Ability to transfer funds to and from other banks? | Page 2 | Achieva Financial | Discussion forum

I understand the banking with Achieva is not yet developed for easy online transfers from one bank to another within 24 hours, therefore for me (Ontario) CanadianTire Financial is more suitable, even at a lower interest rate @ 1.7% but easy transfers and no fees. It seems all Manitoba banks offering high interest rates have no easy online transfers yet.

I am a long time Achieva Financial customer --- in fact, I opened my account just after they opened in 1998 and have steadily transferred all my primary savings to them over the years, as they consistently offer among the best rates on savings, RSP, terms & now TFSA. Plus they are much better to deal with than ING!
While my understanding is they will be introducing an electronic funds transfer later this year, I have never had a problem accessing cash through an ATM, in-fact I have a direct deposit going from my RBC account to Achieva every month as well.
In the meantime you can simply mail in a cheque from your primary bank and you can also write cheques on your Achieva account --- which I do from time to time. Yes, all new deposits have a seven day hold, however, that has never been an issue and you always earn interest starting day-one.
For the four to five transactions I do monthly, their fees are not an issue, in fact they give me $1 every month because I take my statement electronically online. I also called their customer service department (which is excellent) to ask about the $25 fee you quoted and that is used VERY rarely on accounts that have zero activity and next to no balances.
Hope this helps.