moneyhelp said
Has anyone opened this account? If so, does anyone know if you want to withdraw before the 2 years, is there any kind of early withdraw penalty? I would imagine not, considering it's a savings account, but wondering if anyone is aware. Cheers.  

It is a Savings Account. I moved all my savings there when I opened an account in July and removed all my funds in October when I received a 4.75% promo offer from Tangerine.

There is one little nuance to removing all of your funds. If your balance is below $1,000 when you do an Interac etransfer or a bill payment you will incur a $1.00 service charge. However if you reduce your balance to say $1,100 then you can empty your account without incurring the $1.00 fee, by transferring funds by EFT, either initiated on Manulife's platform or from an external institution (I used Wealthsimple) as Tangerine seems to prohibit creating a link to Manulife (or at least at a minimum they make you jump through some hoops that I have no interest in jumping through).

Manulife's EFT functionality is quite sturdy. I have done many EFTs initiated on their platform. You have to set them up a business day in advance or on a weekend for a Monday EFT transfer. However, the credits to RBC and Tangerine are posted in a timely fashion on their value date. At RBC the funds are credited by 3:15 pm ET

Jim Sherat said

I liked JohnnyCash idea [108] as I too opened ours in July; but for me, I plan to just live with the 3 mth diff at the end of the 2yr "promo" period. …

It would be risky to close the account and open another later within the Offer Period. Manulife Bank may consider the Advantage account opened earlier, in July, to be the one Eligible Account for the offer, even if the account is no longer open.

The regular rate on the Advantage account is not tied to GIC rates, Bank of Canada rate, or Manulife Bank's 4.45% prime rate. The rate will change depending on Manulife Bank's need for short term funds. I suspect the 3% promotion will attract lots of funds and the bank won't have reason to increase the rate on the account.

Manulife Bank posts funds transfers into the Advantage account the day the transfer is scheduled. Yes, sometimes a hold is not applied to funds pulled in.

I liked JohnnyCash idea [108] as I too opened ours in July; but for me, I plan to just live with the 3 mth diff at the end of the 2yr "promo" period. Maybe that date will get extended too ?
And what are the chances with GIC rates going up often, almost everywhere, the BofC will raise their benchmark rate soon, and that 3.00% will go up in lockstep ? Thoughts on this ?

To open a new Advantage account to take advantage of the 3% interest rate for 2 years, I suppose I will need to unfreeze my credit with both agencies first?

https://onboarding.manulifeban.....initiation

NokomisStation said

The Offer is limited to one Eligible Account per Eligible Account Owner as determined by the primary account owner.

Nice try John Boy. Can you imagine the Walton family trying to the game the system. So much for selective logging practices. Let's clear cut the forests Grampa Walton! These new chainsaws are awesome.  

Yes, I noticed the " one Eligible Account per Eligible Account Owner ". What you seem to be missing is I stated I would close the current account, then I would open another one afterwards which should meet the eligibility requirement stating only one account for the 3% 2 year promo.

JohnnyCash said

Interesting, but not surprising that they extended the offer period. I opened an account late July, maybe i can close my current one and open another around the end of October to have two full years from then.  

The Offer is limited to one Eligible Account per Eligible Account Owner as determined by the primary account owner.

Nice try John Boy. Can you imagine the Walton family trying to the game the system. So much for selective logging practices. Let's clear cut the forests Grampa Walton! These new chainsaws are awesome.

maGIC said
I just logged in to add an account and noticed the end date is now October 30, 2026. I will not likely need this account until December, so I will wait until around Oct 29th to add one for myself unless it is extended again.  

Interesting, but not surprising that they extended the offer period. I opened an account late July, maybe i can close my current one and open another around the end of October to have two full years from then.

NokomisStation said

My August Regular Interest was $35.29 and the Promo Interest was $35.22 (you are richer than you think??!!). Regular interest was within 7/100 of a penny compared to my spreadsheet, but rounded up in my favour. Thus, I believe this answers your question.

However, the word of today is minutiae.

Saying of the day: Penny-wise but pound-foolish  

The 7 cent solution (albeit not nearly as much cache as Sherlock Holme's 7% solution) is as follows:

July Base Interest and Promo Interest were each in the amount of $51.34 times 1.5%/365days*31 days = $0.0654 or 7 cents for the fans of Roman centurions.

Talking about beating a dead horse.

So, Manulife's Scottish roots in effect have reduced my August annualized effective interest rate on an average August daily balance of $27,696.24 from 3.00% to 2.9975%. This percentage will continue to be reduced with the passage of time unless I really bulk up my Manulife Advantage Account balance dramatically.

1. Net New Deposits, funds from an external source, and
2. previous Promotional Rate interest.

Manulife Bank’s 3.00% Personal Advantage Account Interest Offer, which is currently 3.00% (“Promotional Interest”) is made up of the regular posted variable annual interest rate of 1.50% (“Regular Rate”) and the variable annual promotional rate of 1.50% (“Promotional Rate”). …

dommm said
Sorry if these questions have already been answered, but five pages is a lot to read through. Will the interest earned on deposits also qualify for the 3% annual rate, or will it be separated and only receive the standard 1.5% rate? If I withdraw money from the account and later deposit it back, will the new balance need to exceed the previous high balance before it qualifies for the 3%? Thanks.  

My August Regular Interest was $35.29 and the Promo Interest was $35.22 (you are richer than you think??!!). Regular interest was within 7/100 of a penny compared to my spreadsheet, but rounded up in my favour. Thus, I believe this answers your question.

However, the word of today is minutiae.

Saying of the day: Penny-wise but pound-foolish