Savers Roundup February 2019: Meridian’s 1% TFSA and RRSP transfer bonus; big bank promos; USD GICs

Meridian Credit Union’s TFSA and RRSP transfer-in promo

Until March 1, if you transfer at least $10,000 of TFSA or RRSP funds to Meridian Credit Union, you will receive a 1% transfer bonus of up to $750. This can be combined with its 3.25% promotional interest rate on TFSA and RRSP savings accounts for 4 months (falling back to a 1.50% regular rate thereafter), and its 3.45% promotional 3-year GIC rate.

Steady leading rates

Motive Financial remains the leader on our savings account chart at 2.80%, and Ideal Savings leads the TFSA list at 2.76%. They’ve both kept those rates for a few months now.

Since Motive Financial shot to the top of our chart in November with its 2.80% savings account interest rate, and made its TFSA rate more competitive at 2.40%, we’ve seen quite a drop in its GIC rates. Tangerine Bank has also dropped its non-registered GIC rates recently, although its TFSA and RRSP GICs have stayed a bit higher. The current leaders on our GIC chart are:

1-year: 3.11% at Ideal Savings
2-year: 3.30% at Achieva Financial, EQ Bank, Implicity Financial, and Oaken Financial
3-year: 3.45% at Meridian Credit Union
4-year: 3.55% at Hubert Financial
5-year: 3.60% at Oaken Financial

Big bank savings account promos

The “big banks” usually offer some of the worst savings account interest rates in Canada, but we’ve seen a couple of notable promos to start the year: a targeted promo from BMO for 3.25% until April 30 on a new Smart Saver Account, and a targeted promo from RBC for 3.00% until April 30 on new deposits to a High Interest eSavings Account.

motusbank, coming spring 2019

Meridian Credit Union’s online bank venture “motusbank” is launching some time in spring 2019, and forum members are beginning to speculate about how it will differentiate itself. motusbank has so far said that it will offer a no-fee chequing account, a high interest savings account, loans, lines of credit, investments, and mortgages, with its website claiming “an incredibly low mortgage rate”. We’ll be watching closely as its launch approaches!

More cash back offers

Last month, we launched High Interest Savings Accounts Cash Back, including a $40 offer from EQ Bank. We recently added a few offers from Tangerine: $25 for opening a chequing or savings account, and $30 for opening its Money-Back Credit Card.