Transferring Funds Endlessly slow! | Site suggestions | Discussion forum

It could be with the increase in online fraud they are doing doing full holds.

Not seeing any such delays.

Did a transfer at Manulife Bank to my Simplii chequing account last month. Transfer was scheduled for the next day.

Funds arrived by dinner time the day the transfer was scheduled for. Moved the funds from the Simplii chequing account that evening to my Simplii savings account.

No hold as I was sending/pushing the funds and not collecting/pulling the funds.

ponyFlower said
I completely agree, and I really don’t understand how this is considered acceptable. From my experience in Europe, once you unlock the maximum limit on your account, there’s usually a short waiting period for security reasons, maybe around 4 hours, and then you’re free to transfer as much as you like. The transfers go through instantly to the designated IBAN without any holding period.
Here, though, it seems normal to link accounts using paper forms that take days, and even after that, the transfer itself also takes several more days, along with an unnecessary holding period. The only method that’s decently fast is Interac, but that’s extremely limited in how much you can send.

IMHO, cheques should really be phased out. It’s a technology that doesn’t belong in 2025 and has already disappeared in most parts of the modern world  

I have found myself reverting back to writing cheques as my default method of moving funds between accounts as it is usually the simplest and fastest way to move the funds without limits. Online transfers have daily limits, weekly limits and monthly limits which change often and seem to get more restrictive with each change and are not standardized across all institutions , and the process of setting up online transfers usually requires providing a blank cheque , which is usually the simplest method as well.

In my experience transferring non registered funds between Canadian FIs is OK, usually within 24 hours. Pushing, as opposed of pulling can help (sometimes with limits, sometimes with funds on hold, etc). However, when it comes to transferring registered funds, they use 18th century technology (not a typo), which can take weeks... This is the only reason why I will pass the current 4% two year GIC offer at Oaken (which otherwise I would have used for registered funds).

It's kind of wild that in this day and age, we're content with it taking 1–2 business days, plus possibly another 7-day hold, just to move some digital bytes from one computer to another, something that should really happen in seconds, 24/7. It really says a lot about the level of service we’ve come to accept from banks

I agree. The technology is there if one is willing to assume the risk.

For example, Interac e-Transfers can be up to $25,000 each. Challenge is most banks aren't willing to assume the risk for such large e-Transfers by their personal banking clients and will only provide such large transfers to business banking clients.

With wire transfers, one can send $100 million globally permanently, no holds to the receipient! The catch is that one is out of luck if the sending account gets hacked or sender is tricked. Isn't that what happened to one fake PC Financial GIC victim who was tricked into wiring his $750,000 retirement nest egg to scammers?

As I am moving most of my banking to Wealthsimple, I am finding that all transfers are happening much faster.

I usually “pull” money from Wealthsimple’s end. If it's an investment account and I am moving money from another banks chequing or savings account, I can transfer up to $112,750 and invest instantly. This number appears to be dynamic and might be different for other account types, I only checked one.

If I am “pulling” from Wealthsimple to transfer external cash into WS chequing account then the money usually appears and starts earning interest same day but the amount that is cleared and can be spent instantly seems to vary between $10K and $50K range. Again, the limit is dynamic.

If I am initiating the transfer externally to transfer to WS or pushing from Wealthsimple to an external bank then transfers appear to take a day less than with RBC VIP banking. For example using Wise to transfer money from a UK account on Thursday night means the funds are ready for use in WS checking account Friday morning.

It's convenient.

It depends on your investment needs. I find that it's great for passive ETF portfolios and regular contributions. No charges, fast transfer, intuitive and superfast interface. And perks like airport lounges.

But… I never used ITrade so can’t compare. WS is way better for my needs compared to TDDI or RBC Direct Investing. Someone who researches stocks or uses mutual funds might not like WS.

Yet another of the principal reasons I won't do banking on line. I've seen friends suffer from banking boo-boos often enough. If they do it, it's their responsibility to fix it.