There aren’t many “eye candies” on the site, so I can do my transactions quickly. Frequent account menus are easy to locate. Check the interest rates, it’s there. Bank account fees? Same. So, let’s explore CDF and see how user-friendly the bank’s online interface is. This is their (truncated) opening screen:

You enter your customer number and then login, or you can add your number to be memorized so you don’t have to enter your number every time you login. After that is an additional security measure, where you enter your personal access code for the security image and phrase. Please take note to check (for security) that you are indeed logging in to the real site by moving your mouse pointer to the URL icon. The red arrow in the screenshot indicates “Verified by: Thawte Consulting cc.” Take note also that the smiley image is not my security image!

and the smiley:

After successfully logging in, you will then be on this page: Your quick account summary display.

Depositing to a TFSA

There are many ways to deposit to your account. For now, let’s focus on making a deposit to a TFSA. You can deposit by signing their form and mailing it to CDF with a cheque to deposit to your TFSA. Or, you can contribute to it from the money you deposited from your “regular” savings account, which we will do here. Click “Account Services” and then click “Open a new account”.

After that, you should see this screen, in which you’ll have to click “Open Account” next to the range of the amount of your deposit. Each row shows the interest rate depending on the amount range.

Then, it will just show you a small screen about the details of your transaction. After that, this screen will follow, where you enter the exact amount to deposit into the new TFSA:

After clicking “Continue”, you will see a screen summarizing the transaction that is about to occur, and that will remind you about over-contribution rules and future close/transfer fees.

After clicking “Confirm”, the TFSA will be created and you will get a summary screen (not shown).

And finally, the screen shot of our $200 contribution. It’s already reflected in the account summary:

Paying bills

Let’s try another common online banking task: bill payment.

Paying bills online with CDF is easy and secure. Just set up the bill you want to pay, then select the amount, the date you want to pay the bill, and the account you want to draw from. I’m going to pay some of my credit card balances in this example. In my case I have already set up some bills. To pay a bill, click “Payments” in the left menu to get a list of bills to pay:

After a few clicks, you are done:

Withdrawing from a TFSA

Suppose you need some money (via a withdrawal, ugh!) from your TFSA account. You need some more money for your Las Vegas trip or you decided to buy a new computer so… that TFSA will have to be withdrawn. (Keep in mind the TFSA rules whereby withdrawals do not create extra contribution room until the following calendar year.) You can withdraw funds from your KeyReach TFSA in 1 of 3 ways:

a) Complete the TFSA form and mail it in to CDF. You can choose to have the funds mailed to you or deposited into your Savings or Chequing Account.
b) If you have a Savings or Chequing account, you can transfer funds from your TFSA into your Savings or Chequing Account by calling them toll-free at: 1-877-441-2249 (but I haven’t done this before).
c) Make the withdrawal online.

What we are going to do now is to transfer some of our TFSA money to our regular savings account online. First, click “Transfers…” in the left menu, which will bring up a page where you will select the source account, the amount, and the destination type:

After clicking “Continue”, you can then choose the specific account and attach a note:

Then, click “Confirm”:

Since this is an intra-bank transaction, your transfer is complete. You can go now to the nearest ABM (under THE EXCHANGE network of course) and get it.

Electronic Funds Transfer from your account at a different bank

I have already set up my payroll direct deposit with PC Financial. I also completed the EFT transfer agreement form with CDF. Now, let’s do the EFT transfer from my PC Financial account to CDF. Click “Transfers” in the left menu, then click on “Electronic Funds Transfer Authorization (External Bank Transfer)”:

After filling in the details of the EFT request, click “Confirm and Submit”, where you will have a chance to review the transaction:

Here is the summary of the transaction:

If you opted to receive an e-mail about this EFT, CDF will e-mail you with the amount of the transfer and the time at which the transfer will occur.

Wish list

My wish list for the CDF online banking interface is centered around their main account summary. Let’s take another look at this page:

Note that I put some fictitious amount here, as I unfortunately don’t have $1.2M+ sitting in a savings account or a $1M GIC.

Every time I make a new TFSA deposit, the number of the account increments. This started from “KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 00000″ and now I have total of four:

“KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 00000″
“KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 00006″
“KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 00007″
“KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 00008″

I understand that my savings account will stay at “00000″ and if I make another GIC contribution, then I expect to have another “KEYREACH RSP GIC 00002″ and so on, but what about the TFSA? If I make a TFSA deposit at another financial institution, then the amount is just added to the existing account. I don’t know why CDF does it this way. Is this to make sure their interest rate computation will stick to each specific account’s amount? Their software can’t compute them individually? If I keep investing into a TFSA with CDF, I will have “KEYREACH TFSA SAVINGS ACCOUNT 11111″ when I’m 70.

Also, I’d like to see CDF include a payroll direct deposit feature in their system so I don’t have to transfer money so regularly from other banks.

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Canadian Direct Financial TFSA as Emergency Account?	November 30, 2011 5:01 am by Fred	December 3, 2011 9:09 pm by msl	10
	Canadian Direct Financial TFSA Account	June 1, 2010 12:01 pm by Tanos	November 26, 2011 11:53 am by msl	4
	Canadian Direct Financial Canadian Direct Financial – HISA 2.1%	July 7, 2011 11:22 am by Dave	August 22, 2011 6:47 pm by MG	5
	Canadian Direct Financial holds?	July 23, 2011 2:21 pm by jacks	July 24, 2011 6:15 am by jacks	5
	Canadian Direct Financial Canadian Direct Financial new account opening process and timeline	November 3, 2010 7:59 pm by Prag	June 10, 2011 10:31 pm by msl	41

The end of the calendar year is a good time to think about Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) for a couple of main reasons:

• You get an extra $5,000 contribution room on January 1
• The end of the year is the best time to withdraw money from a TFSA if you want to minimize the time until the contribution room created from the withdrawal is available again. A more concrete example of this: it is easiest to move money from one TFSA to another TFSA by withdrawing from one TFSA at the end of the year and depositing to another TFSA at the beginning of the next year

Rules

Tax Free Savings Accounts have caused some confusion since they were introduced (as evidenced by some of the posts in this forum). For a comprehensive overview about TFSA rules and benefits, check out the Canada Revenue Agency site.

