TD Helps
Fact Sheet
Background
The TD Helps program was conceived of in late
2008 during the height of the economic downturn to reach out to
customers and let them know that we would stand by them in good and
bad times. We set up a dedicated team to help people in hardship
manage their debt and, in some cases, keep their homes, by
providing mortgage restructuring, allowing customers to defer
mortgage payments, moving customers to lower cost products,
consolidating their debt and providing general financial advice.
These solutions provided much needed breathing space to take the
stress off of customers and help them get back on their
feet.
Employees
Employees were the greatest champions of the
program from the beginning. A large component of the program was
training our employees for all aspects of the program –
how to detect a deteriorating financial situation, help for
difficult conversations with customers, and also guidance for our
options and solutions. The training program was rolled out across
the country and involved thousands of front-line employees at
branches and call centres.
Going Public
To help us reach out to more people, we
launched www.tdcanadatrust.com/tdhelps/
on July 22nd 2009. On the site we featured our employees talking
about real situations where they were able to help customers facing
financial difficulty and we asked customers to call or visit a
branch if they recognized their own situation in any of the videos.
We engaged with customers on the site and ensured that the ones
that needed more help were contacted by a TD
Representative.
- Since February 2009 we’ve assisted
more than 30,000 customers through this initiative
- Employees have shared over 1,000 stories
over the intranet about how they were able to help customers in
hardship
- More than 160,000 people visited our TD
Helps site
Expanding our
reach
Given the success of our TD Helps program
with both employees and customers, and an imminent economic
recovery, the program is expanding to include help for people
experiencing an unexpected life event. We recognize that job loss,
illness, or other life events can impact customers’
finances unexpectedly – and quickly. At its core, the
program is still about helping our customers and standing by them
in tough times.
What’s
next?
The next phase of TD Helps debuts in March
2010. The new site will contain more employee videos, a cash flow
tool and short videos that provide tips for managing money and
dealing with life events that affect your financial
wellbeing.
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