Joyel Singfield struggles to hold back tears as she recounts losing her 30-year-old daughter Maari to breast cancer last year— and the bitter dispute with TD Bank that followed.
In 2020, Singfield co-signed a $40,000 TD student loan for Maari which included life insurance. She only learned after Maari’s death that the insurance had expired, making her responsible for the $37,806 outstanding debt.
“It was honestly shocking,” said Singfield, who lives in Gatineau, Que. “We committed to that loan in 2020 with insurance.”
An internal TD investigation determined Singfield was on the hook for the full amount, plus growing interest. She fought back, battling the bank for more than a year-and-a-half. Following a Go Public investigation, TD backed down and wiped out the entire debt.
“I’m very relieved. I’m very grateful. I’m also a little bit disheartened at how this had to get to this point,” Singfield said.
“Nothing can prepare you for the loss of a child. … That’s what our family should have been focusing on.”
Account handled properly, TD says
Singfield is one of tens of thousands of Canadians who launch complaints against their banks every year, often with large amounts of money at stake.
According to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, financial institutions reported handling 236,324 customer complaints in the 2025–2026 fiscal year, with about 31 per cent not resolved to the consumer’s satisfaction.
Unhappy customers can escalate complaints to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), an independent resolution service funded by financial institutions. But a 2025 internal feedback survey of 1,598 Canadians who used OBSI found that only 20 per cent were satisfied with the outcome.
Maari Singfield passed away from cancer in January 2025 at the age of 30. (Submitted by Joyel Singfield)
Following TD’s investigation, Singfield appealed to OBSI, which sided with the bank that she was liable for the debt. However, both agreed that TD should cover Singfield’s $1,577 in unpaid interest and pay her $500 for distress.
“It’s an insult,” said Singfield, who rejected the offer. “Two thousand dollars doesn’t even cover any of the pain and suffering that this has caused.”
After Go Public got involved, TD cleared Singfield of all liability. Spokesperson Ashleigh Murphy said in an email that the bank handled the account appropriately, but decided to help Singfield due to her “difficult circumstances.”
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OBSI spokesperson John Bowes declined to comment citing “confidentiality obligations.”
Go Public investigates
In 2020, Maari got a student line of credit to pursue a graduate degree in counselling psychology. In remission from breast cancer at the time, she secured life insurance as added protection for her mother as co-signer.
Maari graduated in 2023, and she died in 2025, at which point the bank went after Singfield for loan payments. She pushed back, convinced the loan was insured.
It took the bank seven months to officially clarify that the original insurance policy was automatically cancelled when Maari’s student line of credit converted to a personal loan upon graduation.
Singfield insists the bank failed to notify her or Maari about the expired insurance, depriving them of the chance to renew the policy.
“We would have taken action for sure,” she said.
TD shared with Joyel Singfield this letter it says it sent her daughter in 2023, which included details about the need to renew her life insurance. Go Public discovered the letter is undated, and TD could only provide an estimated mailing date of ‘November 2023.’ (TD Bank)
TD shared with Singfield a letter it claimed to have sent Maari in 2023 outlining the loan changes and insurance renewal requirement. But Go Public discovered the letter is undated, and TD could only provide an estimated mailing date of “November 2023.”
“Undated letters are always viewed with suspicion by the courts,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of the citizen advocacy group Democracy Watch.
“You have to actually prove things, not just claim you did something.”
Meanwhile, Go Public confirmed TD never sent the letter to Singfield — even though Canada’s Bank Act requires banks to send co-signers separate loan notifications.
The bank said this is because Singfield opted out of receiving notifications. But Go Public challenged this after discovering the bank had sent her several notices regarding Maari’s personal loan — just not the critical one with details about the need to renew the insurance.
“That’s pretty damning,” said Erik Knutsen, a law professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. “I think as a bank, you cannot dig your way out of that one.”
Shortly after Go Public presented its findings, TD cleared the entire debt — which had grown to $41,188.
Knutsen says it’s disheartening that her dispute required media intervention, “which is essentially relying on public shame.”
Do customers need help to pursue complaints?
Conacher says Singfield’s case highlights the power imbalance when average customers battle big banks.
“You’re up against the bank with a team of lawyers and unlimited resources to drag it out and argue their case,” he said. “On the other side is the lowly consumer on their own.”
OBSI spokesperson Bowes said that people who turn to OBSI don’t require legal representation or specialized knowledge “to be assured of a fair outcome.”
Conacher disagrees and offers as a solution Democracy Watch’s long-standing proposal for Canada to establish a Financial Consumer Organization. It would advocate on behalf of customers involved in banking disputes, giving them “lawyer help, expert help,” he said.
Help earlier would have been good, Singfield says.
“Too many people don’t have the energy to fight something like this,” she said. “I think that’s really unfair.”