The biggest confusion around TFSAs is typically regarding withdrawals: you can withdraw money from a Tax Free Savings Account to a non-TFSA account during the year, but that does not create contribution room to deposit money back into a TFSA until the following year. As such, frequent withdrawals and deposits (unless in small amounts) can bring you over your contribution limit.

Technically, your available contribution room (in other words, the amount of money that you can deposit) for the current year remains fixed all year, and is made up of:

1. New contribution room available on January 1 (typically $5,000)
2. Unused contribution room from the previous year
3. Withdrawals made in the previous year (including any interest earned that you withdrew)

A very simple example: Suppose you had never opened a TFSA before, and deposited exactly $15,000 into a TFSA in January 2011, maxing out your contribution room. Then, you withdraw $5,000 in February 2011. You cannot re-deposit that $5,000 into a TFSA without penalty until January 2012.

You can transfer money between Tax Free Savings Accounts at different institutions during the year without adversely affecting your contribution limit, although some institutions will charge a transfer fee.

There are some good example scenarios out there that go beyond the basics, such as here, here and here.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that you can open a TFSA at almost any financial institution, there isn’t an easy way for the government give you a real-time report of your contribution room during the year. (I remember seeing such a report once, and it was inaccurate.) Therefore, you have to keep close track of your contributions and withdrawals yourself.

Beware of teaser interest rates

Because it is not as easy to move money in and out of a TFSA as with other bank accounts, you are slightly more locked in to a financial institution’s TFSA account. Thus, you are more vulnerable to fluctuating interest rates. Some banks have, in my opinion, abused this fact by offering higher rates at the beginning of the year and then dropping the rate a few months later for more reasons than just “market fluctuations”. You and your money are a bit stuck at that point. I am not predicting that this will happen again, but it is definitely something to be suspicious about when you see a higher than usual TFSA rate at the beginning of the year.

Some examples:

• Canadian Tire Financial TFSA:
  Jan 8, 2010: 3.15%; May 7, 2010: 2.15%
  Dec 30, 2010: 3.50%; Mar 31, 2011: 2.50% (even though they had advertised that it was “not a temporary promotional rate”)
• ING Direct
  Jan 1, 2010: 3.00% (was 1.20% on Dec 15, 2009); April 28, 2010: 2.00%
  Dec 30, 2010: 2.00% (was 1.50% on Oct 2, 2010); Aug 20, 2011: 1.50%
• There is also some discontent around some recent rate drops at Hubert Happy Savings, which you can read about here.

See this comparison chart for some historical data on rates.

More than just a savings account

You can open a TFSA trading account for investments (such as in stocks) and you won’t be taxed on the gains made within the TFSA. However, you are also subject to more volatility compared to investing outside of a TFSA: you aren’t able to deduct capital losses within a TFSA from other taxable gains, while you are able to deduct capital losses outside of a TFSA.

You can also open other accounts, such as a GIC, within a TFSA. See this thread for some discussion around this.

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Tax Free Savings Accounts TFSA Deposit Contribution Limit Indicator	February 1, 2012 8:01 am by Remi W	February 1, 2012 11:46 am by Peter	8
	Tax Free Savings Accounts gold and silver coins	December 23, 2011 9:33 am by billy	December 26, 2011 3:29 pm by billy	9
	Tax Free Savings Accounts TFSA 2012 contribution room	December 22, 2011 4:32 pm by SavingsMan	December 22, 2011 7:52 pm by mr P. Pincer	2
	Tax Free Savings Accounts Bond Funds	November 24, 2011 5:14 pm by 88kanaka	December 19, 2011 5:03 pm by paj	12
	Tax Free Savings Accounts Can you have more than One Beneficiary on a TFSA?	December 15, 2011 11:39 am by pebbles	December 15, 2011 3:08 pm by 88kanaka	2

• a welcome bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points if you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months; convertible to Aeroplan miles, SkyMiles, or Asia Miles. 25,000 Aeroplan points is good for an economy ticket within almost anywhere in Canada and the US.
• annual fee waived for the first year; supplementary cards free for the first year as well
• earn one point for every dollar spent

I signed up for this card for the bonus points and to see what it was like to have an American Express card. A note on applying for a business credit card: if you don’t own a business, you can still legitimately claim to run a business under your own name as long as you have even a small amount of outside income. Even though I own a business, I did not apply for this card under that business name.

Premium service

American Express is known for having the highest-spending users (not me!), relatively high annual fees, and for requiring merchants to sign separate and sometimes exclusive agreements with them. As a result, American Express takes good care of its customers. Three main things stood out to me:

• The application process was easy. You can apply online and the approval process happens either immediately or within about a week if they need to verify any details. Once you’re approved, your card arrives in about another week. Customer service for this process was straightforward and friendly.
• The online management interface is fully-featured and easy to use. Tasks like viewing past statements, signing up for e-statements, viewing spending reports broken down by type of purchase, changing account details, and making account requests are intuitive and accessible.
• Points appear immediately. You don’t have to wait for your next statement for your account be credited with points. Transferring the points to Aeroplan is simple, and sometimes there are even redemption promotions.

As simple as those things sound, many credit card companies and banks fail to achieve such a pleasant level of service.

Extra perks

The main perk that I’ve benefited from is AMEX’s Front of the Line for buying event tickets. For the average person, Front of the Line provides two main benefits: pre-sales access and reserved seating blocks during normal sales. This is quite nice to have, but treat it more like an extra option when looking for seats. Sometimes, using other types of fan pre-sale codes, or buying tickets during the normal sales period early or with good timing luck can yield better seats. Tickets purchased through Front of the Line privileges are sometimes but not always better.

It’s not that widely accepted

I was a bit fearful that American Express would have a low acceptance rate, compared to Visa or MasterCard. For me in Vancouver, Canada, AMEX is accepted at noticeably fewer places, so much so that it has become an annoyance to ask companies whether they accept the card.

Lots of commonly frequented places accept American Express, such as London Drugs, parking machines, major grocery stores, and gas stations. However, I’ve had to use a Visa or MasterCard backup at several restaurants, retail stores such as Swimco, the dentist office, an optician store, and Choices Markets. Also, some online merchants that accept credit card payments through PayPal might not necessarily accept American Express, due to the need to sign a separate vendor agreement. The rate of American Express acceptance at places that I’ve been to that accept credit cards is potentially as bad as 50%.

