rebel88 said

However, since you opened a new account to qualify for the 3% offer, can you slowly transfer what you have in your original advantage account to another financial institution? Or does Manulife keep track of all your funds thereby disallowing the 3% in your new second account once you transfer your funds from your first account?

While transferring funds into the new Advantage account from external accounts, I reduced the balance of my earlier Advantage account by debit card spending, bill payments, and ATM withdrawals. There was no reduction in the promo interest paid for July.

July 1½% promo interest was within ½¢ of what I calculated and matched the regular 1½% interest paid. Consequently, the entire balance of the new Advantage account was considered to be "Eligible Deposits".

Markus said
Just signed up for the new advantage account promo(my 7th). Interest rate on the new account is showing 1.5%, like the other 6. It has always shown the promo rate in account details, but not this time. Anyone else signed up?  

Markus:

I created my second Manulife Advantage Account (AA) in July (to take advantage of the 730 day promo interest rate offer of 3.00%, at least initially). My due diligence was having a chat with a Manulife representative to confirm that my second AA qualified for this new promotional offer prior to me transferring cash to this new account. They confirmed it did qualify. Like you , account details shows an interest rate of 1.50%.
Manulife has poor functionality to create a transcript of your chats, but I cut and pasted the necessary bits to suffice for my audit needs. Indeed, on August 1, backdated to July 31 there were two separate postings of "Interest Deposit" and "Promo Interest Deposit" each compromising interest calculated at 1.50%.

It seems like it would be relatively easy for them to advertise their high rate, but nonetheless I received my 3.00% interest rate for July within a few cents of my calculations.

Jim Sherat said
Just wondering if there's a way to setup Two Factor Authentication on my Advantage Account ... if there is, I don't see an option on the website.
Note: I only use a desktop / laptop to do online banking, so if it's a Mobile App thing i wouldn't see that. Thanks.

On the website you can click on your name on the top right and you see on the menu "Manage Manulife ID". Click on it and it will bring you to a new page where you see the option Security.
After filling it up, the website will ask you time to time for a code before login you in. You can also add a passkey if you prefer.

Jim Sherat said
Just wondering if there's a way to setup Two Factor Authentication on my Advantage Account ... if there is, I don't see an option on the website.
Note: I only use a desktop / laptop to do online banking, so if it's a Mobile App thing i wouldn't see that. …

Two-factor authentication is on the Manulife ID, under "Manage your Manulife ID". There, one can update the e-mail address, 10-digit Canada/US mobile number, and backup e-mail address to use.

Manulife will do the extra authentication as it feels the need. There's no option to force the extra authentication on every signin.

re, no guarantee for total 3.0% rate; I too checked and yes, it's true, but I'm ok with that, as it's still the Best rate out there, that isn't just a short term [3-5 mth] promo, for those of us a bit fatigued from moving money around too often. 😉

The total interest (the Promotional Interest) won't remain at 3% if the regular interest rate changes:

… Any change to the Regular Rate will result in a corresponding change to the Promotional Interest. For example, if the Regular Rate of 1.50% were to decrease to 1.40% the Promotional Interest would decrease to 2.90%. …

rk said
Thoughts?  

The base interest rate can go both ways, so it's theoretically possible we could see 3.25% or more over the next two years. There's nothing stopping a person from closing the account if they offer a better short term promotion, bearing in mind they'll likely be doing a snapshot to exclude funds. I'll only keep mine as a working float for now in the event a better offer comes along later, that way it might still be worth holding onto and utilizing for the entire two years.

Thoughts?

Norman1 said

Jim Sherat said
… I think this is what she had, and she was content with the arrangement and happy with her advisor of many years, and really, in the end, that is all that matters.
The bonus is that when she passed, her estate was so simple to settle quickly and the the beneficiaries all worked together, and the will was never invoked at all.
…

Yes, the insurance structure can be convenient for the beneficiaries when there's no disputes. But, it is an expensive way to do it. One takes a hit around 1% per annum in lower GIA rates, instead of shopping around for the the best GIC rates, to save a one-time probate tax.

One relative was going to do something like that after being approached by an insurance salesperson. He changed his mind after I explained that the probate tax would be around 1½%. If he was an Alberta resident, the probate tax would be at most $525.

Insurance agents like to leave probate taxes to people's imagination. The relative imagined the probate tax would be 15% to 40%!  

Having never experienced the "probate" process, how does one arrive at the expected fee in Ont. ? Is that $525 for lawyers fees ?, or does a lawyer even have to be involved, if the Will is not being contested ? Also, I assume if the family home is still in the name of the deceased, then that is a whole other complication, with higher Probate fee ? thanks, Norman.

Norman1 said
Yes.

After uploading the completed form and void cheque, the external account showed up the next business day in online banking and in the mobile app.

Their mobile app used to support external account linking by asking for the institution, branch, and account numbers and then taking a photo of the void cheque or populated direct deposit form. That capability is now gone for some reason.  

Brilliant. Thank you!

Jim Sherat said
… I think this is what she had, and she was content with the arrangement and happy with her advisor of many years, and really, in the end, that is all that matters.
The bonus is that when she passed, her estate was so simple to settle quickly and the the beneficiaries all worked together, and the will was never invoked at all.
…

Yes, the insurance structure can be convenient for the beneficiaries when there's no disputes. But, it is an expensive way to do it. One takes a hit around 1% per annum in lower GIA rates, instead of shopping around for the the best GIC rates, to save a one-time probate tax.

One relative was going to do something like that after being approached by an insurance salesperson. He changed his mind after I explained that the probate tax would be around 1½%. If he was an Alberta resident, the probate tax would be at most $525.

Insurance agents like to leave probate taxes to people's imagination. The relative imagined the probate tax would be 15% to 40%!