Savers Roundup November 2021: TFSA promos; rate increases are coming; a Simplii Financial USD account

TFSA promos are coming

With the end of the year approaching, expect TFSA promotions to show up such as this new one from motusbank: 2.25% for 122 days on your first TFSA savings account. You might want to have a plan for what you will do with the funds after the promo rate expires early in 2022. Check the non-promo TFSA rate: motusbank’s regular TFSA interest rate is currently 1.25%, which is quite competitive, ranking second on our comparison chart. And check whether there is a transfer out fee, in case you want to transfer TFSA funds mid-year (rather than executing the “December manoeuvre”): motusbank has a $50 fee for transferring money out of registered accounts.

We’ll be sure to track all TFSA promos on our promotions page.

Rate increases are also coming?

Last month, we noted that the couple of rare increases in savings account interest rates this year had since been reversed. However, 3 subsequent rate increases have occurred: for the Hubert Financial TFSA (from 1.00% to 1.10%), the Oaken Financial regular savings account (from 1.15% to 1.20%), and the motusbank TFSA (from 1.10% to 1.25%).

With inflation at a multi-decade high, and the Bank of Canada signalling that the key interest rate will rise some time between April and September 2022, we might see more upward movement on savings account interest rates.

More to compare with GICs

Per multiple reader requests, new to our GIC comparison chart is a table for GIC broker rates! Although there might be minimum deposit amounts and location-specific eligibility for some GIC broker rates, at the moment they handily beat all of the 1-year through 5-year GIC rates for the financial institutions we track.

Simplii Financial enters the USD account market

Simplii Financial has launched a USD account. It offers only a 0.10% interest rate, but it has a competitive exchange rate that could save you money if you’re transferring from Canadian dollars and not using a separate foreign exchange service (such as OFX).

Regarding the interest rate, you would still be better off with EQ Bank’s USD account (1.00%) or one of Tangerine Bank’s new customer (2.00%) or targeted existing customer (1.60%) promos.