Annual fee

After the first year of no-fee bliss, the annual fee is $180 for the first card and $50 for each supplementary card.

Aeroplan points

I cannot comment on the value of SkyMiles or Asia Miles, but I do collect Aeroplan points. The value of an Aeroplan point is open to debate, and depends on how you use your points. If you’re looking for an airline rewards card or even just a rewards card, is it worth it to collect Aeroplan points? Consider the following:

• The reward chart is quite general, as it divides routes into broad regions. For example, most long-haul economy flights within Canada and the USA can be had for 25,000 points — you’re getting the most value if you fly from one corner of that area to the opposite corner.
• It’s more worth it to the Aeroplan credit card reward points if you’re also collecting Aeroplan points elsewhere!
• You cannot redeem all of your points at once, so there’s always some left over.
• You still have to pay some airline ticket fees. If you end up redeeming Aeroplan points for a flight that you wouldn’t otherwise have taken, you’re technically spending more and also polluting the earth more!
• The pool of available Aeroplan seats is smaller than the total available seats.

Conclusion

Some areas that I have not touched upon include interest rates and insurance features. These are not very important to me at the moment.

The sign-up bonus is certainly valuable, as is the reward structure. If you’re looking to earn Aeroplan points on an ongoing basis, there are cards from CIBC (such as the Aerogold Visa) with a lower annual fee and that give you more points per dollar spent. Also, there might be some other American Express cards with a more suitable fee + reward calculation structure.

As for rewards in general, I prefer a cash back card such as the MBNA Smart Cash credit card, which has no annual fee. When you get cash back, you can choose to spend it on whatever you want, and you don’t have so much of an issue with leftover points.

The deal breakers for me with the American Express Business Gold Rewards were the annual fee after the first year, and the high percentage of companies that simply didn’t accept it.

And a final note: the shiny gold card is a bit too flashy for my taste! Sometimes I feel that when I bring it out, I’m trying to appear wealthier or more obsessed with status than I actually am…

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Credit card reward programs MBNA Cach back redemptions backlog	January 18, 2012 1:28 pm by Patrick	January 25, 2012 6:16 am by Sam	3
	Credit card reward programs PC Financial No Fee Card – $45 free grocery offer – expires March 31 2012	January 18, 2012 2:26 pm by Jenna	January 20, 2012 4:51 am by Jenna	5
	Credit card reward programs *NEW* Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite – *Maybe* the BEST CASHBACK CREDIT CARD EVER!!!	July 21, 2011 10:14 am by djino	January 4, 2012 6:01 pm by will	7
	Credit card reward programs MBNA’s Smart Cash *WORLD CARD*!!! – BEST CASHBACK CREDIT CARD EVER!!!	October 28, 2011 2:24 pm by djino	December 31, 2011 8:31 pm by Max	5
	Credit card reward programs 0% Balance Transfer and how to make the most of them	November 24, 2011 1:26 pm by pw	November 24, 2011 2:54 pm by HarryTheHat	2

When it comes to a business credit card, however, the options are a lot more limited. A good place to start is the RedFlagDeals.com credit card directory.

I run a relatively small web development company and 3 of us needed to have credit cards. Mainly, we wanted to simplify the administrative hassle around continuously writing cheques to reimburse our business purchases, which include travel expenses, equipment and supplies, external services, and meals and entertainment. After a rather thorough search, we ended up choosing the CIBC bizline VISA. Here’s why:

No fee

The annual fee for the CIBC bizline VISA is $0. You can have up to 9 additional cards at no extra charge.

No rewards or points

Generally, getting rewards from a credit card is considered beneficial. But after we weighed the fees (no matter how nominal) against the rewards on other cards, it simply wasn’t worth the administrative effort to us. Accounting for the fees and managing and using the points, not to mention any possible taxable benefits coming out of the rewards if awarded for personal use, actually seemed like a cost.

Without rewards, we can keep the purpose of the cards simple and as intended.

Accepted at many places

While American Express has a few tempting cards, for the purpose of putting as many business purchases as possible on a card, VISA and MasterCard are simply safer bets.

Consolidated statements

With the CIBC bizline VISA accout, each cardholder gets his/her own card and card number in his/her name. However, all cards on our account are tracked on the same statement. This contrasted with some other cards we looked at, where each card had a separate statement. We’re small enough that we can quickly tell which charge was by who and for what, and it is administratively easier to only have to deal with one statement.

An added bonus is that the CIBC online interface is quite nice to work with.

You can even break down transactions by type:

Simple application process

You can apply for the CIBC bizline VISA completely online. The process took less than ten minutes for us. It asked for information including:

• Primary cardholder’s address, phone number, date of birth, and income
• Additional cardholders’ address, phone number, and date of birth
• Business information: years in operation, annual revenue, business type, nature of business, primary bank

We received our cards about two weeks later.

When we had previously investigated getting credit cards through our primary financial institution (not CIBC), they wanted us to go into the branch, fill out significantly more information, and do credit checks on all of us. To be fair, that was not the main reason why we went with the CIBC bizline VISA (and we didn’t have anything to hide), but it didn’t help.
————————————————-

Miscellaneous details

• The CIBC bizline VISA comes with a PIN, which is the first time I’ve ever had a card with a PIN. Extra security, but also an extra number to remember
• We don’t ever intend on using our cards for actual credit loans, but the interest rate on the card is between 1.5% and 11% above CIBC’s prime rate.
• The card doesn’t include many insurance benefits. However, for things such as travel medical insurance, we use our normal benefits provider.

As a whole, the CIBC bizline VISA is simple and straightforward. Several of us charge our business purchases to it, and we pay it off every month. That’s it.

