EQ Bank has released its card product today. | Page 4 | EQ Bank | Discussion forum

Every receipt should either have a signature line or the advisory "Signature not required."

I very much preferred the old signature cards, because while any similar printer can be used to spit out a receipt at any time, a carbon or no-carbon duplicate signature can be matched to prove one's receipt is true.

And yes, I did do that when a fake charge was made by a gas station along the highway to Horseshoe Bay, and twice by card skimmers in Vancouver. I always watch where my card is going and walk to the cash to pay, so I suspect those thieves were swapping in doctored terminals at the merchant.

For a couple of years after they switched to chip & PIN, Amex let me request signature cards, but eventually they said they had no more stock of blank cards and weren't going to order more.

I remember reading that the UK and EU had opted to stick with Signature cards. Anyone know if this is still true?

A friend of mine ended up stuck in Spain with no cash because he had a 6-digit PIN and most EU merchants only recognized 4-digit ones. Another good reason to talk to a travel agent about traps for the unwary.

But I wouldn't actually BOOK travel through an agent. My experience is that they will not book low-priced flights! I find the flight and ask for it and they say, "Sorry, not worth our while!" This was the case even when I asked the agency my company used exclusively for years to book a discount flight and I was told to go do it myself. Fortunately, this was when airlines would actually answer the phone.

RetirEd

savemoresaveoften said
Why is this card appealing to anyone ? My understanding is rebate is only 0.5%, no fee, and no fx fee.
Tons of cards out that also no fee (if u have a certain banking relationship) and no fx fee, and at least a 1% rebate in most cases..
What am I missing ??  

Even if there were "tons" of cards, there aren't tons of people that can get them. The median Canadian income is under $50,000.
I also think you are discounting the importance of convenience for the typical Canadian. When I want a coke, I'll go to the Sobeys and get a six-pack of 710ml bottles for $5, but normal people stop at the Tim's drive-thru and pay $2.50 for a 500ml bottle. I'll drive a few km to get to an ATM that charges no fees, but normal people go to the closest ATM, even if there's a $3 fee.

Finally, the "tons of cards" seems to be a false claim intended to bait an argument. I don't think you can name 3 cards for someone with an income of $100k and $500k of investments in a discount broker, where the rebate is over .5%, with no transaction fee and no fx fee.

savemoresaveoften said

I don’t collect data to put into a website so No I won’t be able to name 3.
But I do use the Cibc one which gives me 4% rebate on gas and groceries, 1% everything else, no annual fee, no transaction fee. One only need $100k combined investment at bank and discount broker to qualify. Comes with a premium checking account no fee too.
Yes there is fx fee, but one can get another card for ‘that specific purpose’. Not sure how often one incur fx transactions on avg other than when traveling.
I am not going to google the the big5， but pretty sure they all offer similar packages, just saying.  

You are ignoring the convenience factor of using one card everywhere. Several years ago while traveling, I gave my wife a few cards, and told her which to use according to which country we were in. I don't try that any more. 😉

You're the one that made the claim, so I'm not going to do the googling either. The onus is on you to prove it. I can save you the trouble of looking into Scotia, as it doesn't matter how much you have in a Scotia iTrade account. I know someone with over $500k in an iTrade account and a mortgage with Scotia, yet they don't get any rebates on banking or card fees.

nerdralph said

You are ignoring the convenience factor of using one card everywhere. Several years ago while traveling, I gave my wife a few cards, and told her which to use according to which country we were in. I don't try that any more. 😉

You're the one that made the claim, so I'm not going to do the googling either. The onus is on you to prove it. I can save you the trouble of looking into Scotia, as it doesn't matter how much you have in a Scotia iTrade account. I know someone with over $500k in an iTrade account and a mortgage with Scotia, yet they don't get any rebates on banking or card fees.  

nerdralph said

You are ignoring the convenience factor of using one card everywhere. Several years ago while traveling, I gave my wife a few cards, and told her which to use according to which country we were in. I don't try that any more. 😉

You're the one that made the claim, so I'm not going to do the googling either. The onus is on you to prove it. I can save you the trouble of looking into Scotia, as it doesn't matter how much you have in a Scotia iTrade account. I know someone with over $500k in an iTrade account and a mortgage with Scotia, yet they don't get any rebates on banking or card fees.  

