Interac e-Transfer is great for everyday banking, but it's not a practical replacement for moving large balances because of the transaction limits and the $1.50 sending fee. EFT transfers are generally a much lower-cost way for financial institutions to move larger amounts of money, making the change difficult to understand.

It seems counterproductive to remove an efficient way to fund accounts while continuing to offer competitive GIC rates. Policies like this discourage customers like me from bringing larger deposits to Outlook. As a result, I'll likely have to close my account because the new system simply isn't practical for my needs.

I hope Outlook will reconsider and restore EFT transfers. They were a much more practical solution for customers moving significant amounts of money.

Decade++ lurker - first time post. Thank you for all the insight and shared experience over the last many years.

I came on here today to read thoughts on Outlook's abandonment of me2me transfers.

Like others mentioned, I also had been using Outlook and their transfers every month as an essential part of our family's financial set-up...

Somehow, I missed the notification that this change was happening in June, and here I am, beginning of July, and... can't use the bank anymore.

So, open to any recommendations on alternatives, preferably with push & pull transfer options, ideally also supporting joint accounts, no fees and (of course) High(-ish) interest! A tall order nowadays??? 😉

Thanks again to all in this community.

leigh: I was only talking about TFSA transfers. As I said, I have no experience with RRSP transfers or that form you were speaking of.

Financial institutions can now use a custom form they create that has similar content. Some have a different form for TFSA direct transfers. Scotia iTRADE created one form for direct transfers of TFSA, RRSP, and RRIF accounts.

The $50 is not a penalty. It is the service fee for the direct transfer. Scotia iTRADE charges $150.

Just now I had a call from another person at Outlook to verify that it was really me asking for the TFSA transfer. When he was satisfied, he told me they will mail a draft to CTFS on July 7th and they will charge me $50 penalty. They refused to waive it.

So they didn't need CT's fax number and they didn't need the special form after all. It will be over two months by the time the funds are transferred and I've just been given a totally unnecessary run-around by customer service people not sure of the proper procedure.

Just like it is not legally necessary for a bank confirm employment and salary for a mortgage. But, most banks will refuse to give the mortgage if the borrower refuses to let the bank contact their employer to confirm claimed employment and claimed salary.

The signature guarantee is not just a verification of identity. There is also an indemnity backing the guarantee. An F-prefix Medallion signature guarantee comes with US$100,000 of indemnity. A Z-prefix one comes with US$14 million of indemnity.

Because to withdraw the equivalent amount of funds from the TFSA at year's end for instance can be done by myself digitally on line quite simply and quickly without any other verification of my identity other than the standard questions etc. that Outlook uses to do so.

In a previous case, the guarantor was actually the relinquishing instititution, Scotiabank, for a direct RRSP transfer from Scotiabank to EQ Bank!

EQ Bank had refused to guarantee the signature on the RRSP transfer form.

I'm concerned that CT didn't bother to let me know they were unable to continue with the transfer, causing me to have to call them to find out the reason.

I think I may have spoken to a new or inexperienced call centre person from Outlook handling my first enquiry because I did later receive a call-back from a helpful supervisor at Assiniboine Credit Union, Outlook's parent. So maybe things are looking up.

The acquring side usually makes you physically sign the transfer form, but a scan of that sent back to them is okay. I think there is work being done to standardize bundling up the cheque and the paperwork that accompanies that digitally for delivery, but it mostly isn't ready for prime time yet. You are dependent on both Canada Post (I think, although some places may use other delivery methods), and just how busy small back offices are to get the paperwork done and out the door.

Six weeks is rather excessive though, and I did have one case years ago where an RRSP transfer cheque from Canada Life to TDDI fell through the cracks somewhere in the chain, and had to be reissued.

I called them and was told that TFSA transfers had to be done by mailing a physical cheque and they don't use digital transfers because the sending institution would have to provide a security guarantee of my signature, which virtual banks cannot do.

I don't get it. I've moved larger amounts around between institutions digitally myself many times, quickly and without any trouble.

I was routinely transfering RRSP's between institutions for many years when I was going through a deposit broker for GIC's. When each GIC matured, it was always another institution that was offering the best rate. So, each RRSP was directly transferred.

Since initiating this transfer process I've come across so many horror stories that I now wish I'd never done it.