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Credit card reward programs MBNA Cach back redemptions backlog	January 18, 2012 1:28 pm by Patrick	January 25, 2012 6:16 am by Sam	3
	Credit card reward programs PC Financial No Fee Card – $45 free grocery offer – expires March 31 2012	January 18, 2012 2:26 pm by Jenna	January 20, 2012 4:51 am by Jenna	5
	Credit card reward programs *NEW* Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite – *Maybe* the BEST CASHBACK CREDIT CARD EVER!!!	July 21, 2011 10:14 am by djino	January 4, 2012 6:01 pm by will	7
	Credit card reward programs MBNA’s Smart Cash *WORLD CARD*!!! – BEST CASHBACK CREDIT CARD EVER!!!	October 28, 2011 2:24 pm by djino	December 31, 2011 8:31 pm by Max	5
	Credit card reward programs 0% Balance Transfer and how to make the most of them	November 24, 2011 1:26 pm by pw	November 24, 2011 2:54 pm by HarryTheHat	2

Peoples Trust is a CDIC-insured bank based out of Vancouver BC, Canada, and with branches in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. While Peoples Trust is not an online bank, they do allow for electronic transfer of funds to and from other Canadian financial institutions. However, in order to keep their costs low and offer the best interest rates possible, they do not offer all of the typical services you get at most other banks.

In their own words (source: peoplestrust.com):

Peoples Trust has become a very successful provider of financial services by combining price competitive products with truly exceptional customer service and support. Recognizing that a smaller organization cannot compete effectively in all areas, the company carefully examined the financial services industry and selected a number of product lines which could be offered with real added value. The compact nature of the organization ensures that operating overhead is well controlled and contained, resulting in the ability of the company to pass on these cost savings to you, the customers, in the form of improved interest rates… lower for borrowers and higher for investors.

Assets consist mainly of conventional and insured loans on predominantly multi-family residential properties located in major urban centers. Investor Services Focus on traditional short and long term RRSP and GIC products, together with mortgage banking for institutional investors. The company is particularly active in the Mortgage-Backed Securitization program as an Issuer.

Peoples Trust maintains a unique and enviable position among Canada’s financial institutions as a result of long-term profitability, steady asset growth and the ability to perform above and beyond customers’ expectations.

Why did I decide to try Peoples Trust?

Given the current state of the economy and low interest rates, a savings account rate of 4.0% is certainly enough to catch anyone’s attention (this only recently fell to 3.6%, which is still significantly higher than other banks). Offering a rate higher than many GICs (and even higher than some Mutual Funds as of January 2009!), there is certainly incentive to “test the waters” with a new financial institution. But is there a catch? At the end of this article, we’ll review some of the pros and cons. But first, let’s go through the account opening process.

Opening an account with Peoples Trust

You can access the full Peoples Choice Savings account terms and conditions here.

To open an account with Peoples Trust, visit:

http://www.peoplestrust.com/depositSerives.htm

and under “Peoples Choice Savings Account” click “purchase”. This will bring you to the online application form. The application process is straightforward and after submitting, you will receive a confirmation e-mail that looks like this:

Thank you for placing your savings with Peoples Trust!

You chose to place your savings in a Peoples Choice Savings Account and will begin earning interest from the day your first cheque/deposit is received by Peoples Trust. Your terms and rates are listed below.

If you have chosen to pay by Personal Cheque, please make it payable to yourself and mail it with your confirmation number written on the front to:

Peoples Trust Company
1400-888 Dunsmuir St.
Vancouver, BC V6C 3K4

If your funds are being transferred by Electronic Funds Transfer, your deposit will be processed on the next business day.
We will send you an official confirmation with your account details as soon as your deposit is received and processed.

————————————————————————
Confirmation Number : xxxx
Product : Peoples Choice Savings Account
Term : n/a
Rate : 4.000
Amount : $xxx
————————————————————————

Here’s what might set off a red flag for you: the cheque must be made payable to “Peoples Trust Company”. I must admit, this made me nervous, so I did some due diligence. I verified the Peoples Trust address with the CDIC, and made out a cheque for a much smaller amount than my full deposit. In a few weeks (yes, it takes that long), I received my Peoples Trust package in the mail with the initial “starter cheques” and account information.

Transactions

Peoples Trust offers no online banking capabilities. This means that you cannot check your balance or pay bills online. Also, only the first 5 transactions of the month are free (after the 5 transaction limit, there is a $1.50 charge per withdrawal, as of January 2009).

Notable features include:

• Deposit a cheque by mail or personal delivery to a branch
• Write cheques on your savings account
• Transfer funds between your savings account and an external account at another financial institution (initiated by your external bank)
• Transfers usually take about 1 business day and cannot be cancelled once initiated (you need to wait until the money has transferred, and then transfer it back again)
• Set up or authorize withdrawals via phone or e-mail
• Set up pre-authorized, automatic deposits into your Peoples Trust account
• Check your balance and transaction history by phone

Notable omissions include:

• No bill payment service
• No ATM or debit card service
• No electronic fund transfer to other account holders
• All correspondence with Peoples Trust must be done via phone, e-mail (deposits AT peoplestrust DOT com), or by visiting a branch. This is also the case if you wish to take advantage of the other services offered by Peoples Trust (such as opening a GIC or an RRSP).

Pros

• The interest rate posted is accurate, and paid monthly!
• You can write cheques on your account (you get 4 free cheques with your starter kit, after that the minimum order is $29.00 for 50 cheques).
• There are no hidden fees (when you keep your transactions to the limit of 5 per month), no minimum balance, and your funds are indeed CDIC insured for the standard $100,000 per account holder.
• You get a monthly account statement via postal mail.
• Good customer service: I was pleasantly surprised with the polite, helpful staff at Peoples Trust. The best way to get in touch with a representative, I have found, is by e-mail, which is usually replied to within 24 hours. While some might prefer a phone call, I much prefer e-mail to waiting for 15+ minutes on hold for a phone representative at some other high interest accounts (as I’m sure we all have experienced!)

Cons:

• Of all the Canadian banks, Peoples Trust places the longest hold time on your deposits: up to 9 days. This, combined with the 5 transaction per month limit, means that if you’re very active with your account, you may want to hold an additional account for your main banking purposes, and consider Peoples Trust as more of an investment option than a daily bank account.
• While you are sent a written monthly statement, Peoples Trust does not have online banking capabilities. This means that you can’t check your account balance or transactions using their website. However, you can link your Peoples Trust account with another online account and access your money via your ING, HSBC, PC Financial, and other online accounts (explained next).

