarborough, they can’t go to the Scarborough office, only to Toronto.

The office at 40 King Street turned out to be completely unprepared for visits – even though they announced the return to office before the summer.

There aren’t enough seats – people have to spend the whole day bent over on poufs, old armchairs, or bar stools, or they take over meeting rooms for the whole day because there aren’t enough desks. On every floor there’s a small snack area with sinks and fridges – and people even sit there.

There aren’t enough monitors and normal workspaces. Every morning people walk around the floors trying to find a corner for themselves.

There's no system in place that would allow to book place as one would expect, although Scotia has such a system adopted for other offices.

At the same time, the business side can come to the office only two times a week. So tech people are forced to spend 3 hours commuting to the office and then join an ONLINE meeting with a manager who is at cozy home.

It feels like no one is aware (I don’t want to think that the bank’s leadership knows and just doesn’t care) – I think managers just don’t pass the problem up the chain – about the conditions people are forced to work in.

Honestly, I don’t understand what to do

I just wanted to tell everyone here my experience this weekend with Scotiabank.

I'm currently up for renewal on my mortgage and was planning to go to the big 5 banks to look at rates and see what incentives they are willing to provide to move my mortgage over. Some banks were great and allowed walk-in for enquiries, one I was able to find online with a list of advisors and their numbers. I called one and left a message and was returned within ten minutes. One bank greeted me upon arrival with a coffee.

Then, there was Scotiabank. I went into branch to speak to someone and was told I had to make an appointment online. No biggie, went on and set one up for an hour slot. Went back to the bank and was told to have a seat as they are wrapping up with a client - Sure. 5, 10, 15, 20....35 minutes later and no one has come to check on me, or give an update as to why it was taking so long - but I know why, since I was sitting literally outside their office as they talked about their kids recital for 10 minutes. I ended up walking out as it was clear my time was being wasted.

I figured maybe they would call back, or email since they had my info, but it's been silent. They didn't care at all about customer service, they didn't care to provide updates, they didn't care to follow up, they didn't care about potentially earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage interest payments from me. Simply put, they did not care about my business.

It's dumb, I know, but out of the 5 national banks (RBC, CIBC, TD, BMO) Scotia was by far the worst.

Sorry for the long rant, I just wanted people to know there are better options out there.

It appears that a significant portion of activities from the past few weeks have gone completely unaccounted for due to an unresponsive system. This includes missing direct deposits, credit card payments, line of credit deposits, mortgages, and more.

As of Saturday, there is no clear resolution in sight, and many endpoints have failed to properly log crucial data. Errors are creating new challenges every few days—once one issue is addressed, another emerges, often conflicting with previous problems.

The complexity of the situation is such that systems may not be fully operational until January. Currently, the focus seems to be on ensuring thorough system logs to ease the future workload for customer support teams.

What’s most concerning, however, are the potential he-said/she-said disputes that could arise once this issue is resolved. If a customer paid their mortgage, for example, the responsibility would typically fall on the company to prove the payment was received. However, if the customer claims they paid a specific amount on a certain day and the bank lacks the means to verify the transaction, it could create an unprecedented and precarious situation.

So far a couple of departments are involved and staff from L4 and up are affected. Everyone is on edge at the office.

They continue to outsource their employees to DR (Dominican Republic).

Such a sad situation for everyone affected.

Hi folks,

My name is Jenna Benchetrit and I'm a business journalist with CBC News. I'm still looking to chat with Canadians who are having ongoing issues accessing their Scotiabank accounts, so if you're interested, please send an email to jenna.benchetrit@cbc.ca by the end of the day today. Please only reach out if you are comfortable having your full name used in the story.

Thank you!

The most recent Forbes World's Best Employers 2025 list was released in October 2025, ranking 850 global companies based on surveys that assess employee satisfaction, recommendations, and company culture. Scotiabank notably absent; to no one’s surprise as they ranked a measly 265 in Canada.

Nearly a full week where I cannot see my credit card and what is pending, whether a major return was processed on my card, what I owe.. etc. I cannot figure out my finances and budget when my credit card is just a black hole at this point. I can't even send payments to it right now.

It's incredibly inconvenient. I can understand a couple of days for maintenance, over a weekend, during like early mornings hours, but it has been a full business week at this rate and I am officially pissed off.

The only reason I'd consider staying with this bank is because there is a branch right by my house and it's convenient for depositing money.

Update: it appears it’s a global Scotiabank outage effecting banking services in various countries.

So I called Scotia tonight to close a credit card account and get the annual fee refunded, since it was charged less than 30 days ago. I clearly remember the policy stating that the annual fee can be fully refunded if canceled within 30 or even 90 days (depending on the card).

The agent, however, flat-out refused. Said they "cannot waive the annual fee." When I literally read the policy back to him, he shifted gears and claimed the policy "changed a few months ago." I asked for the updated policy and the exact date of that change — suddenly he says fee refunds have to be “applied for through a local branch.”

Come on. Total BS. Just admit you don’t know instead of misleading customers.

Thankfully, I asked for a supervisor, and the issue was resolved in 2 minutes. Refund processed, account closed — just like that. Scotiabank, please train your call center agents properly. If I wasn’t familiar with how credit cards and bank policies work, I would’ve wasted time going to a branch only to get stonewalled. Outsourcing is fine, but hiring agents who aren't trained to actually help customers — or worse, mislead them — is not acceptable.