Savers Roundup August 2018: Hubert Financial is the new leader, and the hunt for even better rates

Savings accounts: many, but not all, rates have increased

Since the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate increase last month, we’ve seen only 7 of the 18 financial institutions that we track raise their savings account interest rates. First it was MAXA Financial, with a 2.25% interest rate that is now tied for third with AcceleRate Financial for regular savings accounts and second for TFSAs on our comparison chart. Then, Implicity Financial, Outlook Financial, and Achieva Financial all increased their rates from 2.00% to 2.15%, whereas Meridian Credit Union increased its rate from 1.40% to 1.50%.

Hubert Financial dethrones EQ Bank at the top of our chart

On August 2, Hubert Financial increased its regular savings account and TFSA interest rates from 2.10% to 2.35%, matching the full 0.25% increase from the Bank of Canada, and also making it the national rate leader (at least for non-promotional rates)! Hubert dethroned EQ Bank, which does not offer a TFSA and has kept its rate at 2.30% since May 2017. Hubert’s 2.35% rate is a full 1.00% higher than the lowest rate on our chart. And the lowest rate on our chart is still higher than the big banks’ high interest savings accounts!

Possibly better rates exist as well

Technically, Steinbach Credit Union in Manitoba has a savings account that pays 2.35%, and even higher rates when you deposit more than $100,000; however, it calculates interest monthly based on the minimum account balance and pays the interest out yearly. Thus, we have so far not added Steinbach to our comparison chart, partially due to the inability to make a fair rate comparison.

Also, Wealth One still has a promotion running for a 2.50% savings account interest rate through September 30, 2018, while Tangerine usually has some form of new customer promotion, currently at 2.75% for 6 months.

GIC rates keep heating up, with Wealth One and Canadian Tire Financial making the biggest jumps over the past month to become more competitive on our GIC comparison chart. They still trail our leaders on 1- through 5-year terms:

• 1-year: Hubert Financial at 2.85%
• 2-year: Oaken Financial at 3.10%
• 3-year: Oaken Financial and EQ Bank at 3.25%
• 4-year: Motive Financial at 3.31%
• 5-year: EQ Bank at 3.52%

There is a lot of competition on GIC rates, with some differences of 0.01% presumably just so financial institutions can claim the top spot.

Among many advertised promotions, Meridian Credit Union’s new money promo for its 5-year GIC has been increased to 3.75% (previously 3.50%), PACE Credit Union (Ontario only) has a 3.40% 29-month GIC on new money, and Omnia Direct (Ontario only) has a 3.00% 1-year GIC.

While you’re searching for promotions, note that there are also unadvertised or targeted GIC promotions that have been reported more frequently recently in our GIC discussion forum.