How to link a Peoples Trust account to your other online accounts

Recall that electronic transfers between your Peoples Trust account and other institution’s account(s) are initiated from your other institution’s account(s).

Normally, to link 2 different online accounts, you would need to submit a personalized, void cheque from one institution to other the institution where you want to initialize transfers. However, in your starter kit from Peoples Trust, you are only given 4 cheques, none of which are personalized (with your name and address). Most of the online banks you call will insist that they will not accept anything but a personalized, void cheque in order to link accounts. This is not true!

Once you have opened an account with Peoples Trust and applied online with another financial institution to have your account linked, simply e-mail Peoples Trust and ask them to send an “account verification” to link to your other account (at HSBC, PC Financial, etc.). They require a fax number, address, and the name of a contact person in order to do this, but it will save you 30 bucks for the personalized cheques! It will take some time, but when completed, you will be able to transfer funds in and out of your Peoples Trust account electronically!

Summary

If you’re looking for a place to park your money until this unstable market settles (and beyond), Peoples Trust looks like a great option! Just be aware that you may need to do a little planning if you want to move your money in and out of this account.

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Peoples Trust New TFSA account 3%	December 23, 2011 10:49 am by Bil	December 24, 2011 5:17 am by Bil	8
	Peoples Trust TFSA 3% at People Trust	December 24, 2010 10:26 am by HappyNewYear	November 25, 2011 10:40 pm by msl	4
	Peoples Trust Free to transfer via Electronic Funds Transfer(EFT) between TD and peoples trust?	September 10, 2010 3:41 pm by Rin	July 21, 2011 9:55 pm by Yatti420	6
	Peoples Trust People’s Trust Late in mailing Statement	August 21, 2010 8:09 am by Tech	November 25, 2010 12:06 am by RetirEd	11
	Peoples Trust People’s Trust Savings — anyone have an account with?	March 17, 2009 3:13 pm by Brad Nailer	July 30, 2010 10:18 pm by Doug	18

I’ve always thought that ING Direct Canada’s business approach is smart, from its branding to its overall marketing to how it treats its customers. Over the years, it has projected a rather straightforward message about no hidden fees and good rates. This is complemented by an uncluttered website and a smart referral program. (In general, a referral program is usually a good idea, as it encourages people to recommend your product or company without having to pay them as employees. And, of course, you are not only getting new, high-quality customers — not just iffy leads — but you also take no risk until you’ve actually signed up a customer.)

ING Direct wasn’t the pioneer of high interest savings in Canada, but many people might think that it was. And even though the majority of other Canadian banks and credit unions have created high interest savings accounts (some which have higher interest rates), ING Direct remains a strong player. So it has been doing something right all along. Of course, the savings account isn’t the only “product” that ING Direct offers, but that account is a very important entry point for people to do other, more lucrative business with ING Direct, with mutual funds, mortgages, business accounts, and more.

Out of the blue, I recently got a package in the mail from ING Direct consisting of:

- The 272-page book The Orange Code: How ING Direct succeeded by being a rebel with a cause.

- A letter explaining their expanded referral program (both the referrer and the referree still get $13; however, they raised the limit from 20 referrals to 50 referrals, and extra monetary bonuses after you’ve referred 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 friends:

– This letter also notified me that ING Direct had made a deposit to my account for back-dated referral money from before the referral program was changed. (I was lucky to refer over 20 people a couple of years ago from this post.)

Why is this smart?

By sending the package in the first place, they are showing some customers that they care.

With the free book, they are enticing customers to learn more about them. Presumably, this will spur readers to talk about the book and the story behind ING Direct. (Note: I haven’t read the book yet.)

The revamped referral program structure is designed to get influencers to work cheaply for ING Direct. When I say “influencers” I mean consumers that other consumers listen to, providing free, effective, word of mouth advertising, provided that the influencers actually like your company. If you have the capability to refer up to 50 people, you are probably well connected or have an opinion or channel that people respect. ING clearly wants those people on their side!

By back-dating the benefits of a program, you help to keep your existing customers and once again get them to recommend you to others. So many times in the forums, I’ve noticed people complain about how a bank’s new promotion doesn’t apply to existing customers. In other words, those banks usually project an attitude of only caring about sucking people in, but not in treating them well once they’re customers.

I have a friend who received a similar package from ING Direct at the same time as me. Her reaction was: “I couldn’t believe they gave me $50. I love them!” I’m not quite as enthusiastic, but ING Direct certainly succeeded in many respects here.

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	ING Direct SERIOUS WARNING–TRY TO AVOID ING THRIVE ACCOUNT	January 31, 2012 6:47 am by SERIOUS WARNING	February 5, 2012 11:33 am by paj	8
	ING Direct Help!…… ING direct is holding rsp’s from my mom after my fathers death.	May 10, 2010 10:43 pm by Rick	January 23, 2012 9:06 pm by 88kanaka	32
	ING Direct Where to invest my GICs this year?	October 10, 2008 1:33 pm by Maxime	January 22, 2012 11:10 am by Taiga	28
	ING Direct ING “temporarily” sets TFSA and RRSP investment accounts at 2%	January 1, 2012 9:52 am by Bob	January 18, 2012 12:00 pm by Nightowl	10
	ING Direct $185 Bonus – When Signing Up for Thrive Chequing Account & Adding Your Payroll – ends July 25	July 18, 2011 4:16 am by Jenna	December 30, 2011 10:06 am by Doug Lurker	26

It all started about a year ago when I graduated from school and was faced with the end of my ‘student’ account at one of the big banks. Although I had already been paying fees (about $3.50/month, which bought me almost no services), the non-student plans were even worse. I decided it was time to explore some no-fee account options. Here is how I decided on Citizens Bank:

I didn’t want to buy a membership to a bank

My first line of inquiries was around credit unions, which typically have good reputations for having better fee structures. Citizens Bank is very comparable to credit unions, but it is not actually a credit union and thus you do not have to buy shares.

I wanted a stable bank, where my funds were secure

Citizens Bank is an ‘online’ bank, however they do have one branch location in downtown Vancouver, which appeases any worries I have about not having any face-to-face customer services options. As well, they are owned by Vancity, which means that they have the backing of a larger group. Funds deposited at Citizens Bank are also covered by the CDIC.