I will take 4% rebate on gas and groceries over the convenience of 1 card anyway. Actually that’s almost my 1 card anyway.

And all I need is 1 bank to offer me a package that suits. Scotia does have an ultimate package that offer similar but yes they don’t add itrade investments to the asset criteria.

Good for you to like the card if it suits you. I don’t, it’s inferior to what I have right now.

RetirEd said
My Amex SimplyCash card pays 2% on gas and groceries (and purchases at gas vendors), 1.25% on everything else. Grocery rebate is limited to $300 annually, which I never approach, living alone.

RetirEd  

My wife has one but it usually stays in a drawer. Superstore and Costco don't take it, and they are usually in the top 3 or 4 for her monthly spending. There's many other local businesses that don't accept it either, like restaurants and the COOP.

I got the EQ card mainly to try out for my wife, as she doesn't want to carry multiple cards.

moveyourmoney said
EQ is an online bank isn’t it? Tried to sign up for their card on my phone- got to a call-in request screen. Just tried again on the desktop, no passcodes sent, system errors. Chatted with a person, got sent a manual sign up form that requires physical signatures, 2 id’s. Is this for real? How do the EQ clients even handle this? +10 days after receipt to open the account.  

All is not lost…I decided to give it one more chance to see if EQ was interested in a new customer. Called in and explained to the CSR that there must be a better way to get things started. CSR was able to fix the passcode problem and the sign up was successful- makes sense. I wonder if these companies realize the importance of a competent CSR, and how valuable that client interaction is- without it, the customer is gone.

#38 Alexandre said
Just FYI: Interest earned on funds in EQ card are deposited to linked account, not to EQ card.  

I think the 2.5% interest earned will also be on the linked account T5 whereas the 0.5% cashback will not.

I used the card for ~10 transactions (in foreign currency) during a recent cruise. Somehow I ended up with a lower card balance than the transaction amount(s) posted!

I suspect the leakage is due to exchange rate change on the holding amount and on the final amount. Unfortunately, EQ don't show any balance on their statements but only a live real-time balance after you signed in. I have since paused using the card. There is no more pending transactions.

Just want to share my experience on a new product.

@Doug, what a quick respond. Sorry I didn't use the card in a way you advise! I totally deserved this, didn't I?

RetirEd said
My Amex SimplyCash card pays 2% on gas and groceries (and purchases at gas vendors), 1.25% on everything else. Grocery rebate is limited to $300 annually, which I never approach, living alone.

Amex tells me the minimum income to get most of their no-fee cards is $14K. I got mine a half-century ago; they told me my income was insufficient but proving my cash reserves changed their mind.

Interestingly, this month they started printing all my cash-back earnings and locations on my monthly bill. What a waste of paper! But then they also print the entire cardmember agreement out every month!

I won't protest. At least I don't have to go on-line for info!
RetirEd  

+1 to the American Express SimplyCash Card, RetirEd. I recently signed up for it in January, and, though I don't use the uncapped gas station 2% reward value purchases, it's, by far, the best no-fee credit card in Canada. It already was, even before they boosted the premium rewards rate from 1.25% to 2% for certain merchant categories and all other purchases from 1% to 1.25%.

I will also I love the online digital e-statements. They are so wonderfully detailed in terms of transaction data, specific rewards earned on each purchase, and arranged in a very readable format. Statement bliss!

My only other card is the Scotiabank Scene+ Visa, which is also a great no-fee card.

All other cards offered by the other four Big Banks + HSBC Canada and Manulife Bank are sheer garbage.

That said, the EQ Bank Card paired with the EQ Bank Savings Plus Account offers compelling features in terms of day-to-day transactional banking, small value domestic card purchases, surcharge-free Interac Network ATM withdrawals, and rewards and interest on card purchases and card balances. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug

Briguy said

Rogers World Elite CC is pretty good, too with no annual fee. No FX through cashback for US dollar purchases. Also 1.5 % cashback normally, but currently 3% for gas and groceries until July 31.

 

What? WHAT??? 3% for groceries? When did this start? How did I not know about this? Did you get an email or anything? Is it a personalized offer for you?