Clawing our way to financial independence

This afternoon I was in one of the local credit unions opening a business bank account for the co-op group I am part of. I went there for many reasons, including the lower fees.

What a difference from CIBC! The person was very competent and business like. She tried to be as accommodating as possible in opening up the bank account which best suited our group's needs. The banking structure is much more small business friendly, including the following (which CIBC does not offer me right now):
- A small fee bank account with free deposits
- Access to the ATM, as well as point of sale use (debit card) transactions
- No cheque holds on deposits
- Instant approval of $5,000 in overdraft, for which I pay no fee except interest on any amount used and miniscule amount for life/disability insurance on amount used
- Assistance with setting up multiple accounts for savings, GST, payroll etc.
- Discounts on Fedex and other shipping and printing costs

Currently our company pays $9 a month at CIBC. For this I get access to online banking but I have to pay for deposits. I cannot deposit at a bank machine nor can I use my card ANYWHERE. Initially I asked for no cheques but they arrived anyway and they took $100 out of my bank account. CIBC holds all deposits for 5 business days (7 real human days) and I was not approved for overdraft. This last part, granted, may be because I did not have my financial house in order when I got the bank account and now I do in a big way. Oh and I mentioned that everyone at my bank appears to be incompetent yes?

I wanted to switch on the spot but Mr Wooly (business partner) was not with me and she did not have enough time anyway, so we are going back next week. At minimum we are switching our business account and I told her she might be able to talk me into switching everything over if she made it easy :) Maybe a consolidation loan? Mr Wooly said not to get ahead of myself!