I wanted no-fee accounts, with high rates, and overall flexibility

I was looking to have two accounts: a chequing / savings account and a high interest account. Citizens Bank had both of these, and the accounts are automatically connected. My only point of dissatisfaction with their accounts was that the chequing / savings account was not completely ‘fee free’ (like Coast Capital Savings) as you have to keep a minimum balance ($1000) to avoid fees. However, as has been recently announced, they will have a completely free chequing / savings account shortly. This has improved my satisfaction about 30%, as I found it unreasonable that they could not match the Coast Capital ‘no fee’ account. After all, Citizens Bank is an online bank, meaning that they save on overhead costs.

The high interest savings account has consistently offered one of the top interest rates all year, and is currently about .10% higher than other banks. This account could also in many instances be used as a chequing / savings account as you can make bill payments, and some debit transactions out of that account (although I still wanted a chequing / savings account).

The chequing / savings account has unlimited transactions, and you can use any ATM on THE EXCHANGE Network (which makes it extremely accessible, as there are many banks on that network, such as HSBC and almost all credit unions). I also got free cheques with the account, which most banks do not do — even Coast Capital). They have a very basic but functional online interface that allows for online banking with bill payments and transfers. I have found interfacing between the two accounts is completely seamless, with instant transfers.

——————————————

All these elements lead me to open my account with Citizens. I found the actual opening of the account relatively easy — I did do it in branch (because I didn’t have any cheques from my other bank), and the service in branch was good. If you have cheques you can open the account by mail.

Unexpected, value-added features

Since becoming a client, I have come to discover some unexpected, value-added features:

Transferring funds between other Citizens clients

You can transfer money to other Citizens account holders for free. This is a great paperless way to settle payments with others. There are many applications of this, including: paying rent; settling a tab with a friend; and buying something online.

Memorized accounts

I have only recently discovered this feature, and it makes the above mentioned item much easier to do. Basically, you can have the system save other account numbers for you, so if you frequently transfer funds to other people, you can save them as a ‘memorized account’. Once logged in, click the Member Services tab, then click the Manage Memorized Accounts link on the left, add an account, name it and presto. Later, when you transfer money to another Citizens Bank member, you can choose their account from the memorized list.

Good customer service

I have occasionally had to phone their 1-800 number for customer support. I have always found the service to be very helpful, and very efficient. There is no 20-minute long phone tree or extended wait times; they pick up right away and provide good service. They are also open 24/7; you may be anxious about having a bank with only one branch, but it’s actually more accessible than most banks as you do not have to race to the branch before it closes. Whenever you have a problem, you can just call them up and receive quick service. This was one of my biggest complaints at my previous bank, as they were open so infrequently that I could almost never get service.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Citizens is a bank you can feel good about banking with. They have great corporate social responsibility policies. For example, they set a goal to be carbon neutral as an organization, and they have achieved it ahead of schedule. You can read about how they did it here. As well, they have an annual campaign where bank clients can vote from a list of charities about where corporate donations will be made. Initiatives like these make you feel good about being aligned with the organization. Remember, money talks: if you are concerned about CSR you have to think about who you are storing your money with.

Areas for improvement

Online login

This is an issue I have only recently had as a complaint. Within the last 3 months they changed their online login system to add some new ‘security’ features. You now have to enter your personal password, view a secret picture, and a secret word. Then if you have not registered your computer, or are using a public computer, you have to answer questions which you previously filled the answers in for. I hate this system. I find it cumbersome and annoying. I believe there may be a time and a place for extended security when using public computers, but I never use public computers for accessing my banking data (the best security measure of all), and therefore would have much preferred if there was an opt-in/out feature on the new security measures. That way I would not have to endure the hassle every time I log in from home, but if I knew I would be traveling or potentially using other computers, I could turn that feature on. I also question exactly how much security it adds to your account, since if someone could hack in and determine your password, why couldn’t they hack in and replicate your secret picture/word etc.

No fee account

As mentioned above it really bothers me that you need a minimum account balance in order to waive fees. The fact that they are apparently getting rid of this is a huge improvement.

Paperless statements

When I first joined I signed up to not receive my paper statements. However, I still receive them, and can’t fully figure out why. My complaint on this issue, is not one actually specific to Citizens but to all companies that try and sign you up for paperless — why can’t an option be that they email you a link to your bill every month. I don’t want to have to remember every month that it’s time to go online and check it, then have to find where it is on the website etc — this whole ‘paperless’ thing would work much better if they would send you a link once a month.

Automatic credit limit

When I first opened my chequing / savings account with Citizens, they opened it with an automatic $1000 credit / overdraft approved. I did not want that, and I still don’t. This should be an opt-in/out feature. My main concern is security — if someone stole my debit card tomorrow, they could withdraw my funds plus the $1000 ‘credit’ which I would then be on the hook for. Second, this extra $1000 is shown in your balance, so it can be confusing sometimes as to exactly how much you have if you forget to mentally deduct that $1000. Third, I find this to be sneaky behaviour on their part, as this credit comes with an extremely high interest rate in comparison to their regular lines of credit. It makes you feel that they are trying to pull a fast one on you, because if you ever make a mistake and dip into that money, you will be charged a hefty fee for that. I would prefer to take the risk of having a cheque bounce than to have this pre-approved credit.

——————————————

Overall, I have been happy with the service, security, and money management of Citizens Bank. I would recommend this bank to anyone.

Latest posts in the Citizens Bank forum

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Citizens Bank service charges,electronic packages and plan 24 savings account	June 25, 2010 7:53 pm by jude	June 30, 2010 12:42 am by Doug	6
	Citizens Bank Citizens Bank is closing	August 5, 2009 4:49 pm by Peter	February 25, 2010 3:31 am by Doug	28
	Citizens Bank Download your account history before your Citizens Bank account closes	February 24, 2010 5:14 am by Peter	February 24, 2010 4:28 pm by Prag	2
	Citizens Bank Vancity has a new high interest savings account Jumpstart?	November 16, 2007 12:59 am by Peter	January 9, 2010 4:34 pm by Sleeperz	4
	Citizens Bank Checking account functional until probably February	December 7, 2009 9:08 pm by Patrick	December 7, 2009 9:08 pm by Patrick	1

One-time fees such as NSF, bank drafts, and so on will still apply (as with all chequing accounts) but say goodbye to usual operating fees or monthly fees. Moreover, if you use an ATM while traveling outside of Canada, Citizens Bank will waive their portion of the fees. (The other bank might still charge something on their side).

