Third month's worth of balance sheet data for Motus Bank available | motusbank | Discussion forum

Loonie said
thanks, Doug.
I don't understand what the numbers in brackets mean.

Numbers in brackets/parentheses are the previous month's totals.

Well, they may have enough on deposit now, but I just withdrew five figures from savings.

Interesting!

I am royally P.O.'d with them again today. Last evening, I pushed five figure amounts from both Motus and Tang to CIBC. 24 hours later, Tang funds have been deposited but Motus now tells me it will take until FRIDAY (3 extra days) to do this.
I could sort of accept the time frame from Motus for transfers-in, because it boiled down to about the same time as other FIs, but his is totally unacceptable to me and there is no good excuse for it.  

Yeah, agree completely. Because the 3 extra processing timeframe for "pushed" funds out of Motus Bank, this proves it's entirely their woefully inadequate transaction processing timeframes. Nothing to do with clearing delays; it is 100% on Motus Bank/Meridian Credit Union and they can "wear" it.

You mentioned Motus Chequing and Savings account were for a very specific purpose. I recall you being very fond of Comtech Fire Credit Union's service quality. I looked into them recently and noticed they offer a no-fee chequing account, with 100 free cheques (double what Motus Bank provides), so long as you maintain a $5,000 auto-renewing GIC. They use similar banking systems to the likes of Motive Financial and Coast Capital Savings, should be able to offer same-day or next-day transaction processing. At the same time, their 1-year GIC rate is equivalent to the Manitoba CU HISA rates, which puts them among the best of the Ontario CUs in terms of GIC rates.

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
Thanks for the explanation.

It wasn't me who spoke favourably about ComTech. I think it was gicjunkie. I've never dealt with them. I want only a savings account (not GIC) for the special funds, and their rate for that is terrible. It's a good reminder though, to keep them in the picture for GICs when their rates are good. Right now, not good - 2% for one year.

I'll leave the special funds at Motus for now, until I find a better alternative that meets my criteria. I won't be moving that money very often. For now, I am glad to just have this in an interest-bearing account with convenient chequing, which it wasn't earlier.

The funds I withdrew are from a different motus savings account, and are more flexible.

You're quite right that it's entirely Motus' fault that a push takes so long. I have the direct comparison with Tangerine to prove it. I don't know any other FI that takes this long for a push, although there may be a few. Not acceptable.

If Motus rate goes significantly below Alterna, I will move the money there more than likely. The better rate will probably pay for the cost of cheques!  

Ah, that makes sense. Wow, didn't realize Comtech's 1-year GIC rate had fallen from a market-leading 2.40% to 2.00%, which is roughly in line with middling GIC performer Meridian Credit Union. Yeah, they're worthy of keeping an eye on and, yes, Alterna's rates have been moving up modestly of late. I don't know if we'll see them outperform Motus Bank in the short term, but you're right, often that outperformance in rates can cover the cost of sundry items like cheques (definitely keep ASAP Cheques in mind, if you have to buy them).

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
I think AlternaBank is pretty good for stable rates. They seem to be proving themselves in this regard - touch wood! And this is what I need for my "special" funds.  

Yeah, I agree, @Loonie. At least you know they have a fairly stable "floor" at 2% for their HISA so if they do drop rates, that's likely the extent of it (notwithstanding multiple BoC rate cut decisions). I expect their HISA to remain "stable" at 2-2.25% (they have less downside) and their GIC rates will be a bit of a mixed bag. They have a habit of doing some odd things, but occasionally have decent promo terms.

Only thing that gets me is their $250,000 maximum customer balance whereby they gently call you to move your funds out when you exceed that balance threshold. Awkward conversation! I don't know why they don't do what Motive does and just pay a much lower rate of interest on that portion of one's balance above $250,000.

Cheers,
Doug

P.S. When you were considering Motus Bank for your "special funds," didn't I suggest you consider the more stable, tried and true Alterna Bank instead? If you bank digitally and ignore their bizarre branch set up, that doesn't really matter. They're a very solid digital bank. And, they have deposit release limits and fast same-day or next-day EFT processing times as compared to Motus Bank/Meridian Credit Union at 3+ days on average.