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BMO and Simplii Financial security breaches

At the end of May, it was reported that BMO and Simplii Financial systems had been hacked, and that the information of 50,000 BMO customers and 40,000 Simplii Financial customers were stolen. Both banks reached out to the affected customers and also offered them free credit monitoring. The hackers threatened to publicly release the customer data unless a ransom of $1 million per bank was paid. Neither bank appears to have paid the ransom, and there has not yet been any confirmation about whether the data was publicly released.

June savings account and GIC leaders

EQ Bank is still the savings account interest rate leader at 2.30%, where it’s been since May 2017, followed by Hubert Financial at 2.10%, where it’s been since February 2018. TFSAs remain steady, with Alterna Bank and Hubert Financial both at 2.10%.

Among the GIC changes over the past month:

• Oaken has increased its rates and is the standalone GIC leader on 1 and 2-year GICs, and tied as the leader with EQ Bank for 3, 4, and 5-year GICs
• ICICI Bank, whose rates had languished near the bottom of our chart for quite a bit of time, has seen huge increases of between 0.85% and 1.05%, bringing them back to being competitive, although still significantly behind the leaders
• Motive Financial has seen a few rate drops to its 1-year through 5-year GIC rates, cumulatively between 0.16% and 0.30%

HSBC joins the no-forex fee credit card group

Adding to the recent influx of new credit cards that don’t charge a foreign currency exchange fee (typically 2.50% in addition to the exchange rate) is the HSBC World Elite Mastercard that does not require an existing banking relationship with them (unlike their existing similar credit cards). Currently, it has a $149 annual fee that’s waived for the first year, and provides 3% back in travel rewards for travel purchases and 1.5% back in travel rewards for all other purchases. It also comes with a $100 yearly credit for seat upgrades, baggage fees, and airport lounge passes.

The other currently notable credit cards in the no-forex fee space are:

• Rogers World Elite Mastercard: no annual fee; 1.5% net rewards on foreign exchange purchases; 1.75% on everything else
• Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite: $139 annual fee; 6 airport lounge passes; 2% back on grocery, dining, entertainment, and daily transit; 1% back on everything else
• Home Trust Preferred Visa: no annual fee; 1% back on all purchases

Alterna Bank GIC promotion

Alterna Bank has an 18-month 2.75% term deposit promotion that was originally available only to in-branch clients. After much demand from online clients, they’ve made this promotion available to everybody!

Experiences with Manulife Bank?

The Manulife Advantage Account “might be the most useful savings account in Canada” according to The Globe and Mail, and it currently has a savings account promotion with a 2.4% interest rate. However, Manulife Bank has not received good reviews on our site. If you’ve got Manulife Bank experiences to share, please let us know!

New bank: Haventree Bank

Canada’s newest bank is Haventree Bank (formerly Equity Financial Trust), but so far it only offers GICs. There are no chequing, savings, TFSA, or RRSP accounts. Its focus is on being an alternative mortgage lender.

Savings accounts are flat; GIC rates continue to rise

Over the past month, we’ve seen no notable savings account interest rate changes for the financial institutions we track. The savings account interest rate leaders are still EQ Bank (2.30%), Hubert Financial (2.10%), AcceleRate Financial (2.05%) and Alterna Bank (2.05%). The TFSA leaders are similar: Hubert Financial (2.10%), Alterna Bank (2.10%) and AcceleRate Financial (2.05%). The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate unchanged on April 18, although with inflation rates consistently above 2.0% this year (among other factors), we’ll be watching for the next interest rate announcements on May 30 and July 11.

However, we’ve seen plenty of interest rate increases on our GIC rates comparison chart. Motive Financial raised most of its GIC rates 4 times over the past 1 month, is the current 5-year GIC leader at 3.47% (although note that Meridian Credit Union currently has a 3.50% 5-year GIC promo for new deposits only), and along with Oaken Financial, has all of its 2- to 5-year rates at or above 3.00%. Oaken Financial is the current 1-year GIC leader at 2.80%. Peoples Trust, Implicity Financial, Tangerine Bank have all increased their rates as well since the middle of April.

Check our promos page for additional GIC rates, including a 3.00% 1-year GIC from Ontario-only Omnia Direct.

Alterna Bank unlimited Interac e-Transfers

Starting on June 1, 2018, Alterna Bank’s no-fee chequing account will offer unlimited Interac e-Transfers. Its chequing and savings accounts previously came with 2 tree Interac e-Transfers.

Is this becoming a welcome trend? Unlimited Interac e-Transfers was a key feature of the Simplii Financial launch back in November, and EQ Bank offers 5 free e-Transfers per month.