While Coast Capital made the big news when they offered their no-fee chequing account a couple of years ago, I am partial to Citizens Bank to an extent because of its Ultimate Savings Account. That account is consistently near or at the top of the high interest savings account rates. With the new Citizens Bank chequing account, I would be able to make unlimited, instant transfers between my own accounts and to other Citizens Bank accounts. Essentially, I can keep the bulk of my money in the high interest account, and instantly transfer it over to the chequing account as needed.

Citizens Bank is mostly an online bank, which suits me well because almost all of my banking can be done electronically. However, I am also fortunate enough to live near its downtown Vancouver location, which does offer teller service (for the rare occasion that I have to deposit a US dollar cheque).

Ever since I opened a Citizens Bank account 4 years ago, I have become more and more of a fan. They’re owned by Vancity, they have great service, they’re socially responsible and green, and of course they have practical, relevant account offerings. Heck, here I am writing what is essentially a free promo for them!

Latest posts in the Citizens Bank forum

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	Citizens Bank service charges,electronic packages and plan 24 savings account	June 25, 2010 7:53 pm by jude	June 30, 2010 12:42 am by Doug	6
	Citizens Bank Citizens Bank is closing	August 5, 2009 4:49 pm by Peter	February 25, 2010 3:31 am by Doug	28
	Citizens Bank Download your account history before your Citizens Bank account closes	February 24, 2010 5:14 am by Peter	February 24, 2010 4:28 pm by Prag	2
	Citizens Bank Vancity has a new high interest savings account Jumpstart?	November 16, 2007 12:59 am by Peter	January 9, 2010 4:34 pm by Sleeperz	4
	Citizens Bank Checking account functional until probably February	December 7, 2009 9:08 pm by Patrick	December 7, 2009 9:08 pm by Patrick	1

I first noticed this Direct Savings Account in early 2007. I was currently using PC Financial’s no fees checking account with their 4% Interest Plus high interest savings account. I needed an all-in-one chequing / high rate savings account solution and HSBC’s Direct Savings account was definitely that and more.

I signed up March of 2007 with their $25 sign-up offer (under the condition that I have $100 in the account on June 27th, they would then deposit $25 by August 1st). Just as with most high rate savings accounts, to sign up, you need to complete the online savings account application followed by mailing them your first deposit cheque to link your existing checking account from another financial institution.

The sign-up process was seamless and the ATM Card along with the PIN was mailed within about 5 business days (to change the PIN, just visit an HSBC Branch). I then contacted customer service to get set up for telephone and online banking.

As stated above, I find the Direct Savings Account is your best all-in-one solution for banking. Absolutely free transaction banking with no monthly fees, no maintenance fees, no account fees, and no transfer fees. Free unlimited bill payments and pre-authorized debits along with free bank-to-bank transfers. My initial transfer was a bank to bank transfer from my checking account with PC Financial (CIBC) to the Direct Savings Account.

As you know with most all banks, although you will see the funds from the bank-to-bank transfer in your savings account the next day, they will hold the funds for about 5-10 business days while the funds clear your linked checking account.

ATM Deposits might be your way around this. Another great service from HSBC is that they are connected to THE EXCHANGE network so you will not have to drive far to look for a HSBC ATM. This will allow you to make free withdrawals and deposits from any Bank of Montreal ATM as well as any other ATMs connected to THE EXCHANGE network (National Bank of Canada, Alterna Savings, etc). Just visit www.the-exchange.ca to find the closest ATM. Your question here might be, do they hold funds you deposit at an ATM? I believe when my account was set up, they had a hold on any deposits exceeding $100. I called into customer service and asked if they would increase this $100 limit. I believe they had to do a credit check of some sort, but I was able to have it increased to $1000 with no hold. (They also increased my ATM cash withdrawal daily limit to $600 and my Interact purchases daily limit to $2000.)

So I was set. With the free unlimited ATM withdrawals and interact purchases, I decided to set up payroll deposits with my employer and also pre-authorized payments for my car payments and insurance. If you need to set up pre-authorized payments with any bill companies, you obviously will not be able to send the company a cheque (this is one of the things lacking with this account, but then again, most banks do not offer cheques on their savings, so I cannot complain), you will need to visit a HSBC branch and ask them for a Void Cheque Form.

I cannot complain too much about the interest on this account. When I signed up, it was at about 3.75%. The interest has fluctuated between 3-5% over the past 15 months. The recent promo (Feb 4th to May 2nd) was for new and existing customers giving a 4.75% rate on balances exceeding the balance you had on February 4th (otherwise you were only getting the normal rate of 3.30%). To get around this, I opened up a second Direct Savings Account when the promo began and kept most of my funds in that account while transferring funds I needed into my first Direct Savings Account. Unlike PC Financial, all transfers within HSBC accounts are instant with no delays.

Since opening up the two Direct Savings Accounts with HSBC, I’ve opened up two U.S. Savings accounts (a High Rate U.S. Savings account along with a Regular U.S. Savings account). The Regular U.S. Savings account is also a no fees account. (Although I cannot make purchases with this account, I am able to make free deposits / withdrawals with a branch service person as well as unlimited free transfers online. The High Rate U.S. Savings account only gives you the open for unlimited transfers through online banking, so you would have to build your U.S. Funds in this account and then transfer it online to your Regular U.S. Savings account and withdraw with a HSBC branch service person. I also opened up an RRSP Account earlier this year and contributed some funds to take advantage of their 4% promo rate without having to be locked in.

As for online options, you are able to request to have your statements mailed to you or to view them online or both. Here are a few settings you can change with your online profile.

Contacting customer service has always been great. I always get through to speaking to someone right away. Though one problem I find is if you make any special requests like the one I mentioned earlier about increasing your hold limit on deposits at ATMs, you will need to speak to your banking advisor, which is someone in Vancouver who takes care of Direct Savings Accounts. If this person is not available, you will have to leave a message and wait for him / her to contact you back.

