Savers Roundup November 2017: Meet Simplii Financial, Motive Financial’s GIC rates, and new promos and rate increases

Simplii Financial, formerly known as PC Financial

On November 1, 2017, PC Financial officially re-launched as Simplii Financial. The Simplii Financial rebrand was a result of CIBC and PC Financial officially ending their banking partnership, with CIBC taking over PC Financial’s banking customers.

Customers were assured that day-to-day banking would be largely the same, at least to start. There were 2 main positives in terms of new “features” as well: free Interac e-transfers and a 3.00% net new deposits promo.

There were still some reported glitches and complaints that nothing material had changed. Simplii Financial’s regular savings account and TFSA interest rate remains at a paltry 1.00%, in lock step with Tangerine. We don’t expect that to change, but it’s encouraging to see them trying to differentiate in other ways, such as with free e-transfers.

Motive Financial branding change follow-up from Canadian Direct Financial

It has been 7 months since Canadian Direct Financial re-branded to be Motive Financial. This was related to its parent company’s (Canadian Western Bank) sale of Canadian Direct Insurance 2 years prior. Motive Financial has so far appeared to be no different than Canadian Direct Financial, except for its name, appearance, and some additional marketing lingo. There have been no new account offerings, and its online interface is the same.

Motive Financial’s regular savings and TFSA rates have not changed since 2015; while it was once a leader on our comparison chart, it is now closer to the middle or bottom. However, in spite of the loss of the 0.25% GIC rate bonus for Canadian Direct Insurance customers, its GIC rates have rocketed to be close to the best or the best in the industry. Its current 5-year GIC rate of 3.02% (for non-registered, RRSP, and TFSA accounts) is unmatched against any publicly listed rate — in fact, its 2, 3, and 4-year GIC rates also beat any other publicly listed rate.

Is there more brewing at Motive Financial? We’ll see whether it can start to differentiate itself again in 2018.

Wealth One Bank of Canada: added to our comparison chart

We covered Wealth One in last month’s roundup. This month, after many requests from forum members, we’ve added it to our comparison chart! Its regular savings interest rate of 2.50% is the top non-promo rate in the country, whereas its TFSA interest rate of 0.85% is the lowest on our chart.

More new deposit promos

In addition to Tangerine’s quarterly, targeted net new deposits promo and Simplii Financial’s launch promo (mentioned above), there are a few other current new deposit promos:

• Ideal Savings, 2.50% until April 30, 2018
• DUCA Credit Union, 2.75% until December 15, 2017
• TD Canada Trust (targeted), 2.50% on balances of $10,000 and more until March 31, 2018

These are all listed on our Promos page.

More savings account interest rate increases

We’ve also seen a few more savings account interest rate increases in November:

• AcceleRate Financial increases its regular savings account and TFSA interest rates from 1.85% to 1.90%
• Ideal Savings increases its TFSA interest rate from 2.00% to 2.25%
• Canadian Tire Financial increases its regular savings account interest rate from 1.30% to 1.50%
• MAXA Financial increases its regular savings account and TFSA interest rates from 1.85% to 1.90%