Other than that, it’s been relatively quiet for savers lately! Here are some of the stories we’re tracking:

• Tangerine Bank: targeted net new deposits savings account promotion extended through November 30
• Rogers World Elite Mastercard coming soon: no annual fee, 4% back on forex purchases, 1.75% back on other purchases; better than recently devalued Rogers Platinum Mastercard but with higher income requirement
• Simplii Financial GIC rates improving, including 2.50% 1-year GIC

Ideal Savings: short-lived stint at the top

On March 15, 2018, Ideal Savings made its 2.50% savings account promo somewhat permanent, guaranteeing its savings account interest rate until the end of 2018. That made it the Canadian leader for both its regular savings and TFSA interest rates… but for just less than 1 month! On April 13, Ideal Savings then lowered both its savings account and TFSA interest rates to 2.00%. Accounts that had been opened by April 13, 2018 will continue to receive 2.50% until the end December 31, 2018. This was somewhat reminiscent of when Ideal Savings first opened at the end of 2016 with a rate that dropped by 0.75% in less than 1 month. It’s getting hard to keep up with all their rate changes, but those who got in at the right time are enjoying a great rate.

EQ Bank is back to being the regular savings account leader on our comparison chart at 2.30%. Alterna Bank and Hubert Financial are tied for the TFSA lead at 2.10%.

Wealthsimple launches a savings account

Online investment management service Wealthsimple recently launched a high interest savings account in partnership with EQ Bank, offering a 1.70% interest rate. For those who have more than $100,000 to put in the savings account, Wealthsimple will automatically split the deposits between different CDIC members to insure up to $900,000. You can of course get a better interest rate at most of the financial institutions on our comparison chart, including directly with EQ Bank, but the Wealthsimple account provides some additional convenience for customers who use its investment services.

GIC competition continues

While savings account interest rates continue to remain flat for the time being, it’s currently a race to the top for GICs. The current leaders on our GIC comparison chart for non-redeemable rates are:

• 5-year GIC: Motive Financial at 3.30%
• 4-year GIC: Hubert Financial at 3.25%
• 3-year GIC: Oaken Financial at 3.15%
• 2-year GIC: Oaken Financial at 3.10%
• 1-year GIC: Oaken Financial at 2.75%

Some promotions offer even higher rates, including a 3.50% 5-year GIC at Meridian Credit Union on new money only and an Ontario-only 4.00% 5-year GIC at Ganaraska Credit Union that we mentioned last month.

Scotiabank Momentum PLUS Savings Account promo: read the details very carefully

Scotiabank is currently advertising up to a 2.65% interest rate on net new deposits if you leave the money in a Scotiabank Momentum PLUS Savings Account for up to 360 days. But it’s much more accurate to say it’s up to 1.80% on net new deposits, and an additional 0.85% during the period before June 29, 2018. Over the entire period, the maximum rate is closer to 2.0% or lower. Once you read the promotion details carefully, you might consider a savings account with a higher regular rate or a cashable GIC from elsewhere.

Tangerine’s creative and never-ending promos

Scotiabank-owned Tangerine Bank’s latest promotion is even more targeted than usual. Some savers have received a phone call from Tangerine’s marketing department offering 2.75% for 270 days — essentially 9 months — on the entire balance.

Tax time: tax on interest and automated filing

It’s tax time again; remember that non-registered and non-TFSA savings interest and GICs are taxed as income, whereas eligible dividends and capital gains receive some tax breaks. One forum member feels that this punishes savers, although their call for an alliance to represent the interests of savings investors was met with crickets!

New this year from the CRA is an automated “File my Return” service for low- and fixed-income Canadians. Others with simple returns might also be interested in the “Auto-fill my return” feature available in many tax return software products that automatically reads tax information such as on a T4 that has been submitted to the CRA.

New GIC rate comparison table

Over the last month, none of the financial institutions that we track have changed their regular savings account interest rates. However, GICs are dominating the discussions in our forum.

As a result, we’ve launched a GIC rate comparison table that tracks all of the financial institutions that are on our main comparison chart. The new GIC chart is updated daily.

The chart does not track special terms or promotions from other banks, but we try to track them on the promotions page. GIC promos represent about half of our list of promotions, and we’ve seen continued rate increases to several financial institutions’ standard GIC rates over the past couple of weeks as well.

Ganaraska Credit Union (Ontario only) with the latest 4.00% GIC

We told you in the last Savers Roundup about a BC-only offer of a 4.00% annual return for a 33-month GIC at Coast Capital Savings, which is still valid until March 20, 2018. Now, Ganaraska Credit Union is offering a 4.00% 5-year GIC in Ontario only.

That’s much higher than the highest current 5-year GIC that we track at 3.26% from…

EQ Bank now offers GICs

2 years after the launch of its high interest savings account, EQ Bank now offers GICs with very impressive rates, including the aforementioned leading nationally-available (outside of Quebec) 5-year GIC. Its other rates rank in the top 3 on our GIC chart.

