TD Canada Trust becomes the first Canadian financial institution to reach Canadian students on their own turf with the launch of the TD Money Lounge, a Facebook group for student financial management.

“With a full schedule of classes, adjusting to dorm life, extracurricular activities and a busy social schedule, student life can be stressful,” says Su McVey, vp, customer segments and strategy, TD Canada Trust. “Many students spend a lot of time in online social spaces communicating and sharing advice. The TD Money Lounge was created to give them a place to talk about money and share budgeting strategies.”

TD Money Lounge is a Facebook group created for university and college students to talk about student finance. Filled with contests, giveaways and helpful advice, the TD Money Lounge is designed to help students navigate college and university living on a budget. It also offers TD Canada Trust an opportunity to tap into this important demographic.

“The TD Money Lounge gives us an opportunity to connect with students in their own space to better understand what they need and want from their bank and we want to hear it,” continues McVey. “We created this group to listen to young Canadians, to help them to hone their money management skills and to learn from them.”

As part of the TD Money Lounge, TD Canada Trust developed SPLIT IT, a no-hassle, budget-sharing tool that helps users split bills with roommates and friends. It allows the user to invite roommates, friends or groups to participate and share expenses such as rent, water, gas, cable and food bills. It breaks down who owes what and helps students keep on top of payment dates. The tool appears on a user’s Facebook profile, but remains confidential to that profile user.

“The minute a student walks onto campus they have new issues, new pressures and new concerns to deal with while learning to live on a tight budget,” says McVey. “The TD Money Lounge offers a simple tool to help ensure they stay in the black and eases one of their main concerns – money management.”

The TD Money Lounge launched on Facebook on August 13 is part of a six-month pilot project designed to engage students online.