Savers Roundup October 2024: PC Financial is back; EQ Bank’s business account

After holding steady at or near the top of our charts for more than a year, Motive Financial finally blinked on Round 3 of the Bank of Canada interest rate cuts. Motive Financial’s regular savings account and TFSA interest are now at 3.60%, down from 4.10%. This now makes them tied for 4th on savings account comparison chart, behind Neo Financial (at 4.00%), Wealth One Bank of Canada (at 3.75%), Canadian Tire Bank (at 3.70%), and Saven Financial (at 3.70%). If you count rates when you have a direct deposit sent to your account, you also have EQ Bank at 4.00% and Wealthsimple at 3.75%.

Motive Financial did release an offer for new clients, though: 5.75% for the first 120 days in a new savings account. And it even has a refer-a-friend program to sweeten the pot in the short-term. We’ve listed this on our promotions page, along with many other promos offering up to 6.25%.

Rates down but competition up

Saven Financial, seemingly tired of the Ontario-only label, is finally available outside of Ontario, with the exception of Quebec.

The PC Money account (which was created by PC Financial after its original banking division moved under CIBC and rebranded as Simplii Financial) now has a “savings feature” offering 4.25%! We haven’t added it to our comparison chart yet, but if we did, it would be the new leader.

New GIC leaders after MCAN Financial decreases

MCAN Financial is the newest addition to our GIC comparison chart, with, until last week, chart-topping rates. This leaves MAXA Financial and Wealth One Bank of Canada tied for the lead for all terms (from 4.60% for a 1-year GIC to 4.10% for a 5-year GIC).

Just a couple of months ago, we were impressed with Hubert Financial’s 1-year quarterly GIC rate, which had increased to 5.35% (when compounding on the quarterly terms were taken into account). Although its quarterly cashability is still unique, its rate has fallen quickly from the competition. GIC rates available through brokers have also fallen, and are currently not competitive against rates directly available from financial institutions.

Competition for small business accounts too

EQ Bank’s small business account is finally widely available, at least to those who already have a personal account with them. Its basic premise is a no-fee account to cover a business’s day-to-day needs, with a 3.00% interest rate on your balance.

It has some key feature omissions, such as mobile cheque deposits. But we’ll be following along as its feature set develops.

Poll results: Tangerine Bank and Simplii Financial are popular

Last month, we polled readers on whether they have a Tangerine Bank or Simplii Financial account. Out of 634 respondents, over 40% have accounts with both financial institutions! 73% have a Tangerine Bank account (compared to 71% in our previous poll who have an EQ Bank account), and 50% have a Simplii Financial account. Seems like our readers are well banked!