The one negative encounter I did have with HSBC is when I lost my ATM Card on a Thursday evening. I went to an HSBC Branch Friday morning to get another one. They were able to provide one to me, but I was not able to use it for ATM / debit purchases for 2 business days. This meant having to wait until Tuesday to have access to my funds (although online banking was available). That Friday morning I had to transfer money from the Direct Savings Account to the U.S. account, then see the branch service person to withdraw the U.S. funds (while transferring it back to Canadian currency), so I could have some money for the weekend as my debit card was not usable. I had lost some money on the double conversion there. Keep in mind here, that HSBC Bank personnel do not have access to the Direct Savings Account — you will need to do all your transactions where this account is concerned all by telephone or online.

To wrap up this review, I would have to say my experience with HSBC as a whole has been very positive. From their free unlimited transactions, to their free unlimited ATM / debit access to their high interest rates, you really cannot ask for more. Customer service people are in Canada and always available (no hold times as of yet). Though I have read some people’s complaints about the online access, I myself am pretty happy with it. If you have the same banking needs as I do, I’m sure you will enjoy HSBC’s online Direct Savings Account. In my opinion, no other bank can compare.

Latest posts in the HSBC Direct forum

Forum/Topic		Started	Last Post	Posts
	HSBC Direct HSBC savings account rates on the rise	August 15, 2010 11:17 pm by Doug	June 6, 2011 7:01 am by mike	46
	HSBC Direct Another advantage of having the no fee account	March 6, 2011 7:18 am by Patrick	April 19, 2011 10:00 pm by Doug	4
	HSBC Direct Bad experience with HSBC corrected	March 20, 2011 6:11 am by Max	March 26, 2011 6:51 am by Doug	2
	HSBC Direct HSBC Advance Proposition Launches	March 31, 2010 1:09 am by Doug	September 6, 2010 10:22 pm by Doug	13
	HSBC Direct HSBC introduces monthly maintenance fee for passbook savings accounts	June 29, 2010 12:07 am by Doug	August 15, 2010 11:10 pm by Doug	4

The only reason why I keep a chequing account is so that I can deposit the occasional foreign currency cheque with a teller and so that I can write cheques (although some hybrid accounts let you write cheques). However, I try to keep as little money as possible in my chequing account at all times.

Is it possible to experience high interest, no fees, and still have access to your money when you need it? No single account satisfies this, but as with most things in life, you can tweak your habits to improve you situation. Most day-to-day fees and hassles involve debit card and ATM transactions, cheques, bill payments, and transfers. Here are some simple tips that can help you to address these issues to get the most out of your bank accounts.

Use credit cards as much as possible

Stores would probably prefer that you use cash, but to the consumer, using a credit card helps you in three ways. First of all, you can perform unlimited credit card transactions (well, as long as you have the money for it). With many debit cards, your chequing account only allows you a certain number of transactions per month. Second, many credit cards have no annual fee and give you rewards like cash back or points to buy groceries and such. Third, you only have to pay off your credit card once a month. This means that you can continue to earn interest on money that sits in your bank account for up to two months before you have to pay off your credit card bill without penalty.

Of course, you have to be careful with credit cards. If you carry debt on the card, then obviously you are being charged interest. Also, if you have trouble spending money that you don’t have, credit cards exaggerate the problem. But keep track of your purchases and you should have no problem.

Pay your bills online or via telephone

Often, paying your bills online or via telephone is free. You don’t need to write a cheque, you don’t need to mail anything, and you don’t need to drive anything. In addition, online of phone payments are often posted the next day, so you don’t have to wait the week or more with other types of payments.

Use PayPal

With PayPal, once you have linked your bank account to your PayPal account, you can pay people via “pre-authorized payments”. This is different than debit card payments because there are often chequing account limits and fees on debit card transactions but none on pre-authorized payments (although you should check this with your bank).

Although PayPal became big because of eBay, you can use PayPal to pay for items and subscriptions on an increasing number of websites.

If you and your friends have PayPal accounts of the “Personal” type, you can pay each other instantly and without fees via pre-authorized payments. This lessens your need to carry around as much cash (thus lowering the need to go to an ATM) or write cheques.

Try and get your friends to open accounts with the same bank

Often, transfers within the same bank are unlimited and free. I have a friend that I’m constantly lending and owing money to. We pay each other back instantly and without fees through online banking because we both have accounts with the same bank.

Carry some cash around and don’t use other networks’ ATMs!

ATM network fees are a pain. But really, just find an ATM that is part of your bank’s network! For example, if you have an account with HSBC or any of the credit unions, you can use ATMs on any other HSBC or credit union THE EXCHANGE Network (I think it’s officially capitalized) without paying any fees. As another example, if you have an account with PC Financial, you can use any CIBC bank machine without paying network fees.

And if you have at least a couple hundred dollars in your chequing account, whenever you withdraw cash, just try and withdraw larger amounts at a time (like $200 instead of $60). This might sound simple too simplistic, but I used to always withdraw the smallest amount needed; it made a huge difference to withdraw slightly higher amounts in order to decrease the frequency of trips to the ATM.

Don’t be afraid of opening multiple accounts at different banks

Many chequing accounts that have no minimum balance simply limit the number of transactions you can do. So if you have $200, you can just keep $100 in one account and $100 in another account and thus get double the number of allowed transactions. And if you have accounts at different banks, this means that you have probably increased the number of ATMs you can access without incurring network fees.

Pick a high interest savings account over short-term GICs and pair a high interest savings account with a chequing account in the same bank

This goal of this tip is to help you earn a high rate on your money while keeping the money accessible.

High interest savings account rates are comparable to short-term GIC rates, but of course you don’t have to lock your money in. If you keep as much money as possible in a high interest savings account and have a chequing account with the same bank, you can transfer money back and forth as many times as you want between those accounts either instantly or within 1 business day on an as-needed basis. So if you know you need to write a cheque on a certain date, simply transfer your money last-minute from your high interest savings account to your chequing account. This trades off the additional simple step in order to access your money for chequing needs with the ability to earn a higher rate on your money.