Brim Financial and Scotiabank launch no-forex fee credit cards

A not-so-niche category of credit cards is those that do not charge a 2.50% fee for foreign currency (such as US-dollar) charges. We’ve covered this quite a bit lately, and listed the options that remained since the Amazon and Marriott Visas from Chase were cancelled.

It didn’t take long for 2 new cards to fill the void: one from a completely new player and another that is the first of the big banks to eschew the foreign exchange fee. Both are surprising.

The previously unknown Brim Financial has started to accept — but not yet process — applications for 3 no-forex fee Mastercards, including one that doesn’t have an annual fee. Its rewards system and set of included insurance are unique, although Brim is of course unproven so far.

Scotiabank just added a Visa Infinite version of its “Passport” credit cards that has a $139 annual fee but no 2.50% foreign currency exchange fee. Among its other features is a set of 6 airport lounge passes to appeal to frequent travelers. It was long-speculated that all of the big bank credit cards would continue to charge the foreign currency exchange fee because they simply make so much money from that hidden charge; the landscape has now started to shift!

The new Brim Financial and Scotiabank cards are especially welcome news given that the Rogers and Fido Mastercards are getting worse starting on May 23, 2018. The rewards rate is going down from 4.00% to 3.00% on foreign currency purchases, making it effectively 0.50%. The earn rates on Canadian dollar purchases are both now 1.25%, down from 1.75% for the Rogers Mastercard and 1.50% for the Fido Mastercard. Note that there is also no more $29 annual fee for the Rogers Mastercard.

Simplii Financial promo extended for some, and at different rates

The Simplii Financial 3.00% new deposit promo expired at the end of February, but some savers got an extension of the offer through June 30, 2018. This time, however, it was not only targeted but the offer was also different rates: 1.75% for some, 2.50% for others, and no extension for everybody else.

More rate increases and a 4.00% GIC

Last month, we saw the Bank of Canada raise its key interest rate by 0.25%, and savers are slowly starting to see the benefits.

Outlook Financial, Achieva Financial, and Implicity Financial have all increased their regular savings and TFSA interest rates from 1.85% to 2.00%. AcceleRate Financial’s main accounts sit at 2.05%. Alterna Bank’s regular savings account is now at 2.05%, while its TFSA interest rate is now at 2.10%. Hubert Financial made 2 separate increases in the past month, and its regular savings and TFSA interest rates now sit at 2.10%.

EQ Bank is still the leader on our comparison chart with a 2.30% rate on a regular savings account. Ideal Savings is tops for a TFSA at 2.25%.

On the GIC side, Oaken Financial is the current leader with a 5-year GIC at 3.25%, and its other GIC rates are rumoured to increase again tomorrow, with every term 18 months or longer offering a rate of at least 3.00%.

If you’re in BC, Coast Capital Savings blows all GIC rates out of the water with a current promotion for a 4.00% 33-month GIC on new money of at least $500 until March 20.

Manitoba credit unions: why such consistently higher rates?

Our comparison chart is full of Manitoba credit unions, and whenever interest rates start to rise, more people start to ask why the province’s financial institutions consistently offer higher rates. Is it simply because they are more efficient? Follow the discussion here.

Other credit unions available to out-of-province applicants

Why don’t we see more credit unions operating nationally? Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario technically allow credit unions to accept out-of-province members, but those financial institutions aren’t allowed to operate or solicit business outside of their respective provinces. In fact, when Hubert Financial first launched, they got in trouble for advertising outside of Manitoba.

To operate nationally, Ontario credit unions can either create a separate bank (such as Alterna Bank; also see Meridian Bank, rumoured to launch some time later this year) or adopt federal mandates for their existing financial institutions. There are reasons for them to not do the latter, including how provincial deposit insurance is higher than the 100K limit offered by the CDIC.

BC, Alberta, and Quebec don’t allow their credit unions to accept out-of-province members by default. However, Coast Capital Savings is making moves to become a federal credit union.

Hubert Financial referral promo: $25 for you, $25 for a friend or family member

For the month of February, Hubert Financial has a referral promotion offering $25 to open a new account, as well as $25 to the person who referred you. Looking for someone to refer you? Post a request in the forum thread.

More Tangerine promos

Didn’t get Tangerine’s net new deposits promo (2.50%) last month? You might have received one this month instead, so be sure to check your account! They’ve also essentially rolled over their new customer promotion, offering 2.50% for 6 months in a new savings account.

Speaking of promotions, the start of the year has seen quite a lot of them, so be sure to check our promotions page, especially if you’re currently taking part in Simplii Financial’s 3.00% net new deposits promo that is set to expire at the end of February.