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Transferring money in - a problem
April 9, 2016
5:43 am
nik
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I opened an account with them by sending a photo of a check, this part went smoothly, and it took about a week or so, to access my new account online.

However, transferring the funds in from another institution is currently not a feature of their website. This needs to be done manually by phoning them 1-855-9342265. And I must say this part does not seem to work reliably for me. I initiated a phone transfer on Tuesday, now is Saturday and nothing happened at either end.

They told me by phone that "next month" we should be able to initiate transfer online. Let's see how this goes.

April 9, 2016
1:01 pm
Loonie
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...and do they promise you'll still be getting 1.85 by then? certainly not.

I'm getting a bit tired of new semi-functional financial institutions that are in such a rush to get off the ground but do not have systems worked out.

April 9, 2016
1:53 pm
Norman1
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I assume that it is the High Interest eSavings Account that was opened. Does the account come with an ATM access card?

If yes, it may be possible to find a ATM nearby that is on the EXCHANGE network and deposit a cheque into the account.

April 10, 2016
7:53 pm
MarkFog
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I am in the process of opening a eSavings account. I started it back on Tuesday. This will be very interesting since this is the whole reason for opening the account.

But, can't we just deposit a cheque in the account for the amount desired in snapshot?

April 12, 2016
8:39 am
Alterna
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Hi everyone,

Your friendly neighbourhood Alterna marketing rep here again! I'd just like to jump in and help clear up some info:

nik said They told me by phone that "next month" we should be able to initiate transfer online. Let's see how this goes.

We are indeed targeting May to roll out online funds transfers to help make it easier to transfer money. In the meantime, you should be able to use Interac eTransfers or the DepositAnywhere feature on our mobile app to transfer funds. You can also call us and we’ll help you set-up a one-time pull from any other institution.

Loonie said
...and do they promise you'll still be getting 1.85 by then? certainly not.

I'm getting a bit tired of new semi-functional financial institutions that are in such a rush to get off the ground but do not have systems worked out.

Given the constantly changing forces in the financial world, we can't guarantee that our rate will be 1.85% in May; however, we are confident that our posted rate (and no, our rate is not a teaser and doesn't have a set expiry date) will still be very compelling when online transfers are available. We're working hard to improve our services and provide the best possible service we can, which includes taking feedback to heart from customers (and potential customers) such as those that frequent this forum.

Norman1 said
I assume that it is the High Interest eSavings Account that was opened. Does the account come with an ATM access card?

If yes, it may be possible to find a ATM nearby that is on the EXCHANGE network and deposit a cheque into the account.

Unfortunately the High Interest eSavings Account does not come with an ATM access card. The No Fee eChequing, which is also a great offer and would cost you nothing to sign up for DOES come with one... just saying! sf-cool

MarkFog said
I am in the process of opening a eSavings account. I started it back on Tuesday. This will be very interesting since this is the whole reason for opening the account.

But, can't we just deposit a cheque in the account for the amount desired in snapshot?

Yes! You absolutely can!

April 13, 2016
5:44 am
Loonie
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I don't appreciate all the marketing hype from the Alterna rep.

I am only going to do this once, as an example. Either he or she will learn from it or not. And perhaps this will clarify that this person is using the forum for promotion.

We don't need to hear from you that you think you are friendly, neighbourhoody, jumping in, targeting, confident, working hard, or that such-and-such is a 'great offer' or that we can 'absolutely' do something-or-other or that your limitations are 'unfortunate'. And we certainly all already know about the 'constantly changing forces in the financial world.' Stick to the useful facts.

Here's what the message should have said, in my opinion, because this really is all that it does say once you pare out all the marketing and PR:

"Try Interac or phone for transfers with this account. If that doesn't work, phone.
We plan on having EFTs no earlier than next month.
There's no ATM card unless you sign up for an e-chquing account."

Three lines; that's all. I would not have a problem if that's all that was said. But that is not what marketers do, is it?

Please use your free time to take this feedback 'to heart' and use it to work on updating your own website so that the answers to all our questions can be readily found there, where they ought to be. And don't send me any more private messages.

April 13, 2016
6:44 am
nik
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nik said
However, transferring the funds in from another institution is currently not a feature of their website. This needs to be done manually by phoning them 1-855-9342265. And I must say this part does not seem to work reliably for me. I initiated a phone transfer on Tuesday, now is Saturday and nothing happened at either end.

A follow-up. After a week, after nothing happened, I called them again. This time, there was more progress, as I saw a "Scheduled Transfer" record on my account online after we talked. However, the date on it appears to be set wrong, as it is set it for next month (it is in May, now is April). It looks like I have to phone them again.

I don't seem to like Interac because of fees. DepositAnywhere would not work for me as I try to reduce risk my doing transactions on a specially built hardware, which is not mobile. Transferring large sums of money in initial account creation step to an untested bank seems risky, especially when we know for sure that problems exist. So far no good, at least for me. I hope others will have less problems.

April 27, 2016
8:30 am
meghan88
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I was able to set up a direct transfer to Alterna from Hubert and it went off without a hitch. I simply set up Alterna as a linked account in Hubert and was able to "push" the funds out. The money appeared in my Alterna account very quickly. The fact that I can't do transfers from my TD account is a pain, but hopefully that will be resolved next month. And as long as the rates stay high, I'll be a happy customer.

April 27, 2016
1:29 pm
speedwagen
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>Loonie said <

I don't appreciate all the marketing hype from the Alterna rep.

I am only going to do this once, as an example. Either he or she will learn from it or not. And perhaps this will clarify that this person is using the forum for promotion.

We don't need to hear from you that you think you are friendly, neighbourhoody, jumping in, targeting, confident, working hard, or that such-and-such is a 'great offer' or that we can 'absolutely' do something-or-other or that your limitations are 'unfortunate'. And we certainly all already know about the 'constantly changing forces in the financial world.' Stick to the useful facts...
...I would not have a problem if that's all that was said. But that is not what marketers do, is it?

Please use your free time to take this feedback 'to heart' and use it to work on updating your own website so that the answers to all our questions can be readily found there, where they ought to be. And don't send me any more private messages.

Loonie, you're out of line!

Everybody hates marketers, but that's not the issue here. I may actually be more cynical than you are, but you should keep this forum professional. If you don't like Alterna's PM's, say so in a PM back to them.

I personally find it very useful that Alterna took the time to clarify some ambiguities and wish ALL FI's would do likewise here and perhaps others feel the same. Your comments are discouraging that.

It's not up to you to judge & condemn. All you need to do is filter-out the rhetoric as I do and glean what's useful, otherwise, you may as well say that everyone's opinions here are useless. Some are and some are far from that. You take the good with the bad. That's life - get over it!

April 28, 2016
3:14 pm
Peter
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Closing this thread so we don't get sidetracked by the role of marketing reps. We have a separate thread for that: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/forum/site-suggestions/the-role-of-marketing-reps-on-this-site

Please feel free to open new threads to further discuss Alterna transfers.

Please write your comments in the forum.