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TFSA transfer time
February 9, 2021
10:53 am
Donald_Trump
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February 7, 2021
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I was going to open a tfsa at EQ

but on their chat with the welcome it say it takes 6 to 8 weeks to transfer tfsa . After chat with them it seems I might not get int interest on my money from any one for the 8 weeks . Is this true ?

I do not recall any registered transfer taking 8 weeks .

Is their tfsa worth it ?

February 9, 2021
12:19 pm
James
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I would not recommend them if you have another reasonable option. 8 weeks to get money there (my experience has been close to that), they may change the rate on you before the money gets there, and another 8 weeks to get money out probably means 16 weeks lost interest. They seem to not care about complaints and once the money is there, they won't release a hold on it, even if the money is going in one of their GICs which makes no sense (and increases wait time even longer).

February 9, 2021
2:36 pm
Londonguy
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Donald_Trump said
I was going to open a tfsa at EQ

but on their chat with the welcome it say it takes 6 to 8 weeks to transfer tfsa . After chat with them it seems I might not get int interest on my money from any one for the 8 weeks . Is this true ?

I do not recall any registered transfer taking 8 weeks .

Is their tfsa worth it ?  

The 8 weeks is just a warning that it could hypothetically take that long, especially at this time of the year when lots of transfers are being requested. EQ has to follow the antiquated government rules for transferring registered money just like everybody else. I actually find their candor refreshing.

And don't be too quick to blame EQ (or any receiving bank for that matter) if there are inordinate delays. Unless you filled out the 1033 forms wrong and have made an invalid transfer request, it's almost always the remitting institution that's responsible for slow processing because they're the ones sending the funds. If the remitting institution lets your transfer request gather dust, there isn't much the receiving institution can do about it.

All the more reason to choose your carriers wisely and maybe use the December Manoevre for TFSA movements instead of using 1033 transfers.

I should add that if your existing TFSA is in cash, it will continue to earn interest until the transferring FI closes your account and cuts a cheque for the balance and mails it to the new carrier. There will consequently be a period of time before your funds get re-deposited in your new account, during which you will not earn any interest. That won't be anywhere near 8 weeks unless the cheque gets lost, which although unlikely, it isn't impossible, and mail delays have become more frequent due to COVID breakouts at postal sorting facilities. It is what it is.

February 9, 2021
2:38 pm
speedwagen
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Presuming you're not Trump the Rump, I'll share my experience with you.

6 - 8 wks is standard cya rhetoric. Mine took 3 wks, but I also took the time to confirm a rate lock for the 90-day term with a mgr before proceeding. As far as interest lost, in principle, it was only 4 days from the time the transferror debited my acc't to the time EQ credited my acc't with them, even though EQ rec'd the funds the same day, but I got them to credit that along with the rate marker, as explained below. The funds were available immediately for the term purchase, i.e. no hold.

I ended-up having to call the marker since the initial 2.5% rate dropped to 2.3%. Calling the marker though turned out to be a big ask, as they never responded to several requests over a span of 2 wks & I had to resort to filing a complaint to get them to follow thru, so contrary to what James said, they do care - you just have to present your complaint undeniably & without useless banter.

For me it was still worth my while considering the sum involved, so take the above into acc't in deciding your course.

If you are Trump the Rump - EAT MY SHORTS!

February 9, 2021
3:14 pm
James
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'll clarify my experience further. I retrieved the date that the cheque was mailed by the remitting institution so the delay was definitely by EQ, unless there was an extremely long delay (or lost in the mail) with the postal service. I would ask EQ this, but they haven't responded to my complaints. I was initially told someone would be in contact within a few days and nobody called. I got back into contact with them and someone sent me an email saying they would be in touch in a few days and that was about a month ago.

It's interesting that they agreed to hold the rate for you, as they refused to do this for me. I asked for a manager and nobody got back to me. They also refused to move funds into my GIC because they had a hold on them. I'll be coming up on 8 weeks transfer time for my last transfer, in a few days.

I've been busy but I may follow up with the banking ombudsman.

Speedwagen, I would argue if you had to file a complaint to get them to follow up, that is evidence of them not caring. In my daily work, if I waited until somebody filed a complaint to help them, or if someone needed to speak to my manager to get me to do things properly, I would consider that poor service.

I will be happy to update this thread if I do hear back from EQ and they are able to make things right.

February 9, 2021
11:39 pm
speedwagen
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Despite Londonguy's logical assertions & to further back James' testimony, EQ was without doubt the stick in the mud in my transfer request...2 of the 3 wks I spoke of were as a result of EQ's needless delays (shortage of staff, inexperience in TESA matters??), but the transferror's task was completed in 6 days, which I consider reasonable.

James, to further clarify your last remark, I agree that their lack of responsiveness for 2 wks was unacceptable, ergo the complaint, but what I meant was they take complaints seriously, if presented as explained above. By the way, the non-responsiveness I referred to was from the mgr who committed the rate-lock, so they bore the brunt of my complaint & immediately responded to whoever steered the complaint. The frontline staff can only do what they're authorized to do. If they had more discretion, things might not bottleneck to mgrs to the extent they do.

I'll also say that, my request for the rate-lock wasn't straightforward either, as I had to forcefully redemand the call-back. I'm going to postulate that they were overloaded, but that's their problem...it's up to them to adequately staff & train...the cost of doing business.

I can't comment as to why you didn't get the rate-lock; maybe it's dependent on how much $$ we're talking about. As far as the hold on your funds, unlike a self-initiated EFT, there's absolutely no reason for any holds on a registered transfer from another FI. You should've been able to purchase the GIC yourself online.

February 10, 2021
4:08 pm
rk
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I have/had quite a few transfers from other FIs to EqBank. A couple TFSA transfers back in Nov/Dec went faster than expected (from Hubert) - a couple of weeks. A couple of TFSA transfers in January from PT took a bit longer (3-4 weeks). The one that is taking really long is an RRSP transfer from Tangerine. After more than a month since I initiated it, the funds are still in my Tangerine account. Someone said that usually the FI transferring out will take their time, but not in this case. It took almost two weeks for EqBank to fax the transfer form (compare that to Hubert/Meridian/etc... they did it in one day in my experience). Something went wrong and Tangerine did not receive it (I have no idea why, maybe there was a technical glitch). I called Eq repeatedly to ask them to resend the form. I talked to several CSRs who all told me that they will resend it asap ... but that did not happen until I talked to a supervisor (I had to call and ask twice before they called me back). Once I talked to the supervisor and he found out that Tangerine has never received the original fax, he acted immediately and the problem was solved the next business day. To summarize, it took a month for Eq to successfully fax the transfer form and for Tangerine to receive it. Now the ball is in Tangerine's court. Somebody said that the funds are still receiving interest before they leave the other FI. That is true, they are earning 0.1% - therefore I have been loosing 2.2% for more than a month - so far - because of the delay. That is on top of the transfer fee. So yes, this particular transfer is very costly for me.

May 12, 2022
8:51 am
JenE
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OMG I can’t believe what I’m writing! I initiated TFSA transfers from Hubert to EQ on Tuesday, May 3. On the 4th Hubert acted on it and said it would be in the (snail) mail that day. I’ve just seen that the transfers were deposited to our respective accounts on Tuesday, the 10th! I hadn’t even bothered to check until just now, and certainly didn’t expect anything to have been done on EQ’s end - I was told 6-8 weeks. I’m still reeling from shock! (But it’s a good reelsf-laugh)

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