Savers Roundup February 2024: Higher for how much longer?

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Interest rates are in a holding pattern, as the central bank assesses how the dramatic run-up in rates from the past two years will affect inflation and the economy. When will rates start to drop again? The Bank of Canada kept the key interest rate the same on January 24, and said they expect inflation to remain around 3% for the first half of the year. The consensus is that it will take until the second half of 2024 before we see some rate cuts.

Big variations in savings account and GIC rates

There have been no savings account interest rate changes, up or down, on our comparison chart over the past month. We did see the long-awaited launch of Oaken Financial’s TFSA, although its 3.40% rate lags behind leaders such as Ontario-only Saven Financial (4.15%), Motive Financial (4.10%), and Wealth One Bank of Canada (4.00%).

The best promo rate is currently at Simplii Financial, where you can get 6.00% for 5 months if you are a new customer. There is a decent number of other promos for registered and non-registered accounts on our promos page.

GIC rates remain inverted (with shorter terms offering higher rates) and mostly unchanged, although there have been some minor increases in rates. For a moment, Peoples Trusts’ 15-month GIC was the highest GIC rate we track at 5.60%, although that has now dropped to 5.20%. You can still get up to 5.50% on a 1-year GIC (at Hubert Financial or Ideal Savings).

There is quite a variation in GIC rates offered. Tangerine Bank, which had made a bid to be competitive last year, is now an outlier at the bottom of non-registered GIC rates with a 5-year GIC of 3.35%, well below the top 5-year rate of 4.75% (at Hubert Financial and Ideal Savings) or even 5.00% at a GIC broker. To be fair, Tangerine’s registered GIC rates are meaningfully higher than its non-registered rates.

Cash back offers

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